Glasses-Free 3D Gaming Is the Best Reason to Buy a Used 3DS

I’m on my third and probably final 3DS console, with my New 3DS XL sleeping soundly beside my bed every night, but many people missed out on Nintendo’s amazing little machine and haven’t experienced the magic of autostereoscopy—glasses-free 3D.

Glasses-Free 3D Is a Major Achievement

There have been many attempts at bringing 3D technology to market, but almost all of them have requires some sort of special glasses. From the passive 3D glasses you get at the cinema, to active shutter glasses for home 3D TVs, and, of course, modern VR headsets that strap to your face, there’s always a bit of baggage that comes with true 3D images.

So far, every attempt at a mass-market 3D display technology has ranged from outright flop to mediocre success, and to this day there still aren’t any good modern solutions that are convenient to use.

Back when Nintendo revealed its 3DS handheld console in 2011, it was clear the company had cracked the puzzle. This little gadget came with a screen capable of projecting 3D images at your eyeballs without any special equipment. It was like looking through a window into the game world, or seeing parts of the game spill out into the real world. While 3DS graphics and resolution seem laughably primitive by modern standards, the 3D aspect of it still feels like it’s from the future.

When I boot up my beloved Fire Emblem games and dial that 3D slider to the max, it’s still like handling a gadget from a sci-fi movie, and it still feels 100% unreal in practice.

Nintendo Eventually Got It Right

However, that first generation of 3DS wasn’t exactly perfect. For the 3D effect to work correctly, you really had to hold the device in just one spot, and you try and keep your console still while playing something like Mario Kart! It wouldn’t be until 2015 that Nintendo finally perfected their technology. The New Nintendo 3DS offered “super stable” 3D, by using eye tracking that ensured the tiny mirrors on the screen were always angled correctly towards you. This method is super-effective, and I can’t remember the last time I felt like I was going cross-eyed while using mine. Nintendo has come a long way since the infamous Virtual Boy!

Others Are Still Trying

While Nintendo seems to have put it’s autostereoscopic technology in the rearview mirror, unless the Switch 2 somehow brings it back, other companies are still playing with the concept. There have been some phones with 3D screens, laptops, and monitors featuring the technology. If you wanted, you could buy some pretty neat glasses-free 3D tech today, and it might even have come out recently.

However, the big problem, apart from cost, is that software that takes advantage of 3D displays is rare. With the death of 3D TVs, and the end of technologies like NVIDIA 3D Vision, there’s not much you could do with these displays to enjoy them. That’s one of the big reasons the 3DS was worth trying—there was lots of 3D software!

Will We See 3D Screens Again?

While I don’t think glasses-free 3D is making a comeback quite yet, there’s still a lot of room for improvement in the years ahead. With new screen types coming out all the time, and steady improvement in various support technologies that could make it practical and desirable. Again, the big problem is getting software developers to care, and there’s the same chicken-and-egg issue we see with VR. If there’s no hardware install base, no one will write the software, but if there’s no software, people don’t have much reason to buy the hardware!

Despite the 3DS online store shutting down, I still think it’s worth picking up a used 3DS if only for the novelty of experiencing that 3D screen. I’d strongly recommend getting a New 3DS if you can, since the 3D is so much more usable. Physical games for the system abound, so finding a few to use with your 3DS shouldn’t be an issue. I, for one, will be keeping my launch New 3DS XL until it’s completely worn out!