Nintendo 3DS

[Peter McCoy]

Just wondering if anybody esle has their eye on one of these babies.

I honestly wasn't planning on getting one until I read the game lineup.

There's a complete remake of The Ocarina of Time. It's not a port, but a full re-working of the awesomeness that is still considered by many to be the greatest videogame ever made.

Also, Starfox 64 (Lylat Wars to us Europeans) is getting a re-make. Again, not a port but a full re-do with up-to-date visuals and controls for the 3DS.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I don't know how I didn't see this thread earlier.

I have a 3DS :wave

Did you ever buy one, Peter? I can't wait for Ocarina of Time to come out. Until then, the only 3D games I have are Street Fighter and Nintendogs. I also bought a bunch of DS games to fiddle on with, since you can find them for very reasonable prices now.

[Peter McCoy]

Not got one yet. The missus said she'll get me one for my birthday and none of the games available right now are one's I'd get so I'm happily waiting for now.

[Captain Untouchable]

Ocarina of Time?

In 3D?

Oh. My. Gods. :o

[Salem Ave]

Yep, it's due out in June :eee

[Peter McCoy]

The best part is it's not a port. It's not a re-hash with a 3D overlay on everything. The engine has been updated and everything rebuilt from the ground up in crisp new graphics with a much fuller and bright colour palette. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Lylat Wars (Star Fox 64 outside Europe) is also getting the same treatment.

[Droo]

Okay, I really should never look at this thread ever again. Because I really want a 3DS now!

[Salem Ave]

Have a go on one in your local Game, Droo. I think it's something you really need to actually play to get a feel for. Plus, if you get one now, they will offer you a pre-order on Zelda, at a discount (using the loyalty points you'll get for buying the console in the first place)

[Dasquian Belargic]

Just chiming in to say how much fun I am having with Ocarina of Time. If you've seen any reviews of the game at all, you will know that it has been getting universal praise - which is of course understandable, given how highly rated the original is! A couple of notable changes are:

* Gyroscopic first person view, which can be used either to examine a room or to target your slingshot/boomerang. I didn't think I'd use this, but I've found myself tilting the 3DS instinctively whenever aiming free-hand or just wanting to examine the world (particularly handy for looking under water)

* Master Quest! modified dungeons and a mirrored version of the overworld, to give an added challenge once you have completed the game

* Boss battles/challenges - from what I understand, you can fight the various bosses in a gauntlet scenario. There is also a Master Quest version where bosses do twice as much damage.

* Better interface. The split-screen interface allows for easy inventory management, so that assigning new items to buttons is quick. It's also handy when you want to play an ocarina song.

* "Vision" - there are stones, like those which you could use the Mask of Truth on in the original game, which will give you brief glimpses of what you should be doing. I can see this being handy if you put the game down for a while and then came back to it, not remembering exactly what you were doing, or if you are just plain stuck for how to proceed. The game gives you just a glimpse of where you should be going but leaves plenty of blanks for you to fill in, so you don't feel as if you're reading a strategy guide to solve a puzzle!

* 3D - yeah, it actually does add to the overall experience! Some of the cutscenes look gorgeous

If you aren't sold already, take a look at Metacritic: http://www.metacritic.com/game/3ds/the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-3d

100% positive reviews, with an overall score of 94/100:

"Improvements are everywhere, and if you've already played this gem on the N64, there's enough goodies here to warrant a re-visit. If you're new to the game, there's a whole world of experiences waiting for you. This is the reason to get a 3DS – it doesn't get any better than this."

"Beautiful visuals, improved controls, exceptional pacing and engrossing gameplay are all present and correct. The N64 version is an all-time gaming classic, but this is truly the finest edition of Ocarina of Time."

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://blog.gadgethelpline.com/nintendos-starfox-3ds-date-launch-remade/


Following last week’s revival version of classic title Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for handheld 3DS console, we found out today the release date for the next retro resurrection – Star Fox – with a three-dimensional makeover taking off on September 9th in the United Kingdom (two whole days before the US!)

The new Star Fox 64 3DS delivers the same old-school fighter pilot gameplay we used to love back in ‘97 on Nintendo 64, translated into the palm of our hand with this year’s Nintendo 3DS technology enhancing the graphics, adding a cool tilt control, additional control and support for the second screen and the fun of multi-player gaming using the camera element to put yours and your mate’s faces onto rival pilots on the 3DS’ screen. If like me you enjoyed a friendly dog-fight with your fellow players you’ll love doing it in person!

The Star Fox saga launched on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993 and was supported by the Super-FX chip which displayed “3D-like” graphics. It’s amazing how far things have come – only to come back around again.

I didn't ever play Lylatt Wars (as this game was branded in the UK) but looking at the reviews now, it seems like it was a simple but enjoyable game. I don't know that I will be buying it on release, like I did with Zelda, but it's nice to see other old classics getting the 3DS treatment!

[Peter McCoy]

Lylat Wars is a fantastic game! I still play it occasionally on my N64. It's out 11 days before my birthday :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

Are you still expecting a 3DS for your birthday?

[Peter McCoy]

Yeah, I think she's still planning on getting me one.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Nintendo Video is out on the 3DS now. The US also has access to Netflix, though there doesn't seem to be any plans in the pipeline to provide a similar service for Europe. At the minute there are only 2 clips on the Video app. Pity, when the eShop was also launched with a pretty limited amount of content.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Sarah and I both took out 3DS to ComicCon, mostly just leaving it on Sleep Mode in our bags.. and we got an absurd number of StreetPass hits. I think Sarah had basically none before we got there and by the end of 2 days had over 100. I managed to complete my first run of the StreetPass Quest and finished off a bunch of puzzles too. We even got some hits in line at Disneyland.

EDIT: So the 3DS is getting a price drop: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/nintendo/8667375/Nintendo-announce-price-cut-for-3DS-console.html


The price cut will come into effect from 12th August of this year. While no specific figures were mentioned, the 3DS currently retails in the UK for around £230, however, many retailers have already cut the price to £180 in order to stimulate sales.

In a statement made this morning, the video games giant said "Nintendo of Europe will be reducing the European trade price of Nintendo 3DS to retailers by around a third from 12th August 2011, as part of a global trade price reduction initiative. The ultimate price to consumers is, of course, determined by retailers, however we look forward to consumers benefiting from much lower retail prices very soon."

The announcement follows the publication of Nintendo's Q1 2011 financial results, which saw the Kyoto based company post a net loss of 25.5bn yen (£200m). Nintendo attributed the loss of development costs for their new home console Wii U, still on course to be released next year, and advertising costs for the 3DS.

During the April-June period, however, the 3DS only sold 710,000 units worldwide. With this global price cut, Nintendo are looking to address these sluggish sales and 'build momentum' for the console. Similar price cuts have already been announced in other territories. In Japan the 3DS will be reduced from 25,000 yen (£196) to 15,000 yen (£118), in the US the console will be reduced from $250 (£153) to $170 (£104) and in Australia it will fall from AU$350 (£236) to AU$250 (£169).

As a gesture of goodwill to early adopters of the 3DS console, Nintendo will be offering an "Ambassador Programme" to consumers who purchased the 3DS before 12 August. "The programme will enable these Nintendo 3DS owners to download 10 NES games and 10 Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games for free," said Nintendo.

"To be registered for this programme, the Nintendo 3DS owners simply need to connect to the Nintendo eShop before the 12th of August. The free software will then be made available at a later stage. More details on the programme will be announced on the Nintendo of Europe website shortly."

In addition to the price cut announcement, Nintendo also confirmed that Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 will be launched for 3DS in November and December this year respectively.

Hopefully there will actually be more NES and GB/A games on the eShop for me to download for free! I already bought Link's Awakening and a couple of others. I don't have everything on the eShop, by any means, but that's because there isn't enough on there that I want. Hopefully there won't be a limited amount of time in which you need to redeem your claim for free games.

[Dasquian Belargic]

More on the free games from Kotaku:


Earlier this week, Nintendo announced that they were dropping the price of their 3DS from $250 to $170. To make it up to all of those early adopters of the portable gaming system, Nintendo also kicked off the ambassador program.

The program entitles members to 20 free downloadable games from the Nintendo eShop, half of them NES games and half Game Boy Advance titles.

But it's not automatic.

You need to sign on to the eShop with your 3DS before the Aug. 12 price drop kicks in. No Internet? Sorry, you may be out of luck. Once you do, or if you already have, then your system is signed up for the program. I say your system, because the program is tied to the device, not the user. If you were, for instance, to have registered the 3DS and then sold it, you've also essentially sold those 20 free games to whoever buys that system from you.

It remains unclear, even with the clarification help, whether you'll be able to somehow retain those games if your system breaks or if down the line you decide to buy a new 3DS, say one with a different color.

Now about those games.

The release says that those free games will include 10 NES Virtual Console titles, which will later go on sale, and 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games, which won't.

I went to Nintendo to try and clarify a bit about those games. This is what I learned:

The full list of games has not yet been determined, aside from the five examples that Nintendo announced for NES and GBA. While it hasn't been announced yet, it's possible that there may only 10 GBA and 10 NES games total coming to the virtual console total. That's an educated guess though.

The announced examples for the NES are: Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Ice Climber and The Legend of Zelda. The GBA examples are: Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong.

While we know that the NES games will become available starting Sept. 1, and the GBA games by the end of the year, we don't yet know is how long a person will have to redeem those free games. I expect we'll be learning more about then once the program goes live.

http://kotaku.com/5825878/how-to-collect-your-20-free-3ds-games-and-maybe-a-little-cash-on-the-side