Junichi Masuda Confirms That the Pokémon X & Y Overworld is 2D Only

....bummer.

this is a shame. I would rather have the 3D for the whole game. this is probably the start of nintendo phasing out 3d for all their games and focus on the 2DS

i'll just quote myself from the Pokemon X/Y-thread

"im actually pretty disappointed by this. love nintendo, but if you decide to make 3D-Pokemon game for the 3DS then they should definitely make sure that it's 100% in 3D
guess what.. some of us really like the 3D-effect..

the constant switching between over world and battle-mode will turn this into a complete mess... it'll force people to have the 3D-effect off at all times (when playing Pokemon)
if it'll constantly switch between 2D and 3D..just wow - it'd be way too tiresome, confusing and annoying for everyones eyes

when in over world you will automatically relax your hands and have the 3DS in a differet position than in battle-mode, you will always have to adjust - not just your eyes, but also the way you're holding your 3DS/XL every time you're switching from over world to battle-mode
it's pretty worrisome reading that the 3D-effect causes framedrops, that'll be annoying
(it says so here: http://mynintendonews.com/2013/09/18/pokemon-x-y-over-world-will-not-have-3d-effect/#comments)

so why advertise Pokemon X/Y as a 3D-game when it's quite obvious the game only suffers from it and nobody will be using it?"

= horrible

The environments look rubbish anyway (it would look good for a DS game, but is a far cry from what the 3DS is capable of); if anything, the graphics would have looked marginally better with 3D, even if some texture detail needed to be compromised.

Here's hoping that they will rectify this with a future patch.

No problem here. The battles are more interesting anyways. But the gyms should be in 3D.

Yeah, it's a shame, Kid Icarus for example looks another game when in 3D, but I'm used to play Blue/Red in my GBC (of course i played Black/White 2) so this is gonna be HD for me.

Well that's quite odd. I'm a huge fan of the 3D effect and this would be quite the turn-off for me. I'm not interested in these games anyway, so no biggie.

When you turn off the 3D effect in Zelda OOT, you get additional anti-aliasing. Why couldn't they do something similar here? 3D - depth, 2D - better graphics. Maybe they're waiting to release "Pokémon Z" with full 3D...

Weird. A high profile 3DS release that doesn't have 3D all the time. Eh, just another reason I wont be getting it I guess.

@sillygostly The environments look nothing like a 3D modeled DS game. It looks at the least decent as a 3DS game.

@MaciejKuczynski I'll be pretty upset if they come out with Pokemon Z with full 3D... I ususally don't buy the 3rd installment... I would rather them wait for the feature for gen 7 in that case...

well that is disappointing. I play with 3d enabled all the time. Still Pokemon XY are still my most anticipated games this year. cant wait!

Blergh. While I'll still play the heck out of this game, I just became a whole lot LESS excited for it.

Their explanation is Ponyta manure. Having the 3D switch on and off from when you are exploring to when you are in battles is very immersion breaking. To say you "choose" to do that doesn't make any sense, as other have suspected, I expect the next game to suddenly have 3D everywhere as a selling point.

@HeatBombastic I'm guessing they don't have the resources for it. Most of it probably has to go to the extreme number of Pokemon they have to do animations for and 3D models plus adjusting the animations for each per Pokemon and getting that to work properly in 3D. Not to mention the new battle types such as Horde and Sky Battles which probably require some other animations.

This probably doesn't leave much for 3D effects for the overworld AND updating the overworld graphics. Also, they probably don't have enough experience with the system yet to optimize everything (they only have one other title on the system so far). People also seem to be forgetting that GameFreak isn't first party either (they are contracted) so they may not be as privy to the hardware specs as Nintendo is.

I don't care about the 3d effect but I'm not buying the explanation, maybe when I see the actual game it'll be different, but at this moment I don't see the overworld graphics pushing what other 3DS games have done with 3D effect on or anything to make me scream, yah! they needed the extra power for that

@ferthepoet preach!

I've always disliked 3D and play with it off, but now it looks like the wider 3D fad is coming to an end. Movies and TVs are dropping it too. I loved the DS not because of its double screen and touch controls but it's games, and I love the 3DS for its games, not its gimmicks.

My first thought was - why no mention of 2DS in the story? - but then I decided this game was probably in development looong before Gamefreak even knew about the 2DS so I'm skipping the conspiracy theory on this one.

My kids never turn on the 3D - I don't know why, they just don't like it, except for SM3DL where it was kind of necessary - so at least this won't be bad news for them.

The response to this is surprising to me since I was under the impression most 3DS owners (or at least the ones at NL) didn't care for the 3D effect anyway.

Well, I don't care for it regardless so this news isn't disappointing to me in the least.

You can leave the 3d slider on for the whole game, just when you are in the overworld it will just not be in 3D.

It won't bother me anyways since I don't really use the 3D anyways. This game is still going to be awesome.

Certainly disappointing but not enough to not buy the game. Oh well :s ..

This is freaking awful... I ONLY play in 3D, and I'm now incredibly disappointed, what a ridiculous decision. Honestly, I find that games ALWAYS look better in 3D (if I turned off 3D in Pilotwings or Kid Icarus I'd note how ugly the game looked without 3D) and that in 2D 3DS games just look like slightly upgraded DS games... This is total bull, I can't believe this. I swear, if the 3D effect is taken off of Smash Bros, I'll riot.

I don't like this idea - some of the outside areas already look very promising, and I was excited to look at them in 3D (which I do with every game if there's something awesome on screen).
Let's just hope that the cities and gyms are NOT part of what they consider Overworld.

That's very very disappointing.

I hope this is the result of nothing more than thin resources, considering the time and money needed for the pokemon models themselves, that would be a decent excuse. But the "we wanted more beauty" excuse is just an excuse. Well done graphics are enhanced by the stereoscopic effect for those of us who like it, not hurt by it, and the switching between 2D and 3D will make the game less appealing during play.

If they say that they had to skip 3D to display better graphics, it might well be just the case. That gives them both GPU cores to work on the scene, basically doubling the graphics throughput compared to the 3D mode. And if the effect is not very pronounced (and I universally hate overdone 3D effects) it won't tire your eyes. It's just a matter of putting together a 1000 polygon model instead of just 500 in 3D. That simple.

Besides - Metal Gear Solid 3DS did the switching on the fly already, in case you never noticed. In sections where you had to balance with the console (on tree branches for example) the 3D smootly turned itself off and then back on when you left the area. And I never heard anyone complaining back then.

And no, this is not phasing out 3D. The console has limited power and devs have to work with that. With 3D it would probably look no better than previous 3DS installments.

@Peach64 Not everyone thinks its a gimmick. My aim is so much better in stereoscopic 3D. And when I switch from 2D to 3D the games feel way more alive. Its maybe not essential but for those who use it all the time its awesome.

Oh well I got used to switching between 2D and 3D in Mario and Luigi. But that doesn't mean I like it.

@Kifa The problem is, the games graphics shown thus far for the world map is a far cry from many other games that do use the stereoscopic effect. As I stated before, this sounds like nothing more than an excuse.

@rjejr And even if they knew, where's the conspiracy?

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team switched off 3D for the motion controlled attacks, but I do not like this where it is off for no such similar reason. I would have much rather preferred less "beauty" for full 3D. Heck I would not even mind the top down view from prior games if it enabled 3D. Look at the A Link Between Worlds trailer on the eShop...

@Peach64 Movies are dropping it only because most people can't afford to see the Real3D ones in theaters. TVs are not "dropping" it, but simply giving up on the failed technology they have for it thus far, because it's not popular. The 3DS is a completely different story.

@KittenKoder They might simply have not enough skill to program the engine so that it handles 3D well in overworld. Not necessarily an excuse - keep in mind how long Pokemon games were stuck in what was essentially a 90's-tech 2D. Not everyone is a coding genius like the guys from Shin'En, who pull free roaming in 3D and 60 fps on us.

I still think it's better to have nicer models without 3D than really poor ones with the effect. It would negate all the benefits of visual depths imo. But then again - it's just me.

@ScroogeMcLz - "And even if they knew, where's the conspiracy?

The "conspiracy", as appears in some of the posts above mine, is that Nintendo is using Pokemon X+Y to phase out the 3D effect now that the 2DS is coming out so that games look the same on both systems. So the conspiracy, as in to conspire, is between Nintendo and Gamefreak to slowly begin phasing out the 3D effect, beginning w/ X+Y.

@rjejr That theory is a bit pushing it, since the games DO look the same on the 2DS and 3DS.

Now, I am actually liking the naming convention that Nintendo chose for the 2DS. If you buy a "2Dees" expecting to see a 3D effect... that's just sad.

Whine, whine, whine. People are so very fickle. :/

@gspro15198

No no no no. I strongly disagree. 3DS is huge. Nintendo's keeping 3D.

And, to be brutally honest, it's irritating to see all these people whine and wail about the 3DS being phased out. It won't happen and once people realize it they'll hopefully stop.

Nintendo made the 2DS for YOUNGER CHILDREN. It won't suddenly consider 32 year olds young kids.

To be more realistic, Nintedo isn't phasing out 3D because it's a selling point. All they're trying to do is reach a larger audience. The 2DS AUTOMATICALLY takes out the 3D. Therefore, really, developers have even more reason to use it! Because they don't have to worry about the kid's eyes! Nintendo really just promoted 3D and no one realizes it. Mark my words, 3D will be in Nintendo's next handheld.

I´m pretty ok with this, battles in 3d are the main focus, just like fire emblem awakening

What do they mean by "overworld"? The world map? Or how we see things when we're running around town, etc... with our characters? It's still gonna be 3D, even though it's viewed from the top down, right? Can't be 100% 2D

Waiting for Z now. Whose dumb idea was it not to utilize the 3D? Maybe that's why the 2DS is coming out same day...

WHAT!!! Noooooo. No way! That's it I'm cancelling my pre-order on the Limited Edition Pokémon Y 3DS XL which I was getting especially for this new 3D Pokémon game (assuming that it'd all be in 3D). Not much point then if they're rendering most of it in 2D. Sheesh!

not a big problem, I'd rather the power went into other things anyway. The battles are still in 3D.

yuck, thats a terrible omission! >< I had this game pre-ordered, but cancelled it, kinda happy now I did I'll wait and see how ppl view this game now before getting it.

@ferthepoet
Completely agree. The graphics in X+Y look fairly primitive to me. Games such as Luigi's Mansion have managed WAY more with the 3D on. This is a really lame explanation, and it needlessly attacks the power of the 3DS. But you know, the graphics in all Pokemon games are pretty crappy relative to the systems they are released on. This just continues the trend. For some reason, Game Freak sucks at graphics, and Nintendo doesn't force them to get better. I guess "the kids won't know the difference".

The latest X+Y trailer made me briefly consider making this my first Pokemon game since red+blue, but with this news I am OUT. I play 3DS games to play games in 3D. That is a huge selling point for me. Experiencing the amazing 3D in the M+L: Dream Team demo literally sold me on the game- I'll be picking that up post-haste.

Game Freak... more like Lame Freak.

Meh, it makes no difference. Glad to see they're using the extra bit of performance to render more on the overworld. Just too bad the overworld (well, the game's graphics overall) itself isn't that pretty to begin with.
Would love to see what IS and Capcom could've done with FE13 and MH3U/MH4 with no 3D.

@onlyaman Yea... I guess this explains why there has not been any trailers on the 3DS yet like other games did (DKCR, Luigi's Mansion, and A Link Between Worlds)...

But Mario & Luigi: Dream Team is amazing. The 3D effect is truly done well. I had it on the entire game.

Framerate is more important to me than 3D always will be. Shouldn't even consider it until you have a solid 60fps everywhere.

For a second, I thought the overworlds were going to look like this again.

But since it's not like that, it doesn't make a difference at all to me. Since the 3D is only going to be used in battles, it'll make the battles look even better now, "You challenge me to a Pokemon battle, GO Chespin!", and then the battle gets more intense because the 3D.

What a shame. Looks like I'll be waiting for Pokemon Z in order to get that 3D overworld.

@onlyaman Nicely said.

@sillygostly
Given that it's down to system limitations, that'd be near-impossible! The only way would be if they could optimise the rest of the code to allow for the 3D. And I doubt as big a project as this would leave that much room for optimisation.

@unrandomsam
Totally agree. I'd have happily given up the 3D in Tales of the Abyss in exchange for 60fps on the overworld.

@Captain_Balko
I agree, almost every 3DS game looks amazingly better with the 3D on. In 2D, everything squishes together and looks all jaggy. The 3D makes everything so round and rich. Poor 2DS suckers.
@Shadowkiller97
Good to hear that the 3D is amazing throughout that game. It's interesting, for all the mediocre reviews of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, I didn't hear much about the great 3D effect. I wonder why? It's the the bee's knees!

@John-San3
They mean 2D in the real world (on a flat screen), not the virtual world.

@rjejr
I don't buy that at all. I think if they do phase it out it'll be because it's just not worth the extra effort (and the resources it needs to borrow) for what it achieves. There are only a handful of titles that I actually play with the 3D on- and I think a lot of people are the same.

Trash the 3D altogether if 2D will look better. Who cares if it pops out of the screen if it looks like crap?

@Romeo umm, why would you need to adjust how you hold your 3ds when the visuals switch? that means you're doing it wrong -.-, i never have to do that, i hold it the same for both 2d and 3d, kind of dumb to do otherwise

Hmmm... I'm not canceling my pre order but i'm not too keen on the 3d to 2d. I mean the overworld already looks s****y from screenshots to me anyways. I'm quite upset on the framerate issue.

People will still buy it; it's still a bad move from Nintendo though, it seemed it would all be 3D when they first announced it.

Heard word of this earlier and this will make me very extremly disappointed. What's next we went back and removed all the 3d in the overworld of A Link Between Worlds?!?! 2ds sucks btw!

Bad excuse.

The Overworld looks as bland as ever and there's barely any detail in it.

While I'm fine with this despite it being disappointing, that excuse is pretty bad. Super Smash Bros. 3DS looks far better graphically than Pokemon X/Y, and that'll probably make good use of the 3D.

@Marioman64

when you have 3D enabled.. you HAVE to hold your 3DS correctly.. or look at it from a certain angle, otherwise you won't be able to make out anything

when 3D is turned off.. it doesn't matter from which angle you look at your screen, you can always see everything perfectly fine

due to the constant switching between 2D and 3D (which happens automatically) it'll be very tiresome for our eyes

• you will also automatically change the angle from which you look at your screen.. when playing a game in 3D you're always in this kind of "uptight"-mode when holding the 3DS + looking at your screen

when in over world that does not apply.. and you will simply look at your screen from a different angle or hold your 3DS in another way (even if it's just by a little bit) - you'll simply relax your hands, etc. because the rules no longer apply (in 2D mode)..
in that brief 2D moment you won't need to hold your 3DS in such an awkward/uptight position to clearly see what's happening on your screen, so you automatically won't do it

it won't happen all the time, but it'll happen
enough so that the constant 2D and 3D switching leads most people to turn 3D completely off for Pokemon X/Y

This is a lame excuse. 3d has enhanced so many games and made lots of plain games more beautiful. Honestly between this and the 2ds, I think Nintendo is trying to faze out 3d. It didn't catch on like everyone thought it would, movie studio's aren't pushing it any longer, TV manufacturers aren't pushing it, Sony is no longer pushing it on ps3. I personally love it and only play with 3d so I hope I'm wrong.

Meh, thats not good but the truth is I am going to play in 2D most pf the time anyway. All that grinding would make the 3D feel tiresome.

• like everyone else is already saying:

bad excuse and overall just a huge disappointment.
obviously still looking forward to Pokemon X/Y, but it does suck... no need to defend this decision just because you love pokemon

• especially since it's a game we care so much about.. we should be more honest with our opinions and tell it like it is
  it just sucks.

I've made it 23 years without 3d overworlds. Golden Sun wouldn't be much improved with 3d overworld view. 3d doesn't make or break a game. Some of the most critically acclaimed games lack it. If the lack of a 3d overworld bothers anyone, they need to reevaluate their priorities. Performance > 3d for fun

It would've looked nice if they had had 3D overworld but I can live with that. I just hope the games will switch on the 3D gradually, so it doesn't mess up with your eyes.

I'll still buy it though.

i was going to wait for "z" but know even more so, hopefully by that time they will figure it out

Thats ok with me. The game looks amazing still and I can't wait to play it. Just because the 3ds has 3d capabities doesnt mean that every aspect of gameplay needs to use it.

@Yorumi i only ever got headaches playing ocarania, and that was due to all the centering of the camera, and it only seemed to happen early on, maybe once i got through the deku tree my eyes adjusted

better luck in the 3rd version or sequels then... lol.

I like to play in 3d and watch 3d videos but honestly I dont use the 3d that much. Its not that important to me. The only thing I care about is the games themselves being fun. Everything else is just extras.

I'm not sure why I feel this way, but, I would almost rather the battles were rendered flat if t meant having a 3D overworld. Of course that's just me, and the kiddies will be expecting the zip and flash of the extra dimension understandably.

Still as an experienced trainer I happen to know that the battles can get 'dry as a bone' after the umpteenth encounter. In fact many trainers choose to disable the battle scenes, making this use of 3D an embarrassing oversight, from one perspective.

I honestly dont mind at all if there's 3D in battles only, i think hes right when he said : "... You can just leave it on and then at certain specific moments, the 3D will come on and it will be more surprising or impactful to the player". I think i'll probably enjoy the 3D more if i'm NOT playing in 3D all the time and then it comes on in specific parts

Eh, I guess I'm one of those rare ones that almost never use 3D on any game. Doesn't bother me in the least really. In fact, I may actually play this one more in 3D than any other game simply because the 3D effect is limited to battles.

Oh, and for those saying it's a lame excuse, maybe so and maybe not. Monster Hunter 3U's frame rate certainly improves when you turn off the 3D in the in game settings. Could be a similar effect.

Oh no, I won't be able to run around in 3D. Whatever will I do? This is a catastrophe of epic proportions. It's not like I've played through five generations of Pokemon games in 2D and they've all been fun games or anything.

Oh, wait, 3D in the overworld wouldn't change the gameplay at all and is completely irrelevant when it comes to actually playing the game. I guess I'll survive.

Does leaving the 3D slider on use up more power all the time, or only when 3D visuals are being displayed?

This is extremely disappointing, as I have my 3D maxed on most of the 3DS games I play, but it certainly isn't the end of the world. At the end of the day, even if the game had no stereoscopic 3D effect at all, the huge number of improvements from past Pokemon games would make this a must-play.

Kind of a touchy subject for some, but I am okay with this! Whatever makes the game better in the long run. It's also hard to say if we should leave the 3D slider bar on, since it does use more battery life, although I would think that even though it's on, it shouldn't use as much as if the console was actually utilizing it (Seriously doubt that is the case; look at cellphones and leaving bluetooth on...)

The thing that I am worried about, in the future is... I wonder if the 3D is going to become a limit to some — and more and more developers start doing this to further expand their game? I can see a larger Shin Megami, Monster Hunter, or Dragon Quest game using this in the same boat. It's really just going to depend.

As far as for this game — it really does look amazing. As with every game on 3DS, I will probably pick and choose when I want to use 3D so I'm okay with this.

@Joetherocker
Really? So the vast improvement in visual quality from Gen 1 to now doesn't matter at all? You'd be okay with this latest Gen looking like Silver and Gold did on the GBC?

Yeah... It was totally a bad decision to advertise the 3DS with such a strong focus on the 3D effect. This is what happens, people get scared and angry when a big name game comes out deciding to use the extra power for something else instead of the 3D effect.

The 3D effect is definitely a great idea - but as of right now, its comfortable range to the eyes is way too small. Which is why I only use it on cutscenes.

Either way, taking 3D off a game for feasible reasons (like, say, to make a game run more smoothly) is perfectly acceptable for me.

@garywood I think it is just that the people who dislike the 3D effect are more vocal. I think that there are many more people who actually like and use the 3D effect (me being one of them) then most people make out to believe.

@Gressil I don't think there are any critically acclaimed 3DS game that is not in 3D... That being said, yes, the 3D is always optional, but not having the option for such a huge portion of such a big name game is what has people upset.

I'll still get it and love it... but will be disappointed nonetheless.

With every bit of hype, there was bound to be some bad news surrounding this game.

@Ralizah

Well, yeah. If the game was fun I don't think I'd really care. Unless the graphics were bad to the point that they made the game unplayable somehow or were just really ridiculous looking, I'd probably be fine with them. I still play the Gameboy Pokemon games anyway. Not that the improvements are irrelevant or bad or anything, but I'd still play a new game if it looked like the old ones if Nintendo made one.

Even so, the lack of 3D isn't equivalent to a three generation step backwards in graphics. It just removes the 3D effect when you're running around on the overworld. It doesn't break the game or anything, so I don't see what the big deal is.

That sucks...don't play with 3D on as much, but...I like to see the game in it sometimes. :/

Oh yeah because the graphics are so great they could be mistaken for Crysis. Come on! This is just bull. If they do not at the very damn least turn the 3D off for you so you are not constantly sliding it every battle they just made a gigantic mistake.

@one-winged-pit: that's exactly what the game does... You can leave your slider up all the time, the 3D goes away by itself.

That sucks! As long as it still exists within the battle screen, I'm still kind of OK with that, though.

It's kind of curious, considering the game looks pretty conservative in the graphical department. How can Resident Evil Revelations and Kid Icarus run in 3D but not these barely-post-N64 character models running around a pretty bland-looking map?

On the other hand, I actually am happy to see developers ditching 3D when they don't want it. I'd like to see what the 3DS is really capable of when it's not rendering two images at once. This just doesn't seem like the best example of that though.

Damn it! Ah well, I'll still get it anyway.

3D is horrible anyway, it makes the game look worst imo and I'm glad it's not a focus for this game. There reason is good too id rather put all the 3ds,s power into visuals, frame rate then into unless 3D effect. Visuals, frame rate >>>>>>>>3D effect also I hope they do that for future games too

Hmm, seriously gamefreak your using cell shaded graphics which make it notoriously easy to make good looking games on limited hardware (just look at the dreamcast).
and yes the game looks good but it doesn't look omg thats pushing the 3ds to its limits good it looks fairly average with a nice artstyle thats all. I don't expect fancy graphics from a pokemon game I just expect it to look clean and be easy on the eyes.
I don't use the 3d all the time but I was really looking forward to playing pokemon in full 3d, a bit of a disappointment but not enough to cancel my pre-order. Must try harder.. or atleast come up with a decent excuse

As an anti-3D crusader I welcome that Nintendo might be moving away from 3D. The faster this pointless fad dies off the better.

This makes me really sad. A lot of reveals have sparked some rage from me but this just makes me sad....

The battles are where it matter more, though I'm still very disappointed. To make up for this they better be freaking AMAZING. Pilotwings, OoT 3D, Dillon's Rolling Western, they all had 3D that blew me away. At least give me that in the battles, not some shallow 3D like Animal Crossing's or Resident Evil's. (Maybe I'm seeing it different, but those games didn't impress me in the 3D area).

I read a comment under another news yesterday (or earlier) asking why there is no 3D promotion video for Pokémon X and Y on eShop. Now here is the answer...
I would say if I rate this game 100 points before I read this news, now the game is only 75 points.

@cookiex It's not pointless. Calling 3D pointless is like calling HD visuals pointless. They both add an element to the graphics that enhances them. The 3D in Ocarina of Time was done so well for me that I eventually stopped noticing it, but when I turned it off everything was just so.... flat. It fulfilled it's ultimate purpose: pulling me into the game. If it's not your cup of tea that's what the slider is for. Just don't ruin it for those who enjoy it.

The game looks like crap when you compare it to games like Kid Icarus Uprising, Mario Kart 7, Resident Evil, Star Fox 64, etc.

Those games did not suffer from 3D-related slowdown, Kid Icarus being the best example due to its fast nature and great graphics.

a little upsetting, but nothing to complain about. I guess it gives more of a reason to buy the 2ds
_{Watch the profanity please — TBD}

@Joetherocker
Didn't mean to imply any equivalency between lack of 3D and generational graphical differences. Just that both the 3D and the advancing graphics had aesthetic value and little else.

Anyhow, fair enough. While you evidently don't care about the graphical quality of new releases in your favorite series at all, many of us do, even if it isn't the most important aspect of a game. We have come to expect full and thorough manipulation of the 3D effect from major Nintendo releases. As such, the lack of 3D in a HUGE part of the new Pokemon games is a big disappointment to many of us.

The older titles, of course, have their own charms. Particularly in the music. I do wish Nintendo would find a way to release Red/Blue on the 3DS VC. If only to revisit the games that were a huge part of my youth.

No big deal to me, I rarely turn the 3D on anyway. It's disappointing for those who do use it, but it's hardly a game changing feature.

I don't play with 3D on much anyway so it's not a biggie to me. The game is obviously graphically superior to Black and White which is all that really matters to me. It's Pokemon, I'm going to play it regardless.

Also keep in mind that this is the first Pokemon 3DS game and we usually get 2 generations per handheld. If not now, maybe in Gen VII

Weird... I can live with it but weird

It's a very strange decision, but I can kind of see where they're coming from. Hopefully the quality of the image doesn't change going from battle to overworld.

@Kifa : The reason the 3D shut off on MGS3D was because when you tilt the console, the images aren't correctly aligned with your eyes.

Honestly this sounds like a bunch of bull. The game is hard to call pretty. The textures are ugly, the landscape and, judging from the the pictures, the draw distance is hardly an achievement. My guess is that this is because of Game Freak's inexperience with polygons and 3D while also facing a deadline.

I have a doubt... If I have the 3D on and I'm playing on the overworld, will it consume battery as if it's displaying 3D effects? Because if the overworld isn't in 3D and the battles are, then, in that case, it'll be a good transition.

@Sam_Loser2 you can't really compare 3D with HD. Both serve different purposes. 3D is to add a sense of "depth" like your in the game and HD is ment to clean up on messy looking visuals and low quality visuals making the game look more crisp and nicer. 3D doesn't always make a game look better but HD does which is why HD will stay in this generation but 3D will slowly fade away

I wouldn't let the lack of 3D stop you from getting the game. I'm sure that the game is gonna be good anyways so why just give up on it? If you look at the hands on article of pokemon x and y then you'll get the opinion that the game is great.

I'm unsure about this... I understand their reasons and so I suppose it's for the best, but I feel it would make the world more vivid to have 3D anyways, you get an added field of depth. And I feel that it would be strange to the eyes to have the 3D turn off and then on and then off throughout the whole game... I do not expect this from Nintendo, I think they can figure out a better solution than just turning off the 3D completely. You really may as well disable 3D for the entire game, then.

Man I can't believe people's reactions here! No it's not a strange decision. No it's not a bad excuse! The game will look better now and at least there's still 3D in battles. I don't really care we can't use it in the over world.

Woah, could had sworn so many people swore they never used 3d, now 3d won't be used in the overworld to make it look PRETTIER and all of a sudden everyone ADORES the 3D effect, and I thought IGN was bad

I don't mind has long that it use the full resolution if not ill be disappointed.

@Arcamenel Actually the handhelds usually only have one generation, the only exception is the DS...

Gameboy = Gen I (Red, Green (Japan), Blue, Yellow)
Gameboy Color = Gen II (Silver, Gold, Crystal)
Gameboy Advance = Gen III (Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed, LeafGreen)
Nintendo DS = Gen IV (Pearl, Diamond, Platinum, HeartGold, SoulSilver)
Nintendo DS = Gen V (Black, White, Black 2, White 2)

@siconlolz That's because people are more vocal about things they do not like or are mad about. The reason people seem to think that "most" people do not like the 3D effect is that only the people who do not like it speak out... The ones who like it never really say anything so it seems like "most" people do not like it.... As you can see with the disappointment with this news, there are quite a few people who enjoy the 3D effect and play with the slider on. You are just now hearing from them because they finally have a reason to be vocal...

Booooo! That makes me so mad that it hasn't affected my purchase in any way, but who wants to bet that a 3D overworld is going to be added later in the gen and they're going to act like we should be thanking them for such a revolutionary feature?

3D's neat, but I find it hard to believe some of you who're threatening to skip X&Y over this, especially since the reason is to make the game look better!

Then again, I missed Gen IV and skipped gen V in anticipation of a 3DS Pokemon title, so it'll take a lot for me to cancel my preorder.

I'm still going to buy it it's just the overworld so it's not much and even so it should'nt influence your whole decision The battles are still 3D so I really coudln't care less I just want to play the game

I am so dissapointed. I hope Game Freak listens to their fans and decides to put in 3D through some kind of update or on Pokémon Z.

I feel so utterly cheated by this news. That's like buying a new car and then learning that the stereo will only work half the time.
The 3D slider is there for a reason. If someone does't want 3D they'll fix that themselves. Plus, couldn't they've maybe mentioned this six months ago instead of dropping this bomb a few weeks before the games launch? I play with my 3D on all the time and I love it. In fact, I find the graphics look better with the 3D on. The overworld screenshots I've seen so far would have looked SO good in 3D and I was really looking forward to seeing them that way.
So what's this bull they're trying to pull with "keeping the beauty"? They're dealing with cell-shaded cartoon art, not a Monet! Plenty of games have gorgeous graphics and still maintain the 3D effect. I don't buy it, not for one bit. Just give us the 3D game we should be getting.
This lack of overworld 3D and the fact that I'll have to pay to transfer over my bloody Pokémon from Black&White has severly cut my hype for these new games. Don't get me wrong, I love Pokémon and I'm still buying the games but this sucks...hard.

I don't play pokemon to look at all the lookalike trees and bushes...give me some 3d!

Surprise surprise, the less pleasant news come less than one month before the games' release. What a backstab.
At least the ability to send the critters from Generation V to X and Y, as I previously mentioned elsewhere, is in the game, so this doesn't change the fact I'm getting it anyway. Still, it's a backstab nonetheless.

@Shadowkiller97
The DS isn't the only system that's had 2 Pokémon generations.
Though Gold and Silver were designed for Game Boy Color, the games will run on the original game boy and all of its iterations. Crystal was the exception, being Game Boy Color exclusive.

Game Boy: Gen 1 (Red, Blue, Yellow), Gen 2 (Gold, Silver)
Game Boy Color: Gen 2 (Crystal)
Game Boy Advance: Gen 3 (Ruby Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed, LeafGreen)
DS: Gen 4 (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, SoulSilver), Gen 5 (Black, White, Black 2, White 2)
3DS: Gen 6 (X, Y)

This bothers me greatly. Where the heck are the details that are straining the 3DS so badly that it needs to cut off 3D when in the overworld?! I understand for the likes of Dead or Alive Dimensions, because that game looks like an early Xbox 360 game. But hell, Pokémon X and Y look no better than Sonic Shuffle for the Sega Dreamcast. The 3DS is better than this, and we all know it to be fact. Just look at Kid Icarus: Uprising. It looks better than most Wii games, and 3D remains available at all times.

I mean, if they made the games look like Pokémon Colosseum, with full, huge structures in the background (realgam tower, anyone?), and advanced lighting and shading on the buildings. But wtf, we're talking about, at most, PSP graphics. I love Junichi Masuda and his work, but hell, WTF did he program into the game that's eating up ALL of the 128MB FCRAM the 3DS is packing?!?! Because it certainly ISN'T anything graphical whatsoever.

Everyone will complain. The game will still sell millions. No one will care after that. The internet is such a fickle place.

I think this has more to do with all the other interactions taking place in the game along with the graphics.
The graphics aren't that demanding from the looks of it, but maybe there won't be any loadtimes, and more real time interactions.

When you have more real-time events in game, that can take a toll on graphics and RAM, because it has to take more random computations into consideration.

Perhaps this could have been fixed, but apparently not in time, assuming they need to get this out for this holiday and have already worked on it for years on end.

I wish it was 3D, but I don't think it will make that much of a difference when people go to buy it, anyway. Perhaps a patch is in the works, post release, but it will be a good game nevertheless.

@Ernest_The_Crab It sounds like you don't understand what he said. The put more resources into the overworld graphics, not less.

I personally dont get headaches or anything from the 3D, but what does happen to me is that if I play a game in 3D for too long i think my eyes get use to it so it stops feeling too impressive. I dont have an issue at all with their decision on stereoscopic 3D cuz I think it'll be nice to have battles look a bit different, since sometimes i got bored of the battles (the simplistic UI and general look of it.) in previous games.

Disappointed a small bit. Like a lot of people I share the love for the 3D effect. It's given the 3DS library a unique and beautiful graphical upgrade and not being able to experience the new world they created in the same manner is kinda off putting.

That being said, I'm not even close to losing my hype over this game. I'm hoping they'll keep the 3D effect for the Pokedex, Battles, and etc.

@Retro_on_theGo really people are making it a big deal when really its not a big deal at all. The main hype for this game should be that were getting a real Pokemon adventure game in 3D graphics. Would you people rather have 3D open world with less detail and low frame rate or no 3D open world with 60fps and very nice detail ? At least you get your battles in 3D (which imo will look bad and will drop the frame rate)

Kind of a let down, but honestly, not by much. I'll always be excited to play a new Pokemon game.

Doesn't bother me much but then again I rarely use the 3D effect on games because it gives me headaches.

I guess I see why they made the 2DS.

The first disappointment I've had when hearing about these games, still buying and playing the hell out of em, already bought and payed it off.

Pretty disappointed, but hey its Pokemon I'll Pokemon Z (or XY/XX) when they come out and maybe they'll be in 3D, but I won't cancel my preorder over this. Now if those hopeful Ruby and Sapphire remakes aren't fully in 3D...........

Pshh, I didn't even use the 3D for my 3DS before it got stolen like a year ago. Go, Nintendo! They're just looking out for the quality of the game. I support that.

NO BIG DEAL. The 3DS is a great system without the 3D. The 3D is just an added bonus. Also i would rather have the game as the creators originally intended.

@Retro_on_theGo Really?
Tell me, before you read this article would you not have listed full 3D (environments) as a feature you expected? I'm not asking whether you personally care for it; myself I feel like its inclusion has been almost implied, to this point. That's why I'm sad.

Well the overworld is in 3D, it's not stereoscopic, dear Nintendo Life.
That title is confusing.

The 3d effect is just a funny little gimmick that´s nice in some games for 5 minutes or so. I wouldn´t mind if next gen handheld "4DS" (if there´s ever going to be one) doesn´t have a stereoscopic 3D effect.

Awwww...
Why!?
I love to use the 3d effects in my 3ds

I don't see what the big deal is. Its not like theres much going on in the over-world thats worth looking at in 3D anyway, most of the eye-popping action takes place in battle.

Its not like X&Y aren't giant leaps for the series in other ways either, the least of which being a full 3D main-series game, something only previously done on consoles. Game Freak has never actually done a 3D game before, every game they've made has been 2D. I'd take a great looking 2D over-world over a mediocre 3D one anyday.

Its possible they did make it with 2D in mind though since many people don't or can't use 3d. A lot of young children will be playing after all. Might as well make an experience everyone can enjoy, than one only older players can get everything out of.

What's the point of them making the overworld with those graphics and no 3D? If they didn't want 3D, they should've made the overworld like they have been - that would make more sense.

This makes me worry about the 3DS' 3D feature for the future.

eh for some games i have used the 3d and for others i dont but seems like this is one of those game that did need to be all 3d as that was the main point of bringing it to the 3ds right? so wth?

oh well least the battles are 3d but wonder if the gyms are 3d as well those would be cool

@onlyaman you are over thinking this too much! let me tell you that I am a huge fan of the 3d features and this news blew over my head so quick there is no reason to bash on Nintendo for making a game for everyone, I am 20 years old and I am so excited for X and . also I am in college and none of my friends in college give a Sh** about the 2d over-world BOOHOO get the hell over it anyone who says they are not getting it are only punishing themselves, all of you people make me laugh at your stupidity!

lazy devs

So one game gets no 3D and all of a sudden the effect is abandoned? Wut?

Makes no difference to me seeing I never use the 3D feature. At any rate, still can't wait for the game ^_^

I'm shocked that there are people who still use the 3d.

@Shadowkiller97

RE:
"I don't think there are any critically acclaimed 3DS game that is not in 3D... That being said, yes, the 3D is always optional, but not having the option for such a huge portion of such a big name game is what has people upset.
I'll still get it and love it... but will be disappointed nonetheless"

I meant other console games, older games. PC games. Would you rather it be sluggish or it run perfectly and it be 3d when it is coolest?

@Gressil I agree that other consoles do not have 3D features built in and that is fine. I am not saying every game in the world regardless of system has to have 3D or its rubbish. The reason this is upsetting is because the 3D feature is expected for 3DS games... at least big budget, full-price retail games. I think it is quite deceptive. Sure, those of us Nintendo/Pokemon fans that frequent these sites will now know not to expect it... but anyone who buys Pokemon off the shelf or off a commercial will not realize that a huge portion of the game does not work with the 3D effect until it is too late.

Unlike other games, trailers, commercials, etc. can never show the effect for 3DS games but it is always there when you play the game on the system. That's why demos are so useful for the 3DS. It lets me judge the 3D effect without having to buy the game first, which for some games does influence my purchase (i.e. DKCR 3D, I would not have bought without that glorious 3D effect). I find it highly unlikely that Pokemon will have a demo though.

Honestly, I would rather them delay the game than exclude it. This seems more like a timing problem than a hardware capability issue.

But like I said before, it is not affecting MY decision to buy it or enjoy it. I will nevertheless be upset with this exclusion.

@Shadowkiller97

Well obviously other consoles lack 3d built in. All of them do haha. And I understood what you meant. And I see your point about the game having a fair bit of hype and no 3D on overworld. But odds are it would utterly cripple the game. I mean they are jamming a TON of data into this game. 3 dimensional models of all the pokemon and an entirely overhauled graphics system with more to do than any other pokemon game before. We'll also have the pokemon bank in due time and potentially a myriad of other things. They may have been left with the option of cutting out a lot of what they found essential to have 3d on overworld, and they opted out of a 3d overworld. But obviously this is all speculation. Plausible as any of it may or may not be. Odds are, they would love to have made it 3d but I bet it would have generated a game they would not have been pleased with. I would never compromise content for a 3d effect that people may or may not turn off at all times.

Truly disappointing. Why would Game Freak make a game for 3DS where the majority of the game isn't 3D? It makes no sense! They say they want to make this game as beautiful graphically as possible? Then give the over world 3D depth! Experiencing a Pokémon overworld in 3D would've been a selling point for this game! I bet they're just doing this so X & Y will look better on 2DS. Blaugh.

I don't mind jt. It's surprises me that so many people once said that they didn't care for the 3D effect, only to now have some of those same people say that they love the effect and that Nintendo & GameFreak are now "abandoning" it simply because it isn't fully implented in ONE title.

I love the 3D effect myself, but if the game is better without it, then that's a tiny sacrifice I have no problem with. :B

Like I said before I'm sure many of us are disappointed but will i really not want to play the game any less.

I don't really care... I use 3D as low as possible if at all.

The 3D has been less useful to me lately, just because I've noticed it causes additional eye strain.

Still my solution was going to be to acquire a 3DS XL with this game as a test case. That's still the plan but, there's not as much wind in the sails at the moment.

It is a little disappointing not to have the whole game in 3D, but I trust them and its not like that is going to stop me from getting the game. I'm sure they knew people would be really disappointed by this so they wouldn't do it without good reason.
In a way it'll be kind of interesting to have just the battles in 3D, since switching to 3D will be like sucking you into an alternate world to battle

Very disappointed.....Might be a deal breaker for me and back to buying Etrian Odyssey instead which due to lack of funds I was planning to skip for the time being. I pre-paid Pokemon X last week. Bummer

@schopaia I did understand what he said. My comment was stating they didn't have the resources to do both, render the game twice through use of 3D AND improve graphics at the same time.

So they chose to go with the overworld overhaul instead of implementing the 3D effect on the overworld.