Many of us have had 3DS consoles for a while now but some people's Mii Plazas are looking a little empty. When chatting with other Nintendo 3DS owners, I have found out that, in some cases, even people who bought their handheld on day one have barely streetpassed with anyone. This must be a bit disheartening so I'm going to attempt to help these people out by sharing my top tips for the best StreetPass locations.
Many of these are obvious but here's a list of the different sorts of places that I've had success.
Big Cities
London is a stone's throw away from where I live. All I have to do is jump on a train and within half an hour I'm in the centre of town and picking up Miis.
Advantage: It's one of my favourite places to be and since purchasing my 3DS I have found that I never fail to pick up a Mii, particularly around the Oxford Circus area at weekends.
Disadvantage: When it comes to streetpassing, not everyone is fortunate enough to live within close range of a large city and it's certainly not worth paying the train fare just to find some Miis.
However, if you arrange to spend a day out in a big city with your friends, make sure you pack your 3DS as picking up the Miis will be a fabulous bonus.
Airports
During the Easter holidays I had a week off in the south of France. My 3DS was the first thing I packed and I was quick to turn it on upon arriving at Stansted airport.
Advantage: An airport is a perfect location to pick up Miis from different parts of the world. It makes looking through your Mii Plaza much more interesting.
Also, as anyone who has been to an airport will know, the handheld console is a firm favourite when it comes to those long flight delays. Many people pack their handhelds for holidays so you can be sure to pick up some Miis at airports.
Disadvantage: I am addicted to the StreetPass games and whenever I spy somebody with a 3DS, I immediately make sure that I walk near them in order to acquire a new puzzle piece and progress further in the StreetPass Quest.
I'm pretty sure this probably makes me look like a weirdo, especially when I walk by someone only to find I have been unsuccessful and have to walk by them again!
Although I managed to scoop up a few streetpasses at Stansted, looking strange and slightly suspicious at an airport probably isn't the best idea.
Theme Parks
I love rides! Rollercoasters, vertical drops and the ones where you get completely soaked. I love them all and I visit Thorpe Park - the closest theme park to me - whenever I get the opportunity.
Advantage: Theme Parks, especially the big ones, are filled with hundreds of people on a daily basis and thousands during the school holidays.
I remember thinking that this would be the place to come across real 3DS fans as they would have their 3DS glued to their hip because they take it everywhere they go... like me!
Disadvantage: Unless you have money to burn, you're going to need a really nice, slightly boring friend who doesn't want to ride on anything and will take care of your precious console while you brave the ten looping coaster or tidal wave. The reason is obvious.
The only other option is to store it, at your own risk, in one of those locker things whilst you ride.
Game Stores
Even if you purchase your games online, I'm betting every gamer knows of a store that they can get to when they desperately need a game!
Advantage: My local gaming store is just a short walk away and seeing as walking means coins, my 3DS usually comes with me. If you haven't tried streetpassing at your local gaming shop, it's definitely worth a shot as they will probably have a Mii belonging to that store which is always there when you pop in.
This is great because, as 3DS streetpassers know, if you meet the same Mii time and again, they gain a level which means more success in the quest! I have streetpassed 'James' the mysterious Mii of my Game store many times now and he has helped me complete two of the puzzles in just a few days.
Disadvantage: Unfortunately I have not had the same success in all game related shops. I think this must depend entirely on what the staff are like.
The store near my university is huge, yet not a Mii is to be found. If you find that your local gaming store is Mii-less, you could always try suggesting to the staff that they keep their store 3DS in streetpass mode. That way you get a Mii and they get some frequent costumers. Everybody wins!
These are just some of the places I've managed to successfully streetpass, some better then others.
However, the number one place to streetpass from my experience has to be at events such as game launches, the Kapow Comic Con and expos like the MCM. These bring out 3DS gamers in huge numbers. If you're lucky you can get to complete a whole puzzle here.
The Pokemon VGC is coming up soon and I'm hoping for a very high streetpass success rate so if you're heading along to that remember to put your 3DS in sleep mode (when you're not battling obviously!) And look out for my Mii.
For those unable to get to events like these, do not panic! Another fantastic way to StreetPass is to either go to or simply arrange a 3DS StreetPass event yourself.
I've been to a few of these and they work brilliantly. Obviously, stay safe! Don't go anywhere dodgy and if you do attend a 3DS meet up, make sure you go with friends.
Collecting streetpasses is both addictive and fun. I'm interested to know where else you've had success finding StreetPass hits and equally, where have you been disappointed after having had such huge hopes for a particular venue?
Colette Barr is ONM forum member dudettecolette. She contributes regular fan's-eye view blogs for the website.
I guess I'm lucky in that I live in a fairly big city, and can pick up Miis very easily. I went on a trip to the country last week and picked up two Miis. I checked how many they had in their plaza... 0. So, I guess it really does depend where you live. I usually find myself wandering into big hmv stores and GAME/Gamestations when I'm on the highstreet, just to try and pick up a few more.
Here in Finland it's very rare that someone would carry a 3DS with them. I luckily got my first StreetPass hit yesterday in a shopping mall. I was so happy when I saw the green light on the system for the first time
I have no street pass hits so far, but I might be going to e3 (I live about an hours drive from Los angeles) so I'm sure that if I go I could get hundreds of hits.
I went into London today, but got NO hits whatsoever. Weird, you would have expected I would, since I did go to the London Transport Museum (Slight Busy), Hyde Park (Busy), Trafalgar Square (Very Busy), Oxford Street (Packed) and the Apple Store (Overflowing). It's an eerie thought to think that in so many busy places there wasn't a single 3DS in sleep mode. Creepy.
So far, I've had 6 hits. If anybody has somebody called "The G Man" in their plaza, that's (genuinely rubbish pun warning) Mii! My greeting is 'Hi! I'm Gus!'.
Went into ASDA today, they have 3DS's available to play around the games section, two of them. I got a hit from one of them, probably because the other one wasn't in sleep mode when I encountered it. Easy Streetpass hits now...
i went to really busy areas-train to london,waterloo,tube,streets and got no streetpass whatsoever streetpass will properly kick off in a few years time when more people have a 3ds
The day i got my 3DS I had to go to the airport wher i found my first 2 (and so far only) streetpass hits. Some girl from America and a guy from Claire (Ireland)
I went to MCM Expo yesterday but only got 10 Street Pass hits, which seemed odd as I saw lots of people with 3DS's and even spoke to a few people who said they were hoping to get lots of Street Pass hits at the show.
Is there a certain proximity that you have to be to someone in order to get a Street Pass hit? Do you always get a Street Pass hit everytime you pass someone else with a 3DS in sleep mode or do you have to be near them for a certain amount of time? I was hoping for a much larger number and while 10 is probably my highest single number, it was a lot lower than I'd hoped for...
I did manage to finsih the Mario, Luigi and Bowser puzzle though, but annoyingly now I'm only down to a few puzzle pieces needed a lot of the time the people I Street Pass with don't have any pieces for me!
I went to MCM Expo yesterday but only got 10 Street Pass hits, which seemed odd as I saw lots of people with 3DS's and even spoke to a few people who said they were hoping to get lots of Street Pass hits at the show.
Is there a certain proximity that you have to be to someone in order to get a Street Pass hit? Do you always get a Street Pass hit everytime you pass someone else with a 3DS in sleep mode or do you have to be near them for a certain amount of time? I was hoping for a much larger number and while 10 is probably my highest single number, it was a lot lower than I'd hoped for...
I did manage to finsih the Mario, Luigi and Bowser puzzle though, but annoyingly now I'm only down to a few puzzle pieces needed a lot of the time the people I Street Pass with don't have any pieces for me!
No silly, ten is the max you can meet at any one time. After you get ten you have to "greet" them (i.e. welcome them into your plaza by opening your 3DS and choosing it) Then you can get more!
I took my 3DS to London when i went down for a weekend and got about 40 street passes. I t was excellent. However, my 3DS stopped allowing me to play old DS games online, so i had to get it exchanged. After a month...so now i have a total of...2 miis in my plaza. Bad times
I have a total of 37 in my Plaza all made up of just one or two passes at a time whilst walking around shopping centers etc and also have found Legoland Windsor is a great place to pick up passes as i think i have picked up atleast 2-3 each time i have been (we have a annual pass) Reading town centre is great as is Basingstoke! but i have found that the amount i am getting is getting less so spread the word to all that have a 3DS to make sure street pass is on because i would hate to see this part of the 3DS die because people do not use it!
MCM was great. I got about 35 hits (three of which were the maximum ten, so I would probably have gotten more if I'd checked more regularly. I also got all ten hits allowed for Street Fighter 4, and I beat all of them on the Trophy Fighter mini-game thing My team's pretty good, I think.
If you happen to work as a game developer or journalist then i would suggest at work. The folks at IGN had finished all street pass games within weeks... the lucky fellas
i live in a fairly big city and there are like 7 game stores in my town centre. I've been in at least one of them everytime i've been to town with my 3DS (which is alot) and i still have no one in my plaza I swear i'm like the only person who has one in my area
LOL! No offence, but sometimes I don't get these blogs. Because I'm sure people don't need tips...just go to large places. I'm guessing just to spark conversation. It's a shame, I went on holiday, but it was before the 3DS launch. Plus, you can pick up people abroad...no more "from england". But MCM, I picked up someone from Japan. Also, talking about transport, train stations are good too (especially the bigger ones like St. Pancras and Kings Cross...picked 2 from there today).
London is definitely a great place to go. I live in Greater London (West London) and even if you don't go into the city, you can pick up some Miis. Went to one of the biggest town in my borough and picked up 3 or 4 miis. Also, shopping malls are great too. Went to good ol' Westfield and picked up about 3/4 again. LOL, Colette, you think the airport thing is weird, I saw someone with one of those 3DS cases that can go on your belt and approached them and asked them if they had their 3DS on. She didn't (for some strange reason) and turned it on.
Game shops are definitely good. I went into one and saw someone in a game shop (a small one) and picked up his Mii. Also picked up some in GAME and HMV.
Theme Parks are great. I always used to take my DSi there (even though it barely got played during the day....for obvious reasons...YAY ROLLERCOASTERS). And having a Merlin Pass is always a plus, making everything free. I always go with my cousins to theme parks, since they all have merlin passes as well. All the older ones go off on the big rides, while the younger ones don't. And because some of them are quite young, a parent or two comes and looks after them...so I normally hand my stuff to them. Although sometimes I do risk it in the locker. I always go to Thorpe Park too! XD It's like 20-30 mins away from me, as well as Chessington. The rides aren't as good, but still fun...plus it did the Mario thing, so AMAZING place! I go Alton Towers 1-3 times a year, and it's massive. So people who live further out...go there. Bound to pick up some people.
Theme parks are great because I'm sure there is a local one for everyone...if not a theme park, then go to the local Pier during summer. Or go to a funfair.
Expo's and events are amazing. Kapow, MCM, London Film and Comic Con, Pokemon VGC, any Pokemon download event...it'll be a place swarmed with gamers...so you should pick up a ton. I finished the remaining 5 puzzles this weekend at MCM (needed a couple for 4, loads for one). I missed Kapow! (heard about it too late )...but going next year.
Just take your 3DS literally where ever you go, like me and Colette, and your bound to pick up some Miis. Even around Uni/School. If your not fortunate to live in a place near to some of these places (big gaming store, big city/town, theme park/pier (or funfair location), airport or main train station or events), then look for a streetpass group near you (e.g. StreetPass London (replace London with location). There is bound to be one and if not...make it!!
My largest haul is currently 7, not that impressive I know, I collected them at the royal wedding. Also my friend bought a 3ds and he didn't know about streetpass! (shock horror) so I introduced him to it, he's now absessed like me
I have no street pass hits so far, but I might be going to e3 (I live about an hours drive from Los angeles) so I'm sure that if I go I could get hundreds of hits.
I have got a few street passes, then I went to this dog show thing, and noticed the nintendogs and cats kennels so I was like after, i looked at my 3ds 3 street passes bringing my log to 5. During the ride home, i played my nintendogs and cats and walked my dog and found four other people that i apparently found. so i played street pass games and found that they were not proper people. so now it says: Plaza Population-11 (found another person) :Streetpass hits-6 so it turns out they were not real streetpasses help please?
I've got 2 streetpass hits, both I got when on holiday. I live in the back of beyond and I take my 3DS with me whenever I'm about my village, but not a single hit. I was in town last week and took my 3DS, went into Gamestation, but again, not a single hit. I've nearly finished StreetPass Quest but only because I've been hiring heroes by spending play coins. I've hardly got any puzzle pieces. One thing I do everyday is get play coins, you just can't earn enough of them.
If I'm ever in need of some mii's I often just pop down to the university library and my plaza fills up very quickly. Living on a campus uni is great for street pass, it would seem there are more Nintendo fans here than I expected
I never carry my 3DS around, which is the main reason why I have had no StreetPass hits, but I just see that new expensive items are very vulnerable to theft. Maybe after a few more months I'll consider visiting my local gaming shops.
My first Streetpass hit was when I was down the city, my friend Shauna had forgotten that she had hers with her.When I opened it up I asked her 'Is this you?' She had a really confused look on her face, and just went, 'Oh yeah!' That was a fun day
I never carry my 3DS around, which is the main reason why I have had no StreetPass hits, but I just see that new expensive items are very vulnerable to theft. Maybe after a few more months I'll consider visiting my local gaming shops.
Don't worry mate. I've had mine since launch and carry it around with me as much as possible, and have not even come close to theft. Keep it safe at the bottom of your bag, preferably in a pocket inside the main pocket (even better if it can be zipped, like mine), and you should be fine. Besides, it's not like anybody's going to know that you have 3DS in your bag. If you're going to go to a special gaming event where people are obviously going to bring 3DS's, like Comic Con, for example, I would recommend taking extra caution, as these places will probably be a good target to thieves.
I have to admit, I haven't had any luck with streetpass yet, and I've been to Westfields Shopping centre and the Play Off Final at Wembley today with my 3DS, although that may of been partially due to my battery dying on me.
I have to be honest, I do not know or have seen anyone with a 3DS so I'm hoping in the future when some stronger games are released I can finally complete a puzzle and get somewhere on Puzzle Quest as well as SSF4 battles and the music streetpass and whatever else
I never carry my 3DS around, which is the main reason why I have had no StreetPass hits, but I just see that new expensive items are very vulnerable to theft. Maybe after a few more months I'll consider visiting my local gaming shops.
Don't worry mate. I've had mine since launch and carry it around with me as much as possible, and have not even come close to theft. Keep it safe at the bottom of your bag, preferably in a pocket inside the main pocket (even better if it can be zipped, like mine), and you should be fine. Besides, it's not like anybody's going to know that you have 3DS in your bag. If you're going to go to a special gaming event where people are obviously going to bring 3DS's, like Comic Con, for example, I would recommend taking extra caution, as these places will probably be a good target to thieves.
I spent the past five days at the Cricket test match in Cardiff (EWngland Vs Sri Lanka) and assumed, what with the combination of lots of people watching something fairly slow-moving and therefor in need of another form of entertainment, it being a big city anbd then also a big event and gathering of people, I'd get plenty of hits. But no- I met 3 Miis over 5 days. Boo.
A quick bit of advice: don't forget to turn on the wireless switch on the 3DS before Streetpassing. I must have missed countless people by not actually having the wireless switch turned on.
When I went up to the Gadget Show Live in Birmingham, I collected an impressive 27 Miis in the space of about 5 hours. They also had a ton of 3DS's on display there to show off the tech, so I got about 10 Miis from them. Still, something like a tech convention or E3 would be an awesome place to get loads of Miis.
Wait for gaming events to come along- You get hundreds at a time Also, town centres are reasonably good places to go- I've only got 3 people in my plaza though XD I guess after Christmas time, people will be getting a LOT more streetpass hits, as more people will have 3DSes
streetpass will properly kick off in a few years time when more people have a 3ds 
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