Nintendo 3DS Retrospective - I guess it is Retro

[wakka]

'Wind Waker DS' and 'The Spirit Flute' are just fan art.

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons from GBC were both rereleased on 3DS too.

[CAPCOM]

Strange it never got a version of Zelda III Link to the Past then as it has everything else! Oh and there is Tri Force Heroes as well



This is different from Four Swords Gamecube?

Anyone know what version of 3DS the Ocarina edition is? Do not think it is the New 3DS.



Or the Link between Worlds edition?

Looks like XL. Have to do some research as to differences between old and new 3DS.

[Asura]

This is different from Four Swords Gamecube?

Different game, but conceptually similar.

The problem with Triforce heroes was that it was either 1-player or 3-player. You can't play it 2-player. [MENTION=16665]Blobcat[/MENTION] and I always wanted to play it, but we never bought it for this reason.

[wakka]

The Ocarina LE 3DS is an original model 3DS. The Link Between Worlds one is an original 3DS XL. Neither are 'New' models.

The 'New' models are mostly the same. They added a very small second analogue stick, the 'C' stick, improved the 3D effect, and offered a slight power increase. The slight power increase and C-stick were only ever used by a small range of games towards the end of the 3DS's life, e.g. Xenoblade Chronicles and Super Smash Bros.

Oh, and the smaller, non-XL 'New' model added interchangeable faceplates. Quite a few of them were made.

[CMcK]

It’s a lot more than a slight power increase for the New 3DS CPU. Shame outside of homebrew not much takes advantage of it.

New 3DS specs:
- ARM11 MPCore 4x @ 268MHz (one reserved for OS)
- 4x VFPv2 Co-Processor (vector processors, like SPEs in PS3)
- 256MB FCRAM
- 10MB VRAM
- Dedicated Hardware Video Decoder
- Seemingly no change to the GPU, clock rate and all


For comparison, the old 3DS specs:
- ARM11 MPCore 2x @ 268MHz (one reseved for OS)
- 2x VFPv2 Co-Processor
- 128MB FCRAM
- 6MB VRAM
- PICA200 GPU @ 268MHz

[wakka]

Ah OK, I stand corrected I don't know anything about the homebrew side as don't tend to bother with that stuff (and tbh, the numbers you've provided above don't mean much to me!).

What I saw from official software didn't make it seem like that big a jump.

[Asura]

The Ocarina LE 3DS is an original model 3DS. The Link Between Worlds one is an original 3DS XL. Neither are 'New' models.

The 'New' models are mostly the same. They added a very small second analogue stick, the 'C' stick, improved the 3D effect, and offered a slight power increase. The slight power increase and C-stick were only ever used by a small range of games towards the end of the 3DS's life, e.g. Xenoblade Chronicles and Super Smash Bros.

Oh, and the smaller, non-XL 'New' model added interchangeable faceplates. Quite a few of them were made.

It’s a lot more than a slight power increase for the New 3DS CPU. Shame outside of homebrew not much takes advantage of it.

There were a couple of other things, too, which haven't been mentioned here.

• The "New" 3DS actually has a bigger screen than the regular one, though obviously smaller than the XL. I found it to be a really good sweet-spot, preferring it to the XL.
• The "Improved" 3D I found, honestly, made 3D worthwhile, due to the way it adjusts based on the distance to your head via an IR sensor. It makes the 3D usable while on a moving vehicle, which is where I predominantly use handhelds.
• The 2nd stick immeasurably improved some games; Resident Evil Revelations is just transformed by it.
• The additional power might not be used in many games, but it hugely speeds up loading times and the unit's "power-on" time. The menus etc. are much snappier and more responsive.
• And the most important thing - Nintendo stupidly coated the original 3DS top half with a highly reflective coating. The New 3DS fixes this incredible screw-up with a more matte covering for the screen, making it so that if you use the machine outdoors, you can see the screen - not a reflection of your own face.

Now I should restate - I predominantly use handhelds on commutes and trips; I don't often use them when sat on the sofa at home. You can probably see how several of the points above tie into this; the smaller unit being more portable, the 3D being usable on a train, the standby times being shorter and the matte screen being usable outdoors. These things won't affect everyone equally, so I'm not surprised not everyone would immediately list them.

Really, the "New 3DS" was just an improvement on the regular one in every way; I'd argue just as much as the jump from DS to DS Lite.

[CAPCOM]

Is there any way in 2020 to easily break region lock on 3DS?

https://www.destructoid.com/here-s-the-latest-way-to-region-unlock-your-3ds-286352.phtml

Play Asia has a jet black New 3DS for 230 pounds.

Quite an extensive range, the best I have seen so far, many different models

I am sure the original DS was never locked, why put this function in during this day and age?

https://www.play-asia.com/new-nintendo-3ds-black/13/7084r9

[kryss]

When you say this day and age, it was 2011 and Nintendo had released the region locked Wii since the launch of the DS. The WiiU followed the 3DS with region locking also. Nintendo doing Nintendo.

I'd bring up Fantasy Life as a great little game to play on the 3DS. It didn't get quite as much love as the digital-only Level 5 games, but was still solidly fun, if a little over grindy.

[CAPCOM]

Sony did away with region locking for PS3 did they not in 2006? Nintendo being Nintendo.

Will do some research on the issue for 2020 and 3DS.

[kryss]

But then they only let you sign into one account at a time with the Vita.

[Asura]

When you say this day and age, it was 2011 and Nintendo had released the region locked Wii since the launch of the DS. The WiiU followed the 3DS with region locking also. Nintendo doing Nintendo.

Doesn't change the fact that the 3DS is the only handheld ever made which is fully region locked. The Vita was a pain in several ways but it was still technically region-free.

For the record, Nintendo apparently did it due to the eShop; something to do with how Nintendo's services were set up back then, and they were concerned about the knock-on effect of a UK customer buying Japanese products; like the Japanese shop's terms-of-service might not match the UK's laws about such things. The first sign of this was how some digital content on the DSi was region locked, for the same reason. That being said, it was, and remains, a pretty ****ty thing for them to do.

[importaku]

Pce gt was region locked as well you needed some hilariously large diving board adapter to make USA carts work and vice versa as they reworked the pins between regions.

As for 3ds I think there’s hacking homebrew to remove the region lock but not sure if it works on real carts or you have to flashcart it. Never really looked into it much I hacked one of my oh 3ds consoles so I could use a save extractor on my game carts.

[Cepp]

It had a bit of a slow start but I like my original 3DS XL. I want to pick up a New 3DS for the improved 3D but it seems you can only buy the 2DS brand new now (and stock seems to be running out).

[Neon Ignition]

I have the Samus edition New 3DS XL, it's scratched up a lot on the exterior as I ordered it from CEX from the discounted category but lucked out as it meant it only cost about £70 and the screens are unmarked