I mean, there are seventy million of them out there, so collectors will be fine for a while, but... man, we really missed a step not embracing the crazy cool 3D display tech in these. I really loved it.
Also, point people at this thread next time Nintendo comes after the emulation scene, because... yeah, this is why.
I'm amazed at how few people loved the 3D. To me, that was the best part. Even in 2D map games like ALBW, the depth made it look better and helped navigate places where you had to fall down onto lower platforms. In spatial puzzle games like pushmo, having the depth made thinking about the problems easier.
Face tracking on the N3DSXL made the experience so awesome.
Higher resolution would've been great though, because it is laughable how low resolution the 3DS screen is even compared to a mobile phone from the same era.
I can't wait for a good emulator to come out that supports upscaling and 3D.
I would have loved a stereo Switch, for sure.
And I hear you on the impact on 2D games. Man, the 3D remasters of Sega classics on the 3DS are amazing and it sucks that they will remain trapped in there indefinitely.
And yeah, emulation. You can get stereo output out of it right now, but it's just such a hassle even if you have the hardware. You can do it, but the 3DS was so seamless that it just isn't the same thing. Pulling that thing out of mothballs if you haven't played it in a while is immediately magical. It still looks sci-fi because it just works. Having some convoluted emulation-to-VR setup or whatever is fundamentally different.
Mothballs? Heresy! I still have 2 that me and my kids keep handy. I was even playing it last weekend to show my kids how the painting thing in ALBW worked. I do find though that since I got a retroarch compatible handheld I don't play my 3DSes as much. I still do have some puzzle games to finish though... 🤔
Also, I forgot to mention another great thing about 3DS: a rock solid untethered CFW.
Hah, I handed one to a kid just this week, too, and they loved their time on it. I'm just assuming a lot of people aren't actively playing theirs.
I'll add the homebrew community to what I said above regarding the emulation community, too.
I was enthusiastic about the console's 3D display, but I'm among the few unlucky people who discovered they were stereoblind with the 3DS.
3D effects have always made my head hurt honestly. That goes for 3d movies as well.
That's because in almost every instance, you only need to push the slider 1/3 to 1/2 strength. Seriously.
At max strength your eyes can splay too far apart and it's uncomfortable.
Cool tech, but wrong platform. It gave people headaches and it halfed the effective resolution of an already low resolution screen. I think it would have worked better if the hardware running it could handle rendering two 3d scenes.
The original implementation without eye tracking gave it an (undeserved) reputation for that, but I don't think the current version of it is givin people headaches at all. Having played a 3DS with 3D on full just this week, I also don't find the resolution was the dealbreaker. Obviously the Switch is way ahead of its performance, but coming from the DS they delivered a big bump in 3D performance along with the stereoscopic display.
What I think they had is terrible timing. The 3DS had a rocky launch and then had to make that back during the peak of "stereo 3D sucks" cyclical backlash coming from rushed movie conversions sold at a premium and TVs doing it poorly in the living room. Weirdly a lot of that was coming from the same people that keep hoping that VR would be the next big thing. At the same time. The cognitive dissonance was harsh there for a bit.
Still, it was a thing, and everybody lumpled the 3DS along with it. "Turn the slider down and never think about it again" was a meme, which sucks, because plenty of 3DS games look great in stereo.
The resolution and blurriness was the biggest issue for me and what gave me a headache. I loved my 3ds but I didn't really have a use for it on that platform. Also the fact that it was optional meant no developer could actually make it useful as a game mechanic
I didn't have a 3ds when it was current because of getting a headache the one time I tried one, but I bought a new 3ds last year and I have no issues with having the 3d on for shorter gaming sessions. The eye tracking seems to be a huge improvement for me.
I've played Virtual Boy games on my 3ds and it's pretty amazing. You're right that due to the 3d being optional in most games means they couldn't really use it in gameplay, but with the Virtual Boy games, those were designed for and must be played in 3d. It really made me wonder what could have been for the 3ds if all the things about the hardware that made the 3ds special were used in more creative ways.
I never tried the virtual boy titles on 3ds, sounds like I missed out
Well, the fact that not everybody has good stereoscopic sight should mean that, on accessibility alone. But I've also never bought into that particular criticism.
I mean, I also don't have a useful game mechanic for super detailed graphics and you don't see me complaining about games looking good. I thought playing through little dioramas looked great and was super fun, and that was all I needed. When the DS had its phase of shoehorning touch controls on everything I found that extremely obnoxious. Not every gimmick needs to be at the core of every game.
Fair enough. I guess I felt it was the wrong platform for it and that it would have had better use on something akin to a psvita.
I can play 3d mario kart all day long, and thanks to mkgp mod, Tracks keep ob comming 😏
I hope my New Nintendo 3DS XL will last forever. The 3D effect is amazing and I'm sure it will shock younger generations in the future.
Can confirm, my son found my old 3DS a few months back and quite likes the 3D effect.
He now regularly plays 3DS.
They are pretty solid devices! All three of my 3DSes are in great shape after lots of use, but yet I already have one dead Switch due to the sd card adapter port on the motherboard losing some teeth, and don't get me started on joycon drift.
Not sure what the rules are in Japan but I'm almost sure they have to supply parts and repair for 7 years after discontinuation in the EU. So, it's the bare minimum really, hardly commendable.
The aftermarket will keep these things going with spares no doubt.
I bought two refurbed New 3DSs from the Nintendo Store back in 2018, and my wifey and I have had massive fun times on them. I use mine during the commute, doing some Picrosses in the subway. And we've done so many dates where we'd get a booth and a pitcher and play doctor mario against each other, or mario kart. Highly recommend getting a 3ds and custom firmwaring it for massive entertainment value.
Oh man, for a moment I thought they're still producing the Nintendo 3DS, but no, "New" is part of the console name...
So stupid
I really hate that Nintendo keeps putting "new" in titles. There's the New 3DS, a New Mario game, and I think there was a New Mario party? Could be wrong on that but I remember there was a "New Mario 2" 🤦🏾♂️
I think it was just the New 3DS and the New Super Mario Bros series. Widely ridiculed at the time, but I don't think they've done it for about a decade.
&knuckles
I just recently bought one (and a DSi XL for that matter) and I'm not surprised. 3rd party parts for Nintendo products are usually pretty available so unless your device is experiencing something catastrophic, repairing it shouldn't be an issue even several years from now.
Do they make third party replacements for the 3D screen?
I can't believe they would stop repairing such a New product, at least wait until it's a bit older
Didn't Nintendo even repair NES consoles up until not too long ago?
Almost 20 years ago, they stopped in 2007.
It's still insane that they continued to service them for that long.
Pretty sure 99% of the problems that the NES had were due to the shitty cartridge connector. It's a very simple part and easy to replace. You can buy off-brand replacements now and fix it yourself. It's not that surprising that they had a ton of spare parts for that.
Aren't there also companies that make replacements that improve on the design, fixing the original issues?
Yup, the 72-pin, after many years of use, would become loose and not make a full connection to the the cart. That's the most common issue. In general the NES is very easy to repair and there's extensive documentation out there for anyone with the knowhow to solder on a new part.
IIRC the replacement doesn't even require any soldering or de-soldering. Just pull the connector off the motherboard and slide the new one on.
That was very cool. Almost like supercar manufacturers still servicing their very old car models (with a big price tag attached, but still).
I sent mine in for a screen repair in 2018 & they sent it back saying “no can do”
Honestly surprised they kept repairing them this long.
Buys 2DS checkmate
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