From the Vault — originally published June 17, 2010. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.
I was worried that after standing in line for about an hour to see the Nintendo 3DS I would be a bit jaded and shit on it but that was so not the case. I guess this in of itself is a testament to how impressed I was with the Nintendo 3DS.
The Nintendo 3DS now has an analog nub. Similar in design to the analog nub on the PSP but executed much better. The Nintendo 3DS analog nub is much larger and feels much more precise. I could not help but think that if it had two of those analog nubs it would have been the “handheld of the forever” though it has it placed above the d-pad. Nintendo is officially calling the analog sticks “slide pads.” The Nintendo 3DS system itself is smaller than the DSIXL but larger than the current DS Lite systems. The top screen is larger and now large enough to directly compete with the PSP screen size. The graphics appeared on par if not better than the PSP. The system also sports an SD card slot and the bottom screen has touch capabilities. The system also sports two cameras on the back of the lid which can be used to take 3D pictures.
The lines for the 3DS were the longest of all at E3 this year.
The top screen has the 3D capabilities. The way 3D works on the Nintendo 3DS is inward. It was not until I had hands on time with it that I was able to understand how it works. The 3D does not come forth outside of the screen and it does not hover between the bottom and top screens. The effect is inward with a sort of 3D depth effect pushing deep into the top 3D screen. The top screen looks like its deep into the screen itself with nothing appearing to come out at you beyond the screen. With that said the 3D depth in the 3D screen was impressive. The downside is that you have to be looking straight at the screen dead on to get the 3D effect. Side on lookers will only see a burry mess. The 3D effect slider is a godsend for the machine and is much needed. For different games and demos I found myself positioning having to tweak the slider until the 3D image was clear and in that way the slider was like a focus ring on a camera.
I played Ridge Racer in 3D and once the 3D slider was set correctly it was nice. The game of the show and I think best demo of the 3D capabilities of the 3DS was actually the Metal Gear Solid Naked Snake demo. This demo pretty much sold me on the 3DS. It starts out as you crawl through the jungle with 3D blades of grass and 3D snakes slithering past you and almost attacking you. You then get up and the camera pans around a 3D model of Big Boss. The effect was so well done and totally an “oh wow” moment. Actually one of the best wow moments of the E3 show. Snake proceeds to walk and then shimmy along the side or a bride all the while the camera is panning around him in 3D. Great stuff. I also saw the Kid Icarus demo and got a chance to play Starfox on the Nintendo 3DS in 3D though it was less impressive it still looked good in 3D.
The bottom line is that upon playing with Nintendo 3DS for 20 minutes it became apparent that the 3DS is a PSP killer. The system now has everything the PSP had as an advantage over the DS. It has an analog stick (slide pads), external SD memory card support, a color screen that’s about the same size, does does 3D extremely well and has a killer game lineup on the horizon while the PSP does not have many games announced for future release. The Nintendo 3DS will print money for Nintendo and rightfully so. It is a slick and well made piece of kit.
