Play Nintendo: Nintendo 3DS Hardware Review

Nintendo 3DS: A Comprehensive Review
By: Paris Dunst

The long awaited Nintendo 3DS arrived earlier this year and fanboys and girls around the world couldn’t be happier.  This powerful new handheld brings a huge feature into the realm of gaming, glasses free 3D.  This great feature allows a brilliant immersion of the player into their game and really redefines “playing” a game.  The system has been around for a while now and yet the jury is still out on whether or not the 3D technology is more a hassle than a feature.  The best part is, it doesn’t matter. With the ability to turn the 3D on and off via a nifty slider bar, each and every owner can play their games in the most comfortable manner for them. Personally, I find the 3D to be spectacular.  When viewed correctly it no longer feels as if you’re viewing a screen but rather that the game is actually taking place behind a thin sheet of plastic keeping you out.  Many people speculated on the precision required to see the 3D effects to their fullest potential and rightly so. Their largest concern was with the narrow viewing angle to effectively see the illusion.  After its release, it seems to be the general consensus that this is not an issue. As when playing a handheld console, people are not radically changing their perspective on the screen. All in all the 3D is a smashing success, but how does it compete with other handhelds on or soon to be on the market?


Currently, Nintendo’s main competitors on the handheld front are Sony with their Playstation Portable franchise, and smart phones. While I won’t go into detail about either of these two, it should be noted that in the past, Sony’s handhelds have been more powerful than Nintendo’s, and that smart phones do have an enormous user and developer base.  With the 3DS, Nintendo attempts to reclaim its position as the undisputed leader in handheld gaming.  The new system is powerful, very powerful, much more powerful than any previously released handheld.  It has to be to support the 3D feature. We now have games with very nice graphics appearing on a Nintendo handheld and not just in cut-scenes.

Nintendo has also reached further on the internet ground, expanding on what had previously been done with the DSi. Like the DSi a 3DS user can browse the internet, shop for retro games or even new games custom tailored for the device. Unlike the DSi, games can now receive updates (via SpotPass) which either includes bug fixes to eliminate in game glitches or content expansions allowing for much more gameplay of your favorite titles. For example Dynasty Warriors Chronicles has employed several updates which included new items and missions continuing the storyline and overall adding to the length of the game, something previously unheard of on Nintendo’s handhelds. Just this concept alone fills me with a bright outlook on what we may see on future titles, I’m very excited.

Nintendo has really knocked the ball out of the park with the 3DS. The system itself is sleek, comfortable, and a great gaming machine. The best part is, if for whatever reason you don’t already own one, there’s good news!  Recently Nintendo announced an unprecedented price drop on the 3DS reducing its MSRP from $250.00 to $169.99! This is incredible coming from Nintendo and really makes it hard to pass up on the purchase of such a great device. Also, to alleviate any feelings of being cheated, Nintendo also announced their “Ambassador Program” for those of us who already purchased the 3DS before its unexpected price change. This program will provide FREE games to those who connected their 3DS to the internet at least once before the price drop was instated.  The list of games to be given remains incomplete but it has been confirmed that there will be ten games for both the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) and the GBA (Gameboy Advance) to be available for download starting in September and in the future respectively. Games mentioned include Super Mario Bros. 3, and Metroid Fusion, just to name a few.

With this surge of positive information pertaining to the 3DS it gives me something I never really got from my Nintendo consoles, expectations. I’m not just talking about waiting for a new game to release. No, I’m referring to the fact that there is so much still undone on the console that, when it is, we’re all going to be in awe. Remembering back to the original DS, the starting lineup of games was really far from appealing. They gave us the remake of Super Mario 64 which was wonderful. Also, the new Metroid Prime Hunters title kept us Metroid fans very happy. However, it took a bit of time before the big companies like Square-Enix, Ubisoft, and Atlas really began to take off on the system. If you owned a Nintendo DS as an early adopter did (like me) you know that the first generation of touch screen games were very gimmicky and had only a novelty quality. It wasn’t until roughly a year after it’s release that we saw games using the touch screen in creative, and very entertaining new ways. The same goes for the Wii with its motion controls and same will go for the 3DS.  There are so many untapped resources as of yet on the 3DS that I wait with high expectations for the great things to come. They will come, they always do.

Final Score: 100%