Is the 3DS really underpowered? Or is it hiding its true...

[MrWu]

Ahh the 3ds may have run into an old n64 cartridge problem... lack of storage for higher res graphics. its true the n64 had that problem

Current 3DS card sizes maxes out at 4GB. Uncharted for Vita is 4GB. RE: Revelations will be 4GB and both appear to command premium prices, likely because either these cards double up on 2GB chips or they are just more expensive to manufacture.

There is no 'cartridge' problem, as many 3DS games are already on cartridges larger than GameCube discs or UMDs.

And even if there was, Nintendo is at parity with Sony, which is also using the same technology for Vita games.

[Bonampak]

BOOYAH!

That's all I could add to that.

LOL so adding that was necessary?

After what MrWu wrote, the question of this topic was answered in full. Thus, the only thing I could add to it was BOOYAH.

Ahh the 3ds may have run into an old n64 cartridge problem... lack of storage for higher res graphics. its true the n64 had that problem

Again, MrWu set things straight for ya. Read his reply before this one here.

[omega59]

Not really. Resident Evil Revelations and MGS3 are going to be on 4GB cards, and I believe they said 8GB cards would be available later as well. So that's a lot of space for developers to work with.

That's half a borderlands right there. I can see the cards having lots of space if they are high quality enough, like 8 gb SD micro cards. I think the max size the 3DS cards CAN go (if it is built right) could be a hefty 32 GBs

[Jack_Atlas]

BOOYAH!

That's all I could add to that.

LOL so adding that was necessary?

After what MrWu wrote, the question of this topic was answered in full. Thus, the only thing I could add to it was BOOYAH.

Ahh the 3ds may have run into an old n64 cartridge problem... lack of storage for higher res graphics. its true the n64 had that problem

Again, MrWu set things straight for ya. Read his reply before this one here.

you may have to explain because I read his comment and looked at all of his links and still have no clue about what he is talking about, but if I had to guess I am willing to say his comment probably means the 3DS can get more powerful as nintendo "unlocks" parts of the chips,does it mean it could be comparable to PSVita in terms of sheer horse power? Probably not, in fact I would probably give a definite "no" to that question, but I will say if someone explains in a way that does not go over my head that 3DS is more powerful than vita I will be colored shocked

[MrWu]

you may have to explain because I read his comment and looked at all of his links and still have no clue about what he is talking about, but if I had to guess I am willing to say his comment probably means the 3DS can get more powerful as nintendo "unlocks" parts of the chips,does it mean it could be comparable to PSVita in terms of sheer horse power? Probably not, in fact I would probably give a definite "no" to that question, but I will say if someone explains in a way that does not go over my head that 3DS is more powerful than vita I will be colored shocked

The gist of it is; note I'm not fluent in game development

1) 3DS uses a dual-core ARM11 MPcore, which is far more advanced than the speculated 2 ARM11 cores being slapped together like the DS where you have AMR9 CPU with ARM7 (OVERCLOCKED GBA CPU) serving as the coprocessor.
2) The ARM 11 cores used have VFP extensions, which according to ARM's documentation is a coprocessing unit specialized in media/geometry and are meant for smartphones, and devices that need to display graphics. This means, barebones 3DS without the GPU can already do basic graphic processing.
3) The 3DS has 6MB of VRAM in addition to the 128 MB. This was not known prior to release. If you want to add it all up, 3DS has 134 MB of RAM. But having embedded VRAM is apparently fairly significant in terms of graphics
4) The 3DS has a 134 mhz DSP soundchip. On the DS, the ARM7 coprocessor handled sound, wireless and the 2-D engine, usually displaying a map screen on one of the 2 screens. On the 3DS, the load of handling sound is taken off the CPU entirely

All this means there's quite a lot more power there than what a lot of people assumed.

[omega59]

Well, anyone have vita specs to compare the 3DS with?

[Mako]

Well, anyone have vita specs to compare the 3DS with?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=vita+specs#seen

Full specs list for the PS Vita:

CPU – ARM Cortex A9 core (4 core)
GPU - SGX543MP4+
Screen - 5 inches, 960 x 544 (16:9), Approx. 16 million colors, OLED Multi touch screen, capacitive
Memory – 512MB
VRAM – 512MB
Cameras - Front 120fps@320×240(QVGA), 60fps@640×480(VGA)
Rear – Up to 640×480(VGA)
Communications:
3G (On 3G model only)
802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR (A2DP/AVRCP/HSP)
Ports – Vita slot, memory card, SIM (3G model only), multi-use port, audio, serial data, headset jack, accessory port
Dimensions - 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm WHD

[omega59]

Well... where does that leave us?

[ShabbySheik]

The N64 would love to have a word with you.

Cartridges vs Discs. Which is why I said "CAN" and not "WILL".

You were talking about the system not the format, though. Since that's exactly the topic at hand.

Besides, the most powerful console/handheld usually doesn't dominate. It rarely does.

GB > GameGear

DS > PSP

PS1 > N64

PS2> Xbox 1

Wii/X360 > PS3

3DS > too early to tell... but things look mighty good for the 3DS already.

Woah Woah Woah, Miss Lippy. I personally thought N64 was WAY better in terms of playability. The PS1 froze every few seconds. And most of the games were a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong as the first good disc system (lol, Sega CD) it was really neat but I thought it was a "feeler" console that tested the waters of optical media software. But the PS1 in general? It was so temperamental! I simply gave up on some games. I dunno what was more suspenseful in resident evil: the infected lurking around every corner or the fact that my big grey hunk of junk might freeze at any time. The only exception was Tomba!, which I loved, but had resorted to shameful acts to finally beat. There was a scratch on the disc that wouldn't let me progress past the cowboy chapter so I rented out the same game from our video rental store, swapped my broken one with the nice clean disc they had, and they never found out. Not my proudest moment.

[Dolphin]

Woah Woah Woah, Miss Lippy. I personally thought N64 was WAY better in terms of playability. The PS1 froze every few seconds. And most of the games were a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong as the first good disc system (lol, Sega CD) it was really neat but I thought it was a "feeler" console that tested the waters of optical media software. But the PS1 in general? It was so temperamental! I simply gave up on some games. I dunno what was more suspenseful in resident evil: the infected lurking around every corner or the fact that my big grey hunk of junk might freeze at any time. The only exception was Tomba!, which I loved, but had resorted to shameful acts to finally beat. There was a scratch on the disc that wouldn't let me progress past the cowboy chapter so I rented out the same game from our video rental store, swapped my broken one with the nice clean disc they had, and they never found out. Not my proudest moment.

He meant sales-wise.

[CorusFace]

There was a scratch on the disc that wouldn't let me progress past the cowboy chapter so I rented out the same game from our video rental store, swapped my broken one with the nice clean disc they had, and they never found out.

....and now Blockbuster has all but gone out of business. I hope you're happy!

[ShabbySheik]

There was a scratch on the disc that wouldn't let me progress past the cowboy chapter so I rented out the same game from our video rental store, swapped my broken one with the nice clean disc they had, and they never found out.

....and now Blockbuster has all but gone out of business. I hope you're happy!

haha single handedly brought down an empire. Oh and sorry about misinterpreting that earlier. I misread the posts and didn't realize you were talking about sales.
*** *** ***
I think most of you guys are right. The DS was way less powerful than the PSP and it still is so far above it in quality. I love my DS. I hope the same fate kind of goes for nintendo for 3DS so they can use to profits to produce an even MORE powerful handheld. I'm still waiting for a Wind Waker styled sequel that is the same quality of the original (a full game, not a side show), or a 3D rpg Pokemon that looks more like OoT (Actually seeing a tauros while meandering through grass in the safari zone -- how sweet would that be?)

I think the 3DS could totally handle that. Ironically I think it would handle a windwaker game over a remake of Majora's Mask. I read somewhere that Majora's Mask had a really complicated save system that isnt as simple as other titles. I feel like that would give 3DS the same problems that it gave N64. Anyone hear anything about that before? What do you think?

[Prons]

When I look at how great Super Street Fighter IV looked and how well Resident Evil seemed to run, I don't think we'll be having problems with the system being underpowered.

[KittyKat13]

I think the 3DS could totally handle that. Ironically I think it would handle a windwaker game over a remake of Majora's Mask. I read somewhere that Majora's Mask had a really complicated save system that isnt as simple as other titles. I feel like that would give 3DS the same problems that it gave N64. Anyone hear anything about that before? What do you think?

Majora plays fine on the '64, it only has problems when it's directly ported, a remake with an engine built for the system it's on would do fine. I have the Collectors Disk and MM lags and crashes and is generally harder to play than it should be, which is sad because it's a wonderful game. The Wii VC port doesn't seem to crash at least, although the sounds skips and it lags sometimes. But really, anything that could run on the N64 could run on the 3DS, and Majora's Mask desperately needs an overhaul because it was put together in a year and shoved out onto the market before the glue dried. It's a great game but it's buggier than a picnic in July, and a remake would finally fix that.

The save system is very incremented, and would actually work very well on a handheld because you can play for a short amount of time and then save, either a full save and go back in time, or a temporary save at an owl statue, similar to SS's saving, which means when you boot up you will be right back at that location... instead of being dumped off at Link's house, etc. The sleep mode would also be a perfect match with this game, because if you want a break without going to a save statue or resetting time you can close the 3DS and let it sit, much nicer than pausing your N64 and hoping your brother doesn't come along and shut it off. Though I'd expect them to alter the save system if they remade it, they changed some things that people complained about in Ocarina of Time, the save system is the biggest complaint I hear from folks about MM so I see no reason for them not to change it in some way.

The 3DS could handle a game like Wind Waker, but it's not time for a portable remake of it yet, it needs to make it's run on the Wii U Vitual Console first. As for a new game that looks like WW, sure, I liked the visual style. They said it wasn't going to be a sequel to the DS games, though, so I wonder where it will go on the timeline... Inb4 it's on the suddenly canon "what if Link fails in Wind Waker" timeline. But yeah, I'm pretty sure the 3DS can handle Game Cube quality games, or pretty close to it.

[ShabbySheik]

Majora plays fine on the '64, it only has problems when it's directly ported, a remake with an engine built for the system it's on would do fine. I have the Collectors Disk and MM lags and crashes and is generally harder to play than it should be, which is sad because it's a wonderful game. The Wii VC port doesn't seem to crash at least, although the sounds skips and it lags sometimes. But really, anything that could run on the N64 could run on the 3DS, and Majora's Mask desperately needs an overhaul because it was put together in a year and shoved out onto the market before the glue dried. It's a great game but it's buggier than a picnic in July, and a remake would finally fix that.

The save system is very incremented, and would actually work very well on a handheld because you can play for a short amount of time and then save, either a full save and go back in time, or a temporary save at an owl statue, similar to SS's saving, which means when you boot up you will be right back at that location... instead of being dumped off at Link's house, etc. The sleep mode would also be a perfect match with this game, because if you want a break without going to a save statue or resetting time you can close the 3DS and let it sit, much nicer than pausing your N64 and hoping your brother doesn't come along and shut it off. Though I'd expect them to alter the save system if they remade it, they changed some things that people complained about in Ocarina of Time, the save system is the biggest complaint I hear from folks about MM so I see no reason for them not to change it in some way.

The 3DS could handle a game like Wind Waker, but it's not time for a portable remake of it yet, it needs to make it's run on the Wii U Vitual Console first. As for a new game that looks like WW, sure, I liked the visual style. They said it wasn't going to be a sequel to the DS games, though, so I wonder where it will go on the timeline... Inb4 it's on the suddenly canon "what if Link fails in Wind Waker" timeline. But yeah, I'm pretty sure the 3DS can handle Game Cube quality games, or pretty close to it.

Great post! Thanks for the insight. I didn't know they said it wouldn't be a sequel to the DS games. That's interesting. Let me know if you have a link to the interview online.
It's also great news, for me. While I felt like the DS games were "good enough" to hold be over in-between major console Zelda games, I really missed having towns to run around in and really detailed sidequests. I'm hoping for a MM or WW styled game for that exact reason. They were my favorite games for sidequests and the worlds were just as good, if not more enjoyable, than the worlds explored in OoT. That's what I'd like to see most in the next game (if not in 3ds, than the wiiU)