Should I Keep My 3DS Pre-Order?

With exactly one month until the March 27th North American launch of the Nintendo 3DS, I find myself asking, “Should I keep my pre-order?” When the system first became available to pre-order on Amazon, I immediately put in my order. Now as the release date quickly approaches and more details emerge, I've started to question if I really need to have the 3DS at launch.

I first began to wonder if I should keep my pre-order when the final list of launch games was announced. Not one of the games on that list is a game that I'm dying to play, much less one I want to spend $40 to own. (And that's just the suggested price for first-party games. Rumors say some third-party games would be approaching console game prices at $50.) The first-party offerings are Pilotwings Resort, submarine game Steel Diver, and three different versions of Nintendogs + Cats. The third-party releases include a slew include of ports ranging from Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition to The Sims 3.

The game I'm most looking forward to is Kid Icarus: Uprising, a game I've been waiting for since it was first hinted in Super Smash Bros. Brawl that the series would be waiting a long-overdue return. That game, along with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, and a new Mario Kart entry were given the ambiguous release dates of “before the end of the year.” I feel that the 3DS could have greatly benefited by having a major first-party release at launch, even if it was yet another Nintendo 64 port.

Despite the relatively weak launch titles and high cost of the device ($250 is more than a Wii and a 4GB Xbox 360), what is going to keep me from canceling my pre-order is the bright future the 3DS will see once the system gets out of the initial stage of gimmicky, quick ports of existing games and shovelware. The DS went through a phase like that, with most early adopters of the system only owning Super Mario 64 DS for several months after release until developers got more creative and began to put more focus on the games themselves rather than gimmicks. Also, when the must-own game does get released, likely around the holidays, I don't want to be fighting small children and angry mothers to grab the last 3DS off the store shelf.

So, if you're pre-ordering the 3DS, what are your reasons? And if you're staying far away, would you consider it if the Nintendo 3DSi XXL came out?