3DS not the only handheld Nintendo has experimented with in 3D

The 3DS will be Nintendo’s first portal system ever to feature 3D images. But did you know that this wasn’t the only handheld Nintendo has experimented with in the third dimension? According to Satoru Iwata, the company also tested 3D with the Game Boy Advance. However, the product never saw the light of day due to low resolution of the LCD at the time.

Iwata: For example, a sample screen used in the Nintendo 3DS to illustrate how you can see three-dimensional images without special glasses was functioning on the Game Boy Advance SP system.

Shigesato Itoi: Game Boy Advance SP? That’s the Game Boy Advance system that opens and closes, right? So…even before Nintendo DS?

Iwata: Yes, that’s right. Making three-dimensional images that can be seen by the naked eye requires a special liquid crystal, so we tested it out by putting it in the Game Boy Advance SP. But the resolution of LCD was low then, so it didn’t look that great and it never made it to being a product.

In order to make images look three-dimensional without special glasses, you display the images for the left and right eyes separately, and deliver each one separately. To do that you need high resolution and high-precision technology. We didn’t have that to a sufficient degree back then, so the stereoscopic effect wasn’t very sharp.

Itoi: I see.