Does anyone still StreetPass... IN 2023??!!??!!??

[McQ]

I got my 3DS relatively recently on eBay, way after people had stopped carrying them about, so I always thought I'd never achieve a hit on StreetPass, a fact I was deeply disappointed about, but when they announced the eShop was closing down, I decided I needed to download all the StreetPass Mii Plaza DLC, just in case. I had to stage a StreetPass with friend because the StreetPass Mii Plaza Bunny wouldn't let me download the DLC until I'd got my first hit (dude didn't seem to sense the urgency of the situation, as the eShop was closing in a matter of days), and once I'd done that, I decided to go all-in and started carrying my 3DS around with me everywhere I go. Partially for the Play Coins, but also to see if I could get any Street Passes... IN 2023??!!??!!??

And it's been a partial success. I got my first two real-world StreetPasses at the Mario movie, and then another one on a train somewhere in Yorkshire, one in Paris, and then a steady stream of hits here and there, and at the last count, I had seventeen StreetPasses for the year. Three of those were arranged with friends, but the rest were genuine, chance happenings. Obviously nowhere near the heights of the peak 3DS era, but much higher than I imagined would be the case. Think there was a bit of hype around StreetPass due to some YouTubers trying to encourage people to keep StreetPass going. I was averaging one hit every two weeks or so for a while, but it's tailed off quite a bit recently. I did go to see a piano recital of Zelda music at the Hallé St Peter's earlier in the year, and was convinced that I'd hit the jackpot there, but came away completely empty-handed. That was probably my biggest disappointment of the whole experiment. I even joined a Discord where people talk about StreetPass but left because some of the people on there were a bit literal. (I made a joke along the lines of WHAT KIND OF PERSON GOES TO SEE YO LA TENGO AND DOESN'T BRING THEIR 3DS WITH THEM and someone started lecturing me about all the reasons why not).

Anyway, since it's tailed off so much recently, I thought I'd come on here and see if anyone else is still keeping the dream alive. And also, to encourage people to start bringing their 3DS out with them again. There's no greater joy than pulling your 3DS out of its case and seeing that green LED lit up.

I hope Nintendo bring it back for Switch 2.

[oggyraiding]

I was a big fan of Streetpass Mansion. StreetPass is such a cool feature, I went to a big gaming event in 2012 and racked up dozens of hits. And one time I inadvertently ended up StreetPassing a friend I hadn't seen in years. I don't know if it'd work as well with a Switch or its successor, as they're bigger (and flimsier if anything like the current Switch model), so less convenient to carry around day to day.

[Midas]

Switched mine off

Had hundreds of passes back in the day, but it's all in the past, old boy

[lazyhour]

I got back into playing my New 3DS XL™ recently, but I'm afraid I've never used StreetPass or even understood what it is.

And now I feel like it's too late for me to ask.

[C_Larence]

My 3DS bricked sadly, I must get around to buying a new one because I'd modded it then never played any of the couple of dozen games I downloaded. There was another feature on it where you could send hand drawn mail to friends, I received some really artistic messages. They shut it down relatively early into the console's life for some reason.

EdIt: oh yeah, Streetpass. I liked the 3D puzzles.

[Midas]

There was another feature on it where you could send hand drawn mail to friends, I received some really artistic messages. They shut it down relatively early into the console's life for some reason.

That was Nintendo Letter Box

It was abruptly shut down because some children in Japan shared their friend codes with randoms online and ended up getting sent porn

Shame, as it was a fun little app

[McQ]

And now I feel like it's too late for me to ask.

If we are to be in the vicinity of one another in the future, I will demonstrate. (For it is a vicinity-based technology.)

[lazyhour]

If we are to be in the vicinity of one another in the future, I will demonstrate. (For it is a vicinity-based technology.)

I hope so. I do miss you :-(

[buntyman]

I've had my 3DS for a bit over a year now and it's definitely the best handheld console I've ever had. Especially hacked so that I've got all the best games for it without having to carry the little cartridges about.
I've never used the Streetpass myself but I would imagine it's still used - I've witnessed a new craze of young people using 3DSs at concerts to take low quality photos at gigs - saw multipe people doing that at 100 Gecs and Earl Sweatshirt. Anyone else aware of this?

[Cloud]

I last brought one along to a convention maybe 2-3 years ago and was still getting hits.  I think it's one of those habits geeky types will always have, just to throw it into their bag for things like cons just to see if anyone else still is. 

I think my message is my Twitter handle which is deleted to death now. 

[AzureSky]

I bought Tri-Force Heroes for the 3DS in 2021 and there was some StreetPass functionality in there. I tried a few times to see if anyone was about, and there was a couple of one-to-one fights I had, but otherwise it was dead.