But just like 3D movies and 3D television, 3D games are nothing new. In fact, gamers have had access to the third dimension all the way back in the early days of game technology: before the inevitable death of the system in the videogame crash of the early 80s, the GCE Vectrex featured an add-on peripheral that enabled stereoscopic 3D on its vector-based monitor through the use of goggles. Even SEGA brought forth some ideas for 3D in videogames: not only could you strap on some archaic shutter glasses with the Master System, but the company also had an arcade game in 1983 with stereoscopic depth: SubRoc-3D.
Nintendo itself has been dabbling in 3D for years, even as far back as the Nintendo Entertainment System. Over the past two and a half decades, first and third party developers have been investigating the various ways of bringing true depth to their designs. The Nintendo 3DS is just another step for the company -- it's a huge step, mind you, but it's not the first time the company's tried anything like this in the videogame world.
But the release of the system is a great opportunity for the company to celebrate its legacy with stereoscopic 3D. Use it to bring back some of the early attempts and show the world that Nintendo's not a freshman in the world of depth.
Some of the great additions could include the following rereleases:
3-D WorldRunner
This Square-designed game, released by third party publisher Acclaim, is what many old-school Nintendo fans immediately recall when anyone mentions "3D on Nintendo." This game, by itself, was a unique and fun sprite-based action game where you journeyed up the screen, jumping over and avoiding obstacles as you ran. Hitting "select" on the controller would activate the game's 3-D mode, turning on a visual trick that required players to wear included cardboard red/blue glasses to see the depth effect. It was rudimentary but it worked for some people, even if the Red/Blue effect washed out the colors and made seeing object difficult.
You've already got the 3D layers down, so why not port the game to the 3DS without the red/blue filter and show us what the game should really look like with the stereoscopic effect enabled.
Rad Racer
Nintendo itself handled the duties for this Out Run-style arcade racer also developed by Square. Once again, this game was a sprite-based, behind-the-player perspective, ripe for the 3D depth. When you hit Select -- clearly using the same 3D effect used in 3-D World Runner, and using the same cardboard red/blue glasses -- you can get a deeper view of the road zooming out into the distance.
I will note that I was 14 when these games were released, and as much as I appreciated 3D in movies and comic books, I was never able to see the 3D effect in either Rad Racer or 3-D World Runner. So Nintendo, work with Square Enix to rerelease these games and show us what this effect was supposed to look like without the color bleed.
Mario Clash
The Virtual Boy was an unmitigated disaster for Nintendo. As cool as the technology was, it had many strikes against it. You had to play with your face stuffed into the visor. Nobody could see what you were playing. The games used an eye-bleeding shade of red.
But it was a Nintendo system, and at the very least, there were some really excellent games for the device…even if they went unplayed. One of them was a 3D remake of the classic Mario Bros. where you controlled the plumber on platforms in the foreground and background. The illusion of depth, thanks to the dual LCD display of the Virtual Boy, was difficult to dispute and certainly added to the uniqueness of the gameplay.
Wario Land
Another game that's lost to the rare failure of a Nintendo handheld. And a franchise that's continued on other platforms.
Super Mario Land 3 may have put Wario in charge on the Game Boy, but the Wario Land series officially kicked off on the Virtual Boy -- even though Super Mario Land 3 was actually titled Wario Land. Confusing, I know. I suppose Nintendo should have simply stuck with its original title: Wario Cruise.
The game lifted a lot of design ideas from Super Mario Land 3 -- giving Wario powers through the use of different helmets -- but the 3D effect was employed to enable the bad boy to explore areas far off into the distance.
Might as well use this opportunity to say that it'd be a complete missed opportunity if Nintendo's engineers haven't been working on a Virtual Boy emulator for the Nintendo 3DS. There are more than a dozen games worth the effort, and if the 3DS is to have digital downloads through a store similar to WiiWare and DSiWare, Virtual Boy Virtual Console would be a great place to start.
Games like Red Alarm, Telero Boxer, the original Mario's Tennis, Galactic Pinball, and, yes, Nester's Funky Bowling should be recognized as 3D games that Nintendo hoped would be consumed. And weren't.
And while you're at it, give us the option to change the eye-straining red into something more pleasing. Green, perhaps? A deep yellow, maybe? Or how about just a classic black and white?
Luigi's Mansion
In many interviews at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (including our own) Nintendo 3DS system producer Hideki Konno revealed that in one of the 3D technology trials the company's R&D team worked on, it used the GameCube version of Luigi's Mansion as a test-bed to see if the technology was worth a release. Apparently that tech -- a peripheral that overlaid over your screen -- was a dud that never got out of the lab, but hey, if Luigi's Mansion was good enough to try a 3D rendition, then why not bring it back and show us what you tried! The 3DS is clearly as capable, if not moreso, as the Nintendo GameCube, and a port of the game, with stereoscopic 3D, would really strut the hardware's stuff in a world of N64 conversions of Star Fox and Ocarina of Time.
The Nintendo 3DS is currently scheduled for release by the end of March 2011. Plenty of time to get cracking on ports of these games. And more!
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Feb 01, 2010 | Move »
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4534 - Mario & Sonic at the Olympic
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