There is no denying that the Nintendo’s 3ds is an impressive piece of hardware. Setting aside the obvious (HOLY CRAP 3D WITHOUT GLASSES!!!) it has more processing power, an improved interface, better online capabilities, and so on. Even with all these important advances in hand held hardware, you may want to hold on to your pocket book this weekend. I know what you’re thinking “what insane reasoning could this mad man have for advising me against early adopting the next great advancement in human evolution. Fool I say! Sharlitan! Nintendo Basher!” Please, hear me out. In my home I currently have two Nintendo Wii’s and three DS’s (four if you count the one my son dropped in the toilet) My undying loyalty to Nintendo has no equal and yet I have a few very good reasons why you should wait to buy a 3DS.
Weak launch titles:
While Super Monkey Ball, Ridge Racer, Street Fighter 4, and Bust a Move Universe look great they are really just low-res 3d versions of games you can play on other consoles. Original titles like Steel Diver and Pilot Wings Resort have gotten lack lusted reviews. We’ll all have to wait for Marquee franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Kid Icarus as these titles have yet to receive official release dates.
Backwards compatibilty issues:
The 3ds is supposed to be able to play DS games and it does. With the new size and resolution on the 3DS’s Screens it gives you two options for viewing these older games. You can either choose to stretch and and blur the images to fit the new screens or leave them the same resolution they were on the DS, which shrinks the image down to near postage stamp size and throws black bars around the image, which is just super.
Key features unavailable at launch:
The E-store and video content such as Netflix and 3d movie Trailers won’t be available until May at the soonest. We’ll have to wait for these features and hope that the E-store is better than the ABYSMAL DSi shop. We’ll also have to wait to see if Nintendo will have some standards for its downloadable games this time. No one wants to wade through hundreds of Sudoku and Flipnote titles to find gems like Cave Story and Shantae.
Battery life:
It’s been said but I’ll say it again, 3 to 8 hours of play time depending on whether you’re using the 3D feature or not. Considering the efficient battery life of previous Nintendo handhelds this is very disappointing.
A New Sku is around the corner:
In 2001 Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance. In 2003 they released the Game Boy Advance SP which was smaller had increased battery life and a back lit screen (adressing the number one complaint about the gba). In 2004 Nintendo released the DS. In 2006 Nintendo released the DS Lite, it was smaller, sleeker and had a better battery life. Noticing a pattern yet.
So wait and Nintendo will probably address every complaint I’ve lodged in this article. But if you really can’t wait to get your hands on it, if you really need to see it for yourself to touch it with your own hands, if you’re gonna stand in line like a sucker at a midnight launch then well…
I’ll see you there.
