Super Street Fighter IV 3D is a portable version of the fighting game that
features a 3-D viewing mode along with new costumes and game modes.Nintendo has always marched to the beat of its own drum, and the rhythm has rarely faltered in the past five years with the one-two punch of the DS and the Wii. The dual displays and touch-screen took portable gaming beyond just being a watered-down console experience, while the Wii and its motion controls created a new category of gaming altogether.
But Nintendo can also come off as the perfectionist who can't stop tinkering with his own toys: witness the four versions of the DS and three of the Wii controller.
Coming into this dichotomy is the 3DS, a new portable system with a 3-D screen launching Sunday at $249. It follows the Nintendo approach of building gameplay around a novel interface and might signal something of a hat trick for Nintendo in light of challenges in portable gaming from smart-phone apps and increasing technical muscle from rival Sony.
It's a looker of a machine, with a form factor that closely follows the sleek lines of the DS from the Lite model onward. Aside from some slightly different button positions (including a Wii-like "Home" button along the bottom), what's immediately noticeable are an analog nub above the d-pad, and a slightly wider screen at the top.
The wow factor comes from this top screen, which is capable of a stereoscopic 3-D effect without glasses. The images take on a convincing illusion of depth to the naked eye, like an exaggerated version of a hologram sticker.
The 3-D does have its limitations: the screen must be viewed straight on and at a particular distance (adjustable with a slider) to work properly; look at a slight angle or too closely and the images take on the familiar double blur.
The depth of the screen may also be disappointingly subtle for anyone expecting projectiles to fly out toward them. But for a diorama box come to life, the effect is uncanny.
It's a fancy parlor trick worth showing off to friends, especially when the 3DS comes equipped with dual cameras that can take 3-D images - probably the neatest feature out of the box.
But I'm thinking more and more that the 3-D is merely an initial hook, and that the system's real strength lies in its forays into augmented reality.
Those same cameras also display and manipulate whatever is in front of you, including a handful of AR cards included in the box that contain mini-games and virtual figures. A card placed on the table top will wobble and spring into a landscape of archery targets.
Sensors keep track of your position and adjust the image accordingly; it's up to you to move around different angles to shoot the targets. Coupled with 3-D, the top screen can resemble a magic window.
Face Raiders, a shooting game also built into the system, takes a picture of your face and uses distorted versions of your own head that seem to tear through the fabric of reality. But since the heads come at you from all directions, you'll frequently be spinning and turning the screen, which is tough to do while maintaining the proper angle and distance for the 3-D to work.
You can turn off the 3-D altogether, but then comes the nagging notion that you're playing an upgraded version of the DS.
Luckily a few passive functions in sleep mode really set the system apart: A pedometer that converts steps into coins for in-game purchases, as well as displaying your daily activity in a bar chart. And a feature called Street Pass automatically exchanges gaming information with other 3DSes in the vicinity. That information then generates characters to use in the RPG-lite mini-game Street Pass Quest.
It's a smart way for the system to quietly assert itself. Sure, you may already carry a smart phone, but it doesn't hurt to keep a 3DS around, too.
That's not a slam-dunk strategy in lieu of killer apps, though Super Street Fighter IV: 3-D Edition and Pilotwings Resort come close (for a roundup of select launch titles, go to
www.sfgate.com/ blogs/culture).
Still, the 3DS comes with enough functionality out of the box to hold its own weight even without a cartridge. Consider these features a blueprint. For a third time, Nintendo has our attention on the strength of its ideas; now it's a matter of seeing what it does with them.
Nintendo's new 3DS features a touch-screen on bottom, and a 3-D adjustable screen, top.
