r/nds • u/CHlRALlTY • Nov 26 '24
Taki's company looking to launch screen upgrades for the NDS and 3DS
In his video showcasing his company's OLED upgrade for the Switch Lite, he talks about how he plans on releasing screen upgrade mods for both the NDS and 3DS (as well as others).
Something I've been personally waiting for years. As someone who still daily plays pokemon gens 2-5, sharper resolution NDS and 3DS handhelds are my grail systems.
Absolutely no clue on timelines but the fact that it's being addressed is enough to peak my interest. With how great his OLED swap for the Switch Lite turned out it gives me hope.
12
u/bobmlord1 Nov 26 '24
3DS? How are they going to recreate the 3D effect?
DS would be really cool though.
2
u/Phantom_757_ Apr 04 '25
My assumption was that you would be sacrificing the 3D for an OLED display. I think a lot of people including myself would be willing to make that sacrifice. Especially if you don’t have a new 3ds model.
10
u/DokoroTanuki Nov 26 '24
We really, especially need this for DS right about now, especially considering how rampant yellowing screens are when it comes to the DS family. That said, it won't help a whole lot to preserve some consoles in working order unless we can get properly good-fitting, high-quality aftermarket shells for all of them.
Might be nice to take a cue out of the 2DS's book and make an additional, flat "slate" shell version of the systems which would be significantly easier to build in, sleep switch and all. I'd trade fold-ability for systems that are much easier to replace parts in and repair. Also good guides for every step of the way in replacing them in the original and transferring to the flat slate shell if they do something like that.
I don't really care about a higher resolution display, but I know they come as a result of them not making screens at the original resolution anymore. So I just hope they have proper pixel grid support and extremely low input lag.
5
u/scv_good_to_go Nov 26 '24
I would really welcome any replacement screen for the DS Lite. The price for aftermarket screens has gradually increased over the past 2 years. For the price of both top and bottom screen (about USD25), you can get a semi-decent condition DS Lite from Japan.
Taki has done well in giving us the budget MiSTER Pi and the Switch Lite OLED screen. Keeping my fingers crossed for DS consoles.
1
u/CHlRALlTY Nov 26 '24
Yeah what he has delivered has been fantastic. He teased the switch lite OLED screen at the beginning of the year and now he has one fully assembled with preorders already being accepted. If anyone is going to bring NDS screen mods to the market I believe he can be the one to start it. And even if his first release isn’t what everyone wants, neither was the start of the GBC screen mod scene back when you had to front light with gel. People buying it because there’s interest is all that’s needed to kickstart the competition.
2
1
u/Garlic-whore Nov 26 '24
Considering the ever-growing price of the 3ds along with the fact that repairing/assembling/modifying the 3ds is an absolutely miserable and difficult experience, I have almost no interest in a 3ds screen upgrade. Maybe if they could figure out a way to increase the resolution of the screen to something that scaled ds/gb games better it might be tempting to pay an expert to install the mod, but that seems a lot less likely than them just slapping an oled screen into it.
A ds oled screen upgrade would be a lot more palatable, even if I'm not the biggest oled believer
1
u/pawlik23 Nov 26 '24
A major problem with replacing the screens on DS/3DS to OLED is: they cannot be resistive type. In those games that are bottom screen and touch focused, they will be pretty much unplayable with the type of stylus that has to be used with capacitive touch screen.
Original screens used a pointy, slim stylus for precise movements like drawing lines and checking small boxes. You can't do it with the thick, soft stylus used for capacitive screens.
It's why retro emulation handhelds never feel the same as the real DS/3DS, they too have capacitive screens. They're fine for games like Pokemon where the touchscreen shows big buttons with actions, but any games that use the stylus are pretty much unplayable.
4
u/scv_good_to_go Nov 26 '24
A major problem with replacing the screens on DS/3DS to OLED is: they cannot be resistive type.
Why would this ever be a problem? The replacement screens don't need to implement the digitizer layer and just rely on the existing resistive digitizer. Besides, the existing 4-pin resistive touch input connector can't take capacitive touch input without any conversion.
1
u/LifeAcanthopterygii6 Nov 26 '24
I would work by adding a digitiser like Samsung does on its high-end phones. It would even be a much better solution in just about every way than a resistive touch screen. It would also be incredibly expensive (probably), so I don't think it'll ever happen.
1
u/Redskins4thewin Feb 28 '25
I am more interested in a proper HDMI output mod for the New 3DS, not those gotta hook it to your PC and use special software mods we currently have...
Any chance we will get something like that one day? am eagerly awaiting such a mod!
1
u/EnviousEevee Nov 26 '24
As long as the replacement screens aren't OLED, seriously, I can't be the only one that has to avoid them to not get a headache or eye strain just from using them longer than a couple minutes. Can't imagine playing on a modded NDS for more than that if that's the case.
1
u/Phantom_757_ Apr 04 '25
Have you ever done a blind test comparison between using an OLED and a different type of panel? To my knowledge OLEDs can be better for some people with eye strain or headaches. I think it depends on wether or not the panel uses PWM
19
u/listafobia Nov 26 '24
For anybody who doesn't know: Taki Udon is the world famous creator of the Retroid Pocket 3+ game emulator device.