My REAL Thoughts on the Nintendo 3DS

Ok. This is a follow-up to my April Fool's Day 2011 prank. This is my REAL thoughts on the 3DS. Meaning, my honest opinion on it. No lies. No jokes. No BS. I'm serious this time.

And again, this isn't a review. Just my thoughts.

I got to play the 3DS at a local GameStop today. A kid was playing before me and even though I was quiet, I was anxiously waiting and waiting and waiting until I FINALLY started to play. The kid turned off the system before he left, which gave me an opportunity to lower the 3D slider in case if I had problems. THEN I raised the slider up after I turned it on.

That said, the 3D effect on the 3DS is VERY impressive. It looked a little funny at first, but after a few adjustments and standing straight, I began to really enjoy it and I had no major issues whatsoever. No eye strain, no loss of vision, no headaches, no dizziness, nothing. I came out just fine. And I played that thing for quite a while. Focusing back and forth from 3D to 2D and vice versa wasn't a problem either.

As for how good the 3D effect is, the best way to compare this is like looking at a window. You can't touch anything because there's something blocking in-between, but everything looks vivid. It's like you're watching computer graphics and animation in-person behind a glass wall. That's how awesome the 3D effect is! And without the need of glasses, it makes things more interesting.

One thing I noticed is that if you close one eye and leave one eye open, it will go back to 2D. That means you can only see the 3D effect with both of your eyes. Kinda like an optical illusion.

But if you've never played the 3DS and are skeptical about the 3D effect, I recommend starting with 3D turned off and then slowly raise the slider until you're used to it, which only takes about less than 5 seconds.

As for the graphics, they look impressive as well. Not only does it look better than the PSP, but I think it looks better than most GameCube games (And I mean ones that aren't F-Zero GX quality). It especially looks better than all the shovelware and third-party games on the Wii. So this is definitely NOT a DS or DSi with 3D effects. There's other things too.

You have the same buttons as the DS (A,B,X,Y,D-Pad,Start and Select) but you also get a new analog stick. And let me tell you, the analog stick on this thing is much better than the analog stick on the PSP. I own a PSP and I wasn't impressed with the analog stick. The PSP's analog stick feels pretty stiff and can be hard to control at times. The 3DS analog stick feels a lot smoother and it feels almost like a console analog stick. My only gripe about it is that the analog stick is ABOVE the D-Pad. I personally prefer D-Pad above analog, but I can deal with it.

Another gripe I have is the Power Button. It's in the same position as the Start and Select button were on the DS Lite (I never played the DSi or DSi XL, so don't ask me about those). And I play the DS Lite A LOT, so when I get the 3DS and I wanna pause the game for a bit, I might turn off the game by accident.

Also, the only 3DS color I like so far is the Cosmo Black one. Aqua Blue looks nice when it's closed, but it looks awkward when it's open. You have the bottom part blue, but the top part is black? Shouldn't both sides be one color?

Maybe they'll fix these things with the first revision, so I hope they do.

I haven't tried the other features on the 3DS like the camera, web browser, etc., so I don't have anything to say about those things at this point. All I did was play on the 3DS and the game I played was Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, which kicks ass!

After all, it's fucking Street Fighter! What do you expect?

So my final thoughts are, the 3DS is a revolutionary handheld that has a bright future ahead. And if you've seen E3 last year, you know that this thing will have a TON of third-party support, so there's no doubt that Nintendo's dominance will continue with the 3DS.

I was gonna get it at launch day until I found out about the price. I predicted $200, but it came out $250. I might as well wait 'til Christmas.

But I guess it's a fair price considering the 3D effect and at least it's below $300.

Now does that mean the NGP (Next Generation Portable) will suck? Not at all. It may not do as well as the 3DS because of how revolutionary it is, but it will do well on its own. Sony NGP looks impressive as well, but it's not exactly mind-blowing or revolutionary. 3G has been done before and that was on mobile phones. Same goes for the touch screen. Really, the only thing NGP has over any other handheld is that it's the first to use TWO analog sticks instead of just one like 3DS, PSP and Neo Geo Pocket. It also has a touchpad on the back. Other than that, hardware wise, it's just a PSP with better graphics and a bunch of crap in it.

And I heard the NGP is gonna emphasize on digital downloads, which is HUGE turnoff for me. That means I might not be able to see a good selection of NGP games at retail. This could hurt the chances of obscure games and overlooked gems being released.

But in the end, it all comes down to games. Right now, it looks like the 3DS is gonna have an awesome lineup for 2011. The best games that are currently out are the Rayman game, Pilotwings Resort, and Street Fighter. I don't care much for generic racers like Ridge Racer and Asphalt. Besides, I'm waiting for Mario Kart and F-Zero to come out on the 3DS, so there's no point. But what's coming out later is the 3D N64 classics like Star Fox 64 and Zelda: Ocarina of Time (which will also include the Master Quest version from the GameCube). We also have Contra 5 coming out,a new Metal Gear Solid game, two new Resident Evil games, a new Assassin's Creed, a new Bomberman, a new Kingdom Hearts game, a new Paper Mario game, a new Saints Row, Samurai Warriors, and a new original 3D Mario game.

For the NGP, it has a tentative release date of Fall 2011, and based on that tentative date and games Sony showed at GDC 2011, the lineup doesn't look all that impressive. I'm not a fan of generic first-person shooters like Call of Duty and Killzone, so I'll definitely pass on those. And LittleBigPlanet was already on the regular PSP and I have it for my PSP.

But I'm confident that the lineup will improve over time.

So I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and be sure to check out more blogs and blog reviews in the near future. The games I plan on reviewing here are...