Sparkle Snapshots 3D (Nintendo 3DS) Review

The regular photo application on the 3DS already allows for a certain amount of effects to be used to make taking photos a fun experience. However, as far as adding decorative elements to the picture goes, or adding distortion effects like those possible with the DSi camera, the basic app could be found lacking for those willing to further modify the look of what is represented digitally in the photos. Enter Sparkle Snapshots 3D, a 3D picture editing tool, now available for download on the eShop for the 3DS.

Upon launching the application, owners are presented with menus full of ribbons, lace, floating little hearts, pink everywhere and pictures of girls in their early teens...accompanied by the most over the top cheerful voice with a British accent commenting on each and every menu screen to help with understanding what the current options are. It is clear from the look of things what sort of demographic the software seems to have been aimed at, and those who have a strong repulsion for that kind of thing will find little else further in to quench their thirst for something less girly.

The application allows for the taking of both pictures directly from within the app to edit them or use those already stored on the system's SD card, in the folder of the regular photo app. Taking pictures from within Sparkle Snapshots 3D adds a couple options that are not available normally on the 3DS, like manually adjusting the level of lighting in the room so the camera doesn't have to do it automatically, or the sharpness of the picture, adding some blur effect for a dreamy aspect in the snapshots, or making them extra sharp. These are predetermined effects with three different levels, which you can't fine tune manually.

Don't get raise hopes up too high, though, since the pictures aren't noticeably more beautiful thanks to these options. The 3DS cameras remain quite low resolution and the pictures are still quite grainy. Higher quality pictures from another device could be loaded onto the SD card DCIM folder for use within Sparkle Snapshots 3D to get a somewhat better quality out of the final edited piece. However, no matter the resolution of the original, the final edited picture will be in 512x384 pixels, so doing so won't bring much extra and would defeat the purpose of the application anyway.

Once a photograph is ready, it is on to the editing process, which is where the meat of the software lies. First trigger-happy folk are presented with 3D backgrounds in which they will be able to merge the subject of the picture they are working on. Most of them are just cutesy rosy settings, with some more "gender-neutral" ones thrown in for good measure, as well as a Super Mario Bros. one that looks like an overworld setting from the iconic NES title. Then players may select from a similar list of foreground 3D frames, which are elements that will appear closer to the camera in the final edited picture, most of which are elements corresponding to the themes presented in the list of backgrounds, though you are totally free to mix them any way desired.

It is interesting to note that the picture taken either with the camera or from the album doesn't remain in 3D, but is rather "flattened" so that the subject sits somewhere in the middle of a new 3D scenery formed by the background and foreground of your choice, a decision which, beyond the initial impression that the final result won't have as much of a 3D impact, makes sense given that cutting away parts of a 3D picture with the stylus on the 2D-only touch screen wouldn't have made sense at all.

Speaking of which, this is where the little programme shows some unexpected strength. Although it requires patience, using the zoom option on the picture being edited and rubbing off the parts of the picture not wanted in the final edited piece is made quite easy; a lot more so than what a rookie user would be able to achieve with a mouse on a PC with photo editing software. Sure, it's not as accurate as what Photoshop would allow, but it's certainly more accessible. Players can use the rubber to remove parts of the photo itself, the background or the foreground, and also any of the little object put inside the scenery for decoration.

That is also where most of the content of the application sits. Players can draw elements with all sorts of different looking markers, add objects like ribbons (loads of them...), hearts, hats, glasses, little cakes, text props... Most of them are 2D, but others, in fewer number, are 3D and you can rotate them at any angle. The variety of the kind of objects that can be put inside the scenery is unfortunately low and, like the rest of the programme, oriented at little girls. You can also alternatively make your own cutouts out of personal pictures for use later in forms of Polaroid photos, stamps, little hearts and stars...However, that's unfortunately as far as it goes in terms of making your own additional elements to use in personal creations.

The only option to add more elements to what is readily available is to download packages from the eShop, which can conveniently be done directly from within Sparkle Snapshots 3D. Mario Kart 7 and a Super Mario 3D Land themed packages are available at time of writing, none of which come for free. A "free" section exists, but so far it has remained empty. It is unfortunate that players can't even check what the packages hold before shelling out the money and downloading them.

As you are editing a picture, you have the option to "save" the progress on the current project. That save function, however, is a mere "checkpoint" as the game describes it, to which you can return as long as the project is kept open in the editor, and not a permanent save feature. Indeed, it's impossible to save an "in progress" project. Should players decide to save photos on the SD card, they won't be able to edit them again in the same way since all the background, foreground, main subject and decorative elements will have been merged into a 3D picture in the same format used by the photo app, which will be flattened again if reopened inside Sparkle Snapshots 3D to be re-edited. This is totally unfortunate given that being on a portable console means play sessions can sometimes be pretty short. Complex projects in which there would be the choice to put quite a bit of time into have to be made in one sitting, or else leaving the system in Sleep Mode to keep the unfinished project intact is the only option.

Once a picture is finally done and saved, the only use Sparkle Snapshots 3D allows to make of personal images is to show them to friends on the screen of that very system...or send them over local wireless to another 3DS user -- provided that he or she also has a copy of Sparkle Snapshots 3D in his or her system that is. Thankfully, at least, the Nintendo Mailbox allows you to share them over Internet with people in the Friends List, albeit in a much reduced size. Lack of any decent sharing functionality, such as Facebook or Twitter integration, is regrettable on such applications. Alternatively, players can still take out the SD card from the system and share them using a PC, but it defeats the point a little bit.