Before E3, the Nintendo 3DS was only a rumor to me—something that people would whisper about behind closed doors. Loud enough I could hear, but softly just in case it wasn’t going to happen. In hindsight, the 3DS looks like it was confirmed before E3, but I could hardly believe that Nintendo could pull off a handheld device that would offer true 3D without the need for goofy glasses.
Even when they officially announced it at the Nintendo press conference first thing Tuesday morning, I was still quite doubtful about how effective the 3D effect would be. Would it just be a “pseudo”-3D effect? Would it induce headaches? No amount of screenshots or animated “simulations” could ever portray what the 3DS experience would be like, and Nintendo knew that.
However, once I was able to sit down with the system for twenty one full minutes was I able to finally judge the system for myself. And in short? The system is amazing, and I would have loved to walk out with one… sans the handcuffs, of course.
3DS's new Slidepad
The system itself was exactly what Nintendo needed to have in their next genesis of the DS franchise—some of which should have been there right from the start. The 3DS just feels “right” in your hands. The buttons are laid out well, and the addition of the analog “Slide Pad” is practically a godsend from the Big N. Concave—similar to the Xbox 360’s analog sticks—the thumb can rest comfortably in it and grip it well, allowing for some rather nice precision. Also, the bottom screen remains a touch-screen, while receiving a slight boost in pixel resolution.
But that’s not the real breakthrough of the system, so let’s move onto the 3D aspects. The 3D display is slightly larger than the bottom display, and creates a 3D effect using a parallax screen. Basically, based on the typical position people play handheld games at (in front of you at an arm’s length or so), each eye receives a slightly different image. “Closer” images have a greater difference in position, which the brain translates into the depth of field we perceive. In fact, you can focus your eyes on either foreground or background images, causing the opposite to split and blur out. The best way to describe it is to say it’s like looking at objects through a window, that poke out just a little bit at you through the frame.
An extremely intelligent addition to the 3D experience is the 3D strength slider, found on the right side of the system. You can use it slide between strong 3D to weak 3D, to no 3D at all. This way, those that get headaches, eye strain, or just plain do not like the 3D effects can disable them while still enjoying the newer 3DS games that make use of the 3DS’s improved graphics hardware.
That’s right, the hardware has received an overhaul as well, and it really shows. I would have to say that the 3D games feel somewhere around Gamecube-level graphics. They are still a little blocky and limited, but they’ve certainly caught up to where the PSP currently stands. The games I tried out were butter-smooth at what looked like 60fps, which was a great welcome to see.
Speaking of the games, how did they stack up? I was able to get a hands-on look on several of the titles, but not all of them. The 20-minute limit was strictly enforced, so I had to give up exposure to a few. Let’s take a look at what I was able to look at.
Starfox 64 3D gets new textures, models
The first game I bee-lined for was Star Fox 64 3D. There were certainly some graphical overhauls that have been applied to the beloved on-rails shooter. The character models no longer resemble a group of LEGO blocks, and the textures of the first Corneria level looked crisp and clear—for example, the water had a pleasing shimmer to it. And, of course, I did a barrel roll. The only disappointment I had for the game was some extremely distracting pop-up that occurred: trees and buildings in the distance would suddenly appear when you got close enough. Hopefully this will be ironed out, but if not it won’t be a deal-breaker.
Mario Kart for 3DS is smooth and speedy
Next was a Mario Kart in 3D. Sadly, it was a non-interactive demo, but it did display the 3D effects quite nicely. I wish they would have let me control the camera angle to prove it was live processing rather than just a video, but it was still a good preview of the game to come. The framerate was smooth as butter, and the ground felt like it was literally coming at me which created a wonderful sense of speed. When a Blooper squirted squid ink on the camera, it really did float in front of the 3D details, blocking my view. This will certainly be one of the “buy” list for me, and looks fun as hell.
While looking for another open game to try, I came across Kingdom Hearts 3D. Also a 3D non-interactive demo, I was able to watch familiar scenes from the classic PlayStation 2 title… with a twist. I’m not able to keep up with all the Kingdom Hearts spinoffs, so I was a bit surprised to see Riku running around the town, and Sora fighting a large Nobody-type enemy. Either way, the game looked on par with the PlayStation 2 graphics. As for the 3D effect, it didn’t lend itself as well to this as it did Mario Kart and Star Fox. It was nice, but when I turned the 3D slider to “off”, I didn’t really feel like I was missing much.
Paper Mario's subtle 3D planes looked great
After Kingdom Hearts I took a look at another non-interactive demo of Paper Mario. It looked exactly what I remembered from the N64 and GameCube Paper Mario games, but with a few new surprises. In battle, Mario fought with a Chain Chomp pet, and was able to use a hammer and boot patch or sticker to execute a hammer and stomp attack on the same turn. On the field, Mario could walk between foreground and background, with the 3D effect really making the interactions nice. I could easily tell which “plane” Mario was walking on—something that was a bit harder on the “2D” Paper Mario games.
Kid Icarus's flight scenes were amazing
The last game I took a look at was Kid Icarus: Uprising. It was practically the crown jewel of the 3DS lineup, as a new Kid Icarus game has been in demand for years (if not decades), and having Pit in Super Smash Bros. Brawl was a dead giveaway that Nintendo was re-awakening the franchise. Sadly this was yet another non-interactive demo, but it showed that the game had some insane levels of promise. Gameplay would switch between Pit running on the ground and slicing with twin daggers, as well as extremely impressive mid-air battles with his bow. The 3D effects were most impressive when Pit was flying between and dodging red laser blasts that were coming in from all over a canyon.
The last two aspects to the 3DS that may have me even more excited than the games… weren’t games at all. As already announced, the 3DS allows the user to take 3D holographic-like photos. I was able to give it a shot by taking photos of a leafy plant. First, you take the picture. Once processed (takes only a quick moment), you get to adjust the depth-of-field with a slider before the photo is saved. This manual fine-tweaking really gave me a sense of control over the 3D nature of the camera. Flat out—I was really impressed, and can’t wait to try it out around the household.
Saving the best for last, there was one final demo I played before I was ushered out of the 3DS booth. With only 2 spots to see it and apparently often overlooked, I had a wonderful look at something that has been an interest of mine for a long time: augmented reality. A card was placed on the table before me, marked with a Mario Bros “?” block. Using the cameras on the back of the 3DS, I was instructed to look through the 3DS at the card and calibrate it from a distance of 14″. Once completed, I was blown away: the card “opened” up and a colorful tropical island unfolded from the table itself, using the table’s textures applied to 3D elements. Bulls-eye targets then popped up, and I use the 3DS to “aim” at the targets and press the buttons to fire arrows and blast the targets. I even had to walk around the virtual island to see targets on all sides. I was flat-out blown away, and constantly had to peek around the 3DS to remind myself that it was all virtual. Holy crap, do I want a 3DS now.
Overall, the system was exactly what I was hoping the 3DS would be, and even more. I was hoping for an analog input, but did not anticipate the 3D intensity slider—a truly well-designed addition. And with a solid release game lineup, a 3D-capable camera, and a hint of augmented reality applications, I was truly blown away. It’s no wonder the 3DS was the talk of the town all throughout my stay at E3. Way to go, Nintendo—you deserve our praise. While Sony and Microsoft were busy catching up to your motion controls, you’ve been making holograms.
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