Nintendo 3DS

Flok has bought the Nintendo 3DS Aqua Blue version along with Super Street Fighter 4 3D Edition on the day of launch, the 25th of march. I didn't know until then what the prices would be, but I wasn't surprised to hear that I needed to pay up 250 and 45 euros for each one.

There is something special about buying a new console or handheld on the first available day regionally, and I have been doing so since the Nintendo GameCube. Before that, me and my brother got the N64 as a gift, while the Super NES was a Christmas gift for my brother, and I can't even remember how we got a hold of the NES and the very first Gameboy, still all lying around here with respect. Suffice to say, with Nintendo hardware, you can almost never go wrong (excluding the bizzare Virtual Boy) , be it by their quality based games or be it by their innovations.

The Nintendo 3DS is of course the latest new generation of handheld gaming, and it comes with an effective visual way that has been tried and tested out plenty of times before. I think I remember that Nintendo started out with 3D as far as the 80's for a particular game, but before that, cinema was all over it during certain eras, such as the 50's with the movie House of Wax(1953) for example.

The 3D effects I have experienced so far are depth visuals, popping out visuals and augmented reality. I am no way an expert of the third dimension and how it works, but I must say that these kind of visuals can provide exciting new gameplay material towards the gamers, especially when talking of augmented reality. And the best thing is that because of the 2 front camera's being aligned in such ways, that we no longer need weird glasses to be able to see it happening. Granted, you have to see it at a certain central position, but that is no problem because this happens to be the typical gaming position.

Familiar features such as internet, wireless, camera's and backwards compatibility return, and pretty much all of them have been improved, such as being able to create 3D photos now. Several small games await you as well, such as the hilarious Face Raiders game, the AR games and those two games found in Mii Plaza which I have yet to try.

It has brought in Wii features such as automatic updating and Mii's as well, and the graphics are a strong improvement over the DS. I cannot say the exact improvement, but it might have even better graphics than the Wii.

And lastly, the launch line up isn't exactly exciting as other launches, but at least Capcom, having been a great Nintendo partner since the beginning, was able to adjust Super Street Fighter 4 with 3D effects and bring it over, making it for me the only must have title.

I will keep it short regarding my first actual 3DS game, but I can tell you that the amount of work put in it is phenomenal, what with 35 characters playable, fluent online gameplay, the 3D overhead mode and even all of those figurines. It does take a while before I get used to such a consistent fighter on a handheld (the same thing goes for the slider), but I am confident that the results will be even more sublime. Simply put, I am amazed at the fact I am playing such a qualified game on the 3DS already, well done Capcom.

There will definitely be exciting announcements coming around at the next E3 scheduled, and I cannot wait for that already. Pretty much all of the announced 3DS games other than the launch line up have yet to state their release date, so that is kind of a let down. I have plenty of trust in Nintendo though and will wait with enthousiasm which AAA title will first be released on the brand new handheld.