Support NeoGAF

[maxcriden]

For the purposes of this discussion, I'm mainly asking about GBA to present.

Resolution: 240 × 160 pixels (3:2 aspect ratio)

Resolution: 240 × 160 pixels.

A backlit, 3.12-inch, transmissive TFT color LCD with 256x192-pixel resolution and .24mm dot pitch, capable of displaying a total of 262,144 colors.

The Nintendo DS only uses one screen when playing Game Boy Advance games. The user can configure the system to use either the top or bottom screen by default. The games are displayed within a black border on the screen, due to the slightly different screen resolution between the two systems (256 × 192 px for the Nintendo DS, and 240 × 160 px for the Game Boy Advance).

The top screen is a 15:9 (5:3) autostereoscopic LCD screen with a display resolution of 800×240 pixels (400×240 pixels per eye, WQVGA). On the original Nintendo 3DS, the screen measures at 3.53 in (90 mm), while on the 3DS XL it measures at 4.88 in (124 mm). The screen is able to produce a three-dimensional effect without the need of 3D-enabling glasses using a parallax barrier. In order to adjust the effect's intensity, there is a 3D Depth Slider next to the screen allowing the user to adjust the intensity of the 3D effect or turn it off altogether. The bottom screen is a 4:3 resistive touchscreen with a display resolution of 320×240 pixels (QVGA). On the original Nintendo 3DS, the screen measures at 3.02 in (77 mm), while on the 3DS XL it measures at 4.18 in (106 mm).

The original DS display resolutions are displayed in a scaled and stretched fashion due to the increased resolution of the 3DS's screens. If the user holds down the START or SELECT buttons upon launching Nintendo DS software, the emulated screens will be displayed in Nintendo DS's native resolution, albeit smaller with black borders. On the Nintendo 3DS XL, this method yields a viewing size for DS games similar to their native sizes (due to the larger screen size of the XL), unlike on the original 3DS models, where the games appear to be shrunk.

Here's a link to some comparison charts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nintendo_portable_consoles#Comparison

So, I am pretty technologically uneducated.

I have a DS Lite and OG 3DS and am trying to figure out the best way to play GBA, DS Lite and 3DS games in order for them to display at the crispest, best resolution. Forgive me if I'm using the wrong terms here, and please feel free to correct me. I've been playing a lot of GBA, DS and 3DS games lately, and they don't appear terribly visually different to me.

The polygonal models unquestionably improve over time, but when look at the games on the DS Lite (for GBA and DS games) and the OG 3DS (for 3DS games), they go from slightly blurrier to semi-blurry/semi-crisp to semi-crisp in terms of resolution, respectively. There doesn't appear to be a massive leap in crispness between these. Apologies if I'm speaking erroneously here. But again, my goal is to figure out what's going to look the best on each system and how to get each one at the proper brightness and resolution (the GBA games look a bit bright). I'd be eager to hear any thoughts. Thanks for your time!

 

[Wichu]

Playing DS (Lite) games on a 3DS will stretch the pixels unless you hold Start when you boot up the game (which starts it in 'windowed' mode where it uses the same number of pixels as the DS, i.e. a smaller proportion of the screen). Compare a sprite-based DS game such as Pokémon on a 3DS and the DS Lite, and you should be able to spot the difference fairly easily.

You can't play GBA games on a 3DS, and the DS plays them at the original resolution, so you're fine either way.

Basically, the best experience would be:
GBA games: DS Lite
DS games: DS Lite
3DS games: 3DS

EDIT: Your images are misleading, since you're displaying them all on the same computer monitor without the scaling the 3DS normally applies. When you play a DS game on a 3DS using the full screen size, it looks more like this (with the 3DS shot for comparison):

 

[SerTapTap]

They don't look that different because the resolutions are barely different. Just make sure to play DS games on 3DS using the "1:1" option (hold start and select when booting I think?) or play the games on their native hardware. DS will display GBA games at native resolution only. DS is probably the best way to play GBA games because they're backlit, and without the weird blue tinge of the GBA SP (I can't speak for GBA micro)

GBA games on Wii U also have a 1:1 ratio option, I forget if it's the default or not, but it's easy to set.

 

[Zareka]

DS games really don't look that bad on the 3DS imo, even on an XL. I'm playing TWEWY on my XL right now and the artwork looks surprisingly clear. Like, I can only slightly tell it's being stretched.

 

[Marow]

Don't DS games look normal on a 3DS XL when using the 1:1 mode unlike if it were on an 3DS? The catch would be that 3DS games are upscaled, but I barely hear any complaints about that (quite the opposite, in fact).

I only have a GBA, DS Phat and 3DS. But if I wanted to get all glorious Nintendo handheld history in a few consoles, I'd get:

GBA SP AGS-101
3DS XL (maybe "New" later on?)

It would cover all needs. But:

DS Lite
3DS

should also work, right? (you lack GB and GBC games, naturally)

 

[maxcriden]

Bumping this for more thoughts on the subject. Thanks for the answers so far!

 

[maxcriden]

Bumping this for more thoughts on the subject. Thanks for the answers so far!

Bumping again, sadly.

 

[maxcriden]

Bumping again, sadly.

One final bump.

 

[Hero of Legend]

I'm a bit more educated so I can certainly help you bud. Give me a few to put together something.

 

[Zevenberge]

I've played Pokemon Black on the OG 3DS. I could see that some lines of pixels were doubled ("upscaling" of the game) in order to fill the whole screen. This made some text look pretty weird. Therefore I always preferred 1:1 for DS games on the OG 3DS.
On the 3DS XL, I didn't notice such an effect playing Rune Factory 3. I haven't researched the resolutions, so it of course might be an optical illusion, but DS games seem to look better on the XL. As they already look good, I never bothered to try the 1:1.

I still play my GBA games on an SP, as I'm not too fond of one screen going blank when playing on DS (backwards compatible) or 3DS (ambassador). The GBA games look fine on both (using 1:1 for OG 3DS), though.

 

[WillyFive]

Bumping this for more thoughts on the subject. Thanks for the answers so far!

Not sure what else there is to say. Always remember to hold Start before starting a DS or VC game on 3DS.

As for general musings, if you combine both screens of the original DS into one 4:3 screen, you'll get a screen resolution that's slightly better than the most common ones used for the PS1 and N64; but since it's being shared by two screens, we are stuck with something very low res.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Have a look at this visual example:

This is Yoshi's Island on a GBA:

Now here it is playing on a DS via BC and playing it without doing a dang thing:

This is how it looks when the image is trying to fit the whole screen while retaining it's aspect ratio (hence the bars on the top and bottom).

Here it is when playing in 1:1 mode:

This plays it in its original 240x160 resolution and the remaining pixels are taken up by the black window.

Same goes on 3DS via the Ambassador games:

Stretched. Now here it is in 1:1 by holding Start when booting the game up:

Now doesn't that look much nicer.

You never want a stretched image as the pixels blur to accommodate the extra pixels the game was never designed to use.

Hope this helps!

 

[maxcriden]

That's a huge help, HOL! Thank you so much. How do I do 1:1 mode on DS for GBA games?

 

[Winterfang]

That's a huge help, HOL! Thank you so much. How do I do 1:1 mode on DS for GBA games?

I think it does it automatically.

 

[Raonak]

Wow. GBA -> DS had such a small resolution bumb. I get that it has 2 screens, but still....

 

[Iva Demilcol]

Have a look at this visual example:

This is Yoshi's Island on a GBA:

Now here it is playing on a DS via BC and playing it without doing a dang thing:

This is how it looks when the image is trying to fit the whole screen while retaining it's aspect ratio (hence the bars on the top and bottom).

Here it is when playing in 1:1 mode:

This plays it in its original 240x160 resolution and the remaining pixels are taken up by the black window.

Same goes on 3DS via the Ambassador games:

Stretched. Now here it is in 1:1 by holding Start when booting the game up:

Now doesn't that look much nicer.

You never want a stretched image as the pixels blur to accommodate the extra pixels the game was never designed to use.

Hope this helps!

Woah!

What kind of sorcery is this?, I didn't know anything about it.

 

[Mak]

I have a DS Lite and OG 3DS and am trying to figure out the best way to play GBA, DS Lite and 3DS games in order for them to display at the crispest, best resolution. Forgive me if I'm using the wrong terms here, and please feel free to correct me. I've been playing a lot of GBA, DS and 3DS games lately, and they don't appear terribly visually different to me.

Use your DS Lite for GBA and DS games, and your 3DS for 3DS games.

DS Lite: GBA, DS
3DS: 3DS


DS games on 3DS will look OK if that's your only system, but they look filtered because of the change in screen resolution.


GBA and GBA SP look the best for GBA games (minus backlighting issues).

DS Lite has about the same size screen as a GBA but the DS system's resolution is higher so the actual screen size for GBA games on DS Lite is actually smaller than original GBA hardware and the pixels are more dense.

Similarly, Game Boy games on Game Boy Advance display at a smaller screen size than the original Game Boy hardware because of Game Boy games fitting in the higher pixel resolution of the GBA.

 

[maxcriden]

I think it does it automatically.

Wait, I thought the second and third images in HOL's post were both on a DS, the second being auto-BC and the third being 1:1-BC?

 

[Hero of Legend]

It's been MANY years since I played GBA games in DS. But you are 100% are able to play in 1:1 mode as shown here:

The stretched version may not even exist as some said but it it did it would look like this:

If you're seeing black bars all around the screen like the first, it's definitely 1:1 (of course I'm not referring to the black plastic frame around the screen. ).

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Here is how Chrono Trigger looks on the DS or any popular emulator:

Here is how it looks on the SNES:

 

[ColtraineGF]

Here is how Chrono Trigger looks on the DS or any popular emulator:

http://i.imgur.com/fbcSE5z.png[IMG]

Here is how it looks on the SNES:

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/x1Rxvfj.png[IMG][/QUOTE]Those darn rectangular pixels :p

 

[sixteen-bit]

Here is how Chrono Trigger looks on the DS or any popular emulator:

Here is how it looks on the SNES:

this is why i'm always hesitant to recommend the DS release. The aspect ratio is fucked up.