On Friday, Nintendo reduced the price of the 3DS portable console to $169.99 – making it a tempting purchase for anyone who was on the fence. I hadn’t bought a new Nintendo handheld since 2006 (my DS Lite) and when I learned about Walmart dropping the price early, I decided to pounce. You see, to compensate early adopters who felt cheated, Nintendo is giving out 20 free NES and GBA game downloads as part of the 3DS Ambassador program. Now I am a 3DS Ambassador as well. But is the system worth your money if you can’t become an Ambassador? Was it worth my money?
The design of the 3DS definitely reminds me of my DS Lite, it’s even about the same size. Nintendo added a circle pad above the D-pad, which is surprisingly comfortable to use – a real step up from the PSP’s one. The stylus storage area was moved to the back of the system, making it a bit of a chore to get your GameBoy pen out unlike the DS Lite, where you could slide it out of the side easily. The system is light, the buttons sufficiently comfortable and the look of the console is nice; I’m a fan.
The most notable feature of the console is the top screen, with its widescreen aspect ratio and 3D capability. The glasses-free 3D does definitely work and look really good in a game like Ocarina of Time 3D. I didn’t experience any eye fatigue using the console, although it did feel a little weird just looking at the screen correctly the first few times. Like 3D movies, the effect here is all about depth, not pop, which I think is probably the way to go. Not having to wear the glasses is really nice, although it leaves you very little room to move around. You have to hold the 3DS exactly right, or your eyes won’t be able to see the screen correctly. I didn’t think it was that big a deal, but it might be if you spend most of your time playing in bed or somewhere where you can’t sit comfortably. Overall, I think the 3D is really cool, but probably unnecessary. Playing games in 3D is not really that different from playing games in 2D. Which is why it’s nice you can turn the 3D off if you want. In fact, Nintendo encourages that for players under six.
The 3DS also has three cameras, which enables it to do some cool stuff. It has two cameras on the back, which you can use to take pictures in 3D and play neat ARG games. The system comes with cards that the camera will recognize and bring to life right before your eyes. It’s a really neat effect and, as Colin put it, it’s great that I can finally play games set in my room. The system also sports a gyroscope so you can move around in those ARG games and other games as well, although I think it’s silly to move a console around that you need to look at in a precise way.
The big downside of the 3DS is the battery life. Allegedly the system only lasts a few hours with all the features turned on. You can turn the 3D off, adjust the brightness, turn off WiFi, and turn on power saver mode to get more time out of the system, but that’s still not great. Personally, I always put my 3DS on the included dock when I’m not using it and I haven’t had it die on me yet. But this could definitely be a problem if you’re counting on your 3DS for a long flight or something else where you simply can’t charge it for a while. Ask yourself if it’s a deal breaker, because knowing Nintendo there probably will be a new, better 3DS coming down the pipeline next year.
I’m pretty impressed with my 3DS. It’s really fun to play with and a cool gadget to own. That said, there aren’t that many games for it yet, especially if upgraded N64 ports aren’t your thing. So while I really enjoy the 3DS, I think the wisest thing for anyone to do at this point is wait for that one game you really want and get the 3DS then. You never know what Nintendo has up their sleeve.
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