We all know Nintendo likes to cram its hardware full of clever little Easter Eggs to get our inner child smiling. But did you know about these 10 awesome things your 3DS can do?
1 BLOWING ON THE SCREEN
Pop open your 3DS and fire up the Home Screen. See an icon floating in 3D space there? Try blowing on it. It spins! Now, of course, us DS savvy folk know how this works, but showing an unsuspecting non-gamer is like pulling gold coin from behind the ear of a 3 year old.
2. STREETPASS AUDIO
We all know that Streetpass can exchange miis when you walk your 3DS past another owner, but did you now it can also swap audio? Make sure you turn it on in the 3DS Audio menu and have a track sitting there to share with the world.
3. CATS AND DOGS
Played Streetpass Quest in Mii Plaza? Hired a hero? They’re either a cat or a dog, right? Simple way to change that – just change your favourite animal in your Mii profile. Obvious, but you’d be surprised how few people know.
4. MULTIREGION DS GAMES WORK
If you’ve been following the 3DS since its first announcement, you’ll know that it’s not a multiregion machine. Well, not quite. While 3DS games have to belong to your region, older DS software does not, so you can pick up old games from anywhere on the planet and have them work.
5. TURNING 3D OFF CAN BOOST FRAMERATE
Some games actually benefit from sliding the 3D switch to off. Street Fighter IV, for example, doubles the framerate in 2D. Experiment with all your games – just because 3D is there, doesn’t mean you HAVE to use it.
6. SOFTWARE STREETPASS
You’d be amazed how few people know about this. Many of the launch games feature their own Streetpass compatibility that may be lost on less observant gamers . Ridge Racer players, for example, need to set a time trial time to have it spread out across the community, while PES head can have their master league team take on all comers without them even knowing it.
7. AR – CUCKOO CLOCK
The final four Easter Eggs all come from judicious investigation of the system’s Augmented Reality features. If you’ve played through all the main AR games, you’ll unlock the AR shop which offers new features at a price – Play Coins. One of these is the Clock, which fires a cuckoo towards the screen in a cool 3D effect. Get a bit closer, though, and the Cuckoo will actually crack, and eventually smash the screen. Pointless, but cool.
8. AR – BIG CARD, BIG MII
Want a bigger Mii in your AR world? Just scan in your Question Mark card and print it out – in proportion – on a bigger paper size. Your 3DS will still recognise it and project images that are the proportionally that much bigger than they ordinarily would be
9. AR – DESTROY THE EARTH
In the AR shop, there’s a globe. It’ll show your location, and you can fire pellets at it to spin it around. Keep firing, though, and it’ll start to turn red, and eventually you’ll destroy the planet. A little message remain, reminding you to look after the Earth. Nintendo cares.
10. AR – COLOURFUL FISHING
If you change the colour of the surface you’re playing fishing on, it’ll change the actual fish you’re hooking! Nintendo never ceases to amaze.
Tags: 3DS
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