Nintendo 3ds Questions?

[Lillian Renée Remington]

I'm thinking of getting the Nintendo 3ds. I have a few questions about it though.

1. If I turn off the 3d part completely, will it have that blue and red affect of movie like affect when you take off your glasses?

2. Will the games that are in 3d still work if the 3d is turned off?

3. Will 3ds games play on Nintendo dsi?

4. What is the 3d camera like? How is it different than a regular camera?

5. Does the Nintendo 3ds have that chat room thing like the first ds?

6. What games do you recommend? (The people who will be playing will be 14+, but really, any age range for games will do as long as we like them.)

7. Does the 3ds have wifi? If so, then can I download social networking apps like kik, facebook, twitter etc...? How does the wifi work?

8. How good is the battery on the Nintendo 3ds?

9. If I'm going to keep the 3d part off all the time, should I still get the 3ds? Or go with something else? If I got a different ds, will the 3d games still work? Here are the games I'm thinking of getting:

- Super Smash Bros
- Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time
- Animal Crossing New Leaf
- Pokemon X and Y (is this one whole game or two games)
- Super Mario 3D world
- call of duty
- LEGO Harry Potter


Sorry that was a lot more questions than you probably though there were.
Thanks so much for answering!
If you want, feel free to include personal experiences, recommendations and tips!

[Cynical_Student]

1) No. The 3D is more of a trick of the eye then official 3D. If you turn it off, you'll see the screen as normal

2) No. If the 3DS is off, then the game won't work.

3) No. 3DS games only play on the 3DS. DS games will play on the 3DS though.

4) The camera isn't that great really - unless you keep the lens spotlessly clean. No flash, it struggles in gloomy areas...

5) I'm sure there are apps for it, but I've not investigated it.

6) Pokémon X and Y is pretty popular, and anything that has a big following. Just get the games you like.

7) It has Wifi. You need to register it to your internet (secure) router but other then that it works fine. You can surf the internet, but generally its not a good browser. I wouldn't facebook or anything. I've not investigated if there is facebook and twitter apps.

8) The Battery life depends on whether your on the internet or using the 3D features. If you're away from a power source don't use either feature. But the blue power light will turn red when battery is low, and flash when its critically low. Battery life is worse then the DS ever was.

9) You could get the 2DS, that comes without the 3D features but I'm pretty sure it has everything else. It's cheaper then the 3DS, however it's a weird design and looks clunky as heck. I'm not even sure how I'd hold it, and its certainly not travel friendly. I play the 3DS without the 3D features on (it gives me a headache).

[747]

1. The 3DS uses a totally different 3D technology from that "red and blue" 3D that was common with older 3D stuff. If you turn off the 3D slider, you get a regular 2D image.

2. Yes.

3. No, they don't even fit in the DSi. The 3DS is a newer, more powerful system. It would be like trying to pay N64 games in a Super Nintendo.

4. It's basically on par with most cell phone cameras only it has two lenses to make 3D pictures. The quality's pretty low overall. It's mostly to be used with AR cards and stuff.

5. Yes, but it's called SwapNote now. It can be used to send stuff locally to nearby 3DS systems. You can use the Miiverse to connect with people via the Internet.

6. Kinda depends on what kinds of games they like. Super Mario 3D Land is pretty good for all ages, as is the new Zelda game: A Link Between Worlds. There's a bunch of free demos you can download from the 3DS eShop now to try out games as well.

7. Yes, it has wifi for connecting to the eShop, multiplayer gaming, and social features. It does not have apps for Facebook, Twitter, or anything like that. It's not going to replace your cell phone.

8. It's not as good as the DS's but it's a more powerful system. You'll get about 5-6 hours of playtime out of a charge without the 3D effect in use.

9. It's still a new system with new games. The 3D effect isn't the only selling point of the system. There is also the less expensive 2DS though, which has all the features of the 3DS minus the 3D effect and is compatible with all 3DS games. The only thing about the 2DS is that it doesn't have a clamshell design like the 3DS, meaning it doesn't fold up, and it only has a monaural speaker. So overall it feels cheaper than the 3DS or 3DS XL.

Also Pokemon X and Y are two versions of the same game. Each version has exclusive Pokemon that you can only catch in that version, just like the older Pokemon games. This is to encourage people with different versions to trade with each other to catch 'em all.

[Nightangelwolf]

1) The 3DS utilises depth effect, not the red/blue trick. This allows you to see colours normally regardless of it being enabled or disabled.

2) Again, the console only utilises depth effect- the graphics are completely HD 3D rendered models and effects, similar to the quality seen on the Wii. Turning off the depth effect will not change this.

3) No. Games for the 3DS have a small tab jutting out to prevent the games from being inserted and played on older hardware- even if you were to remove the tab, games cannot be played on older hardware due to changes that make them compatible with the 3DS- DS/DS Lite/DSi systems cannot render fully HD 3D graphics of the same quality, only rivalling the 3D quality of the Nintendo 64.

4) There are two external cameras- these allow you to take pictures and (if the depth slider is enabled) take 3D pictures, which can be viewed on devices that support 3D images. The inner camera does not support 3D.

5) No. It formerly had a similar software (Swap Note / Letterbox) however due to abuse of the software, Nintendo disabled its SpotPass functionality; this means you can no longer message your friends online. You can still use it for local StreetPass. As of December 2013, Miiverse was introduced (information: https://miiverse.nintendo.net/ ) and replaces Swap Note/Letterbox, but it is more restrictive and better moderated.

6) Personal recommendations: Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, New Super Mario Bros 2, Pokémon X/Y, Monster Hunter 3, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Super Mario World 3D.

7) Yes, the 3DS supports WiFi functionality both for local wireless functions (includes StreetPass) and online functions, varying per game. There are several Nintendo Zones across the globe which will enable you to play away from home or even get hits from fellow 3DS owners, counting towards your StreetPass games and related functions for some supported games- ie, houses in AC:NL or PokéMiles in X/Y.

8) Not the greatest though it varies based on the model; on average, the 3DS's battery lasts between 3-5 hours depending on brightness, 3D depth use, volume and WiFi, generally lasting longer if using DS software. For the 3DS XL, you can expect 3.5-6.5 hours, or 6-10 hours (DS software) with the same details being applied. The 2DS has a slightly improved battery life, but it's about the same as the 3DS with everything else in mind.

9) That would depend on your preferences; if you want value, go with the 2DS, especially if you're not looking to use the 3D depth effect, but the con of that would be that it doesn't fold and isn't easily pocket-friendly. The 3DS XL has some improvements over the original model, but it does fold and provided you have big/deep pockets, it is compact but slightly heavier. The original model is the most compact, but it is a bit pricier.

All members of the 3DS family support all games in the 3DS line-up. You won't have any problems getting any of those games to run regardless of whether you buy the standard model, XL model or 2D model.

[Billy]

Great Questions, all of them.

1. No, you won't have that affect at all. It uses a very different type of 3D, so you won't notice it when it is off. In fact, some games I actually prefer to have it off.

2. no, the 3DS games won't play on the DS or DSi. However, DS and DSi games will play just fine on the 3DS!

4. The camera is okay. About as good as most cell phone cameras. the really cool thing though is being able to take 3D pictures with it. And they are actually in 3D.

5. Yes, it does. SwapNote is what they call it, and it works pretty much the same way.

6. It's hard to say, and it really depends on what the player likes. Any of the Mario or Zelda games are good, you can't go wrong.

7. Yes it does.

8. The battery is very decent, depending on usage of course, but I charge mine about once ever 2 days or so.

9. Even if you're going to keep the 3D off part of the time, you still can't get the same level of graphics on a DS or DSi system. Even with the 3D off, the 3DS games look great in comparison to the DS or DSi.