Nintendo Badge Arcade

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Nintendo Badge Arcade is a Free-to-play application for the Nintendo 3DS. It involves the player playing a selection of Claw crane games that can be used to decorate the HOME Menu of the Nintendo 3DS. More badges were occasionally released through weekly updates, until new badge additions were discontinued on May 26th, 2017 in Japan,^[1] on June 22nd, 2017 in North America,^[2] and on June 23rd, 2017 in Europe.^[3]

Corresponding to the closure of the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShops on March 27th, 2023, the selection of badge catchers no longer rotates daily, and the ability to purchase plays was deactivated. Free plays can still be won through the daily practice catcher, and all previously-collected badges can still be accessed.

Relevance to The Legend of Zelda[]

The following The Legend of Zelda games have had sets of badges based on sprites and artwork:

The Legend of Zelda
The Adventure of Link (As part of the NES Remix set)
A Link to the Past
The Wind Waker HD
A Link Between Worlds
Majora's Mask 3D (Some characters' artwork is from Majora's Mask)
Tri Force Heroes
Twilight Princess HD (Some characters' and items' artwork is from Twilight Princess)
Breath of the Wild

The now-permanent selection of badge catchers includes three catchers from the Majora's Mask 3D set and two from the A Link Between Worlds set. Several other sets contained The Legend of Zelda-related badges. A set titled "The Legend of Zelda - 30th Anniversary" contained artwork of Link from nearly every game in the series, while badges with pixelated sprites of various The Legend of Zelda characters were available in the Super Mario Maker set.^[4]^[5] Several badges of The Legend of Zelda game cartridges could be found in the "Pixel Collection" set, and several badges from the "amiibo" set featured The Legend of Zelda characters. Five badges from the The Legend of Zelda set and two badges of FDS Disk Cards from the "Pixel Collection" set are unavailable outside of Japan.

NBA Exclusive Theme — Arcade Bunny advertising an exclusive HOME Menu theme

Some "collaboration" badges were also available, featuring characters from Animal Crossing, Swapdoodle, the WarioWare series, and Nintendo Badge Arcade itself dressed as characters from The Legend of Zelda.^[6] Link also appeared riding the Master Cycle in the Mario Kart 8 set, as a puppet in the Cat Mario set,^[7] and as badges within badges in the Nintendo Badge Arcade set. Several sets of Zelda game badges also included "launcher" badges, which resemble the icons of various built-in Nintendo 3DS apps, remade in the style of those games.

Link also appears on the application's title screen in his The Wind Waker HD appearance as part of the Badge Arcade's marquee, and on the loading screen in his The Legend of Zelda appearance. Once loaded, the application is hosted by an anthropomorphic pink rabbit named Arcade Bunny, who would often make spoken references to The Legend of Zelda when introducing new sets of badges or showcasing the customized HOME Menus that users had shared on Miiverse. Arcade Bunny has made use of quotes such as "I am Error" in his greeting monologues,^[8] and would frequently comment on his favorite characters and other aspects of the series.

Several of the badge catchers included gimmicks which recreate or allude to gameplay elements from the original games. For instance, in a catcher set inside a Dungeon from The Legend of Zelda, the badge of Aquamentus could only be collected by knocking the badge of Link's Sword Beam into it from the opposite side of the screen. A few other The Legend of Zelda catchers mimicked the layout of the Shops found inside caves. Another catcher based on Majora's Mask 3D features several Mask badges along the floor and a badge of the Moon suspended higher up; moving the claw too far will cause the Moon badge to fall onto the Masks, making them more difficult to collect.

An exclusive A Link Between Worlds HOME Menu Theme, featuring a brick wall suitable for Painting-style badges, could only be purchased through the application.^[9]

Gallery[]

Badge catcher featuring A Link Between Worlds character and Triforce badges
Badge catcher featuring A Link Between Worlds Sage badges
Badge catcher featuring Majora's Mask 3D Link badges
Badge catcher featuring Majora's Mask 3D launcher badges
Badge catcher featuring Majora's Mask 3D Mask and Moon badges
Arcade Bunny statue featuring badges of Princess Zelda, the Moon, and three Links
The Arcade Bunny says an iconic The Legend of Zelda quote, "It's a secret to everyone!"