What about AR Cards?

I've owned a 3DS for a couple of years and I've never tried the Augmented Reality cards...until now. :P

There's a pack of 6 AR cards bundled with every 3DS, each depicting a famous Nintendo character. Once scanned with the 3DS camera, the character will appear as if it's in the room; it's a nice feature that has been strangely under-used.

There's also some additional AR cards bundled with Kid Icarus Uprising, so I decided to check these out and to be honest they're not bad. You need KI: Uprising in order to use them but the artwork is fantastic and when they're scanned the characters look great. And if you put two opposite each other they're meant to battle, but mine just seem to get into an awkward dance off.

You could pick up KI: Uprising booster packs to add to your card collection, there's apparently 412 cards in total, but I haven't clapped eyes on a booster pack in shops for a good while and naturally certain cards command high prices.

I'm wondering if Nintendo will produce any more AR cards, as it seems strange they only bundled a small pack with the system and made a Kid Icarus range, but not for any other franchise. I imagine a Pokemon AR card series or even an Animal Crossing series would fare amazingly well, then again with the launch of amiibos it's pretty doubtful Nintendo will bring out any more.

What do you guys think? Do you want to see more AR cards or are you happy with the new amiibos? Let me know in the comments.

Happy Nintendo 3DS Day

The New 3DS console lineup was released today alongside Majora's Mask, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Ace Combat. So I thought I'd put together my Top 3 3DS games.

1. Super Smash Bros.

The perfect title to have on the go. There's just so much to unlock (characters, trophies, levels) the controls are excellent and local multiplayer is amazing (forget the online multiplayer though - plagued by lag).

2. Animal Crossing: New Leaf

In stark contrast to Super Smash Bros. we have Animal Crossing: New Leaf. A peaceful game where you play as the Mayor of your own town and you get to customise pretty much everything about it. It's not as demanding as previous entries to the series (thank goodness), but AC:NL is seriously addictive, you have been warned.

3. Kid Icarus: Uprising

A brilliantly dynamic shoot 'em up with stunning visuals and a heap of weapons to unlock. The best part though is the dialogue between the characters as it's wonderfully scripted and well voiced. Some found difficulty with KI: Uprising because of it's unusual control scheme; you hold the console with one hand and tap the screen with your stylus to shoot, I can imagine it's difficult for smaller hands but for a big kid like me I didn't have a problem. There's a bundle available with a stand which should make things more comfortable.