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Play original NES Games in VR - 3DSEN!!

RetroRalph·video·16m 41s·analyzed·Jun 27, 2019
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

RetroRalph reviews 3DSen VR, converting NES classics to immersive 3D experiences.

Summary

RetroRalph reviews 3DSen VR, a $20 Steam application that converts classic NES games into VR experiences with 3D modeling, dynamic lighting, and environmental effects. The software uses original NES ROMs and adds detailed 3D assets, animated sprites, and immersive environments; 48 games are currently supported with more planned. RetroRalph demonstrates Castlevania, Legend of Zelda, Batman, and Contra, highlighting technical achievements like shadow depth, rotating UI elements, and environmental animation.

Key Claims

  • 3DSen VR is available on Steam for $20 with 48 NES games currently supported

    high confidence · Direct statement about product availability and pricing

  • 3DSen VR uses the same ROM files as NES Classic or Raspberry Pi emulations, with enhanced 3D rendering layered on top

    high confidence · RetroRalph explicitly explains the technical approach: 'It is the same ROM that is you know, on your NES Classic or something you put on like a Raspberry Pi. It's the same ROM.'

  • The Japanese version of Contra includes cutscenes and a story-based map that the American version lacks

    high confidence · RetroRalph observes and discusses discovering this feature: 'It also has cutscenes! Why didn't the American version have cutscenes? And why didn't I know this for almost 30 years?'

  • 3DSen VR works with both Oculus and HTC Vive headsets

    high confidence · Multiple direct statements about headset compatibility

  • RetroRalph owns or has owned multiple Oculus iterations from DevKit 1 through Oculus Rift S

    high confidence · Personal disclosure: 'I've owned much every iteration of the Oculus Rift from DevKit 1 all the way up until the Cirqus Voltaire and Oculus Go, the Oculus Rift S'

  • Super Mario Bros 2 and 3 are likely to be added to 3DSen VR in future updates

    medium confidence · RetroRalph speculates based on the absence: 'So things like Super Mario 2 and 3 aren't on here. So I can guarantee those are probably going to be some of the next ones.'

Notable Quotes

  • “They've just, whatever their programming is, they've changed it to make it just like this with so much adding detail. And I'm telling you, it makes like the the experience new again.”

    RetroRalph@ 4:23 — Core thesis about 3DSen VR's value proposition—revitalizing familiar games through technical enhancement

  • “It is the same ROM that is you know, on your NES Classic or something you put on like a Raspberry Pi. It's the same ROM. They've just changed it to make it just like this with so much adding detail.”

    RetroRalph@ 4:15 — Technical explanation of how 3DSen VR works—ROM compatibility and preservation approach

  • “Why didn't the American version have cutscenes? And why didn't I know this for almost 30 years? It's ridiculous.”

    RetroRalph@ 11:14 — Genuine discovery moment revealing regional differences in Contra; highlights archival value of VR conversion

  • “I think Sunsoft has the best music of all Nintendo games. Batman, Batman Return of the Joker, Blaster Master, Journey to Silius, they all have amazing soundtracks.”

    RetroRalph@ 10:07 — Opinion about NES game music quality; tangential but shows RetroRalph's expertise lens

  • “A true labor of love has gone into this emulator... The amount of detail they've gone into to make this a unique experience goes above and beyond.”

    RetroRalph@ 13:49 — Summarizes RetroRalph's overall assessment and recommendation

Entities

RetroRalphperson3DSen VRproductSteamcompanyOculuscompanyHTC ViveproductCastlevaniagameLegend of ZeldagameBatmangameContragameSuper Mario Bros.game

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: RetroRalph solicits community input on which NES titles should be prioritized for 3DSen VR conversion next, engaging audience participation in product roadmap feedback

    high · Direct audience call-to-action: 'I'd love to hear it and get some ideas, because maybe we can throw some information their way, and maybe they'll get a chance to get some ideas'

  • ?

    announcement: 3DSen VR officially available on Steam with 48 NES games supported; additional games confirmed to be in development pipeline

    high · RetroRalph states: 'Currently, 48 games are supported, with more on the way' and discusses likely future additions like Super Mario Bros. 2 and 3

  • ?

    technology_signal: Novel approach to retro game preservation and enhancement through VR—converting 2D NES ROMs into full 3D experiences while maintaining original code compatibility

    high · RetroRalph explains the technical approach: 'It is the same ROM... They've just changed it to make it just like this with so much adding detail' with detailed 3D modeling, dynamic lighting, and environmental effects

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.050

0:00
Hey Retrospecters, you know my love and deep appreciation for classic games I do for the channel, and I'm always looking for interesting and innovative ways that people come up with to be able to play those classic games. And it really brings a new perspective, no pun intended, on how you can experience these games like never before. I'm talking about 3DSen VR, available right now on Steam. Currently, 48 games are supported, with more on the way. And those 48 games are...
0:56
Gyromite, Hogan's Alley, Ice Climber, Journey to Silius, Kung Fu, Legacy of the Wizard, Legend of Cage or Kagi, Legend of Zelda, Lode Runner, Mappy, Mario Bros., Mega Man 1 and 2, Metroid, Micromages, Pac-Man, Popeye, Road Fighter Shadow of the Ninja Super Bat Puncher Super Mario Brothers Tetris for Nintendo and the Tenjin version Urban Champion Wild Gunman Wrecking Crew Yir Kung Fu and Zooming Secretary One thing you may not know about me is I'm a huge VR enthusiast. I've owned pretty much every iteration of the Oculus Rift from DevKit 1 all the way up until the CV and Oculus Go. the Oculus Rift S, pending approval, from the wife. So when I heard someone made a way to play NES games in VR, I was completely blown away. Games like Super Mario Brothers, Batman, Contra, oh my gosh. Let's get into this goodness. So one thing I want to point out is that if you have an Oculus or a HTC Vive, you can actually purchase this game right now. It's for $20 on Steam, so I highly recommend it. I've been playtesting this a little bit and have seen a couple things I definitely want to show you guys, some highlights and features, I think that will blow you away, because they're completely blowing my mind. So with that, let's go ahead and get started. Put this bad boy on.
2:30
Where should we start? How about with the thing that blew my mind first? Castlevania. Okay, so you'll notice, you can see things are in 3D. Looks really cool. And one thing I want you to notice too is that the sprites cast shadows. The shadows, you can see, these things actually have depth. And you'll notice things like this, they're actually, like, actually round. So they've done more than just, you know, 2D into, you know, into different layers. They've actually gone through and it seems like they've remodeled a couple things. Looks really cool. Like a lot of stuff in the background looks 3D, very, uh, a lot of depth and like roundness. Looks really cool. But check this out. Look at the curtains. The curtains are blowing in the wind like they were real curtains. I mean, how cool is that? Stupid zombies. Ghosts or whatever they are. That just, I mean, that just blows my mind. And the columns themselves are around. Like, they're taking the information and the 8-bit, like, the 8-bit coding and they doing 3D modeling with it That one of the cool things about this is that it is the same ROM that is you know, on your NES Classic or something you put on like a Raspberry Pi. It's the same ROM. They've just, whatever their programming is, they've changed it to make it just like this with so much adding detail. And I'm telling you, it makes like the the experience new again. I mean, like I said, you've never experienced Castlevania like this before. Legend of Zelda. Alright, let's just get started. You can see that the icons themselves like rotate. Check that out. The hearts move. But that's not the only thing. So... Like, most of the items themselves, like, turn and rotate and stuff. It makes it look really cool. Cool.
Sunsoftcompany
5:35
Look at that. So what I'm going to do is go to the first dungeon, show you guys what that looks like. But check out the water too. You see the water? It actually has depth and it's moving. And that's the unfortunate thing about doing this YouTube stuff, is that I can't convey to you the actual 3D depth. But it is there, and it's amazing.
6:24
Get the monies! Haha! All the items turn makes it look really cool. Check this out. So like... That's so cool. But there's like a 3D depth to it, and all the statues are kind of standing up and tilted. Tilted. Looks really cool.
6:59
Get my key from the heese! Check out the Stalphos. They look cool. Take that. We're almost up to the first level boss.
8:00
Whoa! If you ever seen the Nintendo toys it looks just like when I was 8 Nintendo toy things that you get from Walmart or GameStop Let's go in there. Very cool. So that's Legend of Zelda. I'd love to show you more. Let's check some other games out. How about... How about Batman? Batman looks really cool. Let's zoom out...
9:10
There's a little bit of depth, like right to the cutscene here. Batmobile looks like it's kinda coming out a little more with the ground.
9:31
I'm going to make a bold statement. I think Sunsoft has the best music of all Nintendo games. Batman, Batman Return of the Joker,
10:07
Blaster Master, Journey to Silius, they all have amazing soundtracks. Haha, that's cool. You can actually like, see around the characters. Haha, that's cool.
10:53
Alright, so let's try... let's try Contra. So this is the Japanese version of Contra. One of the biggest things, as you'll see, is the title is a little bit different. It also has cutscenes! Why didn't the American version have cutscenes? And why didn't I know this for almost 30 years? It's ridiculous. I didn't even know about this. And it's also got a map, which is interesting because this This is based on, apparently, according to the story, New Zealand. So as you can see, as you go up the mountain, it gets colder. Like as you progress through the stages, I think it was level 5 is the snow stage, that's when you're at the top of the mountain. Duh, makes sense. Well that'd be nice to know if you actually knew the story. There were a lot of people who actually said they think that Contra is one of the hardest games for Nintendo. I'm going to disagree only for the fact that there's a video on my personal YouTube channel of me beating this game in one guy. So I'm just going to disagree with that. I think Contra is fairly easy, but that's just... I've just practiced with it so much.
12:33
What Again what hard to convey is like everything got a 3D depth including like the rocks and stuff I mean, this looks so cool.
12:42
So let's meet this first level boss. And there you go. Alright. That's a good place to stop. VR always messes up my hair. Alright, so, some final thoughts.
13:19
True Labor of Love has gone into this emulator. and like I said, it plays the normal ROMs that you've played a million times.
13:27
What they've done is simply amazing. They've done so many things to just make the experience much new, like fresh. Like adding just the things like the curtains in Castlevania.
13:41
You didn't see it, but I've beaten Contra on this already, and the last level boss is completely actual, like 3D, it looks 3D rendered. so like I said the amount of detail they've gone into to make this a unique experience goes above and beyond I cannot stress that I highly recommend this again it's only $20 on Steam right now 3dsend VR look it up if you have an Oculus or Vive I cannot recommend this enough sincerely and there's games like that we didn't see Excitebike looks really cool Super Mario Bros. looks really good. They've rendered all the enemies in 3D. They all look 3D. It looks really cool. You can see pipes and stuff, and you can look down into the pipes.
14:26
It's simply amazing. I can't even begin to tell you the fresh experience that you'll have by going through these emulators and these games again.
14:37
It also kind of makes you wonder, okay, so they've got these games, and there's 48 games, and with more on the way. They said that they're going to be able to support more on the way. So that means they're already going through. So things like Super Mario 2 and 3 aren't on here. So I can guarantee those are probably going to be some of the next ones. Zelda 2, The Adventures of Link, that's probably going to be coming, I assume. I'm not speaking for them. But they had, you know, I would say in an obscure game like Journey to Silius that they have that. That looks really cool.
15:08
And, like, it'd be interesting to see. like what do you think what do you think what would you like to see in a 3d VR version like this that you could dive deep into I mean Batman was really cool it'd be really cool to see Teenage Mutants Turtles one or two I think would be really cool that would just be really neat I'm trying to think DuckTales I think would be an amazing 3d game those are the couple that off top of my head but I'd be interested in hearing what you guys think comment down below what you think you would want to see as a 3D VR NES game. I'd love to hear it and get some ideas, because maybe we can throw some information their way, and maybe they'll get a chance to get some ideas of something maybe they can start focusing on. That'd be really cool. I personally would love to see Dragon Warrior 4, but I can't even imagine how long it would take to make sure that all programming looked nice and go through and make sure everything was right on that, but that's just me. Okay, with that, I'll give the last couple words over. I'll get off this little screen and go to the big screen and we'll finish up there. Alright, I'll see you guys over there. This was an experience I'm not sure I'd ever see and now making old experiences new again and with such a bang. I highly suggest this program if you have a VR headset. It works with the Oculus and it also works with the Vive and is available on Steam right now. So if you like what you saw, give me a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, and if you want to see more Retro Ralph, hit the bell for notifications and we'll see you guys on the next Ralph's Retrospect. See ya.
16:35
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