Review on the Nintendo 3DS

            As most of you gamers and Nintendo fans out there know, the Nintendo 3DS has been out in Japan last year for quite some time now and just released in North America about 2 weeks ago. The feature of the system that made it so popular was its ability to play games in 3D. Some other

The blue Nintendo 3DS system with Pilot Wings.

features include the 3 cameras, the 3D depth adjustment, and the internet browser. I managed to finally get my hands on one and I have to say that there are some good things and there are some disappointing things.  So let’s start by talking about the pros of the Nintendo 3DS system.

               The most famous feature of the 3DS is obviously the fact that you can do 3D gaming. Not just that, you can adjust the 3D depth. The 3D feature of the game is somewhat impressive. The images are really detailed and has a good amount of 3D depth to it. Even the 2D feature is amazing. The screen is so brightly colored and detailed, but I can’t say that for sure because I’ve been using the original DS for 6 years and have never changed. As stated on Nintendo’s web page: “The stereoscopic 3D display of the upper screen gives objects within the game world a feeling of space and depth that extends far into the back of the screen. It becomes easier to see the position of characters and obstacles in the world, making many game experiences even more intuitive for all types of players,” the graphics of the 3D screen have somewhat met their goal.
                    The next pro is the Mii Maker. I like some of the things about the Mii maker on the 3DS than the Wii because it has some more selections on making your Mii. For the first time, I was actually able to edit myself and have it actually look like me. You can even organize your Miis in different rooms.

                     The Face Raiders game that comes with the 3DS is by far my most favorite so far. It’s so fun and hilarious, not to mention really amazing. What this game does is take a picture of someone’s face. Once you align the face and it analyzes the photo, the 3DS literally rips that portion of the face of and sticks it on a flying helmet! Not only that, the 3DS gives the face a bunch of different facial expressions! It’s really well made. Once the face is set, the game starts. This is going to be a little hard to explain but here’s basically the idea of the game: you try to destroy as many face helmets as you can and defeat the boss. So once the game starts, the outer camera turns on, showing your room or wherever you may be. The faces start to appear and you have to shoot them all down with tennis balls. You do have a health meter so you have to watch out for that. The way you lose your health is pretty funny. If you don’t manage to get all the faces, they will either kiss you and cause damage, or break through the walls of the room causing huge holes and show ripples in space. I laughed so hard at this every time, knowing that there are giant holes in my room! Once you beat the boss, the 3DS will save the face which you can always use again and adjust it. There is also a feature in the game where you can take pictures during game play and save them for later.

                     My second favorite game that comes with the 3DS is the augmented reality(AR). The 3DS comes with 6 AR cards which you need to play the AR

A picture of my Mii and my figure I took using the 3DS

games. What’s cool about this is that you can play a variety of AR games with just one card. From shooting arrows at dragons to playing pool on cliffs, the AR games are simply amazing! The graphics and effects are the best I have ever seen in my life. Not only can you play games with the cards, the 3DS has a feature where you can have Miis and the character cards come to life! You can have them pose however you like and then take a picture of them! You may not believe me now but try it for yourself if you ever get the chance. You can see some AR pictures I took with the 3DS on my Deviantart. Ok now let’s move onto some cons.

                        The first thing I must point out to you is the 3D feature. Yes that’s correct; the most famous feature of the 3Ds is also the most disappointing. What I thought was 3D was not what I saw on the 3DS. I agree that the graphics and depth is impressive but when they said “3D” I expected it to be more “eye-poping”. The 3D doesn’t really jump at you; it’s more like extreme details and depth.

                        This next con I’m not really quite sure of but it happened to me once. I was playing my 3DS when the screen goes pitch black when I return to the home menu. It didn’t turn off and you can still hear the screen sounds when you move around. I tried turning it off but it didn’t. A little later the screen turns back on but it still won’t turn off. I don’t know if this is really a glitch in the 3DS system but I hope its only mine. The thing I know that will work to get the system back to normal is that you close the 3Ds and then open it back up again. This will allow you to turn the system off. I don’t know why that works but it does.

                        The last con is something that probably doesn’t apply to most of us unless you enjoy game downloading. So all of us know about the earthquake and tsunami that happened to Japan not so long ago right? Well that’s supposed to be why the Nintendo 3DS was delayed in Europe and North America. However, the main reason why it was delayed is not because of the tsunami or earthquake; it was because Nintendo found out that people in Japan already hacked the Nintendo 3DS within 24 hours of the original release date! What they did was hack into a list in the 3Ds system called the “white list”. What the white list does is that it contains the names of games that can be played on the 3DS. So the people added the R4(Revolution for the DS. It is a flash cart that allows the DS system to play downloaded game roms.) to the list and the R4 started working.  After Nintendo heard what had happened, they updated their white list and shipped it to the rest of the world. So unless you live in Japan, you cannot use the R4 to play your downloaded game roms! I have heard that the R4i(Revolution for DSi) can still be played on the Nintendo 3DS as this article shows. Even though the R4i may work now, you can expect an update from Nintendo blocking the R4i soon. I have also heard a rumor that there will be an R4 3DS that will be able to play 3DS game roms. This I don’t know for certain. All we can do is wait.