9 Best Nintendo 3DS Compilation Games

Japan got these as two separate games. Puzzle & Dragons Z came out there on December 12, 2013, and the Super Mario Bros. Edition followed on April 29, 2015, as a standalone title. North America, Europe, Australia and South Korea got both on one cartridge on May 22, 2015, with Nintendo publishing it outside Japan. The puzzles play the same as in the mobile game, but Z adds role-playing elements such as towns and characters to talk to. Its music is by Kenji Ito and Yukio Nakajima.

If you only know the phone version, this is the one with a world to walk around in. Players still recommend it, mostly to people who like puzzle games with a bit of story and progress around them. The long name is a mouthful, but at least the box tells you exactly what is inside.

This collection puts classic virtual pinball machines from Williams Electronics' history on the 3DS. System 3 released it in PAL territories on June 17, 2011, under a different name, Williams Pinball Classics. The tables are recreations of real machines, so there is no story and no unlock tree to worry about. You pick a table and chase a high score.

Pinball suits a handheld well, because one ball lasts a few minutes and you can stop whenever the bus does. Players who want pinball on the 3DS keep pointing to this one. It is the kind of cartridge that stays in the system for years, because one more ball is always a good idea.

Pac-Man and Galaga are both arcade games from the early 1980s, and this set has the originals next to their modern updates, Pac-Man Championship Edition and Galaga Legions. Those two had first come out on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and they were added because neither had been on a handheld before. The original ports show a curved monitor and let you frame the screen with the cabinet of your choice, upright or tabletop. There is also Pac-Man Tilt, which grew out of its creator's fascination with the 3DS gyroscope.

Critics were mixed. They liked the emulation and the two modern games, but complained about the small screen resolution and the high price. 3D Impact took the hardest hit, with one review saying it felt "more like a virtual theme park attraction than a full game". Players are split the same way: some call it great, and others tell you to steer clear.

The Striker Pack is the cartridge with both Azure Striker Gunvolt games on it. The first came out on the 3DS eShop in August 2014, and the direct sequel, Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, followed in 2016. Both were made by Inti Creates, the studio behind the Mega Man Zero series and Mega Man ZX, and you can feel it within the first stage. Players who bought the first game at release also got Mighty Gunvolt for free, a crossover with Mighty No. 9 and Gal Gun.

Players who love fast 2D action on the 3DS tend to name the two games together, and the pack keeps turning up on their lists of favorites. If you finish the Mega Man collection further up this list and want more, this is where to go next. It is the closest the 3DS came to a new Mega Man Zero.

Angry Birds Trilogy has the first three games in the Angry Birds series by Rovio Entertainment, plus additional content. It came out on several platforms in late 2012, and it includes exclusive levels you cannot find in the original games. It also has a biography for most of the birds, which is more lore than anyone asked for. Most people alive in 2012 already knew how to play it.

Critics gave it a mixed reception, and the Nintendo 3DS version has a score of 62 based on 7 reviews. Players are kinder. They recommend it next to the bigger 3DS games and say it holds up better than a phone game on a handheld has any right to. It is the easy pick for a younger player, or for anyone who wants something to do in a waiting room.

Bit.Trip Saga collects the six games first released on the Wii's WiiWare service: Bit.Trip Beat, Core, Void, Runner, Fate and Flux. It came out on September 13, 2011 in North America, a year later in the PAL region from Rising Star Games, and in Japan from Arc System Works on July 10, 2013. All six have "simple graphics" and hard play tied to a soundtrack of bleeps in the style of the Atari 2600, which is a fair warning and a fair promise at once.

One review pointed out occasional problems with the 3DS controls and fewer extras than the Wii release, but still called it an entertaining collection well suited to the small screens of the 3DS. Players still recommend it. It is music and reflexes in one small package, and some of these games are hard enough to make you put the system down for a minute.

Digital Eclipse made Mega Man Legacy Collection, and it came out in 2015. The Legacy Collection volumes compile emulated versions of the first ten numbered Mega Man games, first released between 1987 and 2010, and only the first volume came to the Nintendo 3DS. That makes the 3DS cartridge the one with the earliest games in the series. It sold well enough that Capcom went on to make Legacy Collections for Mega Man X, Zero and ZX, Battle Network and Star Force.

The second volume was developed internally at Capcom and never reached the 3DS. Players do not seem to mind. They keep recommending this one to anyone building a 3DS library, and it shows up next to the big RPGs on lists of favorites. These are the games that made Mega Man, and they are as hard as you remember.

NES Remix started on the Wii U eShop on December 18, 2013, and NES Remix 2 followed on April 25, 2014. Both are mostly short excerpts from old NES games, plus remix stages that make challenges the originals could never offer. You might clear a darkened level lit only by a spotlight on your character, or play a Donkey Kong stage as Link, who cannot jump. Ultimate NES Remix is the Nintendo 3DS game, a select compilation of games and challenges from the first two Wii U releases.

Producer Yoshiaki Koizumi approved the idea, and Hayashida made the first 100 challenges of NES Remix by himself. Players recommend Ultimate NES Remix right next to the big Nintendo games. One player said it "has all the best challenges and a couple of extra features not in the Wii U version", and that is the whole case for it.

The Ace Attorney Trilogy is the first three Ace Attorney visual novel adventures in one package: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (2001), Justice for All (2002) and Trials and Tribulations (2004). It came out on the Nintendo 3DS first, on April 17, 2014, with art taken from the mobile port Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD (2012). You play a rookie lawyer who investigates crime scenes, then finds the contradictions in witnesses' testimonies in court.

Critics liked it, though they missed features such as a text log, and they were divided on the new graphics. As of June 2026, the compilation has sold five million copies and is among Capcom's best-selling titles. Players recommend it more than any other compilation on the 3DS, and they keep naming it among their favorite 3DS games.