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3DS

Nintendo World 2011 Eyes-On Impressions

by James Charlton - January 10, 2011, 9:36 am EST
Total comments: 7

Update: Now with five more video descriptions.

Every non-playable 3DS game seen at the show, right here in one place. Oh, and Zelda.

Aside from the 15 playable demos available at Nintendo World 2011, there was a whole bunch set aside at a special viewing wall. Here, event goers could peek through a small window to watch a short in-game movie displayed in 3D on a Nintendo 3DS unit.

It should be noted that the touch screen merely showed the game title, making it impossible to comment on gameplay features that would normally be displayed there.

Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle
Classic town exploration and conversation scenes were shown, and this time the scenes are modelled in beautiful cel-shaded 3D. Panning and scanning around the town was shown using the stylus, background images were static, while characters and objects were rendered in 3D. The 2D drawings during conversations have also been replaced with fully
animated 3D models, which pop out the screen, looking appealing.

DEAD OR ALIVE Dimensions
Not quite as stylistically pleasing as Street Fighter IV, also the slightly inconsistent framerate didn’t do it any favours, but this is still graphically impressive.

Winning Eleven 3D Soccer
It is looking very much like the console versions. Nothing much else to say, except the 3D wasn't as obvious than in other games.

Pilotwings Resort
WuHu island looked just as good as it does in Wii Fit/Wii Sports Resort, but now there are classic Pilotwings challenges on the roster. One plane section shown looked like it was taken directly from Wii Fit as information points were shown being found. Aside from that there was hand gliding and target shooting. The controllable craft popped nicely off the screen and everything was running very smoothly.

Ridge Racer 3D
Pretty standard racing game with 3D effects kept to the minimum. Very smooth, but car models and tracks looked very plain and uninteresting.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
More gorgeous looking Resident Evil action, looks just as good as Revelations. Squint your eyes and you may think you’re watching the Resident Evil 5 Mercenary mode. 

Super Monkey Ball 3D
Ai-Ai and friends were shown in various mini-games including a side-on platformer level. Regular tilt-based monkey-rolling gameplay wasn’t actually shown.

Kingdom Hearts 3D
A short intro movie was shown where one of the main characters drifted off to sleep then disappeared into thin air. This was followed by some gameplay, showing exploring a beachside village, jumping and gliding were the only abilities displayed. 

Cubic Ninja
An intriguing-looking puzzle/platformer style game in which you control a cube-shaped ninja (naturally). Possibly using the touch screen, you move the little guy around environments, avoiding obstacles and dangerous things. The art style reminded me of Portal.

Animal Resort
Hard to judge as no gameplay was shown, just lots of nicely rendered African animals doing what they do.  At one point, a monkey punched me in the face, in 3D. 

Star Fox 64 3D
The N64 classic returns, with a graphics update. The Landmaster (tank) level boss looked a lot more detailed with some nicely improved textures. No multiplayer was shown.

Animal Crossing
Looking very much like City Folk in 3D. The rolling world effect brought in on the DS version looks great in 3D, the trees appeared to pop out the screen as they went by. Decorating inside a house was shown, along with camera controls.

Mario Kart
Of all the viewable games at the wall, this was the only one with a designated queue with barriers and chains. After a 15 minute wait, I got to see Mario and Luigi race around some brand new tracks, many of which reminded me of Mario Kart Wii ones. One new feature I noticed was that Mario’s eyes reacted to his brother as he drove by, glancing to the left and right as he swerved behind him. No weapons or other features were shown. 

StreetPass Mode
A short demonstration movie was shown where your collection of stored data, taken from random people you pass, is organised. It reminded me of the Mii parade view from the Check Me Out channel on the Wii. Data included Nintendogs + Cats animals (with unique icons depending on the type of dog/cat) and Miis. However, it is known that many more games will use this feature in some way or another. 

My Photos and Mii (not official title)
Many 3D photos were displayed in a slideshow showing several Japanese celebrities with their Miis. They were all holding AR (Augmented Reality) cards which will be packed in with the system, so the Mii characters were displayed in a realistic fashion sitting on their hands, shoulders etc.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
This was the only playable game that I didn’t have a chance to play, due to the 90 minute wait I decided to play every other game at the event in that time instead. I did, however, take a look at it in 3D at the viewing wall. In the demo reel, Link was shown exploring the Deku Tree dungeon and battling King Dodongo. I noticed some mild improvements in the textures but also some nice little details added in such as little flowers and plants on the ground.

Talkback

Killer_Man_JaroTom Malina, Associate Editor (Europe)January 09, 2011

Cubic Ninja, huh? That's the first I've heard of it. Do you know what developer is behind it?

And by the way, the Passer-by mode you've discussed is called StreetPass. It was shown at the 3DS conference late last year.

famicomplicatedJames Charlton, Associate Editor (Japan)January 09, 2011

Quote from: Killer_Man_Jaro

Cubic Ninja, huh? That's the first I've heard of it. Do you know what developer is behind it?

And by the way, the Passer-by mode you've discussed is called StreetPass. It was shown at the 3DS conference late last year.

AQ Interactive. It's described by Nintendo as an "action puzzle" game. Intriguing indeed.

Also, thanks for the heads up!

MaryJaneJanuary 09, 2011

"At one point, a monkey punched in the face, in 3D."

Lol that sounds great. I don't recall hearing about Animal Resort, I know it said no gameplay was shown, but is it like a zoo keeping game, or something else?

I also hope you can take pictures of the AR, I'd love to get a picture of my Mii sitting on my shoulder. Also, a picture of Mila Kunis' Mii sitting on my face.

BlackNMild2k1January 09, 2011

:music; My Photos, My Photos,
My Photos, My Photos....
My Photos & Mii*:music;


*(Not official Title) any similarity to previous jingles not intentional

famicomplicatedJames Charlton, Associate Editor (Japan)January 09, 2011

Quote from: MaryJane

"At one point, a monkey punched in the face, in 3D."

Lol that sounds great. I don't recall hearing about Animal Resort, I know it said no gameplay was shown, but is it like a zoo keeping game, or something else?

I also hope you can take pictures of the AR, I'd love to get a picture of my Mii sitting on my shoulder. Also, a picture of Mila Kunis' Mii sitting on my face.

Animal Resort is a mystery to me. Could even be a Pokemon Snap style game for all I know!

It's been confirmed that the AR photo shooting modes will be a built-in feature of the 3DS, so you can take all the sordid pictures you desire!

ThomasOJanuary 09, 2011

No Paper Mario 3DS? Oh well, there's already a shaky-cam vid of it:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVMW3TlCPGw

TJ SpykeJanuary 10, 2011

I like the idea of StreetPass mode. I don't know how often I will pass by people with a 3DS, but whenever I go out in public I will turn the system on and take it out with me just in case.

Hopefully Mario Kart comes out sooner than expected. I was thinking about re-buying Mario Kart DS.

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