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By now, if you’re a Nintendo 3DS owner, you’ve probably played around with a lot of the preloaded applications and capabilities (and, if you’re anything like me, you find them AMAZING). But are you aware of the most basic features the Nintendo 3DS has to offer that other systems can’t? In this feature, we break down everything from 3D cameras to StreetPass.
Lets start with the motion and gyro sensor. This little handheld can follow the movements of the system and project them into the video game, the same way the Wii tracks the movements of the Wii Remote. That means when you move the 3DS left, any corresponding movable element in your game moves left as well. An example of this is in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. When Link uses his slingshot or bow, you have the option to control his aim via the motion sensors. It’s a cool feature that is used to make the game seem more personal, as if you are the one controlling the bow. Another example is in Face Raiders, a fun preloaded game on the 3DS that takes pictures of faces and animates them into evil enemies to knock out. The game’s controls are entirely based on the motion sensor.
Another new feature to the 3DS is the inclusion of analog control, or the Circle Pad. You might remember the olden days of the Nintendo 64, which introduced the analog control stick in the middle of the pad. It offered a 360-degree range of motion, and was significantly less inhibiting than the traditional D-Pad. It works the same way on the 3DS, allowing players in compatible games to have a much wider range of motion than the D-Pad could offer. In many of the games on the 3DS, the Circle Pad is crucial to gameplay, as in a 3D world, the ability to run and move diagonally is not only possible but usually the best option.
The Nintendo 3DS‘ dual 3D Cameras were one of its biggest selling points, as they allowed users to capture videos and pictures in 3D, a technology that was unavailable in gaming systems until this point. The sensitive equipment marked a huge creative leap to gamedom, and games could be played in 3D without the use of special glasses, with the 3D effect controlled by using the 3D depth slider. The depth slider controls the 3D depth range of the game world you’re looking at, as well as controlling just how 3D the pictures and videos you take really are. These two together are the main focus of the 3DS: a handheld that allows you to play video games, take pictures, and watch and capture videos in 3D without the use of glasses.
The StreetPass and SpotPass features were probably the biggest wireless change to Nintendo consoles ever. The similar names may confuse people, so here we break it down for you.
StreetPass is a wireless communication between two 3DS devices while both are in sleep mode. The players can simply walk past one another and exchange Mii’s, information on games, and notes from SwapNote, among other things. If the 3DS has received a notification via StreetPass, an LED blinker just below the right shoulder will blink green.
SpotPass is a more individual wireless connection that can send personal notes, promotions, or upgrades to your system when you pass by certain participating hotspots, hence the name. It is also the main way to transfer personal information, as it allows you to send notes, videos or pictures over the internet to select recipients, rather than to everyone at once, like StreetPass does.
Hopefully this guide leaves you less confused than when you first clicked. The only remaining step is to start taking advantage of the unique hardware features of this new 3D handheld!
