I’ve lost way too much progress in Etrian Odyssey 5 on the Nintendo DS because I keep brushing against the power button on the bottom, which shunts the system into a “Okay, we’re turning off now, we’ve already closed the game you were playing, there’s nothing you can do about it now, so there you go” state. Surely this is a design flaw that has plagued millions and brought down the wrath of the internets. Is it just me?
I’ve stuck a piece of electric tape over the power button for the time being. Maybe that’ll help. Because if it happens again, I’m going to throw this Nintendo DS against the nearest wall. Etrian Odyssey only lets you save at the inn, which is a design decision I’m okay with, but a system that lets me inadvertently shut down whatever I’m playing without so much as an “are you sure?” is a design decision I’m not okay with.
-Tom, whose characters in Etrian Odyssey would have been level 8 at this point
Yeah I play all my DS stuff on a 3DS and I know the power button is still along the front edge but it’s flush with the side and has tonpushed pushed into the device, so far I haven’t done so accidentally. Guessing that’s a design change.
I’ve not had that problem with the New 3DS XL I’m playing on. As you know Nintendo never builds their handhelds to for continued use after the release of the next revision.
PS: Etrian Odyssey V does let you create a save mid-dungeon, just not one you can use to save scum with.
I have experienced this issue with an old 3DS, but mainly with games making use of the Start… button, I guess, although it feels more like a pad. I have mistaken the power down button with the start one quite a number of time. And the non-possibility to step back is just crazy stupid. I don’t understand why you have to press twice on this button to shut the console off either. You can’t do anything once you pressed the power button!
I looked at a button layout for the 2DS XL and it’s in the same place as the 3DS XL I’ve had for ages. I have never bumped this button and had to look on the 3DS under the light to even find it. How are you brushing against it? I’m guessing you are holding it in such a way you have a pinky near that button?
I just tried to push it on my 3DS and it took me a couple tries to get it to register, maybe it’s a little more sensitive on the 2DS?
It looks like the power button isn’t flush anymore, but how are you pushing it AND shutting the system down? The 3DS/2DS doesn’t just turn off when you press that button. It brings up a menu asking what you want to do… sleep mode or shut down. At least as far as I have ever seen it does that?
Don’t infer too much from my ragepost. It might just be my hamfisted fumblefingers!
Yeah, I think it’s an errant pinky situation. Each time, it was after I’d been playing for a while and was scooching my hands around to get comfortable.
Also, I think it might also be related to having to deal with the stylus. In Etrian Odyssey, you use the stylus to make your map, but then there are stretches where you fight a battle or sell stuff in town and don’t need it. So some of the time when I’m playing, I’ve got the stylus tucked in my fingers somewhere. That might be part of what’s going on.
Oh, it’s not shutting the system down. It’s closing the game. I get a message that the program has been closed and I can either power down or go to the home screen, just as you described. But I don’t want to do either of those. What I want to do is not have my game closed down for me, thankyouverymuch. Rage! Tom smash! Rawr!
Obviously the solution is to play one of the millions of fine programs available on the PS Vita which actually handles suspend states exactly how they should be done.
I do have a 3DS (you talked me into Xenoblade Chronicles a long time back and I finally caved on a console to play it and it’s fantastic) and haven’t had any problems with the 3DS power switch, but in those scenarios I would vote for taping something over it so you can’t press it and be satisfied knowing that you can solve a problem Nintendo couldn’t.
Have you considered picking up a hand grip for it? It looks like it slots over the power button and could prevent you from pinky swiping it or whatever you’re doing.
