The Best 3DS RPGs list is one that’s full of absolutely amazing games, as the 3DS console played host to a huge range of critically lauded titles in the genre.
The dual screen nature of the console was perfect for RPGs, with the lower screen allowing for some inventive and helpful use of mechanics familiar to the RPG genre, such as inventory management, move selection for combat and maps to aid in exploration, without losing immediate access to the action that would often be featured on the upper, 3D-enabled display.
The 3DS had quite a history – launching in 2011, it saw various models released, including one with enhanced technical capabilities (New Nintendo 3DS), along with one variation that didn’t even use 3D at all (the 2DS, aimed at kids for whom the 3D effect was seen as potentially harmful) and finally ceasing production in 2020 – and it really did play host to some absolutely amazing and very varied RPG experiences.
Let’s take a look at the very best 3DS RPGs, shall we? Note: the games in this list are ranked according to their Metacritic ratings, which are listed for further reference alongside each game’s information.
15. Shin Megami Tensei IV (2013)
Metacritic Rating: 83
The Shin Megami Tensei series is a genuine phenomenon – and has been running for a lot longer than many people realise.
The very first entry (based on science fiction novels by Aya Nishitani that are little-known outside Japan) arrived on the Famicom in 1987 – and the latest game in the series, Shin Megami Tensei V, is due for release in 2021.
The series features turn-based battles and a deep, evolving lore that is fairly impenetrable to newcomers – with this particular entry featuring a post-apocalyptic setting that has both medieval and more modern styles represented in the world.
Shin Megami Tensei IV is held in extremely high regard by fans of the series thanks to its outstanding combat system, so it’s no surprise to see it featured on a list of the Best 3DS RPGs.
14: Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (2016)
Metacritic Rating: 84
With the previous entry being such a huge hit both critically and commercially, Shin Megami Tensei publisher Atlus unsurprisingly released a sequel three years later, again on the 3DS.
The slightly confusing naming convention is due to the fact that Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is set in the same post-apocalyptic world as the prior game, but in an alternate timeline (and featuring a new main character).
Though many of Shin Megami Tensei IV’s mechanics and enemies were carried over to Apocalypse, critics praised the game for making a number of quality-of-life improvements to the mechanics that gave players a more refined experience.
Sales were unfortunately much lower for Apocalypse, however – perhaps due to the fact that players were confused by the title, which does give the impression that it’s an upgrade or some sort of expansion, rather than an entirely new game.
13: Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan (2013)
Metacritic Rating: 84
Like the Shin Megami Tensei series, the Etrian Odyssey games are published by Atlus. Though the Etrian Odyssey games are much fewer in number than Atlus’s perennially popular Shin Megami Tensei titles, they’re nonetheless held in similarly high regard by RPG players.
The first three titles in the series were released on the Nintendo DS, with the first game arriving relatively recently in 2007.
The Etrian Odyssey titles are old-school dungeon crawling games, with a high difficulty level despite the beautiful visual design that they feature.
Etrian Odyssey IV was the first to be released on the 3DS and the first to feature animated 3D enemies. The game’s initial release even saw it packaged with a CD soundtrack and art book, showcasing the game’s lavishly designed world and characters.
12: Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr’s Journey (2019)
Metacritic Rating: 84
The Mario & Luigi series is just one of the RPG spin-off series that the Super Mario Bros – known most famously for their platforming antics – have featured in.
The Mario & Luigi games first appeared on the Game Boy Advance with Superstar Saga way back in 2003, and that first game received a 3DS remake with a number of enhancements.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr’s Journey is a remake of the 2009 DS original, which features similar improvements to the Superstar Saga remake – including an entirely new side story (Bowser Jr’s Journey).
Sadly, despite critical acclaim, this game sold poorly and series developers AlphaDream declared bankruptcy shortly after it released.
Though of course Nintendo do own the rights to the series, the loss of the developers and the poor commercial performance of this remake may mean that we’ve seen the last of these RPGs for the foreseeable future.
11: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker (2015)
Metacritic Rating: 84
As mentioned in the previous two entries for Shin Megami Tensei games on this list, the series has always been highly acclaimed from a critical standpoint, so it’s no surprise to see another title from the series on the list of best 3DS RPGs.
This particular title is an enhanced port of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2, which originally appeared on the DS (between 2011-2013 depending on your region).
The Devil Survivor games are tactical RPGs, taking place in modern Japan – featuring demon-summoning high school students fighting off mysterious invaders.
Despite a high difficulty level, the game was critically praised for its depth and addictive gameplay, traits which the Shin Megami Tensei series have long been known for.
10: Pokémon Ultra Sun/Moon (2017)
Metacritic Rating: 84
Since the very first entries exploded onto Game Boy screens way back in 1996 (reaching the West in 1998), the Pokémon franchise has become an absolutely unstoppable juggernaut.
Since then, Pokémon has remained popular with a huge number of audiences across a wide variety of media – encompassing the original medium of video games, as well as animated series (with periodic reboots to keep it fresh), manga, animated movies, toys, a trading card game and even a live action Hollywood blockbuster (with 2019’s Detective Pikachu).
Central to its appeal is the collecting of a huge variety of creatures, with each release split into two versions – and trading between friends being critical to completing each game’s collection of in-game monsters.
Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were a refinement of 2016’s Sun and Moon releases on 3DS – and were the last main Pokémon releases before the series shifted over to the Nintendo Switch.
Despite the long-running nature of the series, Ultra Sun and Moon’s sales – it was the highest-selling video game in Japan for 2017 – demonstrated that the series remains hugely popular.
9. Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (2018)
Metacritic Rating: 85
Another expanded remake of a DS RPG, Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology is another highly regarded Atlus title (seriously, can those guys do no wrong when it comes to RPGs?), showcasing their usual sumptuous production values, detailed lore and compellingly deep gameplay mechanics.
Though Japanese RPGs are usually notable for being fairly linear from a story perspective, Radiant Historia attempts to circumvent this with branching, time travel elements – though ultimately, linearity is still a factor.
The turn-based arena battle system was particularly well-received by critics and audiences but despite the game’s reception it’s never received a sequel, which is unusual for RPGs, let alone ones held in such high regard.
8. Bravely Default (2014)
Metacritic Rating: 85
Initially starting production as a Final Fantasy title, Square Enix’s Bravely Default became an entirely unrelated, separate title by the time it released – though it does share visual and design elements with the ever-popular Final Fantasy series.
Bravely Default’s strong critical and commercial reception has seen it fondly remembered by players – and there’s even been a sequel released in 2021 on Nintendo Switch.
7. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (2017)
Metacritic Rating: 85
Though this list isn’t short of entries from franchises that have been in existence for decades, perhaps one of the best known and most successful series – outside of Final Fantasy – is Square Enix’s Dragon Quest.
This entry was originally released on the PS2 to widespread acclaim and commercial success way back in 2004 – and, though the turn-based combat remained, it was the first game in the series to feature full 3D environments and characters.
The 3DS remake features more content and new features, such as a quick save system, to make this a superior version of the fondly-remembered PS2 original. It’s by far one of the best Dragon Quest games of all time.
6: Monster Hunter Generations (2016)
Metacritic Rating: 85
Capcom’s action RPG series, Monster Hunter, began on PS2, with a high level of online functionality at a time when connecting consoles to the web was still fairly uncommon.
The 3DS was built with lots more connectivity in mind, however, including innovative and addictive StreetPass features which triggered whenever you came into contact with another 3DS player.
Generations was intended as a celebration of the series, with a ‘greatest hits’ feel and an increased focus on customisation and flexibility.
The series is still incredibly popular even today; the latest release, Monster Hunter Rise, released on the Switch in March 2021 and sold 1.3 million units in Japan alone during its first week on sale – demonstrating that the appetite for monster hunting on the move is still as strong as ever.
5: Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (2015)
Metacritic Rating: 86
Part of the ‘Xeno’ family of titles – comprising Xenogears (released on PlayStation in 1998), the Xenosaga series (with six games released between 2002-2006, all for PS2) and the Xenoblade Chronicles games – the first game in the Xenoblade Chronicles series was originally released for Nintendo Wii in 2010.
This entry is one of the few games that is only compatible with the New Nintendo 3DS – due to the size and scope of the game, it simply wouldn’t have been possible to include the ambitious port on the original, less technically capable 3DS hardware.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3D impresses – particularly in relation to many of the more traditional Japanese RPGs on the 3DS – thanks to its open, less linear nature, as well as just the fact that it exists at all on Nintendo’s relatively humble (if slightly enhanced) handheld is in itself a very impressive achievement.
4. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (2015)
Metacritic Rating: 86
Unsurprisingly given its enduring popularity, Monster Hunter appears on this list twice – with mainline series title Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate just outranking sister title Monster Hunter Generations.
Though some critics did mention that this particular series entry didn’t do anything new, they did acknowledge that it did everything it set out to do very well indeed.
In fact, at the time of release, it was said by numerous reviewers that this was the best game in the series.
Though since surpassed, it’s undeniable that the 3DS still plays host to more than one fantastic version of everyone’s favourite giant monster slaying action RPG.
3. Pokémon Sun/Moon (2016)
Metacritic Rating: 87
With Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon already featuring on this list, it’s probably not a surprise to see their immediate predecessors here too.
Following a tradition set early on with the Pokémon games, which released as a pair of titles, then following up with an enhanced version soon after, the Ultra variation saw Sun and Moon slightly enhanced, though the titles are broadly the same from a story perspective.
The higher ranking on this list for the non-enhanced titles shows that the new elements probably weren’t enough to justify the purchase of both – and with Sun/Moon arriving first, it likely soaked up the critical praise that became slightly jaded when the Ultra versions were released just a year later.
2. Pokémon X/Y (2013)
Metacritic Rating: 88
The mainline Pokémon series games spent nearly two decades as 2D, top down RPGs in a very traditionally 8-bit/16-bit style; it wasn’t until the arrival of Pokémon X and Y in 2013 that they finally became more contemporary in style, using fully 3D polygonal visuals for the very first time.
Not only were they excitingly up-to-date from a technical point-of-view, but also some mechanics brought the games firmly out of the past too, with trainer customisation and touchscreen interaction with Pokémon too.
Unsurprisingly, the long-awaited Pokémon X and Y were huge critical and commercial successes (though, oddly, the two versions score slightly differently in Metacritic’s rankings, for no obvious reason!).
1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (2013)
Metacritic Rating: 91
Though there’s some debate about whether or not The Legend of Zelda games are RPGs – they don’t feature turn-based battles or levelling up at least in a traditional sense – the strong sense of progression, large open worlds and upgrading equipment and dungeon conquering does mean it has many aspects familiar to the genre.
And let’s face it, they’re absolutely stunning games for the most part. A Link Between Worlds is no exception, with the game making exceptionally good use of the opportunities afforded by the stereoscopic capabilities of the 3DS.
A Link Between Worlds is a sort of indirect sequel to beloved SNES classic, A Link to the Past (still widely regarded as one of the best games ever made) and it’s a worthy tribute to its 16-bit ancestor.
Beautifully designed, inventive in terms of its mechanics and wonderfully absorbing, it absolutely deserves its place at the top of the list for Best 3DS RPGs and sits at the top of our best Nintendo 3DS games of all time.
Jason – who lives in the UK – has had a lifelong interest in video games, which all started when he discovered Space Invaders in the early 80s. The first game he ever completed was Wonder Boy in Monster Land on the Sega Master System – which remains one of his proudest gaming achievements. Jason is a passionate writer – and has been writing about gaming since the late 90s. He currently runs pop culture blog midlifegamergeek.com, which he updates on a daily basis (and has written more than 700 articles on the blog alone!).
Outside of video games, Jason is a keen tabletop gamer, film buff and comic book fan.
