R4 3DS Puts MineCraft On Your Nintendo 3DS – REALLY!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year and a half, you have more then likely heard of MineCraft for the PC.  This is the game that was created by one single developer, who has made millions as a result, and has created a loyal fan following for a game with 8-bit style pixel graphics.  As described by the developer, Minecraft is about using blocks, to build and create almost anything you can imagine (and there is some great fan art / minecraft creations out there too) and to build your own world.  Monsters and enemies come out at night, so you can’t just get away with building your own little bit of digital paradise.  You have to be safe and secure to.

It’s a multi player online game, that you can play alone or together with friends.  Highly addictive, and a whole lot of fun.  People have been clamouring for a version of this game on any game console, but as yet, it has not been released.

And that friends is where the R4 3DS and DSCraft comes in to the picture.  DSCraft is an unofficial homebrew port of minecraft.  You can think of it as MineCraft for the 3DS (works on the DS and DSI too…) and for an open source game, it is remarkable.  The developer states that at this pointin time, it’s a pretty darn complete port of the game, or rather, the “creative mode” of the game – also known as MineCraft Classic.  You can explore the world and make / create your own buildings and creations.  The survival mode of the PC game is not yet built in, but is being worked on.  The fact that the game has been ported or adapted as he calls it, but just one developer is quite the achievement.  Done completely in his spare time (THANK YOU!!) and put out there for anyone and everyone to download and play.  The multiplayer mode may not yet be present (we’re going to test this in the latest version) but all of that aside, the game plays like a dream on the Nintendo 3DS.  The screenshots below are a testament to just how close this game is to it’s PC bigger brother.
You will need an R4 3DS Card in order to be able to play it, as this is not a game you can buy in cartridge form at any of the bigger Nintendo DS game retailers.  It works on the DS, Nintendo DSi and DSi XL, as well as the Nintendo 3DS with an R4 3DS or similar card.
The features of the game include the following taken right from the project homepage:

• Ability to add and remove blocks
• Nice terrain generation (including cliffs, plains, small forests, lakes…)
• Basic cave generation
• Map streaming from file, meaning really big maps can be used (1024×1024 maps are fully playable)
• Texture pack support (the game’s default texture pack is eldpack)
• Saving
• Day/night cycle, clouds, dawn/dusk, stars… (basically : nice sky )
• More or less dynamic lighting system (torches !)
• Basic bottom screen (working buttons, inventory)
• Tons of blocks !
• (Basic) Dynamic water
• Hand!

Check out the screenshots for a better idea of what you can expect – and go and grab this game immediately at the official homepage.  All of the screenshots are from the actual DSCraft – and not minecraft – just in case you were wondering.