Nintendo 3DS Specs

See that greenish blue thing up there? That might look like this greenish blue thing over here that we reviewed a few weeks back, but actually they’re not the same. No, sir. This thing up there is the genuine, guaranteed, red-blooded American version, ready to tear a $250 hole in your gaming budget and make you go all googly-eyed for 3D. Naturally there isn’t an awful lot different here compared to the Japanese version we already looked at, but we have had the opportunity to spend a good bit more quality time with this one than with the other one. Plus, being able to read all the manuals doesn’t hurt.What you’ll find below is a full review of the American console including more game impressions, more in depth battery life tests, a dazzling demo of the thing’s augmented reality gameplay, and some surpring performance results with good ‘ol DS carts. So, join us, if you would, for a rather more in depthexploration of this, the next dimension in handheld console gaming.

Hardware

Owners of either a Nintendo DS Lite, DSi, or DS XL will feel right at home with the 3DS. It has the same clamshell design, a bit chubbier than the Lite but almost identically dimensioned compared to the DSi. It’s something of a chunky, hefty thing, taking up an entire pocket but certainly not putting too much of a dent in a backpack. Flip it open (which curiously snaps into place with an audible click, unlike the Japanese version) and you’re greeted with the second-biggest change here compared to Ninty’s previous portable offerings: an analog thumb slider. Nintendo calls it either the Circle or Slide Pad and, regardless of which moniker you prefer, you’ll find it to be quite comfortable.

It cossets your opposable digits with a subtle indentation and a tactile rubberized coating that ensures your all-important left thumbprint will not suffer damage whilst jet packing Pilot Wings. That, of course, can’t be said about Sony’s 30 grit analog sliders on the PSP. The 3DS slider is rather strongly sprung, but it moves with precision — not to mention grace.

To make room the D-pad has been displaced, moved down about an inch and put at something of an uncomfortable position. This is of course most notable when you’re playing an older DS game or a game like Super Street Figher IV: 3D Edition, which is better done sans-analogue. However, the slider pad can be used for the DS games too, naturally minus its pressure-sensitive ways.

You cannot, however, use the analog slider with older Game Boy or Game Boy Advance titles, simply because there’s nowhere to put them. Like the DSi, the 3DS makes do without a bigger cartridge slot, and that’s a shame, because Super Puzzle Fighter II still hasn’t seen a DS release. We just can’t make it through a flight of any substantial duration without choosing Dan and burying our enemies with red crystals.

The A, B, X, and Y buttons are in their familiar diamond pattern on the right, L and R up top where you’d expect them. Those two are a bit thin, but protrude enough that they fall to finger quite handily. Much more handily than the new Start, Select, and Home buttons, positioned beneath the (yes, still resistive) touchscreen. They look like capacitive numbers of the sort found on many a slabby smartphone these days, but despite being flush with the screen they do depress. They’re all but impossible to find by feel, which is a little unfortunate, but you’ll rarely be reaching for them in a panic. The stylus, too, is hard to find by touch, hidden on the back next to the cartridge slot

Up above them is the new three-inch touchscreen, resolution boosted to 320 x 240 — a nice step up from the DSi’s 256 x 192. But, of course, the real story is the non-touchy, non-feely screen up above that.

Glasses-free 3D at last

Inside the lid of the 3DS is the display that will bring all the gamers to the yard, the glasses-free, parallax-barrier 3D screen that we think is from Sharp, but nobody’s confirming yet. It’s 3.5-inches on the diagonal, containing an array of 800 x 240 pixels. That’s quite high-res for a portable Nintendo system but, because of the way things work here, each eye has to have its own columns of pixels, meaning the effective resolution of 400 x 240. Still quite good, and an even bigger step up from the 256 x 192 displays on the DSi.

When displaying 2D content the image is bright and crisp, and while viewing angles are perhaps a bit disappointing (there’s a sharp decrease in contrast after about 45 degrees) that’s not really a problem here, because you’ll be spending most of your time front-and-center. At least, you will be if you want to make use of the system’s highly-tauted glasses-free 3D mode.

To make the most of this you have to hold the system at a point right around 12 inches from your face. It has to be almost perfectly flat relative to your eyes — any deviation from there of more than a few degrees and the screen’s built-in lenses that split one picture into two won’t send the right photons into the right peepers.

The further away you hold the screen the harder your eyes have to work to put things together, which is where the little silver slider on the right comes in. This intensifies or reduces the 3D effect, basically shifting the two virtual cameras in the game further apart or closer together.

If you’re the type of gamer who can’t sit still while playing you’ll find yourself reaching for this dial as often as the A or B buttons. The closer your face to the screen the higher you can raise that slider. But, move the system away with that slider too high and you’re just asking for a headache as your brain tries to re-assemble two perspectives that are a little too far out of whack.

So, to get the maximum effect you have to hold the 3DS perfectly still, hold it close, and make sure the 3D dial isn’t cranked too high. A pain? Yes, it is, but it quickly becomes second nature and, once you perfect it, it actually is worthwhile. The screen provides a very compelling effect and, while 3D adds absolutely nothing to the gameplay itself (you won’t be peeking around corners or better-judging throws) it genuinely improves the perceived quality of the graphics in the system’s games. Plus, it’s pretty neat.

Read more at: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/21/nintendo-3ds-review/