Video: Let's Put the Original 3DS Through its Paces with Pokémon Sun & Moon

Played the game on a normal 3DS, and I just had problem regarding the FPS drop in the Totem Pokemon battles.

Other than that, I feel it's not that much once you get used to it.

Yes, it seems the game runs reasonably well on the original hardware. But glad to see they put the newer versions of the console to good use.

My original 3ds has trouble starting and closing the game. The screen usually goes black for a minute.

@PlanetaryNebulae That's normal. I believe it pushes the old 3DS into extended memory mode.

I'm a good way through Pokémon Moon on my 2DS and it really isn't that bad (granted, I'm the guy who also plays Hyrule Warriors Legends on the same system).

Single battles run pretty much flawlessly from my observations, but Double and Totem battles have pretty noticeable frame drops. They don't really impact the gameplay, but they can be a little annoying.

Also, I don't know if there's something wrong with my 2DS, but it loads Moon pretty quickly, just a few seconds slower than most other games. It definitely doesn't take as long as Smash 3DS. Maybe it's because I downloaded Moon from the eShop.

Not a very good comparison video on the basis that most complaints have been about totem Pokemon or Pokemon that call for help in battle, as well as the fact that the shots leave out a good bit of what is actually moving on screen.

That's no big deal. People who don't have a new one are complaining for no reason.

Thank you lovely Alex, but I'm still not buying a new 3DS.

The two looked exactly the same.

So, basically I still can enjoy my Pokemon Sun despite being a bit slower on my older 3DS and NO Serious bugs / Hangs during Loading time ?

Yup happy that I'm playing on my original XL...Slower loading times and frame rate will not make me get a New 3DS especially that Switch is around the corner

Going by the video, it's a bit slower. However, I don't feel like it's anything to get upset about. I'll stick with my standard 3DS for this one.

I'm playing on my New 3DS and I've found that the frame rate really takes a hit during double battles, which is very bizarre considering that my old 3DS could handle double and triple battles in X and OmegaRuby with no performance issues whatsoever. Haven't had a triple battle yet in Moon but I expect the same issues that I have with doubles. Knowing that VGC uses the doubles format, this is really weird and does not particularly bode well for official tournaments.

I'm playing on the original model and the only time I notice any issues is when I'm in a double battle or when the totem Pokemon calls in an ally. Other than that, it's been very smooth.

@TheBigK There ar no Triple battles sadly. Probably a clear reason why

How do Pokémon battles run in 3D on the old model? I've found that in ORAS and XY it was quite laggy in 3D. Is this the same?

@Miles_Edgeworth No stereoscopic 3D in this game, from what I can tell

The framerate was pretty obnoxious in double battles and such, but in the end it was just a minor annoyance since double battles are pretty scarce in the game (thank god).

@Ralizah That's so lame... I've lost what little interest I had in this game.

Dear God! The old 3DS turns the game into a PowerPoint presentation.

I certainly hope a patch is released to amend some frame drops on New 3DS models. No reason why the 3DS (especially the New models) are having slowdown when 2 or 3 Mon' are on the screen at once with absolutely no 3D on at any point in the game. But yeah, I'm really enjoying Sun. It's such a fresh experience compared to past entries 😍😍

Original 3DS really only has problems when three or more pokemon are on the screen at the same time, and it's REALLY bad with four.

Other than that, it's not bad enough for me to upgrade...

@Miles_Edgeworth Sun and Moon has no 3D, actually.

@Nintendood I think it's probably a worthy sacrifice. The 3D in Pokemon games was never very good or well-implemented, and GF used the resources that 3D would have drained to create an incredibly visually detailed Pokemon game. It's so good looking that it puts X/Y and OR/AS to shame, frankly.

Are the load times after a battle ends any faster? That's what i notice the most

@Seacliff @Ralizah Technically there is 3D in the PokeFinder sequences. But yeah, practically nothing.

@MasterWario Ah, OK. I wonder why they would only include it for that one minuscule aspect of the game?

Then again, only having the subpar 3D activate in battles in X/Y seemed pretty sloppy to me as well.

@Seacliff @Ralizah Oh right I didn't know that. It doesn't really matter it never added much to the games to be honest.

@Nintendood Has 3D ever been important? Except for a few launch titles, I can't think of a single time where it was ever necessary, or even convenient.

This makes me glad I have the new 3DS, though the slow down isn't so bad.

Also, correct me if I am wrong but isn't Game Freak still new to having their main pokemon game in 3D on handhelds? I mean, before X and Y, the games was still 2D/Spritr based right?

While I am someone who complains about not having solid FPS (and prefers a solid 60fps over better graphics) but my only exception to fps dips (or unstable fps) is turn-based games (the ones like pokemon and not the ATB ones like in older Final Fantasy games).

The load times are noticeable but not as bad as I was expecting them to be.

Still I am happy enough to play it on the original 3ds.

Honestly, the game plays fine on a normal 3DS. Yes, there is a huge slowdown in Totem battles but it's not gamebreaking and those battles are not that frequent anyway. Upgrading to a new 3DS just for Pokemon seems like a waste of money to me. But to each his own

How about the post battle loading time? Is it faster on the new 3ds?

@ninty-love The point isn't to be necessary or convenient, it's to add depth to the graphics, like everything we see in real life. It depends on the game and how well it's done, but for me, it almost always adds more to the realism of the experience than HD does. I don't have any games that don't use the 3D properly (the eShop screws it up constantly), so I have the depth slider permanently stuck at the max.

It varies greatly from one person to another, how much they get out of the stereoscopic 3D, but considering there's people (yeah, it's not that many, but still) whose favorite thing about the system is the depth, it's something that shouldn't be left out. It's called the 3DS for a reason...

It has to render the image twice, that's all. Other games have shown that sometimes it can cut the framerate in half (at the most) when the 3D is turned on. I'd take a slower framerate any day over a boring flat image, but that should be up to the player.

What is a totem battle??? Hahaha

I don't think it's big issue. Frame rate drops and longer load times are hardly noticeable when you don't have the nice side-by-side. If it was playing at 83% of the stand speed, the many Euporeans experienced games in the 80's and 90's, you'd have something to complain about.

The real question is, what does this look like once you take the game online? Of course the load times weren't going to be too bad offline... But what is really the true benchmark is an online Doubles and Triples match using only totemic Pokémon. I'm willing to bet the original 3DS will get thrashed there. Offline does not a good benchmark make in this case.

@Nintendood I totally agree about the 3D, it makes everything more exciting to look at.

"to add depth to the graphics, like everything we see in real life."

Tell that to my ex girlfriend, she's flat as a board.

@Geno-Beatdown Woah! You had a 2D girlfriend!?

@PlywoodStick More like 2AA, unfortunately. I'm sure plenty of people had 2D ones though, at least when they were young.

New 3DS runs slightly faster. Noticed before i even saw which was which

@Geno-Beatdown Lol, that switch up is funnier than it should be.

@Nintendood Eh. To me most of the time it either makes everything look all dumb (like cardboard cutouts) or just makes the game hard to play.

@PlywoodStick Yep!

wait

you weren't talking to me

@ninty-love I can understand not liking something that makes the game hard to play. I've never had that problem, myself. The first game I got with the system when it launched was Ridge Racer 3D, and I remember how the depth made it easier to judge the exact distance between other cars and corners, to time the turns perfectly.

Out of curiousity, do you have, or have you tried a New 3DS? Some people who found the 3D distracting with the original models were really just bothered by how you have to keep it straight. (Those people actually liked it when that wasn't an issue anymore.)

@ninty-love Or was I?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cphNpqKpKc4

@Nintendood I do like the 3D when used properly, but I haven't actually owned a n3DS so I guess it was never convenient. It's never going to make or break a game for me, it's just there, and I'd much prefer a decent resolution and better overall framerates over the 3D.