I am not much of a Nintendo guy nowadays, but played a lot of the N64 and especially Mario64 back then at a relatives. I had a WiiU for about a year, mainly for ZombiU which I really loved - I also think the current ports of this game are worse because they lack the Gamepad features.

Now I was ramping up my portable gaming, since having a Vita and starting to use it more I thought of mixing it up a bit and get into more Nintendo franchises finally. So I bought a New 3DS XL, upgraded the SD card and tried out a few demos (holy crap I need that Rhytm Heaven/Paradise game!!). I am quite happy with the system, while also being aware that every modern phone on the market has better hardware ;-) Quite annoyed about the late EU releases, especially with Picross 3D² and Rhytm Heaven, but what can you do...

I then kinda blindly bought those games from the eShop:
Resident Evil: Mercs 3D - long time RE fan, this is a neat game for short sessions.
Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - described below, my first real Zelda I guess.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam - always was interested in the M&L RPG series.
Hyrule Warriors: Legends

I thought I might get Hyrule Warriors because I am also slowly getting into Musou games (excited for the Berserk game!) and I quite enjoyed the Dynasty Warriors Next demo on the Vita.
So I booted up Hyrule Warriors and what more should I say than that I really love it so far and it's my most played game on the system yet. At first I thought the graphics are crap, but I kinda do not mind them now since the gameplay is really good and satisfying, plus the art redeems it a bit.

I played 3 or 4 story missions and have done some adventure mode missions. I really do love how those adventure missions are presented and that mode might become my go-to mode. I am not always in the clear what to do, especially with the map and ordering other characters, but I have not failed a mission yet. I guess I should not be surprised about the lack of coop on the 3DS, but it would have been nice to have.
Despite it being standard stuff, I actually also enjoy the story so far and want to know more about the characters - having never seriously played a Zelda game until now (ALBW is neat so far, but did not have much time yet), I guess I am missing some of the fan-service KOEI pout into this.

Should I stick to story mode to unlock new characters or try to do this in adventure mode? Are the characters only available in story mode and vice versa? Also WOW does the framerate tank when you enable 3D! So I leave it disabled for sure.

As always with my threads I apologize for my English ;-) Impressions may continue with the other games as well and I am open for suggestions

Beat the story, some characters cant be unlocked in adventure mode until you meet them in the story mode. I think. I could be wrong.

But awesome on diving in. Legends was the first handheld musou game I played where it felt like it actually worked out. (Oh, and playing it on New3DS means the frame rate actually is stable)

Snowybreak said:

Beat the story, some characters cant be unlocked in adventure mode until you meet them in the story mode. I think. I could be wrong.

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Yeah, you're right, so it may be a good idea to acquaint yourself with the game through Legends Mode.
Edit: Oops, rather, the spaces/areas cannot be accessed until the relevant character is unlocked in Legends
The other benefit is that enemy numbers tend to be high in those chapters, so leveling up and gathering materials is generally easier in those compared to missions.

derFeef said:

I guess I am missing some of the fan-service KOEI pout into this.

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Haven't played Legends, but the Wii U version is Zelda fanservice galore. From in-your-face references to barely notable details, the developers sure showed they love the series.

Also, yeah, it's a huge time sinker.

Yes you do need Rhythm Heaven stat

Been meaning to pick up the N3DS version, but if it's anything like the Wii U version most of your time will be spent in the adventure mode maps. Easily put 150+ hours into the Wii U version and was nowhere near content complete. It's a great game regardless of what most musou haters will say.

HW needs a sequel on NX.

The best Musou game ever.

I just got Linkle and wow she is fun, I might consider her my main now, if something like that exists I do really like that game, even if I failed a mission now as I was unsure what to do, there is also no combat or chat log, that owuld make things easier sometimes.

Boney said:

Yes you do need Rhythm Heaven stat

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Indeed

DownGrader said:

Haven't played Legends, but the Wii U version is Zelda fanservice galore. From in-your-face references to barely notable details, the developers sure showed they love the series.

Also, yeah, it's a huge time sinker.

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I am just unsure if I should consider it canon? Is is just the Zelda story, but from a much grander perspective?
Like... is Linkle really a little... bad with navigation?

derFeef said:

I am just unsure if I should consider it canon? Is is just the Zelda story, but from a much grander perspective?
Like... is Linkle really a little... bad with navigation?

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No, it's not canon at all, and the plot is mostly just a reason to bring as many characters as possible. There are still tons of references in locations, dialogues, and mission objectives.

I continue to love that game, even if I start to fail missions more frequently. It's not that bad since checkpoints are usually okay. I am looking forward to a sequel on the Switch
Linkle and Link are still my favourite characters. Lana is quite fun too.

I also played a bit more of A Link Between Worlds and I just got to the transform part. It's charming and the dungeon was cool, but it feels a bit too handholdy and straightforward, like the designers hand is pulling you into one direction the whole time. This can be great, but I prefer a more lose form of gameplay. Maybe I should play more before commenting on that

Paper Jam Bros is neat as well, but the side missions can be quite repetitive and too simplistic. Maybe I should have given Marion 3D Land the precedence.

derFeef said:

I continue to love that game, even if I start to fail missions more frequently. It's not that bad since checkpoints are usually okay. I am looking forward to a sequel on the Switch
Linkle and Link are still my favourite characters. Lana is quite fun too.

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You can also save in the pause menu at any time to make your own checkpoints.