Nintendo replaces almost all of gamer’s broken 3DS, hardly charges him anything for the parts

Video game giant continues to be a customer service titan as it restores fan’s original model 3DS.

For about as long as Nintendo has been in the video game business, the company has had a wholesome image. Sure, there was that period in the mid ‘90s when it dabbled in edginess with its “Play it loud” ad campaign, but for the most part, Nintendo has shied away from overtly violent or sexual content (at least in games it publishes itself).

Because of that, people are quick to call Nintendo “kid-friendly” or “family-friendly.” But maybe the best way to describe the company is simply “friendly.” Nintendo has repeatedly shown that it cares about its customers, whether by paying attention to the needs of gamers with hearing impairments or helping kids recover from the sadness of bullying, and now comes another tale of amazing customer service via Japanese Twitter user @kaboo_factory.

While Nintendo’s shiny new Switch is all the rage these days, @kaboo_factory is still enjoying the company’s 3DS handheld. Unfortunately, the battery for @kaboo_factory’s 3DS (an original-spec model, which was first released in 2011) had stopped holding a charge, so he sent it in to Nintendo for maintenance, but what the company did went far beyond simple repairs.

ボク「初期型3DSの電源入らないから直してくだしゃい」 任天堂「充電池が膨張していたので、メイン基板と充電池を交換したよ。あとなんかボロボロだったからスライドパッドとボタン全部交換しといたよ。部品代は71円です」 ボク「71円… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…

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カブー(根菜71円) (@kaboo_factory) April 03, 2018

After examining the system, a Nintendo technician gave @kaboo_factory his diagnosis:

“The battery pack was swollen, so we replaced the main circuit board and the battery. Also the slide pad and buttons seemed a little beat up, so we replaced all of those too. The charge for parts is 71 yen.”

In case you haven’t been keeping up with exchange rates, 71 yen is about 65 U.S. cents. Even a single play of an arcade game in Japan will usually cost you 100 yen, but a mere 71 was all that Nintendo was charging @kaboo_factory for some of the 3DS’s most important internals and interface equipment. What’s even more amazing is that when poking around online, @kaboo_factory found that the estimated cost of replacing the system’s CPU alone is 8,100 yen.

Granted, there was also a 2,500-yen labor fee, but still, aside from having the same screens and casing, @kaboo_factory essentially got a new 3DS for a little over 20 bucks. That’s some pretty impressive generosity from a company that used to make its money thanks to gambling dens.

Source: Twitter/@kaboo_factory via Jin
Top image: Wikipedia/Evan-Amos

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