Nintendo Badge Arcade

Nintendo Badge Arcade
Opening Menu showcasing the Arcade adorned with many Nintendo characters.
Developer(s)Nintendo SPD
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Shohei Mizutani
Producer(s)Kouichi Kawamoto
Designer(s)Hiromi Sugimoto
Koji Sonoyama
Programmer(s)Hirotake Matsushita
Masanori Unno
Artist(s)Koji Sonoyama
Hiromi Sugimoto
Arisa Yanagi
Writer(s)Atsuto Yagi
David Davoodi
Paul Merrill
Composer(s)
  • Masato Onishi
  • Daisuke Matsuoka
Platform(s)Nintendo 3DS
Release
  • JP: December 17, 2014
  • NA: November 10, 2015
  • PAL: November 13, 2015
Genre(s)Miscellaneous
Mode(s)Single-player

Nintendo Badge Arcade, known in Japanese as Badge Torēru Center (バッジとれ〜るセンター, Bajji Torēru Sentā, lit. "Collectible Badge Center"), was a freemium application developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS, allowing players to customize the 3DS home menu with badges.[1] The game launched in Japan in December 2014,[2] and worldwide in November 2015.[3]

Gameplay consisted of playing arcade crane-like games in hopes of acquiring badges, the game's main collectable. Badges were usually themed around other Nintendo properties, and once collected could be used to apply in the 3DS' HOME Menu. In addition to being decorative, some badges had special functions to them, such as launching applications and were compatible in other software as well.

In June 2017, due to constraints on the size of software save data, it was announced that updates to the service would be discontinued, although the service itself was still operational.[4] As of March 23, 2023, with the closure of the Nintendo 3DS eShop, it is no longer possible to buy additional plays & themes, as well as receive daily free plays. However, it was still possible to receive free plays from the game's Practice Catcher, and play for a very limited range of badges that were remaining. On April 8, 2024, the game shut down due to the discontinuation of online play on 3DS and Wii U, and the player is now met with an error message if they try to play the game.

  1. ^ Frank, Allegra (2015-11-11). "Nintendo Badge Arcade is Nintendo's latest free-to-play experiment". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2023-07-02. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  2. ^ "バッジとれ～るセンター｜ニンテンドー3DS｜Nintendo". Archived from the original on 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  3. ^ "Nintendo of America on Twitter". Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  4. ^ Frank, Allegra (2017-06-22). "Rest in peace, Nintendo Badge Arcade". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2019-10-31. Retrieved 2019-10-31.