The exaggerated “black screen of death” plaguing Nintendo 3DS units worldwide has surprisingly slipped under the radar. Sure, it’s been in the media, and nicknamed by the online community, but Nintendo has managed to silence much of the fallout. As far as I can tell, it’s much worse than the Big N would have you believe. Systems constantly crashing mid-game aren’t normal and it isn't a minor or rare fault. It’s a serious ballz up, to use the technical term.
"Our recommendations are that if anyone is experiencing any problems with their Nintendo 3DS console, we recommend that in the first instance they download and install the latest system update, now available online,” said a Nintendo statement.
It sounded like a simple solution, but it didn’t fix anything. Since the update, my Nintendo 3DS has displayed the black error screen three times. That error rate is completely unacceptable. I didn’t update my console until Saturday; you do the maths as to how often it occurs.
There doesn’t seem to be a single reason for the serious error, which might suggest that Nintendo is just as dumbfounded as we are. I’ve had it happen to me in the Mii Maker, Rayman 3D and Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars. Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition is also meant to be rampant in producing the error, but thankfully it hasn’t struck me there yet.
To make it worse, there are seemingly two variations of the black screen. The most prevalent is an error message (pictured above), but another causes the system to slowly fade to a blank black screen in the middle of a game and lock-up (pictured below). When this happens, both screens go black with no text. The power button becomes redundant and doesn’t respond, as it does with the more common error screen, and the only way to restart is to close the system, which shuts it down rather than put it into sleep mode.
”Black screen of death” (BSOD) was the obvious internet meme, as it is consistent with other launch console issues such as the Xbox 360’s red rings of death. The distinct difference between the 360’s RROD and the 3DS’s black screen is the end result. The 3DS just requires a restart, whereas the 360 needed to be repaired. As such it’s not really “of death” and more of “inconvenience,” that is, unless you smash your 3DS in a fit of rage after losing hours of unsaved gameplay.
Fortunately, most 3DS games autosave, but that doesn’t make it any less of a burden. I lost around 30 minutes of Shadow Wars as I was forced to restart a mission I was literally seconds away from completing. If it happens once, that’s annoying. But three times in one weekend is incomprehensible. I’m not the only person to have such problems. A number of MMGN forum posters have reported the issue, post-system update, while other forums are ablaze with complaints.
That makes it an extremely widespread issue, Nintendo. It’s flabbergasting that a console can be launched with such a catastrophic and common error. It mightn’t be quite as bad as RROD, as your system isn’t made redundant, but the console constantly crashing is unacceptable. How are you supposed to play a game with the knowledge that it could crash at any moment?
Considering the severity of the issue, Nintendo has gotten off relatively scot-free. Customers seemed to just assume that the update would fix everything, as Nintendo said it would. They also told everyone to call customer service if problems persist. What is Nintendo customer service in Australia going to tell me? I’m suspicious that Nintendo in Japan don’t actually know how to fix the problem, let alone someone on the phone in Australia. If they could fix it, the update would have done something. If anything, it might have exacerbated the problem. In the approximate 48 hours before I updated my system, it didn’t black screen once. In the subsequent two days, it happened three times.
Some sites have reported that wi-fi is to blame; this might well be true, but there’s no substantial evidence to support it. Furthermore, if it were a firmware issue with wi-fi, that would have been fixed in the magical update that didn’t do anything. If it really is wi-fi and Nintendo have located the fault, chances are it’s a hardware issue. That would require your 3DS to be sent to Nintendo for repair, which means your console has died, and all of a sudden “black screen of death” is appropriate once again.
Of course, it might have nothing to do with wi-fi whatsoever. If Nintendo thought their last update would fix the problem, there’s no way a couple of amateur blogs would have nailed the exact culprit. Perhaps there’s more than one reason that the 3DS produces an error or locks up.
We don’t know what causes the black screen of death or if it will affect every unit. Perhaps you will get away with it or maybe it will strike when you least expect it. It might be fixed by an update, or maybe the entire world will need to send their systems in for repair. The whole situation is in shambles. Nintendo don’t fill me with confidence with their answers to the game-crippling error and yet somehow have avoided the zealous criticism it deserves.
It’s not acceptable for a system launch, and the lack of solid information on the cause just gives people another reason to avoid buying a 3DS.
