Nintendo 3DS – The good, the bad, the worrisome
We now know nearly everything about the Nintendo 3DS, whats our verdict?
Nintendo played nearly all its cards last week in regards to the Nintendo 3DS. The release date, pricing, early launch lineup, SpotPass, StreetPass, Virtual Console on the handheld and more. But with the many questions they answered, they raised even more. We’re going to run through some of them. It’s not all negative, though, we’ll run through the things we like too.
VOOK’s Take;
The Good
Game line-up – Just look at the heavy hitters that the third parties are bringing to the party. The Nintendo DS wishes it could pull in all this star power. It’s not just the names but the effort going into each title. Metal Gear, Dead or Alive, Resident Evil, Street Fighter and more. It’s all very exciting.
Pure grunt – Since the GameCube, us Nintendo fans have had to make do with two systems that have placed power second. We’ve repressed our need for glitzy and glamourous graphics (or gone and bought HD consoles), but now with the power the Nintendo 3DS has, there is no need. One only needs to watch the Resident Evil Relations trailer to see why.
Transferable DSiWare – Because it just makes sense.
The Bad
The release date – The 2011 release date hurts, not only for us as fans but for Nintendo themselves and they know it. They say it’s a delay because they didn’t think they could make enough units in time for a launch. However Nintendo in the past few years has beefed up its production capabilities in order to cope with the Wii’s and the DS’s demand, but perhaps this has been scaled back down.
The colours – Blue and Black? What about the cool red, purple and gold colours we saw at E3?
The price – Just how much is this baby going to end up costing us? It’s not looking good.
The Worrisome
Online plans – It’s more the lack of plans that concern us, no mention of what they are doing in this space. Are friend codes back? How can we tell what people are playing, if anything? Being a handheld, I don’t expect to see a friend on at all times, but if I’m online, why not? At least we can connect via WPA now…
Battery life – Nintendo’s playing up the StreetPass and SpotPass features of this console heavily. That means the console has to be on and broadcasting a wireless signal pretty much all the time – surely this can’t be good for the battery life. It’s perhaps why Nintendo is giving away a charging station with the console, nut unfortunately you can’t take that on a train, bus or car where a portable is meant to be used.
Flamecondor’s Take
The Good
Transferable DSiWare – This may be a very minor one for a lot of people, but not for me. I’ve got upwards of 20 DSiWare titles with a few more I want on the way (Shantae: Risky’s Revenge, Cave Story etc) and just the fact that I won’t need my DSi if I want to play them makes me happy. Also it sets a good precedent for the future in that we will be able to transfer these games to future handheld iterations.
Game Boy Virtual Console – Yes, yes, yes, yes, my god all over my face, yes. I love the Game Boy. I still buy Game Boy and Game Boy Color games whenever I see them around in second hand stores. And even though I have near 100-odd Game Boy carts, I’m sure as hell going to buy each and every one of them again on the 3DS. Just the ease of having them all in one place is so appealing to me. Plus, hopefully we’ll get some of the harder-to-find games like Shantae, Magical Chase, Mr Do!, Sagia, Trip World, Avenging Spirit and so on show up on the service. It could almost be the same case as with the Wii for me, where I end up enjoying the retro offerings just as much as the retail games.
Game line-up – Super Street Fighter IV, Kid Icarus, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Paper Mario, Mega Man Legends 3, a new Etrian Odyssey, Lylat Wars and Chocobo Racing 3D are just a small selection of games I’m looking forward to with the system. It’s an amazingly strong looking line-up for the system and if things go well, the launch list could be great. Plus there are all the games we don’t know about coming out for it. Heck, Nintendo hasn’t even said anything about a Mario platfomer yet – can you just imagine something like Super Mario Galaxy but in 3D?
The Bad
Colours – The GBA launch nailed it for me, with a great selection of colours from the get-go. Each version of the GBA launched with a nice selection of colours; the DS though has been different. Each version has usually launched with around 2 different colours. Also I’m not a fan of the colours the system looks to be launching with; the blue looks ugly and the black is, well, black. Gimme a nice silver system or, even better, go see-through – I miss my transparent Nintendo handhelds dammit. It’s a minor problem at end of the day, but a nice bit of variety would be good.
Meh, I couldn’t think of anything else bad about the system, except for the fact I don’t have one and won’t get one for a few months yet. That said, good things come to those who wait.
The Worrisome
Region locking – Nintendo has remained silent on this one and for me it’s the biggest issue with the system. I know the online store will be region-locked, and I’m cool with that I guess. But if the carts themselves are region-locked, the same as DSi-enhanced DS carts, I’m not going to be happy at all. So many of my favorite DS games never came out here, like Henry Hatsworth, Retro Game Challenge and so on. I’m cool with said games not coming out here as I can understand why: we are a small market in Australia so doesn’t make sense for every game to be released down here. But to take away my ability to import games I wouldn’t be able to buy in store annoys me to no end. At the end of the day, if the system is region-locked, oh well, US system it is for me. If not, I’ll have no problem waiting for a game’s local release.
Online setup – I really hope Nintendo takes a page out of Microsoft’s book and looks at how it’s been done on the Xbox 360. I want a friends list, and online leaderboards and achievements and so on. I want one global friends list that will apply for all games so I don’t need to add my friends for each and every game. I’m fine with friend codes, but just one friend code to rule them all would be fine, not one for each game. I want to be able to see what my friends are playing and if they are online now. I want to be able to see their scores and challenge them to go higher. I want to be able to send them messages and start party groups and have kick-ass multiplayer sessions. What they have announced so far for the system’s online setup sounds good. Now they just need to go one step further and seal the deal to make the ultimate portable game experience.
Excite’s Take;
The Good
The Hardware – Finally we have analogue control on a Nintendo handheld in the form of the Slide Pad. For games where you need to explore 3D environments, this is an absolute must. In terms of the types of games that could be made in the future, the Slide Pad along with the 3DS’s built-in accelerometer, gyro sensor and higher-res screens will be as revolutionary as the touch screen was for the DS.
Backwards Compatibility, Virtual Console – Without a doubt one of the best features that any console can have. It’s good to know that there is a whole library of games that can be played on the 3DS, before it even comes out. The life (and value) of all our DS games have been extended and we couldn’t be happier.
And let’s not forget that our prayers have been answered by the Virtual Console for Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. How could you be disappointed at the prospect of having all of those addictive titles of the past available at your fingertips without having to change or blow cartridges?
Enhanced Wireless Features – I can’t wait to experience SpotPass and StreetPass. Being able to access data while the 3DS is in sleep mode will be like having a mailbox outside your house. That element of surprise when you receive new information while you’re away will be awesome to say the least.
One of the drawbacks with the DS was being forced to play online games over networks secured by the (now deprecated) WEP algorithm. The 3DS has had its wireless security stepped up to WPA/WPA2. Assuming that 3DS games with online functionality will also support this, we’ll have peace of mind when playing online.
The Bad
The Design – All of the new features of the 3DS mean there are more edges and corners on the device. I’m not saying the design of the console is terrible, but it just seems less clean compared with the DS Lite and DSi and is reminiscent of the clunkiness of the original DS. Perhaps it could have also taken a leaf out of the DS Lite’s book and had a logo on the outside cover – now I’m being too critical.
Of all the hard facts we know about the 3DS hardware at this time, I don’t think I can say that anything else is bad.
The Release Date – Not even this year for Japan, eh? That was a surprise indeed. I want it now! Though the DSi XL was released not 6 months ago – let’s not rush things.
The Worrisome
The + Control Pad – The introduction of the Slide Pad has meant that ye olde + Control Pad has been relegated to an awkward, lower position on the unit. How will this affect the playability of DS games like New Super Mario Bros.? Playing with the new + Control Pad for a long time could become uncomfortable. The obvious way to rectify this would be to map + Control Pad buttons to four points on the Slide Pad, if it’s even possible. Although this would also be beneficial for 3D games like Super Mario 64 DS, it might not be suitable for games that require button-mashing on the + Control Pad (e.g. snaking in Mario Kart DS).
Online Features – This is important to me and I think the guys above have summed it up well.
The price – Whatever the price ends up being it’s gonna take a big chunk out of our back pockets. Here’s hoping that the chunk is worth it.
So readers, what’s your take? What do you think is the good, the bad and what worries you about the Nintendo 3DS? Let us know in the forums.
