3DS specs revealed (specifications, not spectacles)

by JC Fletcher on Jun 17th 2010 3:30AM

Nintendo has released the specs for the 3DS, including the stuff we couldn't tell from looking at the thing, like screen resolution and weight. The 3.02-inch bottom screen has a 320x240 pixel resolution, a small bump over the DS's 256x192 resolution. The larger (3.53-inch) top screen has an 800x240 resolution, though it's really two 400x240 images superimposed over one another for the 3D effect.

The system supports WPA and WPA2 encryption for its wireless connection, though, like the DSi, it's likely that these protocols will be supported only by new games designed to do so, and not for legacy DS games. As for the physical details, Nintendo notes that the design is not final, so things like battery life and the final appearance are yet to be determined. We were told by Nintendo reps that the colors for the systems were also not final, so don't be heartbroken if you can't get that metallic blue color.

Nintendo 3DS: first hands-on!

Source: Nintendo

Tags: 3ds, e3-2010, news

Reader Comments (87)

Still a buy for me

@Explore

The larger (3.53-inch) top screen has an 800x240 resolution, though it's really two 400x240 images superimposed over one another for the 3D effect.

That should say: top screen has an 800x480 resolution.

@Explore Yes! The 3ds screen may not be that amazing, but certainly it looks way better than the old DSi XL. Review.
http://2su.de/0KR

Who cares about the colors, WHEN DOES IT COME OUT?!?!

@Munkifist1 I believe March 2011 is the tentative release date.

@Munkifist1
I believe they said no later than March 2011. So it could possibly be this winter.

@Munkifist1
My money is on this fall in Japan and spring for us. My reasoning is that Pokemon Black and White are scheduled for this fall in Japan and spring in the US and I doubt they would miss a chance to release them at the same time.

Anybody wonder if they would pull a surprise and say that BW will be in 3D? Or would we have heard about that?

Go to sleep!

@Mortegro Eff off, dad!

Oh, JC, you clever devil, life is always a romp with you.

Win.

The 3DS really has intrigued me. This will probably be the next handheld system I'll get since the buying the gameboy color.

@Stevetrop Man of Mystery

Wow you missed out on some amazing games.

@Stevetrop Man of Mystery

It's cool I scrolled to read it, nested comments don't work (for some stupid reason)

Well, try finding some of those DS games I guess. A lot of the older one's are hard to find. Like try to find a copy of the Princess Peach game.

This might be my first day one console purchase, providing at least one of the titles like Starfox 64 is available on launch. Couldn't be more excited.

It would also be really nice if they did a slight update for Super Mario 64 3DS so that it supports the analog nub. The DS version was a great remake but it was severely handicapped by the lack of analog input.

"The larger (3.53-inch) top screen has an 800x240 resolution, though it's really two 400x240 images duct-taped together."

I went ahead and fixed it for ya JC.

Wheres the real specs, like whats under the hood? Also, we had N64 remakes on the DS, not that the graphics aren't good, but I was hoping for it to be powerful enough to have GCN remakes, so its a full generation ahead of the DS.

Whatever, I'm still buying one. Hoping Pokemon Black and white are enhanced for the 3DS, especially with those new snazzy 3D cities.

@B3astofthe3ast

I was actually thinking about Pokemon Black and White during the Nintendo press conference. There was nothing about Pokemon at all, though I'm glad that the Press Conference was as good as it was.

That being said, Pokemon Black and White make sense to be on the 3DS since it's the next generation of Pokemon, and I agree with what you said with all the 3D cities. I'm just surprised it wasn't mentioned at all since Pokemon is Nintendo's second biggest franchise.

@B3astofthe3ast I'm holding out for Pokemon: Blood and Thunder personally, i can't wait to catch and train my own orcs.

@B3astofthe3ast
Well, the system's getting ports/remakes of several last-gen console games (Metal Gear Solid 3, Kingdom Hearts, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory) that look as good as, if not better than their original versions; if that isn't enough to convince you of the system's power, just take one look at any given screenshot from Resident Evil: Revelations.

@B3astofthe3ast: It's certainly powerful enough to have GCN remakes.

As for the real specs, we won't know those until the system is actually released and somebody takes it apart (or there's a leak from manufacturing or whatever) - Nintendo rarely release CPU details and such.

"Nintendo has released the specs for the 3DS" two days ago. What about the processor speed, graphics chip specifications and an explanation for the lack of AA?

@(Unverified)
The 3D effect has natural AA (incidentally, putting an 800x240 image in a 400x240 screen is exactly how AA works on 2D panels). Corbie confirmed it in his Q&A on Nintendolife.

the only thing i would change is the top screen
its the only part of the system that is black

@SitriStahl

I'd bet it's black so it does not interfere with the 3D effect.

@SitriStahl

Black also makes for the best background/border for videos. And since they're apparently planning on having movies for this device the black makes sense.

What about firmware? Fully upgradeable? In-game dashboard support? Will it support DD? If so, full games or just 3DSWare? 3DS Virtual Console? Just handheld games or home consoles too? Will normal DSiWare work? Can I transfer it from my DSi?

What's the online service like? Integrated well? Friend Codes? DLC? Patches? Chat? Friends lists?

And movies and music? Does it play MP3 and AAC, or only AAC? Will it have a 3D movie app? 3D movie carts? Movies off the SD card?

What about the cartridges? Are they region locked? How many GB do they hold? Do they hold the saves or are they stored on the 3DS?

And will I be able to trade Pokemon with my original DS?

There are far more things I want to know than just the (admittedly lackluster) resolution and what wireless security it supports!
Can you show Iwata-san or Reggie my comment? I know Shiggy's already said "no comment" to the DSiWare, but I am more curious on how the online works than what security protocols it handles.

@(Unverified)
Oh god. 3DS VC. That's just asking for the Virtual Boy.

@(Unverified) Calm down man. Doubt we'll hear anything more about 3DS until their fall press conference.

@(Unverified) While you ask excellent questions, one of them is answered on nintendos page; the game carts will hold 2GB at launch, which means it sounds like the capacity will grow as flash memory gets cheaper. 2GB may not sound like alot, but remember that GCN discs were only 1.5 GB, and it didn't seem like too much of a limitation.

While the DS started with a very small cartridge limit, it eventually reached as high as 4gb. I will be surprised if 3DS doesn't go well beyond that in the future.

Yea I saw several that I wanted but had to pass off. More or less what it came down to was spending money on a handheld system and games or spend money on my main console.

At this point I have a bit of a backlog of 360 games to hold me for a while and I can save up money for a 3DS and a few games.

It better have AA otherwise playing DS games designed for 256x192 on a 320x240 screen is going to look like a jagged mess.

Then again, even the GBA had smoothing routines for playing old GB/GBC games.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Incidentally, anyone know how I can become verified?

Anyone who is (Unverified) simply needs to re-sign into the website. Not that hard. Clear out your cache beforehand too so you can see the new site in all its glory.

2GB, not bad.
Not that good either. While it didn't limit gamecube games per se, some had to go on 2 discs. Oh well, as long as they can upgrade the capacity I'm not complaining.
And I hope you can download the games too, like PSN.

@KaBob799

And that makes these cards 4x larger than the largest DS card. With plenty of room to improve and go down in price.

All I care about is them not messing up THIS generation of handhelds by ignoring a second analog joystick. Seriously, you're going to have a Metal Gear Solid game on here and ignore the awful controls of the PSP games? Granted, MGSPW was playable, but it could have been vastly improved.

Don't start telling me "OH WELL THE TOUCH SCREEN CAN DO ANYTHING A SECOND JOYSTICK CAN". I know. I played Metroid Prime Hunters. And y'know what? You can be content with that, or you could throw in an option that caters to everyone.

Especially the hardcore crowd that you alienated.

I'll tell you what Nintendo, throw down a second joystick, and I'll buy the 3DS at launch. And I promise that when I'm making retail games, I'll support you over the competition.

@(Unverified)

Normally I'd agree that a second joystick is vital, but on a DS it really isn't The touchscreen is far more precise than an analog stick and works way better for aiming than a second analog nub ever could. You may not ike the controls (like some don't like using a mouse/keyboard) but they work really well. There's no reason to add in a less precise method of control that would only be used in one genre. And a genre not even very well suited for portable play.

@(Unverified)
The PSP analog stick is horrendous. It'd be double the crime to slap on another one without first perfecting it.

Now assuming Nintendo's version is about as perfect as it can get, which it most likely isn't - maybe close. I still don't see a reason for a second analog stick. Sure it can be convenient for shooters but to act like it's so vital is just stupid for a handheld.

The ergonomics just aren't there for such a small footprint and it'd be a lot less comfortable than you would think.

@(Unverified)

I agree. And, sorry, but using the touch screen while also using button is shit. It's a terrible control mechanic.

@(Unverified)
While I dislike the whiny, entitled tone of (Unverified)'s rant, I do agree that a second analog stick/pad/nub would be a good idea, not even for shooters, but for 3D (as in, 3D game environments) games that require players to control the camera, e.g. the already-shown Metal Gear Solid 3 and Kingdom Hearts remakes. I'm not sure how they plan on utilizing camera control in those games without a second analogue stick; the face and shoulder buttons will almost certainly be used for gameplay functions (not that those would be ideal for camera control anyway) and the touch screen is too out-of-the-way to be used in those potentially fast-paced games. I hope they find an effective way of addressing this issue.

....unless you're left-handed.

I hope the final design is just a touch smaller, and maybe a little lighter.
Still, right now it looks perfect, as long as nothing changes in a negative way, I'm happy.

@Special Agent Steve

That's my major complaint with handhelds since the DS and PSP first launched. It really isn't a dealbreaker but it would be nice if handhelds were more pocketable. Neither one is too huge to be manageable but I miss the days of the much smaller GBA SP or the Gameboy pocket. One of the reasons I haven't gotten a PSP is that if I were to put it in my pocket I would just worry about the huge exposed screen, and with a case it's not pocketable at all.

@Special Agent Steve
I love my Gameboy Micro because of how tiny and light it is. Best GBA model ever. If they could release a slidable DS/3DS like that... Wow!

When I hear system specs 'revealed' I imagine chip speed details. I should stop thinking like that because that isn't the deciding factor on how well a piece of hardware works for games. This 3D effect is interesting. I wonder how the 3D works when you shift your focus to the bottom screen.

But will it blend?

PSP UMDs are only 1.8... what do you people expect? it's a handheld with TONS of juice. I mistook a few in game screens for console systems more than once (MGS3D)

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3DS specs revealed (specifications, not spectacles)

Nintendo 3DS: first hands-on!

Reader Comments (87)

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:38AM Explore said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 10:54AM FNG said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 11:11AM marissameyeirs said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:39AM Munkifist1 said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 5:38AM evilbastard said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 4:04PM KaBob799 said

Posted: Jun 18th 2010 8:06PM Rosario Lopez said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:39AM Mortegro said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:41AM ch3burashka said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:40AM ch3burashka said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:43AM Mortegro said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:41AM Stevetrop Man of Mystery said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:56AM The Aquacharger said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 7:31PM The Aquacharger said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:42AM CaramelZappa said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:44AM CaramelZappa said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:45AM KentuckyFrydCow28 said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:46AM B3astofthe3ast said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 4:47AM Metayoshi said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 12:15PM rhododragon said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 12:25PM gatotsu911 said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 6:28PM xxxsam said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:48AM Unvrfd said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:57AM Esposch said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:52AM SitriStahl said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 9:49AM HappyFunBall said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 10:15AM Vidikron said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:54AM Esposch said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 3:58AM The Aquacharger said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 4:00AM silverjx said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 4:03AM B3astofthe3ast said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 10:44AM KaBob799 said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 5:13AM Stevetrop Man of Mystery said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 6:40PM Psykechan said

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 4:02AM Esposch said

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Posted: Jun 17th 2010 4:57AM (Unverified) said

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