Nintendo is known for innovating and starting trends with its consoles. The Wii launched a movement-based gaming frenzy, the Switch and Switch 2 are all about versatility thanks to its status as both handheld and home console, and even the Virtual Boy was ahead of its time. Basically, Nintendo’s consoles always do something new and interesting.
That was the case for the Nintendo 3DS. The handheld console took the established dual-screen handheld and added a 3-dimensional element. Unfortunately, the gimmick didn’t quite click in the industry and the 3D element was phased out along with the console around 2020. But the era of the 3DS left us with some fantastic games—including a whole list of great RPGs.
Etrian Odyssey IV
There were several Etrian Odyssey games released for the Nintendo 3DS, including the fourth and fifth entries in the franchise and some crossovers and spinoffs. The game that stands out as a classic, though, was Etrian Odyssey 4: Legends of the Titan.
The dungeon-crawling RPG sent parties to explore the underground Yggdrasil Labyrinth. The signature user-led map creation process worked well on the dual-screen format, letting players mark up and create the map in the touch screen section.
The title was published by Atlus in 2012 in Japan and 2013 in America and Europe and was the series’ first entry on the 3DS. This means it was a little less refined and lacked some quality of life additions made in later games. Despite this, Etrian Odyssey 4 remains the most beloved and highest-rated games in the entire series to this day.
Fire Emblem Awakening & Echoes
The Nintendo 3DS had two Fire Emblem games: Awakening (2013) and Echoes (2013). Both are listed here together because, despite offering different experiences, the two games are equally loved by fans.
Awakening had a wide range of customization and a solid foundation, which let players shape it into an experience that suited their skills and preferences. Echoes was a gorgeous title with full voice acting and beautiful art and designs, a grounded story, and the option to control two armies.
And of course, both games featured the tactical RPG and large-scale political conflict fans have come to expect from the franchise.
Bravely Default & Bravely Second: End Layer
Bravely Default is one of the best-known and most loved Nintendo 3DS games. The turn-based RPG was released in 2012 by Silicon Studio and Square Enix as a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, which is reflected in its use of crystals as a central mechanic.
The main characters adventure through the Bravely Default world to restore balance through the four elemental crystals. The game used a unique combat system that let players store action points (Default) to cash them out and perform multiple moves in a future turn (Brave).
Bravely Second: End Layer was a 2015 sequel that continued the story a few years after the end of the first. It brought back and improved on the combat system of the first game and is equally well-loved by fans.
Fantasy Life
The extremely popular 2025 Fantasy Life i can be traced back to the original 2012 Nintendo 3DS title. Published by Level-5 and featuring music by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu, this RPG put a cozy spin on the role-playing genre. Players could choose and freely switch between 12 “Lives” (aka classes), explore the world, terraform, and decorate their house.
Fantasy Life was a unique mix of Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing and classic Final Fantasy (with its morphing jobs system). At its core, it was a fairly simple game, but it ticked all the right boxes for some fans. The result was a game unlike any others that, for many, has no equal.
Ever Oasis
Ever Oasis is a lesser-known title from Koichi Ishii, who’s worked on big names like Final Fantasy and the Mana series. Like Fantasy Life, Ever Oasis had players exploring, fighting, and designing their homes while also helping the town’s residents. You play as a “Seedling” from the Great Tree, and team up with a water spirit to create a flourishing settlement around a desert oasis.
The title never became quite as popular as some of the other 3DS classics. Although it had quite a fun gameplay loop, the game was criticized for having a story on the shallower side and a slower pace than some other adventure RPGs. Despite this, it had plenty of fans, and holds its own at a decent rating of 76 on Metacritic.
Paper Mario: Sticker Star
Paper Mario: Sticker Star marked the first time that the papercraft adventure of the Mario brothers made its way to a handheld console. It might be ironic that the flat and 2-dimensional game ended up on the 3DS, but it worked.
The game featured a diorama-like world populated by stickers and folded paper. Everything from the main objective down to the combat was based on stickers. It’s not the best Paper Mario game, but it was definitely a 3DS RPG worth remembering for its fun and whimsy.
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team was the fourth game in the RPG series starring the world’s most iconic plumber duo. If you’re a Luigi fan, this was the game for you.
In it, Mario and Luigi traveled between the waking and dream worlds, where you could guide hundreds of tiny Luigis through 2D sections. As with the other Mario & Luigi titles, this one featured plenty of fun and whimsy, combined with a unique combat that integrated elements of the Dream world.
Shin Megami Tensei IV
Shin Megami Tensei is the sibling franchise of the more well-known Persona series—in fact, Persona is a spinoff of SMT. The fourth title was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013 and followed a young samurai in a medieval kingdom.
The protagonist and his allies soon discover that this is a world where over 400 demons can be summoned to fight by your side, and his home sits on the ruins of a high-tech and futuristic Tokyo. Demons can be fused together to create even more powerful forms for a dynamic and exciting entry into the Shin Megami Tensei universe.
Persona Q: Shadow Of The Labyrinth
Persona Q was a spiritual crossover between Persona and Etrian Odyssey, with team members from both franchises working on the game. The 2014 dungeon-crawling RPG merged characters from the 3rd and 4th Persona games into one experience.
Players led the cast of quirky characters through maps that they designed themselves, just like in Etrian Odyssey. The game’s vast replayability and option to follow the path of either the Persona 3 or 4 protagonists made it an expansive and exciting part of the Persona franchise.
Pokémon Sun & Moon And X & Y
The Nintendo 3DS gave rise to two of the most beloved Pokémon generations: the sixth generation with X & Y (2013) and the seventh in Sun & Moon (2016). X & Y was an adventure through an urban setting inspired by Paris, France. It introduced the Fairy type and Mega evolutions, and was the first game to let players customize their characters.
Sun & Moon, on the other hand, was a tropical adventure on an island based on Hawaii, where familiar Pokémon got new regional forms. It did away with HMs and gyms but added flashy Z-Moves. Both games felt fresh and new, and are considered by many to mark the end of an era for Pokémon and Game Freak.
Both game pairs are still a testament of why the Nintendo 3DS era continued Pokémon’s golden era.
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