NEW NINTENDO 3DS & 3DS XL REVIEW, we were unable to test the New 3DS’s support for NFC functions [such as the use of Amiibo figurines], since that functionality is yet to be patched into Super Smash Bros at the time of writing. We’ll update this review as soon as the NFC functionality becomes available.)
The Nintendo 3DS is a system that has succeeded despite the fact a large portion of its userbase tends to overlook its signature selling point. That’s hardly a surprise given its glasses-free stereoscopic 3D only offers an extremely narrow sweet spot of vision; shift your head too far or tilt your hands, and you go from immersive 3D depth to a drunkard’s double-vision.
All that has changed with the New Nintendo 3DS. Over the past three years of gaming on the original 3DS, I rarely bothered to turn on the 3D functionality. In the past week that I’ve spent with the New 3DS, I’ve yet to turn it off.
Keeping Your Head in the Game
Thanks to the new head-tracking camera and infrared sensor found above the main screen of the new devices, the sweet spot for 3D has widened considerably to allow for ample head movement. This improvement is especially useful if you often game while on the go; the constant swaying and occasional jolt of my morning train commute has only very occasionally shattered the New 3DS’s stereoscopic spell, and even then, the system quickly adjusts and snaps back into focus.
Similarly, games that use the system’s gyroscope for motion-based controls (such as the bow and arrow mechanic in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D) can now be enjoyed in a stabilised 3D mode, no matter how exaggerated your movements are.
So superb is this revamped 3D mode that I’ve revelled in replaying games that I originally completed either entirely in two dimensions or with only isolated uses of the 3D. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and Star Fox 64 3D are just a handful of games that I’ve finally begun enjoying exactly as the developers intended them; these familiar experiences suddenly seem fresh. Of course, both versions of the New 3DS feature the same screen resolutions as their predecessors (albeit with slightly richer contrast), so if you were previously deterred from using 3D because it halves an already sub-HD pixel count, then your stance is unlikely to change with the updated systems. (Though, pixel counters and Nintendo fans are rarely one and the same.)
Beyond the substantially improved 3D capability, the New 3DS features a number of other hardware changes. Some of these are small yet logical tweaks: the volume slider now resides at the left of the top screen, making it easier to reach with your left index finger; the start and select buttons have been shifted to the bottom right to give your right thumb easier access; and the dedicated wi-fi switch has been nixed in favour of a software-based setting in the system’s home menu. Elsewhere the cartridge port, power button and stylus slot have each been moved to the bottom edge of the system, and the headphone out shifted slightly to the middle.
Of more importance is the addition of the ZR and ZL shoulder buttons and the C-stick, which replicate the Circle Pad Pro peripheral’s controls. This attachment for the original 3DS was a good idea in theory, but its jeans pocket-busting size and ugly, lopsided design left a lot to be desired.
By transplanting all of the ill-fated attachment’s inputs onto the New 3DS, Nintendo’s handheld now offers more control without any additional bulk. There have been some compromises made, though. While all of the back catalogue games that supported the Circle Pad Pro (like Kid Icarus Uprising and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate) automatically work with the extra shoulder buttons and C-stick, these added inputs don’t all feel as good as they did before. While the ZR and ZL buttons are placed comfortably under your index fingertips and allow for a more sophisticated suite of controls, the C-stick itself feels like a slightly inferior replacement for the circle pad found on the original peripheral.
Resembling a rubber trackpoint nub from a ThinkPad laptop, the C-stick is sensitive enough to provide deft Y-axis movements for camera controls and the like, but the more I used it, the more its rigid design and small surface area began to feel uncomfortable under my thumb. It simply doesn’t offer the grip or the sliding movement radius of the circle pad. Ultimately the C-stick is great for simple inputs like charging your Smash Attack in Super Smash Bros, and good enough for the sporadic camera and aiming movement in third-person games like Resident Evil Revelations and Metal Gear Solid 3D, but I’m less keen to play anything that demands a more constant use of the C-stick, such as a first-person shooter. (On the upside, I’m sure I’m not the only one hoping that these control additions pave the way for the Gamecube’s back catalogue to finally arrive on the Virtual Console.)
The New 3DS’ enhancements aren’t all visible; Nintendo has also beefed up its new systems with additional processing power under the hood. (Although in typical Nintendo fashion, there aren’t any official specs to show the difference in raw numbers.) Xenoblade Chronicles, the first game to take advantage of this hardware upgrade, isn’t set for release until some time in 2015, so it’s not currently possible to test how much of a boost this new chip will provide in terms of the system’s graphical capabilities. What is evident already, however, is how much faster the New 3DS performs basic system operations.
