this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2024
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Cool tech, but wrong platform. It gave people headaches and it halfed the effective resolution of an already low resolution screen. I think it would have worked better if the hardware running it could handle rendering two 3d scenes.
The original implementation without eye tracking gave it an (undeserved) reputation for that, but I don't think the current version of it is givin people headaches at all. Having played a 3DS with 3D on full just this week, I also don't find the resolution was the dealbreaker. Obviously the Switch is way ahead of its performance, but coming from the DS they delivered a big bump in 3D performance along with the stereoscopic display.
What I think they had is terrible timing. The 3DS had a rocky launch and then had to make that back during the peak of "stereo 3D sucks" cyclical backlash coming from rushed movie conversions sold at a premium and TVs doing it poorly in the living room. Weirdly a lot of that was coming from the same people that keep hoping that VR would be the next big thing. At the same time. The cognitive dissonance was harsh there for a bit.
Still, it was a thing, and everybody lumpled the 3DS along with it. "Turn the slider down and never think about it again" was a meme, which sucks, because plenty of 3DS games look great in stereo.
The resolution and blurriness was the biggest issue for me and what gave me a headache. I loved my 3ds but I didn't really have a use for it on that platform. Also the fact that it was optional meant no developer could actually make it useful as a game mechanic
I didn't have a 3ds when it was current because of getting a headache the one time I tried one, but I bought a new 3ds last year and I have no issues with having the 3d on for shorter gaming sessions. The eye tracking seems to be a huge improvement for me.
I've played Virtual Boy games on my 3ds and it's pretty amazing. You're right that due to the 3d being optional in most games means they couldn't really use it in gameplay, but with the Virtual Boy games, those were designed for and must be played in 3d. It really made me wonder what could have been for the 3ds if all the things about the hardware that made the 3ds special were used in more creative ways.
I never tried the virtual boy titles on 3ds, sounds like I missed out
Well, the fact that not everybody has good stereoscopic sight should mean that, on accessibility alone. But I've also never bought into that particular criticism.
I mean, I also don't have a useful game mechanic for super detailed graphics and you don't see me complaining about games looking good. I thought playing through little dioramas looked great and was super fun, and that was all I needed. When the DS had its phase of shoehorning touch controls on everything I found that extremely obnoxious. Not every gimmick needs to be at the core of every game.
Fair enough. I guess I felt it was the wrong platform for it and that it would have had better use on something akin to a psvita.