Why is the 3ds so weak?

[Phinxx3088]

Why are 3DS so weak? A console that came out 15 years after the GameCube can't run gamecube games with emulation, the 3ds doesn't deserve this low power, most games aren't really working on the 3ds because it's so weak, sonic generations lags sometimes yet sonic lost world is working better. I don't understand why they made it like that

 

[MRJPGames]

1. They wanted (and needed) to hit handheld pricing
2. They wanted a relatively expensive 3D display technology (so less budget for other hardware components)
3. They wanted to make a profit on the hardware itself (so lower overall budget per console, to maintain profit margin)
4. For the scope and type of game they were envisioning the 3DS to run the hardware is sufficient.
5. Gamecube emulation is not easy. The 3DS can run native games similar in complexity to the GC, which is a more reasonable expectation.
5.1: Look at other mobile hardware from 2011, like mobile phones, they are much more powerful than the 3DS yes, (also noteably more expensive, without 3D screen, controller, DS hardware for backward compatibility etc.) and they can't emulate GameCube either. Ie. mobile tech in general was not at that point yet.
6. Gamecube was released 2001, 3DS released 2011, it's a 10 year gap not 15.
7. Battery life, "legacy" hardware can be used not just to save cost, but also for some efficiency gains -> longer battery life.

I could go on. But honestly a bit of research/understanding how consoles/computers work and how they evolve over time would've told you that the question is sort of weird. Not why the 3DS is weak, even for the time it was by no means cutting edge, but the speciifc comparisions you choose to make make no sense to demonstrate this "weakness".

 

[CMDreamer]

Why are 3DS so weak? A console that came out 15 years after the GameCube can't run gamecube games with emulation, the 3ds doesn't deserve this low power, most games aren't really working on the 3ds because it's so weak, sonic generations lags sometimes yet sonic lost world is working better. I don't understand why they made it like that

It was never designed to be able to emulate NGC games. Period.

Using your argument as a base we could also say the same about the PS Vita (a direct wanna-be 3DS competitor), it was a complete waste of tech until the scene devs returned it from the garbage bin. There's people arguing that the PS Vita is more "powerful" than the 3DS and even then it can't emulate NGC games.

 

[SDA]

How'd you even expect a handheld system from 2011 (fourteen years ago) to emulate GameCube games?

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

Why are 3DS so weak? A console that came out 15 years after the GameCube can't run gamecube games with emulation, the 3ds doesn't deserve this low power, most games aren't really working on the 3ds because it's so weak, sonic generations lags sometimes yet sonic lost world is working better. I don't understand why they made it like that

i don't really understand this posts argument, it's specs are similar to the gamecube but not 1:1, even if it could run gamecube games they wouldn't run great in any capacity nor would there really be a way around it, i can't stress enough that expecting a high power console in 2012 is wishful thinking, the DSi to the 3DS was such a massive jump alone for the time that expecting more from it is honestly head scratching

 

[The Catboy]

There are countless ways to emulate GameCube on the go, the 3DS ain’t one of them. It’s not strong enough to handle emulation between PowerPC to ARM. It was never designed for that purpose, like everyone has said

 

[Ettino]

Not as weak as your post, OP.

 

[splaca]

You're only looking at the timing factor (3DS came out 10 years after NGC), whilst ignoring:
* Size
* Power consumption
* Component maturity (impacting software tooling etc)
* Component price (impacting final product price)

Among others. These things are often at odds with each other, and the 3DS is one way to reach a compromise.

 

[Exnor]

The 3DS was (is) excellent.

It has the correct amount of hardware power for its time.

Btw you also can't emulate a GC on a Vita.

 

[Reualed]

Why are 3DS so weak? A console that came out 15 years after the GameCube can't run gamecube games with emulation, the 3ds doesn't deserve this low power, most games aren't really working on the 3ds because it's so weak, sonic generations lags sometimes yet sonic lost world is working better. I don't understand why they made it like that

regarding the sonic question part.
Sonic generations released at the beginning of the consoles life span (or near it)
lost world came later.

My point being is optimizations probably played a key role here. Just like any console prior, first games generally speaking at the start of the consoles life, are not as optimized as the ones that come down later.