Back To Nintendo

Before I cared about anything else, Nintendo was the only company I trusted. I remember the sound of Kangaskhan in the backyard. The fury when the power went out before I killed Koopa. The pure joy of sending my best friends off cliffs with Sheik. Nothing deep about it. Nintendo made the best things, and that mattered more than whatever our ethics teacher wanted us to talk about.

So yesterday Nintendo announced the 3DS and my immediate thought was: they’re actually going to do this. A handheld with two screens and a built-in 3D display—no glasses, no bullshit, just it working. March 25 for around 200 euros. It sounds competent. It sounds like Nintendo knowing exactly what they’re doing.

What gets me is the lineup they’re promising. Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64 remade in 3D. New games too—Street Fighter IV, Kid Icarus. Your old DS games still play. Virtual Console brings back the fundamentals. It’s not revolutionary, it’s just Nintendo understanding that people want exactly what worked before, but slightly better.

The 3DS is technically a gimmick. A screen that makes 3D without glasses is a neat party trick, nothing you actually need. But every time Nintendo releases a handheld I fall into it. There’s something about the way they make them—the weight, the screen, the buttons. They make it impossible not to want.

I need to hold one first. Nintendo’s running demo events across Europe, so eventually I’ll stand in a crowd of people who grew up on Game Boys and try the 3DS and see if the 3D is real or just marketing. And then I’ll know whether this is another months-long obsession or if they actually nailed something.

But I already know the answer. I’m buying it. I’m just waiting for an excuse.