Quarterly Report: The 25 Best Nintendo 3DS Games

Our "Quarterly Reports" provide a handy list of the 25 best games for each platform, both for the current year so far and for all time. There's a separate report for each platform, and they will be updated again during the first week in January.

Best-reviewed 3DS games of 2013 (as of October 1st)

Games released during the last three months (if any) are marked with a symbol.

	Game		Publisher	Metascore
1		Fire Emblem: Awakening	Nintendo	92
		This year's best-reviewed 3DS title (and the #2 game on the platform in any year), this tactical RPG is the 11th release in the Fire Emblem series.
1	Fire Emblem: Awakening		Nintendo	92
2	Animal Crossing: New Leaf		Nintendo	87
3	Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon		Nintendo	86
4	Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan		ATLUS	84
5	Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D		Nintendo	83
6	Shin Megami Tensei IV		ATLUS	83
7	SteamWorld Dig		Image & Form	82
8	Gunman Clive		Bertil Horberg	82
9	Mario & Luigi: Dream Team		Nintendo	81
10	Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millenium Girl		ATLUS	80
11	Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate		Capcom	79
12	Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move		Nintendo	78
13	Kokuga		G.Rev	77
14	Super Little Acorns 3D Turbo		Pixel Toys	77
15	Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale		Level 5	77
16	The Denpa Men 2: Beyond the Waves		Genius Sonority Inc.	76
17	Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Soul Hackers		ATLUS	75
18	Nano Assault EX		Majesco Games	74
19	HarmoKnight		Nintendo	73
20	Picross e		Jupiter Corporation	73
21	Inazuma Eleven 3: Bomb Blast		Nintendo	73
22	Mighty Switch Force! 2		WayForward	73
23	Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate		Konami	72
24	Ikachan		Nicalis	71
25	Inazuma Eleven 3: Lightning Bolt		Nintendo	71

Includes games released between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013 with at least seven reviews in our database. Note that games are ranked by Metascore prior to rounding. The Metascore is a weighted average of critic reviews on a scale of 0 (bad) to 100 (good). All scores are from October 1, 2013.

Best-reviewed 3DS games of all time

Games released during the last three months (if any) are marked with a symbol.

	Game	Publisher	Metascore
1	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (2011)	Nintendo	94
2	Fire Emblem: Awakening (2013)	Nintendo	92
3	Super Mario 3D Land (2011)	Nintendo	90
4	Pushmo (2011)	Nintendo	90
5	Colors! 3D (2012)	Collecting Smiles	89
6	Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (2012)	Aksys Games	88
7	Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2013)	Nintendo	87
8	Crashmo (2012)	Nintendo	86
9	Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (2013)	Nintendo	86
10	Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (2011)	Capcom	85
11	Mario Kart 7 (2011)	Nintendo	85
12	Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan (2013)	ATLUS	84
13	Kid Icarus: Uprising (2012)	Nintendo	83
14	Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (2013)	Nintendo	83
15	Shin Megami Tensei IV (2013)	ATLUS	83
16	VVVVVV (2011)	Nicalis	83
17	Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (2012)	Nintendo	82
18	Cave Story 3D (2011)	NIS America	82
19	Resident Evil: Revelations (2012)	Capcom	82
20	Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (2011)	Activision	82
21	Art of Balance Touch! (2012)	Shin'en	82
22	SteamWorld Dig (2013)	Image & Form	82
23	Gunman Clive (2013)	Bertil Horberg	82
24	Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone (2012)	Nintendo	81
25	Star Fox 64 3D (2011)	Nintendo	81

Games with fewer than 7 reviews are not eligible for inclusion.

For a complete list of all 3DS high (and low) scores, visit Metacritic's Nintendo 3DS section.