Following the success of Avatar, a slew of other 3D movies, and the release of 3D-ready TV sets, Nintendo revealed at E3 2010 the Nintendo 3DS, a gaming handheld that can produce 3D images without the need for glasses. Fast forward to yesterday, and Nintendo announced its new portable will come out March 27th for $249. It’s out soon, so here’s a handy guide to everything we know about it.

[Check out our hands-on impressions of upcoming Nintendo 3DS games, and pre-order your Nintendo 3DS from Amazon.com!]

What comes bundled with the Nintendo 3DS?
A charging cradle, an AC adapter, stylus, a 2GB SD card, and six Augmented Reality (AR) cards.

What colors are available at launch?
There will be two colors available at launch: Aqua Blue and Cosmo Black.

Pre-Installed Software:

• Nintendo 3DS Camera: Take 3D photos with the built-in outer cameras, then edit and manipulate them.
• Nintendo 3DS Sound: Listen to music saved on an SD Card in MP3 or AAC format. You can also record and play with sounds via microphone.
• Mii Maker: Similar to the Wii, gamers can create Mii characters from scratch. The 3DS twist one-ups it by enabling players to create a Mii from a photo. Take a photo of yourself or a friend, and Mii Maker automatically creates your Mii character.
• Street Pass Mii Plaza: Swap Mii data, recent gameplay info, and more with other Nintendo 3DS owners you pass on the street when your Nintendo 3DS system is in Sleep Mode.
• Augmented Reality Games: Place an AR Card on a table or floor, and the camera will read it and create game stages or characters right before your eyes.
• Activity Log: Similar to the Wii, it tracks the games you’ve played and how long you’ve played them. It also acts like a pedometer, counting each step you take while carrying your 3DS. Take enough steps and win Play Coins, which benefit certain games.
• Face Raiders: Take a photo of yourself, or someone else’s face. That face gets placed onto a range of shooting targets. To play, you’ll need to move the 3DS around, physically leaning and turning to search for and shoot your targets.
• Nintendo eShop: The Virtual Console service, featuring Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, as well as DSiWare games and apps.
• Internet Browser: Self-explanatory. May not be ready to use at launch until a system firmware update.

What are the launch titles?
First-party launch games include (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Kid Icarus: Uprising are notably absent):

• Nintendogs + Cats
• Pilotwings Resort
• Steel Diver

These third-party titles will come out on launch day or in the following weeks:

• Asphalt 3D
• Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D
• Dead or Alive Dimensions
• LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
• Madden NFL Football
  
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D
• Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
• Ridge Racer 3D
• Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition

What’s the expected battery life?
Play time for 3DS games is 3 to 5 hours. Play time for DS games is 5 to 8 hours. The 3DS takes 3 hours and 30 minutes to fully charge.

Is the Nintendo 3DS region-free?
Nope. The DSi put an end to that. Until someone breaks the system, the 3DS is region-locked, which bites for importers.

Are there Friend Codes?
Yes, but only one, and it’s connected to the system itself. The days of swapping Friend Codes for every single game are gone.

Is the 3DS backwards-compatible?
Yes, with all previous Nintendo DS and DSi software. There will also be a Virtual Console for Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. Some of them, such as The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX, will be playable in 3D.

Can you turn the 3D effect off?
You can. Similar to a volume slider for sound, there’s a 3D effect slider to toggle the level of the 3D effect. All the way up for full 3D, somewhere in the middle for a little 3D, all the way down for 2D. The battery drains faster when 3D is in full effect. This also effects the framerate of certain games like Street Fighter IV and Dead or Alive, which noticeably run faster with 3D turned off.

Will the Nintendo 3DS play 3D movies?
Maybe! We saw trailers for Tangled, Legend of the Guardians and How to Train Your Dragon running on 3DS systems at E3. Hollywood seems to be very keen on the handheld, and it seems likely we’ll see a service on the eShop for downloading trailers, if not full 3D movies. Japan already has plans to stream cooking shows from network TV on Nintendo’s device. One can imagine Netflix and Hulu working on it. Buying movies on cartridges at retail, though likely, could be risky. Remember Sony’s PSP tried the same thing with movies on UMDs. Then again, PSP didn’t have 3D, Hollywood’s new love.

What’s this Augmented Reality business?
This works by using the system’s cameras to read specific icons to display a 3D image on the screen that’s set against real-world background.

Using “AR cards” with the Nintendo 3DS, players point the cameras towards the cards. Once read by the Nintendo 3DS, the cards come alive. One game has an evil dragon grow from the card. Using the 3DS to move around, you shoot at the dragon as it roars at you. Another one is a shooting gallery with a tree in the middle of it that you have to navigate by moving around the card.

Another example is the upcoming 3D version of Love Plus, a popular Japan-only “girlfriend simulator,” which will allow you to take a walk with your “girlfriend” as she appears on top of the environment around you. Seeing how developers will make use of this technology is one of the most exciting things about the 3DS.

Is the 3D effect harmful?
Depending on who you ask, yes and no. According to eye doctors, no. Kids are watching movies in 3D all the time. But Nintendo still warns that it could be harmful to young children, probably to protect itself from potential lawsuits.

What’s with the cameras?
The cameras will be used in certain games, the first of which is the Mii Creation Tool. Mii’s are back on the Nintendo 3DS, and with the built-in, front-facing camera, you can take a picture of yourself and let the 3DS do all the work. The camera is sophisticated enough to recognize facial features and automatically create a Mii in your image.

The two out-facing cameras are capable of taking 3D images.

What’s with the wireless communication?
Similar to the Wii and other wireless devices, there is constant wireless communication.

There’s Street Pass mode. Basically, the Nintendo 3DS will save information automatically from all your 3DS games onto the system. When you close the device, it enters a wireless sharing mode. As you go about your day, the idea is that you will pass someone else who has their 3DS in Street Mode. This will exchange data automatically with this random person such as ghost data, leader boards, Mii’s, etc.

In Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, for example, you collect statues and the higher your overall points, the stronger these statues are. As you pass random people on the street, your statues fight each other, and the result is calculated based on the statue’s statistics. When a Street Mode interaction happens, the Notification LED will light up. When you open your 3DS, you can see how you fought, what the outcome was, and what prizes you’ve won via the “Notification Applet”.

There’s also “Spot Pass” Mode. Spot Pass uses Wi-Fi access points to communicate similar data as Street Pass while the console is asleep. It will download rankings, ghost data, free software and notifications from Nintendo. You will be able to choose what kind of data you want to transfer in Spot Pass mode. This will occur  when you sit your Nintendo 3DS onto the included charging cradle.

What’s 3DS Sound?
Nintendo 3DS Sound lets you edit and combine sounds that you’ve recorded with the system’s microphone. You can store up to 180 ten second sound clips on an SD card. 3DS Sound is also used to play back music files from your SD card. It also has Street Pass functionality, allowing you to see the popularity of songs amongst the people you pass by on the street.

And Face Raiders?!
Face Raiders is a game that turns your friends’ faces into enemies and your surroundings into stages. You start by taking a picture of a family member or friend. The program will judge the person’s face, describing it as, for instance, “a young girl’s face” or “an adult woman’s face.” The face will then appear in a shooting game. As the face approaches you, you have to throw balls it at to keep it away. The face’s expressions will change as it approaches you.

What’s the wireless communication like?
Multiple Nintendo 3DS systems can connect via a local wireless connection to let users communicate or enjoy competitive game play. Systems also can connect to LAN access points to access the Internet and allow people to enjoy games with others. Will support IEEE 802.11 with enhanced security (WPA/WPA2). Nintendo 3DS hardware is designed so that even when not in use, it can automatically exchange data with other Nintendo 3DS systems or receive data via the Internet while in sleep mode. The included charging dock will also be used to receive online data while the system is charging.

Game Controls:
Touch screen, embedded microphone, A/B/X/Y face buttons, + Control Pad, L/R buttons, Start and Select buttons, “Slide Pad” that allows 360-degree analog input, one inner camera, two outer cameras, motion sensor, and a gyro sensor.

Other Input Controls:
3D Depth Slider to adjust level of 3D effect (can be scaled back or turned off completely depending on the preference of the user), Home button to call system function, Wireless switch to turn off wireless communications (even during game play), and Power button. The telescoping stylus is approximately 4 inches when fully extended.

Input/Output:
A port that accepts both Nintendo 3DS game cards and game cards for the Nintendo DS family of systems, an SD memory card slot, an AC adapter connector, a charging cradle terminal and a stereo headphone output jack.

Sound:
Stereo speakers positioned to the left and right of the top screen.

Battery:
Lithium ion battery – will require more frequent charging than the Nintendo DS, however the unit will ship with a charging dock.

Parental Controls:
Parental controls similar to the Nintendo DSi system will be included, allowing parents to set passwords on specifically rated content.

What are the games in development for the 3DS?

These games are scheduled for Spring 2011 in Japan:

AQ Interactive

• Cubic Ninja

Konami

• Asphalt 3D: Nitro Racing
• Winning Eleven 3D Soccer
• Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights
• Power Pros Baseball 2011

Arc System Works

• Blazblue Continuum Shift II

IE Institute

• Spatial Power Training
• ASCII Media Works
• Fish On (temp.)

Capcom

• Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition
• Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D

Tecmo Koei

• Samurai Warriors Chronicle
• Dead or Alive: Dimensions

Sunsoft

• Shanghai 3D Cube
• Starfish
• Super Black Bass Fishing Soul

SEGA

• Super Monkey Ball 3D

Square Enix

• Leap out! Bust a Move 3D

Tomy

• Naruto Shippuden: Nin-rittai Emake! Saikyou Ninkai Kessen

D3 Publisher

• EST (temp)
• Fishing (temp)
• Nippon Ichi
• Bikkuriman Kanjyuku Haoh

Nintendo

• Steel Diver
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
• nintendogs + cats
• Pilotwings Resort

Hudson

• Sudoku
• Deca Sports 3D

Namco Bandai

• Gundam The 3D Battle
• Tales of Abyss
• Pro Baseball Famista 2011
• Ridge Racer 3D
• One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP
• Marvelous
• Animal Resort
• Milestone
• Tank Beat 3
• Right Brain Linked to the Eye Speed Reading Technique Drills 3

Ubisoft

• Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Shadow Wars
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3D
• Driver Renegade
• Rabbids Time Travel

Level 5

• Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle

Rocket Company

• Runabout for Nintendo 3DS (temp)

The games below are scheduled for Summer 2011…

GAE

• Be Amazed! Leap Out! Pen of Magic (temp)

Gakken

• Earthpedia (temp)

Culture Brain

• Pichilemon Idol Debut (temp)

System Soft Alpha

• Daisenryaku for Nintendo 3DS (temp)

Hudson

• Tetris Axis (temp)
• Milestone
• Karos 3D (temp)

These are listed for Fall 2011:

Digital Works Entertainment

• Zaoo
• Shinigami Oni

And these for Winter 2011…

Artdink

• A Train 3D (temp)

Konami

• Project Love Plus for Nintendo 3DS (temp)
• Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater

Idea Factory

• Hakuoki 3D

Atlus

• Devil Survivor Overclock

MTO

• Kawaii Puppy 3D (Temp)

EA

• The Sims
• My Garden
• Dorasu
• Virus Shooter XX

Nintendo

• Kid Icarus Uprising
• Starfox 64 3D

Hudson

• Omega Five (temp)
• Bonk (temp)
• Bomberman (temp)
• Kororinpa (temp)

Namco Bandai

• Touch!! Double Pen Sports

Level 5

• Cabaret Gals for Nintendo 3DS
• Fantasy Life

Rocket Company

• Medabots for Nintendo 3DS

And finally, these are listed for 2012 (and beyond)…

Imageepoch

• Simulation RPG Project (temp)

Acquire

• Class of Heroes 3D

Atlus

• Shin Megami Tensei series
• Etrian Odyssey series
• Persona series

Alphaunit

• SRPG (temp)

Capcom

• Resident Evil Revelations
• Mega Man Legends 3

Tecmo Koei

• Dynasty Warriors series
• Ninja Gaiden (temp)

Square Enix

• Kingdom Hearts 3D
• Chocobo Racing 3D
• Dragon Quest series
• Final Fantasy series

SEGA

• Sonic (temp)
• Sonic Powered
• Air Traffic Controller Haneda Airport (temp)

Tomy

• Lovely Lisa

Nintendo

• Animal Crossing
• Paper Mario
• Mario Kart

Namco Bandai

• Ace Combat 3D
• Super Robot series
• Dragonball series
• Pac-man & Galaga (temp)

Marvelous

• Harvest Moon 3D (temp)

Level 5

• Time Travelers
• Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney

[Don't forget to pre-order your Nintendo 3DS from Amazon.com!]

Tim Torres  (186 Posts)

Senior Reviews Editor Tim Torres loves video games and loves to write about them. He also loves movies, comics, animation and acting. He does not hate Final Fantasy VII.