"What games define the DS?"

This is an easy question to answer in hindsight. The DS was home to many games, but the ones that defined its success are Nintendo's touch-screen experiments like Nintendogs and Brain Training, their revival of classic 2D Mario games, a few unique new IP (Professor Layton, Tomodachi Collection), some old IP given new life (Ace Attorney, Animal Crossing), a lot of Square Enix remakes, and of course Pokemon.

It may seem a bit early to ask the same question of the 3DS, but almost three years after launch, I think it's fair. Nintendo has released loads of games, and it's easy enough to see which ones are going to be the most successful.

The DS library was distinct from the GBA library. The two are nothing alike. So I want to know what games you guys think make the 3DS library unique and distinct from the DS library? Or is the 3DS just the DS-part-2? Is the 3DS library just a continuation of the DS library, now in 3D?

What games define the 3DS?

Let's put it this way, if Nintendo released the 3ds with 3 launch titles and no other games EVER, it still would have been a success if they were Animal Crossing New Leaf, Monster Hunter 4, and the soon to be released x/y.

Definitely the social games. Between Streetpass, improved connectivity and the rise of social networks, this generation is going to be all about Animal Crossing and Pokemon and whatnot.

The 3d traditional cartoony Nintendo games.

I gotta say the small eshop games and smart streetpass implementation in some others.

the 3d is a nice feature, but I think its not the main focus for programming. It's just a nice bonus to have on the pricier model, if it grinds your gears.

The 3DS has been out for nearly 3 years? Time goes to damn quick!