Unpopular Opinion: The 3D effect for the 3DS was pretty cool

[NightmareFarm]

Hard to explain it but it just looked better and more immersive and some of the visuals actually have a pop out effect(like text usually). There were some games that used it really well but some others treated it as an afterthought like Pokemon X/Y.

[Kane99]

I'll give it that it was kinda cool to some extent. But I mostly forgot I was playing a 3D game whenever I did play on a 3DS. Initially I though it was cool, but the effect kinda wore off for me, to the point that I kinda just didn't care for it. But more power to you if you really love the 3D aspect of the 3DS. It just wasn't for me. 

[The Blackangel]

The 3D effect was neat, but it always made it more difficult to play the game for me. For example Zelda OoT was just harder than hell to play with it on. Like I said though, it was a great feature, but sometimes impractical.

[Kane99]

Also, I seemed to notice that extended use of 3D TVs and tech like it caused people to get headaches and other problems. Much like how playing in VR for too long for some is not a good idea. But with 3D, I think it's worse than VR, because the 3D kinda messes with your eyes. Some people can get used to VR, but 3D I feel like it bothers everyone after a certain amount of time playing it. But, maybe I'm wrong. 

[Grungie]

It was cool for a bit, but most games just used it poorly.

[kingpotato]

I remember we had a 3d tv and I remember that a friend of mine claimed that he could figure out a way for two people to play a COD co op match but each player will be able to only view one screen rather than both using 3d function and glasses. He was never able to do it and Im not sure if it was true

Edited July 2, 2022 by kingpotato

[killamch89]

It's okay but honestly, it just seemed more like a gimmick than anything else and at times, it tended not function properly so that made me not like it as much.

[Kane99]

52 minutes ago, killamch89 said:

It's okay but honestly, it just seemed more like a gimmick than anything else and at times, it tended not function properly so that made me not like it as much.

It was, and that's partly why it didn't sell so well on its initial release. But since Nintendo stuck with it, people finally conceded and picked a 3DS up, selling the console like crazy. I think it took a while for fans to jump into the 3D side of it, because they too thought it was a gimmick. And honestly it was a decent gimmick, but it was a gimmick that didn't sell that console. It was the endless amount of games released for it that truly pushed that handheld. 

[Empire]

The only time I ever used the 3D for more than novelty was Super Mario 3D Land and even that wasn’t really necessary. It was cool, but I didn’t really use it. In fact I did not even own it 😛 

[Kane99]

8 hours ago, Empire said:

The only time I ever used the 3D for more than novelty was Super Mario 3D Land and even that wasn’t really necessary. It was cool, but I didn’t really use it. In fact I did not even own it 😛 

I don't think most of the games really needed the 3D gimmick. If anything, I think some studios hated the 3D gimmick, and just tacked in on because they either had to, or felt like making sure it at least had 3D capabilities. I imagine it's easy to make it work in 3D, but I can see some studios gawking at the idea of it. 

That was actually one of the games I played as well in 3D. It was cool for the first few minutes, then you just kinda forget and it becomes normal. I just never felt like it was that cool of a thing to have. 

[killamch89]

On 7/19/2022 at 7:30 PM, Kane99 said:

It was, and that's partly why it didn't sell so well on its initial release. But since Nintendo stuck with it, people finally conceded and picked a 3DS up, selling the console like crazy. I think it took a while for fans to jump into the 3D side of it, because they too thought it was a gimmick. And honestly it was a decent gimmick, but it was a gimmick that didn't sell that console. It was the endless amount of games released for it that truly pushed that handheld. 

You're not wrong but when I played Castlevania on it for instance and wanted to cast the spells, sometimes, the touch didn't register at times and it really annoyed me.

[Kane99]

On 7/26/2022 at 3:35 PM, killamch89 said:

You're not wrong but when I played Castlevania on it for instance and wanted to cast the spells, sometimes, the touch didn't register at times and it really annoyed me.

Sorry to hear that. I know some people had issues with the touch controls. I never really cared all too much for them, but most of the games I did play, didn't require you to use the second screen all too much or the touch controls. Was your 3DS maybe damaged at some point and that caused issues with the touch controls? 

[Withywarlock]

I didn't realise it was an unpopular opinion. I really ought to follow Nintendo critique more, I imagine there's some interesting views out there. Granted, I didn't like it myself all that much but I figured it would've gone down OK with the rest of the userbase; any critique being that people were just tired of the whole DS model in general.

On 7/2/2022 at 3:49 AM, Grungie said:

It was cool for a bit, but most games just used it poorly.

I think that just about sums up most of Nintendo's best ideas. The Nintendo Switch gets a lot of flak for being underpowered... mostly in reference to third party games.  For instance, I loved the haptic feedback on the Switch but it was hardly used for third party games, making me wonder why I didn't just play them elsewhere with a higher frame rate and graphical fidelity (and likely on sale for less, more frequently).

As for the 3DS, it looked pretty neat in Super Mario 3D Land, but beyond that I can't see many developers using it in their games all that well. Even then I generally don't see many good applications for 3D; it's novelty rapidly wears thin and isn't worth the eye-strain it put me through.

On 7/20/2022 at 8:05 PM, Kane99 said:

If anything, I think some studios hated the 3D gimmick, and just tacked in on because they either had to, or felt like making sure it at least had 3D capabilities.

I wouldn't be surprised, but it's food for thought: how do game developers feel about making games for consoles where the gimmicks are so intrinsically tied to it? Can you make a game for the 3DS without the 3D feature and charge more than the '2D' version of the system because it's a newer model? And how does that compare to home consoles' gimmicks?

[Grungie]

15 hours ago, Withywarlock said:

I wouldn't be surprised, but it's food for thought: how do game developers feel about making games for consoles where the gimmicks are so intrinsically tied to it? Can you make a game for the 3DS without the 3D feature and charge more than the '2D' version of the system because it's a newer model? And how does that compare to home consoles' gimmicks?

There are definitely quite a few games that don’t have a 3D feature, but I’m sure most of those came out after the 2DS.

[Yaramaki]

Never posted in this thread either, tought i did but apperently i didn't, man what kind a phrase is that haha.

Best feature about the 3ds no doubt is the backwards compatibility with original ds games. 

I agree with the original poster the 3d effect was cool if it is used well and added something extra to the game. Games like starfox 64 and both zelda n64 games used to the 3d effect to an extend that it made them a complete new experiences. Nintendo should have extended upon this and remade more n64 games for the 3ds.

My favourite game that used the 3d effect really well would be Ridge racer 3d, maybe is it because it was a launch and blew my away at the time or the fact it's the only racing game other then Mario Kart 7 that is worthy of playing. But still a lot of nintendo first party tried to sell the 3d gimmick really well, but ultimatly it failed to stay relevant, granted that 3d tv's were also in decline at the time it's not suprise.  

Posted my top 10 3ds games with my toughts here in case you're interested in that.

Overall i switched between 3d and 2d every so often, because the 3d effect caused me a lot of eyestrain especially when being fatigued.

The 3ds has in my oppinion one of the most diverse gaming libraries, every genre imaginable is covered especially if you're into more niche genres you are in for a thread. Got around 175ish games for it myself and someday i tend to start a japanese 3ds collection. 

Edited July 28, 2022 by Yaramaki