At E3 2010, Nintendo unveiled the Nintendo 3DS, offering attendees their first chance to experience the handheld in action. The show floor featured a selection of interactive tech demos built to demonstrate the system’s glasses-free stereoscopic 3D capabilities. Among these was the Arika-developed Classic Games, a proof-of-concept auto-demo that reimagined several NES titles—Mega Man 2 included—with stereoscopic 3D display.
While only a few of the titles featured in Classic Games were eventually released as part of the 3D Classics line on the eShop, Mega Man 2 was not among them. However, thanks to the preservation work of the 3DS Challenge Team and video documentation by James-Money, the Mega Man 2 tech demo, alongside several other E3 2010 software, has been recovered and can now be launched on actual hardware. While Mega Man 2 is not playable, it offers a glimpse of what a 3D Classics version might have been.
You can find and download the files from the Internet Archive. To play these demos on a real 3DS, you’ll need an EmuNAND setup and a few other essential files to get things running smoothly. All of that is covered here!
Yet another version of Mega Man 2, riveting
ReplyDeleteIt's Mega Man 2... IN THREE DEE! Truly amazing.
DeleteA novelty I turn off most of the time.
DeleteYeah, it's not typically used in a particularly interesting way.
DeleteBut doesn’t LC1 have 3D too? Is this really that different?
ReplyDeleteEh, still neat.
Arika's 3DS ports were super ambitious, new features, newly drawn backgrounds and sometimes just remodeling the entire game. The tech demo in the video probably looked a lot better in the stage show but from what I remember LC only had the emulated screen put in front of a blue background.
DeleteShame nothing came out of it but it's super cool we have this tech demo now.
As someone who owns a 3DS and played both the LC and Classic games with 3D features, I can say the major difference is the fact the LC brings the whole screen to the front when you turn the 3D effects (it is a lazy effect, if I might add), while the Classic Games normally place the background on the... background, while the sprites themselves are brought forward, giving a more immersive experience. Gunstar Super Heroes for Sega Genesis, for instance, was greatly improved. It is one of those strange feelings you only get by playing the game itself on its original hardware.
DeleteMeh. I wasn't impressed with this back then, and even now, even fifteen years later, nothing's changed in the slightest. Preservation of rare material is always nice, though, so I'll give credit where it's due, at least.
ReplyDeleteI hope one day someone out there can get their hands on the 3DS Mega Man Legends 3 Demo and leak it to the public.
ReplyDelete