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Topic: What About a DS/3DS Slot On A New Switch?

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NintendoLife

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Edited on by NintendoLife

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link3710

@RC_Russ98
So I'm about to get technical, forgive me.
In terms of backwards compatibility, 3DS is far more likely than Wii U admittedly. Certain features can be hard coded to be handled properly, such as the 2D slider always being virtually set to off. 3DS is even an ARM architechture, same as Switch. That said, there's a number of other things to take into account. Any wireless features of the 3DS would need to be emulated on the Switch to pull it off. Streetpass would be likely impossible but Spotpass should be doable with some work. Next, there's the touchscreen to take into account. 3DS games would likely be limited to portable mode as a result, unless they were to emulate new controls with the gyros in docked mode.

As for how it could be run on different hardware, let's take a look at what's inside. The CPU is ARMs as well, so theoretically downclocking the Switch CPU should allow for handling of the 3DS CPU without requiring emulation. 128 MB of RAM and 6MB of VRAM could easily be spared for those requirements.

So the big question of the day is the GPU. The 3DS uses a chip called the DMP PICA200 GPU. Now, as far as I can tell, the original DS CPU had onboard graphics. As such, DS backwards compatibility didn't require dealing with this. So the question becomes, can the Tegra X1 emulate the 3DS' GPU while handling everything else discussed so far. To be honest? I have no idea. All I can say is that getting 3DS games running on the Switch is nowhere near as simple as adding in a port.

EDIT: As for the two screen issue? Not a problem. See the Wii U's two screens in one modes for an example of how it could run. The 2DS only has a single screen anyways.

EDIT 2: The other option is always to just include a DMP PICA200 GPU in the new Switch, raising it's cost even further. Whether they'd do that or not is anyone's guess, but considering backwards compatibility like that is usually removed in later revisions (see DS->DSi for GBA compatibility, or PS3->Slim for PS2 compatibility), it seems unlikely that they'd add it.

Edited on by link3710

link3710

Eel

Yeah, well have fun hypothetically playing a 3/DS game on a tiny portion of the Switch's capacitive screen.

Let's hope it's not any game that requires precise touch gestures.

Edited on by Eel

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link3710

@Meowpheel Keep in mind, you could render it at 150% on the screen. It would look like this (mockup's not mine): Untitled

link3710

SwitchForce

@rus, where did you get the idea 2DS, 3DS was ending. Alot of koolaid drinking aren't we here. NS doesn't have dual screen and games for it aren't the same setup. There are games for some both the 3DS and NS. It comes down to which one you want to game on.

Edited on by SwitchForce

SwitchForce

JasmineDragon

SwitchForce wrote:

@rus, where did you get the idea 2DS, 3DS was ending. Alot of koolaid drinking aren't we here.

Honey, the 3DS is already eight years old and looking absolutely archaic compared to just about every device on the market including Nintendo's own new portable system. If you really think it's going to be around much longer, I'm pretty sure you're the one who drank all the Kool-Aid.

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DanteSolablood

@1RC_Russ98 Personally I'd rather see an attachment or a way to transfer game saves via your MyNintendo account... that way it could be done without the current millions of Switch owners having to buy a new one in a couple of years time. Technically it's possible, but I doubt it's probable. It would literally mean Nintendo spending a lot of R&D money making sure they can't sell a huge library of games a second time. Spending money to lose money. :/

@JasmineDragon @SwitchForce I agree with Jasmine, not only is the DS line pretty archaic from a technical point of view but almost all of the big properties keeping it alive have already announced their move to the Switch including Pokémon... arguably the the 3DS' killer app.

Nintendo will end it's support for the 3DS when they think it's not longer propping up a small Switch user base & holding the Switch sales back. Considering the only big game announced for the 3DS in the latest Direct was a Luigi's Mansion port... I'm guessing it's not to far away.

Edited on by DanteSolablood

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SwitchForce

JasmineDragon wrote:

SwitchForce wrote:

@rus, where did you get the idea 2DS, 3DS was ending. Alot of koolaid drinking aren't we here.

Honey, the 3DS is already eight years old and looking absolutely archaic compared to just about every device on the market including Nintendo's own new portable system. If you really think it's going to be around much longer, I'm pretty sure you're the one who drank all the Kool-Aid.

Yep a Koolaid drinker here. So tell me whom in Xbox or PS4 can compete with 3DS? None....There are plenty of eShop games for 3DS and that isn't going away anytime soon. If one stand to reason even Nintendo has no plans that I see to replace 3DS actually that is a market share of it's own and they aren't going to kill a Cash$$Cow but only make a 4DS XL New with 4K screen backward compatible with DS/3DS games is the future plans that would suffice. Remember 3DS and NS each fit their niche market and not all games can Crossport on either Consoles.

SwitchForce

JasmineDragon

@SwitchForce No plans to replace the 3DS? You're posting in the Switch forum. THIS is the plan. It's happening now. It's not going to happen overnight, but it will happen. How many titles did Nintendo launch for 3DS last year? How many new titles has it announced recently? Every single title that was a 3DS staple has jumped to Switch. Every 3rd party developer that was keeping the 3DS relevant is now preparing Switch titles instead. Switch, and mobile, are Nintendo's new portables. There will be no "4DS", because the Switch IS the 4DS.

Yes, 3DS still has a market share and a vast library of games, and it's still making money for Nintendo. That's why they haven't stopped making 3DSes. And they will probably keep selling them for at least a few more years.

Did you know Nintendo was still making Gameboy Advances as late as 2010? It's true. The official end of the GBA line was in May 2010. But the real end of the GBA as a living game system was years before that, when Nintendo decided to move all of its big franchises to DS, the infamous "third pillar". The same thing is happening right now to the 3DS. 3DS will get a couple of "big" games in 2018. It might even get one or two in 2019. But the end is already here. It's just not an overnight affair, but a long, slow process.

I'm not here to stomp on the 3DS. It was, for a long time, my favorite video game system of all time. I still have a bunch of DS/3DS games, some of which I'm still only halfway through and which I hope to keep playing. Every time I go to Gamestop I look at the 3DS shelves to see if there is anything there that I still want. But the system is on life support right now, and it's only a matter of time before someone pulls the plug.

It would be crazy, even by Nintendo standards, to believe otherwise.

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gcunit

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skywake

I was one of the (few) people saying that they could do this for the Switch at launch. Somehow include a kind of 3DS backwards compatibility, likely by throwing in some 3DS chips so they didn't have to do emulation. Afterall that's what they did on the Wii, Wii U, 3DS, DS and GBA. The advantage being that people who get the Switch early would have software and 3DS games launched late in the game could be playable on the new hardware.

But the Switch is now a year old and the 3DS is slowing down. It makes less and less sense for this to happen every day. If it was going to happen it would have been at launch. I think your only hope of 3DS on Switch now is either via Virtual Console or via HD remasters. And for 3DS I would hope for a remaster given the massive gap in resolution.

Edited on by skywake

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LuckyLand

Maybe it is just because I'm not a big DS fan and I don't like the dual screens and other features of this family of consoles but I would prefer to have portings/remakes of the games I like for those consoles rather than the chance to play them in their original form.

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Blathers

@RC_Russ98 @Meowpheel
Why is this even a discussion? Nintendo already solved that when they brought Nintendo DS Virtual Console to the Wii U

Edited on by Blathers

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Eel

The switch is not the WiiU. And DS virtual console, even on the WiiU, was mediocre at best.

Again, for this to be viable, all DS and 3DS games would need to work properly. Nintendo can't just give half-baked support under the assumption that people will want to play games that "don't use the touch screen that much".

"well who's going to play Wario Ware Inc, amirite!?".

Edited on by Eel

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link3710

@RC_Russ98 Given that's how it worked on the Wii U, I'd say that's nearly a given.

link3710

link3710

@Meowpheel I was referring to the DS Virtual Console on the Wii U
Untitled

There were a bunch of display options that could be used to maximize the screen space. Even TATE was supported
Untitled

Edited on by link3710

link3710

Joeynator3000

As much as I want this to happen, it won't. DS VC was awesome when I first heard about it, but of course they screw it up by giving you crappy options. They could easily give you customizable screen/control options, but no....they went the lazy route. >_>

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