Round Table: eShop Apps We’d Like to See

Since it launched early last summer, the eShop has amassed a healthy collection of new and classic games for 3DS owners to enjoy. While this steady supply of content certainly bodes well for the future of Nintendo’s distribution service, we couldn’t help but notice that, outside of a few DSiWare holdovers, it was still sorely lacking in the kinds of apps that have come to define smartphones and tablets, which is all the more apparent as those devices continue to encroach on the handheld market. We feel there is plenty of room for the system to grow in this regard, so a few of us have gathered together to discuss the kinds of apps that we would love to see come to the eShop.

Mel Turnquist

Pretty much I’d love to see more art-related apps. I’ve been playing the crap out of Colors! 3D for a while now, just drawing up anything that comes to mind. I’d love to see some kind of app that is like a comic creator thingie. Or at least something else art-related that can basically be some kind of offhanded Photoshop.

A new version of Flipnote Studio would be the perfect app for serial doodlers like Mel.

As for an app that is completely insane and wouldn’t probably ever exist at all, I wish there was one that you could get where you play a song into the mic of the 3DS and it can identify what song it is. And have it also be able to have users enter songs that haven’t yet been answered. It would be interesting. But once again, completely insane idea that would probably never happen.

As for one that sounds more sane, I’d also love to see some kind of app where you can have a calendar that you can write reminders on and whatnot. I mean the 3DS is basically a handheld that travels with you, right? What better place to jot down notes? We got note writing apps and calendar apps IIRC, but no apps that are calendars that you an write on. I dunno, I just think it’d be cool. Well unless if it already exists, then disregard.

Bradly Hale

As an avid reader of comics, I would love to have a Comixology app on my 3DS. I use it on both my Android and iPad, and find it to be the most effective way to read comics digitally. The problem is, my Android just isn’t big enough, and my iPad is sometimes to cumbersome to lug around with me. Thus, having it on my 3DS would be the perfect fit. Plus, with my stylus at the ready, I’d be able to flip between pages and panels very easily. That aside, I would also love to have an app akin to Raptr– or just have the Raptr app specifically– so I could keep up with all my friends on Steam, PSN, Xbox Live, and Facebook, without ever having to shut down my 3DS to open up the app on my laptop.

Last but not least, I’d really enjoy having something I’d call, “Nintendo Symphony.” Basically, it would be an app that compiles some of the most notable and recognizable Nintendo tunes into a one-stop shop. I’ve always felt that Nintendo games have some of the most magical music in all of gaming, so being able to turn on a radio station of sorts dedicated to only playing Big N jams would be pretty darn neat, if you ask me.

Katharine Byrne

I must admit, I’ve never been a huge fan of apps. Perhaps part of this app-athy (geddit?) stems from the fact I don’t own a smartphone or a tablet, but ever since Nintendo introduced the Pokédex 3D app right at the beginning of 3DS’s lifespan, I’ve slowly begun to appreciate their usefulness. It was really cool being able to see all the latest Pokémon in eye-popping 3D, but I think the best thing about it was having all that information about each individual Pokémon there in one place. There were base stats, move lists, evolution trees– you name it and it was there, and it’s this kind of all-encompassing info-at-your-fingertips idea that I’d like to be taken a step further in my dream app– a High Score Friends app.

We’ve already seen games like Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 pioneer this kind of thing in StreetPass, where the high scores and best times of strangers can be added to your game to give you extra incentive to beat them again, but I’d like to see all your friends’ high scores brought into the mix too. It would be a one-stop shop for all the high scores they’ve earned over their entire library of games, from individual stages and challenges to overall world scores, and you’d be able to browse and compare your scores with theirs at your leisure. Moreover, if you came across a friend’s score you really wanted to beat, there could even be an option to jump straight into that particular stage if the game cartridge was already in your 3DS. Take Kid Icarus: Uprising, for instance. As much as I love playing against my friends online in a Light Vs. Dark match or a Free For All, an app like this would finally let me compete against things like their single-player scores– info I wouldn’t normally have access to if I was playing against them online– and I think this kind of opportunity would really add something to the experience. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy‘s another game that could really do with an app like this, as this one doesn’t even have an online mode, and I’d really love to see how everyone manages on each individual challenge.

But just in case something like this is a little too much to ask, the second eShop app I’d like to see would be a compendium chronicling all 80,000 pieces of loot in Heroes of Ruin, complete with individual stats, monetary value and rarity amongst your friends. Now that would definitely be something I’d like to see!

Pages: 1 2