Nintendo 3DS Architecture
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I was one of the people who used the 'Ambassador Program' due to paying ~$250 USD or so for it up front (I pre-ordered the blue one, was hyped in the years leading up to it, read every rumor, loved it to death). The program gave a bunch of free games, some not on the eShop, as an apology for the extra $70 or so cost when they sharply dropped the cost of the console not long after release.
I was happy with it.
Mario Kart Super Circuit was a part of my childhood growing up, and I played that one not too rarely. Using the already-amazing swivel-joystick with it was a dream.
Knowing it was actually running on a real-life GBA CPU, like the old one I used to have and played games on all the time growing up, somehow makes it even more special of a memory.
Wow. Thank you for writing this article, Rodrigo. Much love. <3 :'))))
That's an old trick (though no less cool). The GBA had a GBC cpu in it for backwards compatibility, and it used a physical switch to change modes, toggled by the cartridge itself. And iirc the PS2 reused the PS1 cpu as a component on the board for I/O, so it was available for backwards compatibility as well (though with emulation help for other components).
But that button is also responsible for making the cartridge bus actually function with GB/GBC cartridges. If you switch into GBC mode without the button being pressed, nothing can be read from the cartridge. (Normally the register bit that switches to GBC mode is locked out and only the BIOS can write it, but if you are executing code in the BIOS, a timed DMA transfer can perform that write.)
Which has some interesting implications for softmodded systems. I play my PS2 games via Ethernet off a Raspberry Pi Samba server—it’s incredible to me that it’s possible and works so well, but because it’s using the PS1 CPU for I/O you can’t use it for PS1 games.
Sony did similar things.
The playstation 2 needed a IO chip so Sony picked the PS1 CPU. Then pass execution to it when playing a PS1 game.
And if I remember correctly, in the first revisions of the playstation 3 they included a ps2 CPU and GPU. I don't think they served a purpose when not running ps2 games though. They later remove them in favour of emulation to presumable save costs.
The Wii can emulate N64 games as well, a few made it to the Virtual Console, and there are 3rd party emulators you can install via the Homebrew channel. The GC controller is not bad for playing N64 games.
It's such a small console that i still have it hooked up under under my TV next to the Switch.
Same here kinda. I've done similar with a WiiU. The WiiU is backwards compatible with the Wii, it literally boots into Wii firmware! Meaning with a little homebrew it can be modified to load Gamecube games and run them without the need for emulation. Nintendont even supports a variety of controllers to play gamecube games including the WiiU gamecube controller adapter.
I dump my Wii and gamecube games on my actual Wii and can load them up in the virtual Wii on the and WiiU.
3 generations running (borderline) natively on the one console.
The Wii however was almost just a faster GameCube. CPU literally just clocked higher and a bit of a better GPU. Because the idea was for it to be super cheap to produce.
The reasoning why as pointed out by the article makes it even more mind-boggling to me. It includes the GBA CPU almost by accident, because Nintendo took a Matroshka doll approach to backwards compatibility.
The Nintendo 3DS contains the entire system architecture of the Nintendo DSi for backwards compatibility (the DSi CPU also functions as a supervisor CPU of the system), which is mostly an overclocked variety of the original Nintendo DS architecture. The first two Nintendo DS models contained a GBA slot for backwards compatibility and therefore also contain the GBA's original ARM7TDMI. The Nintendo DS also used this as an auxiliary processor for various things. The reason the GBA hardware is there is because Nintendo kept shipping their previous gen hardware in the new generation twice over.
As part of the that Ambassador Program you mention, Nintendo released a boot firmware for the 3DS called "AGB_FIRM" to boot into Game Boy Advance mode (another being "TWL_FIRM" to boot into Nintendo DS mode). If you hack your 3DS today it can be made to load other Game Boy Advance software and essentially achieves perfect backwards compatibility and runs GBA games with perfect accuracy, modulo any GBA peripherals that were popular.
We have very different tastes. The Gameboy Micro is the most adorable piece of hardware I have ever seen.
Thanks to a post about it on reddit, I was able to get the reduced price and the free games. Felt like I had cheated the system even though I barely ended up playing the free games.
To this day I'm still confused as to why nintendo passed up millions of dollars from Nintendo addicts by not adding GBA & N64 virtual console games in mass to the eSHOP
Although the approach nowadays seems to be emulation (or not including backwards compatibility).
The smaller New 3DS is also one of my all-time favourite console designs and I bought a load of the silly faceplates because they looked cool.
The other thing I really appreciate: I was able to call up Nintendo and buy two new official batteries for mine and my wife’s units when they started to age out. They were something like £15 each and I could swap them out without disassembling the system. Not something you often see these days.
I bought a (deep breath) New Nintendo 2DS XL a while ago; it's the last iteration of the DS line of games, plays all DS, DSi and 3DS games (and there were only a handful of games released specifically for the "new" DS) so that's ~15 years of gaming history it supports. I try to pick up DS games where I find them, although finding good deals on them is already difficult - some titles like Bravely Default or whatnot still go for 60 euros around here.
There's a LOT of shovelware for the DS as well though, I'm skipping those.
0, https://3ds.eiphax.tech/nsui
One other thing I only realized about the 3DS a couple of years ago: the bigger microSD card you use it becomes slower. Afaik the whole console scans the whole storage block level so after a certain point (64GB and above) it becomes plainfully slow. Especially if you play GBA injects > the 3DS quasi reboots itself in that mode so the console scans the storage again.
Oh man, I remember this. Back in the day, hacking a 3DS required downgrading to firmware 3.0.0 to extract the OTP, but 3.0.0 was not fully compatible with the New 3DS so if you were doing it on that model, simply closing the lid while on the old firmware would permanently brick your console. Good times.
If anyone wants to do homebrew for thr 3DS check out https://github.com/devkitPro/libctru
I also hope a larger indie industry of handheld gaming develops.
It seems the imminent doom of advanced hand held devices is cloud gaming, including running consoles at home and streaming to your phone.
It all boils down to what everybody does with their wallets. I miss my GBC.
I believe the switch is a big success for 2D indie games (think stardew valley, hades, dead cells). Those game concepts work and good 2D graphics will never look outdated.
I doubt people will buy into anti-consumer streaming-schemes to play great games which could run on a potato.
I've actually been thinking about building a handheld console for my daughter as fun project
Think of it as if Nintendo released a home console as well as the Switch; it would wouldn't be a sustainable system at all.
What I find funny is that people praise Nintendo's "genius" for making a handheld that docks to play on TV "so innovative"...meanwhile PSP Go with it's TV dock sitting there like "guys, remember me?" (I love the PSPGo, it's so freaking cute).
Thus why the 2DS undercut so many sales for the 3DS.
The Switch is probably the only real exception, currently; but I could just be ignorant and there are much better mods for it.
Back in the day we played the hell out of them because we didn't have anything better, but the original screens were truly awful even for their era.
One thing I remember is that it made it much easier to interpret scenes with effects like particles, glowy stuff, smoke etc.
At least by Dec. 2018 the 2DS/New 2DS made up about 20% of 3DS family sales.
My problem with my New 3DS XL is that the power button is right where I put my pinky finger when using the shoulder buttons so playing Super Metroid sometimes ends with me "setting the 3DS down" on a desk while playing it, and my pinky bumps the power button which immediately autocloses whatever app you were running. Maybe there's a config option to not do that lol
Though some games did cut the framerate in 3D mode
For the longest time this effect was super intense for me for the 3DS power light, and it made it look like the light from the power LED was just piercing through the case of the 3DS, while the cutout for the LED was almost pitch black.
(for people with glasses and iPhones: look at your homescreen, look at a notification dot. Put the phone at the edge of your field of view. Notice the number dance around in the space. Works with Discord notification dots on a desktop screen as well).
I have a strong prescription (-7 in each eye, and astigmatism) and the 3D effect worked flawlessly, at least on the revised "new" 3ds model. As far as I know -7 is considered a "strong" prescription.
The DS era was super fun and experimental, but most of the games were simplistic or they were first party. I think that market has largely been eaten up by mobile phones these days as well.
In the beginning of the pandemic, when I was stuck alone at home with not much to do, I picked up a couple original DS Lite consoles for cheap and a "New Nintendo 3DS XL" (confusing name for a console :p) for a good price as well. My intention was originally to try to make homebrew for the consoles. In the end I didn't get around to the homebrew stuff but I did play quite a few different games. Thanks in part due to the fact that in a nearby city someone had listed a bunch of DS and a few 3DS cartridges that they were straight up giving away. So with those along with the ones that I got with the consoles, I had like 15 to 20 different games for the consoles or thereabouts.
The majority of the play time for me was with the New 3DS XL, as it fit my hands and vision better than the small DS consoles.
There were several games that I enjoyed quite a lot.
And to me, I still think mobile phones don't quite live up to it for a few reasons.
I mean, yeah playing GTA III on the iPhone 14 Pro is a nice experience. I've completed GTA III start to finish both on iPhone 14 Pro, as well as on previous iPhone models in the past.
But in general I don't like playing games with touch screen controls as much as playing with physical buttons. And even though there exists bluetooth controllers you can pair with an iPhone, I had a terrible unusable experience with a tried that.
There are some other mobile games that are super nice, like for example Monument Valley.
But there is also a lot of ad-ridden garbage on mobile.
So my preference would for the most part still be to play more games on the New 3DS XL, rather than to play more games on mobile.
But ideally I want to buy something like one of these, and play emulated games:
- https://anbernic.com/products/rg353v-rg353vs?variant=4335654...
- https://store.ayaneo.com/goods/7849577742581
But I am still a bit undecided on which one of these to actually buy.
All I know is that I want something that
1. Runs linux (which one of them does, one of them does not mention, and one of them has in the works)
2. Emulates a bunch of different consoles
3. Comfortable to hold and use
4. Not too heavy
5. Has acceptable battery life between charging
Connected to my headless Xbox Series S are only the CAT6 and AC cables.
I think my mesh network is only Wifi 5, too. But it's also playable over 5G when I'm out, and that says a lot because my home connection is run-of-the-mill rural DOCSIS cable internet.
Sorry that you had a bad experience. Also I am a huge fan of dedicated appliances for particular classes of applications if you could not tell.
Sure, the same iPad Air 5 I'm using has the fancy M1 that can supposedly play games but...where are the games?
Like you said, they're not porting the games to iOS because touchscreen. Otoh, they could (and do!) require you need a controller, but then Apple would have to admit you need a third party peripheral -- which might actually zombify Steve Jobs from his slumber.
But they'll happily push a GTA port with the interface grossly adapted to the touch screen.
So it's a marketing thing: Apple is not going to be 'seen with' Microsoft, but they'll let Microsoft publish an official streaming client in their store without much fanfare. That app requires a (presumably Xbox-Microsoft-propriety-licensed) controller paired. Then I get to play top-tier games on my iPad, while Apple pretends I wouldn't ever want to do this anyway unless it was via the touch screen. Everybody wins!
One more thought: consider the battery fuel trade-off between A) running locally B) streaming ... Consider that ChromeOS can do that Xbox stream thing too, and the battery life is about 10 hours on the cheapest book (terrible 720p screen) I could buy...all despite running as an 'android emulated app' (whatever that actually means in the streaming clients particular context, they could have shipped intel native binaries anyway.) I get maybe 5-8 hours on the iPad (which has a nice screen remember), but it's not 10 hours.
...
Anyway, my point in sharing all of this, was to illustrate why I believe advanced mobile consoles like the 3DS are going away, despite the (still accelerating) growth of mobile processing power: the future is cloud gaming, so your hand held device just needs to be an acceptable thin-client which optimizes on the appropriate things (battery life, screen quality, can I drop it on asphalt, does it easily pair controllers....)
The PSP and Vita were already steps towards the Switch in a sense ("powerful handheld" meaning suddenly PS2-level games were available portably), and the Switch kind of pushing the limits of what people accept as portable devices means that there's almost no market pressure to go back to a small thing. But when you hold a 3DS and realize how easy it is on the move, it makes me wistful.
I would mention the Game Boy Micro as well but that thing is not meant for anyone over the age of 30.
I still miss that immediacy of instant pause/resume by closing the clamshell though.
I love the GB Micro. I have better and more comfortable ways to play GBA games, but there’s just something so cool about it. It’s a shame those plastic screen lenses are so soft, it took me ages to find one in good condition and they cost an absolute fortune these days.
They should really try this concept again with a more powerful system and higher resolution screens.