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Nintendo 3DS Circle Pad Pro
Although I and Impulse
Gamer as a whole are a huge fan of the Nintendo 3DS, the biggest
obstacle of this console was the missing right circle pad. Sure, games
could be played exceptionally well with just one circle pad, however for
that maximum gaming experience, an additional circle pad would have been
the bees knees.
And guess what? Nintendo listened to their fans and just
released their latest console accessory called the Circle Pad Pro which
is an add-on to the 3DS that gives the user an extra circle pad on the
right plus two shoulder buttons called the ZL and ZR buttons.
Does it work? You
betcha! Is it attractive? Well... not really because this accessory is a
little clunky and does take some time getting use to it. However in order to
review this product successfully, we were given Resident Evil
Revelations and needless to say, the Circle Pad Pro made a huge
difference. Even though the game can be played without it, the Circle
Pad Pro insanely increases the gaming entertainment on this device.
Installation
The installation of the
Circle Pad Pro is a relatively straight forward process and you need to
install a AAA battery into the device which then clips into your 3DS
console. The accessory does add around 132 grams of additional weight
and increases your console to 173.2mm by 93.2mm by 42.3mm which adds to
the chunkiness of the product.
Even so, once installed, it does feel
like a Nintendo handheld console but it's a little bigger than we were
anticipating. We also had a few syncing problems with our 3DS console
and unfortunately when this is installed, the cartridge slot and the
stylus are hidden by the accessory. Thankfully removing the console from
the Circle Pad Pro is a breeze so although it may cause some issues,
there are easy ways around it.
However where the gold
is found in this product is through its gaming abilities. Although the two
new shoulder buttons only really replace the existing shoulder buttons, the
highlight is the additional circle pad on the right. Resident Evil
Revelations played exceptionally well with the inclusion of this
additional circle pad, especially for boss battles. The shoulder buttons
also added to the total experience as well.
Final Thoughts?
With over 480 hours of
battery life and some very cool upcoming games such as Metal Gear Solid:
Snake Eater 3D and my favourite, Kid Icarus: Uprising, this may not be a
must have accessory yet but the future is definitely bright. But if you're a fan of Resident Evil, then you really need to
purchase this with the game. And yes, this product should have been built-in with
the 3DS but hey... better late than never and it's good that Nintendo
have addressed its naysayers!
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