Nintendo Badge Arcade

Nintendo Badge Arcade
Why waste your money trying to win these virtual badges when you can play the whole thing for no cost at all? This makes EA's microtransactions feel normal by comparison.
Protagonist(s): Arcade Bunny Genre(s): Action Platform(s): Nintendo 3DS Release Date: JP: December 17, 2014 NA: November 10, 2015 PAL: November 13, 2015 Discontinuation: March 27, 2023 (Permanently closed) Developer(s): Nintendo SPD Publisher(s): Nintendo Country: Japan

Nintendo Badge Arcade was a 2014 game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It is a virtual UFO catcher that allows players to win badges to customize their 3DS' home menu. It was later localised in late 2015.

On March 27, 2023, the game shut down permanently due to the closure of the Nintendo 3DS eShop. However, a datamine suggests that users will still be able to open the game just so that they can access their badges and ask the Arcade Bunny questions regarding the badges users have already collected until Nintendo Network shut down in April 2024, rendering the game completely unusable by that point.

Why it Doesn't Deserve a Badge

1. The microtransaction system is at its absolute worst here, even for Nintendo standards. This is because after you play a certain number of times per day, it requires you to pay $1 in real money, to play the game about 5 times each, like on real claw games, despite this being a video game that only gives digital prizes for your hard earned money.
   • What's worse, the Arcade Bunny himself even tries to defend this system by saying that Nintendo has to pay money to make these badges, which is ironic.
   • If you do pay, the Arcade Bunny even tries to offer you more turns at a time as you go along, for more money, up to 20 turns at once for $4.
   • Overall, this isn't something even the infamous EA would be guilty of.
2. The game does not offer much in terms of gameplay at all, even if you pay for more turns on this game.
3. There are times where the game is quite rigged like the real thing, so that it's very hard to get certain badges, especially without paying.
4. The holiday badges are no longer obtainable as of 2017, making it impossible for completionists to beat the game 100%, in addition to the game's closure in March 2023.
5. Horrible loading screen times. You are often sitting in loading screens for about 5 minutes, or more, when you first play the game, or encounter a corrupted save file. More time is spent here than playing the game. It can be comparable to even Sonic '06.
6. When playing on the practice mode, it's very hard for you to actually obtain a decent number of free games, unless you get really lucky and get a super bonus on one of the dummy badges, which grants the player 3 turns.
7. Sometimes, the crane gets stuck, which is really annoying. This is blamed for poor level design.
8. It's very common for you to get duplicates on certain machines instead of the badge you don't have yet.
   • You don't even get a reward, which absolutely sucks, especially for people who don't pay for tries.
9. Since 2017, all the different layouts only last a day, unlike beforehand, where they used to last a whole week, making it even harder to complete certain sets.
10. Slippery controls, which is understandable since it's based on crane games, but come on!
11. There's no option to stock up tries. So if your 3DS dies, loses Wi-Fi, etc., you lose all your tries.
    • You also must use your free plays at startup, so it makes this game even slower.
12. Because this game is reliant on microtransactions and it needing a constant internet connection, this game will be permanently lost to time (aside from limited functionality regarding pre-collected badges) once the 3DS online features shut down in April 2024 (unless if Pretendo Network, a replacement for Nintendo Network games revives it), further emphasizing that the players wasted their money on this game all for nothing.

Good Qualities

1. You are able to earn free turns (up to 5 approximately) in this game through the practice mode, and as of 2017, you get 2 more each day to start off with. In fact, you could play the entire game for free if you know what you're doing.
2. You are able to use the badges you get, even for free, to customize your 3DS' home menu. Some of these badges even open applications. A lot of them are from Nintendo's most popular franchises and systems.
3. If you spend $2 on plays, every once in a while, you get a bonus theme for your 3DS' home menu at no additional cost. You can even get special Arcade Bunny themed badges by doing this.
4. If you are under 18, you will not be able to buy more than 500 turns per month.
5. Good graphics for a 3DS game released in 2014.
6. The soundtrack is immersive enough to make players feel like they're in an arcade.
7. The game is really fair most of the time, compared to the real thing.
8. If you used Swapdoodle, you could attach up to 4 badges to your notes, so you could show your friends your favorite badges, or make a funny drawing out of them.

Reception

The game received mixed to negative reviews from critics and fans for its money wasting mechanic, loading times, and more.

Trivia

• The game kept receiving new badges every week from 2014-2017, as they stopped adding content to game after that.

Tips

• Take advantage of your free plays and use them wisely, to assure that you complete your badge sets without paying.

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