Gaming Why is "original" resolution for DS games so small?

[Majorami]

Sorting some stuff from some boxes, and I find my old NDS screen. Curious, I kind of pressed it's screen against my 3DS' bottom screen and began to ask questions to why booting an NDS game while holding Select makes the resolution so small, when the original screens were/are noticably larger?

 

[finkmac]

Different resolutions… You are basically asking why Non-Retina Apps look horrible on Retina iOS devices…

 

[Arnold Schwarzen]

Higher resolution on 3DS plus pixels being much smaller.

 

[Majorami]

Different resolutions… You are basically asking why Non-Retina Apps look horrible on Retina iOS devices…

I meant why isn't there another option for a window size thats just as large as the original. Whether the resolution is different or not, I want to know why the window sizes are either bigger or smaller than the DS screen size, and why there isn't the--- nevermind

 

[finkmac]

Good question…

I too, would like a DS Screen Size option… But then again, I have my DS for playing my DS games…

 

[marcus134]

because screen resolution isn't solely dependent on screen size, in fact a 1080p screen, whether it makes 24in or 85in will always have the same number of pixel. Pixels gets bigger with a bigger screen if the screen is made to represent the same resolution, but as technology evolve it's possible to make smaller pixels and build cheaper displays with hose smaller pixels.

Meaning that 3ds being a newer generation gets a higher resolution screen, with smaller pixels instead of using a much bigger display.
FYI the measurement of pixels size compared to the display size is called the pixel density. (yes, the 3ds has a higher pixel density)

there's 2 ds display mode on the 3ds, unscaled and scaled.
Unscaled (the small one): gives a pixel to pixel display reproduction (1:1) but since the 3ds have 240 lines while the ds only have 192, it means that 48 lines will be unused
Scaled(fill the screen): the 192 are spread accross 240 lines (1:1,125),but the problem with this mode is that the pixels can't be subdivided meaning that you loose picture crispness and precision.

http://www.3dsbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/DS-on-3DS-Yoshis-Island-DS-comparison.png

 

[nutella]

Different resolutions… You are basically asking why Non-Retina Apps look horrible on Retina iOS devices…

I meant why isn't there another option for a window size thats just as large as the original. Whether the resolution is different or not, I want to know why the window sizes are either bigger or smaller than the DS screen size, and why there isn't the--- nevermind

Because then you would get scaling artifacts, which make the image quality even worse.

 

[MarioFanatic64]

To sum this up: The pixel size for the 3DS was reduced so a screen of the same physical size as the original DS could have a higher resolution (more pixels), but as DS games support a resolution of 256x192 pixels, they will only take up space of 256x192 on the 3DS' screen. And as the pixels on the 3DS are smaller than the DS, the DS native resolution is smaller. As the size of the 3DS's resolution is more than 256x192 but less than 512x384 pixels (which would be double the DS size so 1 pixel would take up 4 instead), there's no way that you can play native resolution but still retain the same physical size.

 

[chris888222]

The upper screen is 800 X 240

DS games play at 256 X 192

See the difference?

 

[FireGrey]

I think they should of made the 3DS resolution 512 x 384 (and the top screen being the same but with a widescreen resolution and double width for 3d ofcourse).

 

[Hanks6]

The upper screen is 800 X 240

DS games play at 256 X 192

See the difference?

800x240????????????

 

[Deleted_171835]

The upper screen is 800 X 240

DS games play at 256 X 192

See the difference?

Not 800x240, it's 400x240.

 

[Snailface]

The upper screen is 800 X 240

DS games play at 256 X 192

See the difference?

Not 800x240, it's 400x240.

From nintendo.com:

Upper Screen Wide-screen LCD display, enabling 3D view without the need for special glasses. Capable of displaying approximately 16.77 million colors. 3.53 inches display (3.02 inches wide, 1.81 inches high) with 800 x 240 pixel resolution. 400 pixels are allocated to each eye to enable 3D viewing.

I think nints meant "400x240 pixels allocated to each eye"

lol, Nintendo LOL

 

[DiscostewSM]

It is 800x240 with 1:2 ratio rectangular pixels. It's the way it uses them, which is dependant on if you are viewing it in 2D or 3D. The former doubling up pixel columns to make it look like 400x240, and the latter activating the parallax barrier to make 400x240 for each eye. I do wonder if it is capable of an actual 800x240 display without the parallax barrier........ok, this is going off topic.

 

[Rydian]

It's different because it's different.

Pixel number/layout on the screen is a hardware thing, not a software thing. The 3DS's is different than the DS's, so there's two options to adapt, either play at the original resolution (which is smaller because it's a set number of pixels), or stretch it to fill the 3DS's screen (which is a different number of pixels, thus the visual change some people may not like).

 

[CompC]

The pixels are smaller on the 3DS, so even though the screen is the same size, there are more pixels. This allows 3DS games to be sharper and higher quality. When you play a DS or GameBoy Virtual Console game at the original resolution, it appears much smaller because the pixels are smaller.