Game:

Pokémon Black and White (2010)

Category:

Guide

Duration: 2:35

48,591 views

412

http://nintendo3dsblog.com This video is a re-uploaded and revised version of "A Quick & Dirty Guide to Backwards Compatibility on the Nintendo 3DS." The original video had a copyright issue.

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Transcript:

Hey guys, David here from nintendo 3ds blog dot com with a quick and dirty guide to backwards compatibility on the Nintendo 3DS.

The Nintendo 3DS is fully backwards compatible with the previous generation, so any of the Nintendo DS handhelds. This means that all multiplayer features will be completely functional and there won't be any bugs that pop-up while playing older titles. But there are a few important things to be aware of when playing DS games on the 3DS.

Firstly, DS games will not be in 3D. There are no visual enhancements of any kind, so don't expect any games to start looking more impressive. But you do have a bit of extra choice when it comes to controls.

The circle pad - which is Nintendo's name for the analog stick - maps to the d-pad controls. Which means if you're playing a DS game and you want to hit right on the d-pad, you're also able to simply move the circle pad to the right. It's just an extra option that might make more sense given the convenient position of the circle pad on the 3DS.

The biggest difference you will notice when taking advantage of backwards compatibility is the adjustments based on the resolution of the screen. The Nintendo 3DS has a resolution of 400 by 240 pixels and a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is a fancy way of saying it's widescreen.

Technically, the resolution 800 by 240 pixels, but that width is chopped in half because of the 3D effects. As far as backwards compatibility is concerned, the top display of the 3DS is 400 by 240 pixels.

The top display of Nintendo DS however, had a lower resolution at only 256 by 192 pixels and a 4:3 aspect ratio.

If DS games maintained the same resolution when played on the 3DS there would be black bars along all edges of the display, which would be strange and distracting. For that reason DS games will be stretched towards the top and bottom edges of the display.

This still leaves black bars on the left and right side of the display, but it's a lot less distracting and the game fills up much more of the screen.

But when a game is stretched like this it becomes all pixelated. To combat that Nintendo uses a "blur filter," which basically softens the image slightly, and makes any jagged edges appear less jagged. Luckily this filter is said to work quite well based on reports from people who have tested DS games on the 3DS.

There have been rumors that Pokemon Black and White may receive enhancements when played on the 3DS, but this speculation appears to have been false. All the DSi enhancements in the game will cross-over to the 3DS, so features like the video chat will work fine, but it's doubtful that anything will be exclusive to the 3DS, although it is technically possible.

And that is pretty much all you need to know about backwards compatibility on the Nintendo 3DS. There'll probably be finer details revealed once we can actually hold the 3DS in our hands and test it out, but based on reports so far Nintendo's done quite a fine job.

But speaking of testing out the 3DS, if you want to see a whole bunch of exclusive videos of the 3DS once it launches in Japan on February 26th don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel and click the "Like" button below. I'll be doing an unboxing, walkthroughs of the operating system and a whole lot more.

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