Review of the game console New Nintendo 3DS

As long as I can remember, I've always been keen on game consoles and video games. A special place in my collection is played by gaming systems produced by the Japanese company Nintendo, which has been delighting fans of games around the world with its creations for more than 30 years. This year the line of pocket consoles of the company has been updated with a new model of New Nintendo 3DS. Let's carefully study the novelty together with you and identify all its advantages and disadvantages.

I got into the hands of a rare edition of the console New Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Edition, which could only get European users of the Club Nintendo service, who pre-ordered the console New Nintendo 3DS one of the first. From the standard kit this edition is distinguished by the presence of a unique set of decorative caps with the Nintendo logo, a set of decorative caps in the style of the game Super Smash Bros., a stand for recharging and unique packaging. And now let's take a closer look at this kit and understand how the new console differs from the previous one.

That's what the New Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Edition looks like. It should be noted that I really like this minimalism in electronics packaging. The box is snow-white, not covered by various advertising slogans and motley images. Is that in the upper left corner of the company's logo company, and in the upper right - the indication of the region to which the console refers. There is in this a certain aesthetic beauty.

Inside the box, the most important thing is hidden: the console New Nintendo 3DS, a set of additional decorative covers in the style of fighting game Super Smash Bros. and a stand for recharging. All accessories are individually packaged and carefully placed in a cardboard stand, from which it was not easy to pull them out, as it seemed to me at first.

That's what the New Nintendo 3DS looked like right after it was removed from the box. To the person who bought the console was aware of one of its main differences from the previous model, the front decorative cover lies in the package separately. You should read the instructions and fix the panel on the console yourself, along the way to understand how it all works. The panel, by the way, is fixed simply. Similarly, it is removed from the console and replaced with any other of your choice. Nintendo to date offers users a wide range of decorative covers, so that everyone can find something suitable for themselves.

This is the lid on the console. At first glance, you can not say that it is removable. The three hieroglyphics that you see on the lid (though in this case they are turned upside down), mean the name of the company Nintendo. Japanese users are accustomed to this designation, and for Russian people all these symbols are a wonder. At the bottom of the top cover you can see two lenses, with which the console can do stereo pictures and shoot stereoscopic video. Judging by the developers' claims, New Nintendo 3DS is now able to make much better pictures in conditions of insufficient illumination.

However, on the back of the decorative cover is much more familiar logo of the company, which is familiar to almost everyone who at least once played games about the Italian plumber Mario and his friends.

Here's how the decorative cover, dedicated to the fighting game Super Smash Bros. looks. As you can see, complete with the back panel there are two bolts fixed in it, with which it is fixed to the console body. Keep in mind that you will need a small cross-head screwdriver in order to remove or put on the decorative cover. It's good that I had a set of such screwdrivers at my house and did not have to stomp them to the store.

This cover is more saturated with images compared to the first one. On it you can see many popular characters of Nintendo games. Here you and Link from The Legend of Zelda, and Samus Aran from Metroid, and even cheerful Kirby from the game of the same name.

In the box with the console, I also found two quite weighty instructions in several European languages, including Russian, a short guide for those who are too lazy to read a lot and also a set of AR-cards. AR-cards are images of Nintendo game characters, with which you can activate the built-in applications of your augmented reality in your console. More on this I will not stop, because today we are talking exclusively about the iron component of the new console, and not about its software. Moreover, in terms of software, it almost does not differ from its predecessor, released in 2011.

Now a little about the strange. Nintendo does not complete the latest models of its pocket consoles with chargers. In Japan, almost every fan of video games at home has two or even three pocket Nintendo consoles, and since the power supplies that came in the first complete sets are completely identical, it means that they do not need to be applied to new console editions either. Due to this, you can reduce the price for the console. But what do those people who buy the console for the first time do? They will come home, open the box and understand that they need to return to the store and buy a charger. It is good that I have three such devices at home. And someone may not be lucky. If you decide to purchase a New Nintendo 3DS - remember that you will need to purchase an additional charger.

In the stand for charging, the console looks very impressive. The power cord can enter into it in two ways: on the right or behind, depending on how the stand will stand on your desk. In the stand there is also a special semicircular slot through which you will see the front LED indicator, which lights up if the console has downloaded from the Internet new interesting information. Very convenient function. After all, it does not have to be pulled out of the stand every time to check for news.

White on white. At first glance, the New Nintendo 3DS console does not differ much from its predecessor. But with a more thorough study, you realize that this is not the case at all. Immediately striking color buttons A, B, X and Y, because in previous versions of the consoles of the family 3DS buttons were monochrome and stood a little closer to each other. For the first time such bright colored buttons appeared on the game console of the Nintendo Super Famicom (Super Nintendo Entertainment System in Europe and the USA) game in the distant 1990. It was the reference to that wonderful time and the updated buttons New Nintendo 3DS.

It is important to note that the slot for the cartridges with the games moved to the bottom of the console. For a very long time I could not get used to it, constantly trying to find it with my fingers from above, and only after a few seconds did I realize that now everything is quite different. Also on the bottom of the console moved the on / off button and the wireless indicator light. The headphone output stayed in its original location. The stylus also moved to the bottom. I was much upset by the fact that the stylus of the New Nintendo 3DS became monolithic. In the previous model of the console it was telescopic and consisted of two segments. You pull it out, push it apart, and it fits comfortably in your hand. The new stylus is not very comfortable to hold. Yes, and inserted into the console, it is not the most ideal way. Sometimes you have to turn it several times before you find the right position and push it into the hole.

One of the key innovations of New Nintendo 3DS was C-stick. An additional control element, which the previous console so lacked. It's understandable: the action of modern games does not necessarily occur in two dimensions, so players need two analog handles for accurate movement in three-dimensional space. Earlier, the external device Circle Pad, which is a plastic nozzle with a second analog stick, which was mounted on the console from below, was handled with this task. This approach was not very pleasant to the players, so they continued to ask Nintendo to implement the second stick directly in the console itself, without the need to purchase additional accessories. Engineers of the Japanese company listened to the entreaties of fans and developed the C-stick. In order not to increase the size of the console because of it, the joystick was made tiny, and just above it a small groove was added to the console body to make your finger more spacious.

Here I'm forced to admit that I did not like this analog joystick at all. It is stiff and motionless, unlike the left analog stick, which floats freely in all directions. Something like this before it was possible to meet in some models of IBM laptops (if I'm not mistaken, this thing was called Pointing Stick). Apparently, I will have to get used to it for a very long time. But the first impression of getting to know C-Stick left me in mixed feelings. There is no question of any responsive management here. Everything is moving in jerks and it is very difficult to calculate the correct effort that must be applied to the handle so that the camera in the game turns to the angle you need. The Circle Pad, for all its cumbersomeness, was much more accurate and convenient.

But two generations of 3DS consoles lie next to each other. On the left - New Nintendo 3DS (white), and on the right - Nintendo 3DS (black). In the same photo you can well consider the difference in the size of their stylus. The Start and Select buttons from the square turned round and were moved to the right side of the console. Another nice little thing was a more thoughtful arrangement of screens at the time when the console is closed. Previously, the frame of the lower screen left a noticeable imprint on the top, as they densely adjoined each other. In the new model of the console, this was avoided, and you do not have to erase the ugly vertical stripes from the glossy surface.

The size of the New Nintendo 3DS slightly increased. The original Nintendo 3DS had dimensions of 134 x 74 x 21 millimeters, and a new one - 142 x 80.6 x 21.6 millimeters. In weight, the new model also slightly added - 253 grams against 235. In this picture, you may notice that the body design has become more rounded than the usual Nintendo 3DS. Now the top cover of the console is not so angular and wide. The screens increased about 1.1 times, and the top diagonal now is 3.88 inches, and the bottom one is 3.33 inches. However, the resolution remained unchanged and equals 800 x 240 pixels for the top screen (400 points for each eye) and 320 x 240 pixels for the bottom one.

The volume control moved from the bottom of the console body to the top, and is now positioned to the left of the top screen. You may notice that in the old revision there was a slot for the SD memory card, but in the new one it is missing. That's right. New Nintendo 3DS now uses exclusively microSD cards, and you can only access the corresponding slot by removing the back cover. But we'll talk more about this later.

Another key innovation is the New Nintendo 3DS. In this picture you can see two additional trigger buttons ZL and ZR. They complement the list of standard console controls. I must say that these triggers are very conveniently located and will certainly find use in games of various genres. The power port moved to the center of the case. To the left of it is a hole for the wrist loop so that you can wear the console on your wrist and not lose it. And on the right side you can see the infrared port, which is used to exchange data with accessories like the Circle Pad.

The console lost the on / off button of the wireless connection. Now you can turn off this function to save power only in the special console settings menu. But the slider for adjusting the depth of the stereo effect stayed at the same place. It is still located to the right of the top screen.

All inscriptions, serial number and various icons in the new console revision are hidden behind the decorative cover, so as not to spoil its appearance with excessive information. This is a very pleasant moment for lovers of minimalism like me.

Due to the fact that my old console Nintendo 3DS black, in this picture, you can hardly see the front camera located above its upper screen. Why did I start talking about cameras? In the new console New Nintendo 3DS next to the lens of the front camera appeared another hole - a new optical sensor. It is necessary not only to adjust the brightness of the screens depending on ambient lighting, but also then to constantly keep the user's face in the console's field of view. The sensor searches for the eyes of the person who took the console into his hands, after which the console tries to calculate the exact location of his face relative to the screen. Due to this, Nintendo engineers managed to minimize the shortcomings of the stereo effect, which in the previous console revision disappeared as soon as you moved relative to the center of the screen.

The stereo image technology used in 3DS is called the parallax barrier. Your eyes see the console screen through the thinnest vertical grid. Behind it, for each eye, a separate set of pixels is displayed on the screen, which it sees through the slits. The brain reduces two frames, imprinted at different angles, into a single picture, and you see a three-dimensional image. But this technology has one significant drawback: as soon as you move slightly away from the center of the screen - the effect disappears and the image begins to ripple, swim, and in every possible way cause seizures in you in every way. The updated console New Nintendo 3DS is now able to adapt the image in such a way that your eyes constantly see the depth of the image without any interference. The technology was called "Super Stable 3D", and I consider it a very important achievement of Nintendo.

Let's take off the back cover and take a look at what's hidden beneath it. Of course, the first thing I did was get to the 4 GB microSD HC memory card from Toshiba. The card was immediately replaced by a more spacious 32 GB. Modern games require more and more free space, so the extra amount of memory this gamer will never hurt.

The capacity of the battery in the console increased slightly. In the first console, its capacity was 1300 mAh, and in New Nintendo 3DS this value increased to 1400 mAh. The original Nintendo 3DS in game mode worked on average from 3 to 5 hours on a single battery charge. In the case of New Nitendo 3DS, this time will slightly increase to 3.5-6 hours.

Now let's talk about the invisible changes. Nintendo has redesigned not only the exterior of its console, but also its iron stuffing. The main processor ARM11 MPCore, part of the custom SoC, has become more powerful. Now it is equipped with four cores, running at a frequency of 268 MHz, against two in the previous model of the console. One core is reserved for the operating system. This processor is complemented by a four-core VFPv2 coprocessor for improved floating point operation (the number of cores has also been doubled). The additional ARM9 console processor running at 134 MHz remained untouched. The video processor PICA200, also running at 268 MHz, has not changed.

The updated processors allowed to significantly accelerate the console. Applications started to run faster approximately twice. Games loaded much more quickly, and indeed, to use the New Nintendo 3DS has now become much nicer. The company Nintendo never chased for excessive performance, in contrast to its competitors. But even with its modest power, any console of the 3DS family can surprise you with the beauty of the picture and the variety of games of different genres.

The amount of video memory is now 10 megabytes (versus 6 MB more in the first model). The memory has become twice as large - 256 MB versus 128 MB. The amount of NAND-memory in which the operating system is stored has grown from 1 to 2 GB. Also, the console received a hardware MVD decoder for video, so that New Nintendo 3DS can now easily watch videos on the network with the built-in browser.

The console is equipped with the ability to read and write data from NFC devices. First of all, it was done so that users of New Nintendo 3DS could use their amiibo figures in games, which are rapidly gaining popularity. Just attach the figure base to the bottom screen of the console, and the game will unlock the relevant content. Owners of the same old consoles will have to purchase an accessory for this.

Unexpected for many was the fact that exclusively for the new console, Nintendo will release new games that the owners of the previous version of Nintendo 3DS will not be able to launch. The first such game will be Xenoblade Chronicles 3D - the port of the Japanese role-playing game, released in 2010 for the consoles Nintendo Wii. Representatives of Nintendo said that the old revision consoles simply can not cope with this game because of weak iron. Well, I have already tried this game in action, and as soon as the embargo on the publication of reviews is over, I will share with you my impressions. The game should go on sale on April 2 this year.

Pros:

• New hardware significantly speeds up the console.
• Support for a new generation of games that require more performance.
• Благодаря технологии Super Stable 3D стереоэффект, наконец-то, начал радовать глаза.
• Наличие сменных декоративных крышек для ценителей индивидуальности.
• Появились два дополнительных триггера: ZL и ZR.
• Появился второй аналоговый стик.
• Наличие встроенного NFC-считывателя.
• Слегка увеличенная диагональ обоих экранов.
• Немного улучшенный аккумулятор.
• Улучшенная стереокамера.

Minuses:

• Отсутствие в комплекте зарядного устройства.
• Очень противоречивое техническое решение в случае с C-Stick.
• Декоративные крышки можно сменить только при наличии подходящей отвёртки.
• Слишком маленький и неудобный стилус.
• Отсутствие прямого доступа к карте памяти.

Подытоживая всё написанное мною выше, могу с уверенностью сказать, что New Nintendo 3DS – это отличная работа над ошибками, не лишённая мелких недочётов, которые легко можно исправить в будущих ревизиях консоли. Учитывая, сколько замечательных игр уже вышло для этой платформы, да прибавив к ним будущие релизы, запланированные на этот год, можно быть совершенно уверенным, что обладатели New Nintendo 3DS не будут сидеть без дела.

От себя лично я искренне рекомендую приобрести эту консоль тем людям, кто любит видеоигры всей душой и не хочет расставаться с ними даже вдали от дома. Владельцы оригинальной консоли Nintendo 3DS по достоинству должны оценить улучшенное железо и дополнительные элементы управления, а также улучшение стереоскопического эффекта.

Консоль вне всяких сомнений придётся по душе, как взрослым, так и детям, ведь здесь есть игры на любой вкус: удивительной красоты платформеры, огромные комплексные RPG, увлекательные квесты, сложные головоломки, развивающие проекты, а также многое, многое другое. Каждый найдёт в мире Nintendo что-то для себя, ведь не даром эта японская компания уже более тридцати лет создаёт яркие фантастические миры, в которых проводят своё свободное время миллионы людей.

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/games/obzor-igrovoj-konsoli-new-nintendo-3ds.html.