This week, Capcom released Resident Evil: Revelations for the Nintendo 3DS. The game (which seems to mix the old Resident Evil with the new) makes use of some pretty complex controls crammed into the small and simplified 3DS pad. Since Revelations uses the same first person/third person control style, aiming and moving the camera can be kind of a chore. Thankfully, Nintendo released a peripheral along side of Revelations called the Circle Pad Pro. Retailing at $19.99 (and currently a Gamestop exclusive), the add-on basically adds extra trigger buttons to the top of the 3DS and a second analog stick to the right side of the handheld, giving you more advanced control over games that demand higher accuracy. The Circle Pad Pro only functions with games that support it and right now Resident Evil: Revelations happens to be the only game on the market that uses it.
The 3DS fits in a rectangular slot in the center of the peripheral while the IR wireless scanner at the top of the device aligns with another IR reader on the peripheral that picks up the extra control functions and allows the compatible 3DS games to pick up those button presses. The Circle Pad Pro requires one AAA battery (which is included) and promises up to 480 hours of gameplay before it does. To extend battery life, if the player ceases to use the buttons added by the Circle Pad Pro, the device goes into a sleep mode, which can be awakened by pressing the two back trigger buttons together to wake it back up. Pretty nifty stuff.
Since the Circle Pad Pro basically encases the whole 3DS, the device adds quite a bit of heft to the system; however, the curved and ergonomic design of the device makes holding the 3DS much more comfortable (especially in larger hands). The three triggers added to the top of the 3DS are easy to reach, but they also make pressing the actual L & R buttons on the top of the 3DS impossible. Thankfully, the Circle Pad Pro's added triggers typically take over any functionality the original L & R buttons had (at least in Revelations they do). The third trigger button (which is very similar to the Gamecube controller's Z button) works well when the game maps the button to a useful function, like Revelation's knife attack.
The actual added right analog stick is the exact same circle pad that is included on the 3DS itself, so nothing new here. The second circle pad feels pretty good during gameplay, but the placement feels just a bit off which results in a sore thumb after extended play. I did notice that the more you use the Circle Pad Pro, the more your hands adjust to it thus alleviating any sore-ness occured by the odd placement of the circle pad. I have only put a couple of hours into Resident Evil: Revelations so only time will tell how well my hands adjust to the device.
Overall the Circle Pad Pro is a fairly comfortable device for the 3DS which adds much needed control functionality to the 3DS handheld. During this generation of gaming and game design, the basic control schemes found in the 16bit days that still plague handhelds are simply not cutting it any more. Sony has already realized this when they heard the cries from gamers over the PSP and redesigned the Playstation Vita to meet those control needs. Nintendo has started to jump on board now with the Circle Pad Pro, but the device makes me worry over the inevitable, complete hardware overhaul the 3DS will probably receive, thus screwing early adopters again by selling us outdated hardware (aka the Apple syndrome). Still, if you crave for more advanced controls in your handheld games, the Circle Pad Pro is a no-brainer at $19.99.
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