15 Best Nintendo 3DS Action Games

Ever Oasis comes from Grezzo, the team behind Majora's Mask 3D, and it was directed by Koichi Ishii, known for his work on Final Fantasy and the Mana series. You play a Seedling who builds an oasis in the middle of a desert with help from villagers of other tribes. Fights happen in real-time combat while you switch between three party members. The villagers open shops that earn dewadems over time, and that money grows the town. It came out in June 2017, late in the system's life.

Some critics found the opening slow and the story shallow. Players who tried it liked it a lot more than that, and the town gives the dungeon crawling a reason. If you want puzzle-filled dungeons with a little shopkeeping on the side, this is a lovely surprise.

Hyrule Warriors started on the Wii U in 2014. Koei Tecmo's studios made it with supervision from Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma, and the idea is Zelda crossed with Dynasty Warriors: you play Link, Zelda, Midna and other heroes and cut down entire legions of enemies with huge moves. The 3DS got an updated port, Hyrule Warriors Legends, in 2016. Adventure Mode turns the map of the very first Legend of Zelda into a grid of missions, such as beating a set number of enemies within a time limit.

Critics liked the mix and called the gameplay repetitive, and both are fair. Players who recommend Legends call it a pure brawler built on fast action. Go in wanting to mow down a few thousand Moblins and you will have a great time.

Majora's Mask 3D is a remake of the Nintendo 64 game from 2000, and it changed more than you might expect. The Song of Double Time now skips ahead to any hour you like, where the original only jumped in six-hour steps. The save system was rebuilt too. On the N64 you could only save for good by restarting the three-day cycle.

The changes came from a "what in the world" list of moments in the N64 version that felt unreasonable and alienating, and the team at Grezzo kept adding to it from their own replays. North America also got a special edition with a Skull Kid figurine. It is the strangest, saddest Zelda, and the 3DS version is the friendliest way to find out why people love it so much.

Star Fox 64 3D is a remake of the N64 game with a complete graphical update. It came out in Japan on July 14, 2011, and in other markets in September. Europe and Australia knew the original as Lylat Wars, but the remake uses the Star Fox 64 name in all regions. The d-pad handles somersaults and U-turns, and you can zoom in and out from the Arwing in All-Range Mode.

Critics praised its attention to detail and the full recreation of the original. It joined the Nintendo Selects range in Europe in October 2015, which meant global sales of over 1 million units. Players still recommend it next to the bigger games on this list. A second remake, simply called Star Fox, released on June 25, 2026.

Code of Princess plays very much like the Sega Saturn game Guardian Heroes, and that is no accident. Tetsuhiko Kikuchi, the director and character designer of Guardian Heroes, worked on it with lead programmer Masaki Ukyo. It mixes the combo-heavy fighting of a beat 'em up with the stat-boosting character customization of RPGs. Atlus USA gave the North American release a full localization, English voice acting included.

Hold on to that voice acting. When the game later came out on PC, the new publisher Degica kept only the translated text and dropped the English voices. Players recommend it as a fun action game that is mostly about beating up bad guys, which is a fine thing for a game to be about.

Revelations was made to bring the series back to its horror roots after the survival action of Resident Evil 5. Most of it takes place on a cruise ship, chosen for its claustrophobic corridors and its isolation in the middle of the ocean. You play through a series of episodes that involve solving puzzles and defeating enemies. It was also the first game to support the Circle Pad Pro outside Japan.

Critics praised its spooky setting and sound direction, while the episodes were criticized as inconsistent. A high-definition version came out for Windows and the home consoles in 2013. Players say it plays like a real Resident Evil, closer to the older games than to the action-movie ones. On a handheld in 2012, that felt like a small miracle.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is the version called Monster Hunter 4G in Japan. You play a hunter who joins a traveling caravan. Hundreds of quests send you after giant creatures, and what you carve off them becomes weapons and equipment. Director Kaname Fujioka gave Monster Hunter 4 a larger focus on adventure and story progression than earlier games, with several base camps and the largest cast of characters the series had seen.

The big change was online play. Monster Hunter 4 was the first handheld Monster Hunter with fully integrated online multiplayer, where earlier games needed a PlayStation 3 or Wii U to link up over the internet. Hunting with friends over the internet, straight from a 3DS, was a big deal. It was nominated for Best Mobile/Handheld Game at The Game Awards 2015.

Final Fantasy Explorers is a monster hunt built from Final Fantasy parts. You master over 20 jobs, including series classics like Dragoon, Dark Knight, Black Mage and White Mage. You can call on the powers of eidolons like Ifrit and Bahamut, and you can even recruit the monsters you beat to fight for you. The Trance feature turns you into series heroes such as Cloud, Squall and Lightning. It came out in Japan in December 2014 and in North America and Europe in January 2016.

Reviews were middling, with a 69 on Metacritic, though IGN called it a "charming little adventure" to play alone or with friends. The fans it has are loyal and few. One player described themselves as "one of the six or seven fans of Final Fantasy Explorers who exist", and still the game ranks above Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on this list.

Cave Story was made by one person. Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya programmed it, illustrated it, designed it, wrote the story and composed the music in his free time over five years, and it was released on December 20, 2004 for Microsoft Windows. It became an influence on indie games as a whole. The 3DS got it twice: Cave Story 3D, a remake by Nicalis and NIS America, in November 2011, and the original game with added content in October 2012.

There is no tutorial, because Amaya dislikes them. The first level gives you two paths instead, and one stays blocked until you find an item on the other. You play a robot crossing a strange world with a gun and a lot of nerve. Players still recommend it on the 3DS, so pick whichever art style you like.

Ocarina of Time 3D is a remake of the N64 classic, released in June 2011. Most textures are much more detailed, and the frame rate went up to 30 frames per second from the original's 20. It also added a mirrored version of the rearranged Master Quest dungeons and a new Boss Challenge mode. Music still drives the whole adventure, since you have to learn songs on the ocarina to move forward.

Eurogamer gave it a perfect score and called it one of the greatest games on 3DS. It sold over 6.44 million copies worldwide by December 2022, making it the thirteenth best-selling 3DS game, and in Japan it helped the 3DS take the top spot on the hardware chart after 12 weeks. If you have never played it, this is the version to play.

Dream Drop Distance is the seventh game in the Kingdom Hearts series. Square Enix decided to make it after being impressed by the 3DS hardware, and the team increased the action, building on the combat system from Birth by Sleep. You play as both Sora and Riku, back in their younger forms from the first Kingdom Hearts. Each world starts with a Dive, a freefall down a tube where you have to clear an objective, such as defeating a set number of enemies in a time limit.

Critics praised the gameplay and graphics and had notes about the plot. This is Kingdom Hearts, so of course they did. It sold over 250,000 copies in its Japanese debut and 180,000 in the US. Unlike the other main games, which are packed with Final Fantasy characters, only a Moogle shows up.

LBX follows Van Yamano, a boy who finds a complex, customizable, palm-sized robot and uses it to take down an evil corporation called the New Dawn Raisers. It came out in Japan on July 5, 2012, and North America only got it on August 21, 2015. It is the third game in the Little Battlers Experience series and the only one ever officially released in English. You also team up with characters from the TV series it is based on.

Players who found it say it was badly overlooked and far more intense than it looks. One reviewer called the plot better than expected, if "not exactly War and Peace". Building your robot out of parts and then breaking someone else's is the whole joy of it, and the 3DS has nothing else quite like it.

Samus Returns is a remake of Metroid II, Samus Aran's 1991 Game Boy adventure. Longtime producer Yoshio Sakamoto oversaw it, and MercurySteam originally pitched a remake of Metroid Fusion before Sakamoto suggested remaking Metroid II instead. In the old game Samus could only fire at fixed angles. Here she can fire freely in any direction, and she gets new Aeion abilities that use an energy gauge.

Many critics called it a return to form for the series, though some criticized the controls and the counterattack. It won Best Handheld Game at The Game Awards 2017. Players name it among the first games to get for 3DS action, and it is a great entry point into the Metroid franchise if you have never played one.

Tales of the Abyss was first published by Namco in Japan in December 2005 on the PlayStation 2, in celebration of the series' 10th anniversary. The 3DS port came out in Japan in June 2011 and in North America in February 2012, redesigned for the dual screens with stereoscopic 3D. You follow Luke fon Fabre, sole heir to the throne of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, who was kidnapped as a child and lost all memories of his childhood. He has been kept at home ever since.

Free Run lets the player character run in any direction, unlike previous Tales games, and during Over Limit you can unleash Mystic Artes. Critics praised the combat system and said the plot had a tendency to move slowly. When players ask for a true action RPG on the 3DS, this is the game they keep getting pointed to.

Over a meal, Satoru Iwata asked Masahiro Sakurai to develop a launch title for the Nintendo 3DS, and Sakurai became the first person outside the company to learn the system existed. The result was Kid Icarus: Uprising, the first new Kid Icarus since 1991 and the only game Project Sora made before shutting down in mid-2012. The goddess Palutena grants Pit flight for limited stretches, so he shoots down swarms of enemies in the air, then lands for frantic ground battles against Medusa's army.

A team of composers worked on the music, including Motoi Sakuraba and Yuzo Koshiro. It sold over a million copies, and reviews praised nearly everything except the control scheme. Players say the controls take some getting used to and the game is worth it anyway. It is the 3DS action game players recommend more than any other.