You think so? I love the idea of one device two massive libraries.
Actually in doing the research you might be right. Backlit GBA SP might be the way to go.
That’s my opinion, someone else may suggest otherwise. But I have never really been happy with screen options for playing GBA games on a DS, it never looks nearly as good as on an actual GBA. Same for older GB/Color games, and there are still a bunch of those worth playing.
I wish I could find my GBA micro. For the longest time I had it but not the charger a couple months back i found the charger now I can’t find the system. It’s just perfect.
I agree. I put my GBA SP and PSP away and can play their libraries on the DS Lite and Vita. 3 portables out (including 3DS XL) versus 5.
I do love the GBA SP form factor. Such a sleek beautiful design.
Reminds me I am dying to replay Dragon Quest III and Metal Gear Solid, neither of which I finished way back. Can’t find my purple GBC, though.
I am probably picking up a 2DSXL/3DSXL in a day or so. This would be my first of the 3DS line and first handheld I’ve bought since the DS a decade ago. Are there any super-compelling reasons to justify going with the 3DSXL over the 2DSXL if I am not interested in 3D and would rather spend the extra $50 on a game or two?
As for games, I’m leaning Super Mario 3D Land for the Nintendo platforming goodness and one of the Fire Emblems. I think I would prefer Awakening over Conquest/Birthright. Looking at Conquest/Birthright makes me worry I am going to have to spend time rubbing characters’ faces or something like in that awful Fire Emblem mobile game from earlier this year. Otherwise, I haven’t played a Fire Emblem game since Path of Radiance on the GameCube (my favorite of the series) and its underwhelming sequel whose name I forget. I do not know how much the series has changed since, but I did like all the GBA ones.
For me, Super Mario 3D Land was one of the very best uses of 3D so if that is a major reason for buying the system, I’d lean toward 3DS XL.
That said, there aren’t a ton of games where the 3D is massive although I really have enjoyed all the remakes from the 8 and 16-bit days that have been released to take advantage of 3D. Parallax scrolling with 3D is superb!
So it’s really up to you? How much will that extra $50 grind your gears? You can do without it and you won’t really know what you’re missing specifically, but it can be really cool.
The 3D is really, really good on the New 3DS and not really worth the asking price on the original model. The New 3DS is more expensive, but it does run a few games better, a few games at all (e.g. Xenoblade Chronicles, the new Fire Emblem musou game, the SNES virtual console games), and have a second analog “stick”, so going in fresh you might as well. If you absolutely don’t see yourself caring at all about the 3D I don’t think you’re missing anything else by going 2DS, but see if you can’t try a New 3DS for yourself before you make that call. It’s really something.
The 2DS “XL” that Dissensus mentions considering is the “new” version, with the upgraded cpu and extra c-stick. They’ve just removed the 3D.
But the 3D is really cool. I usually play with it on. Link Between Worlds has really nice 3D too. Though some games like Pokemon don’t even utilize it.
I have never really used the 3D for long. It’s a cool effect on some games, but it bothers my eyes after a little while and it just doesn’t add to the games and always feels gimmicky. Then again, I am not big into 3D movies, either.
My main concern is that the 3D is one of those Nintendo gimmicks that only a few games (the majority of which I’ll probably never play) use well, if at all. My interest in Super Mario 3D Land is more because I assume that it’s a great platformer rather than a great 3D experience. Although I have read that the 3DSXL has slightly longer battery life than the 2DSXL.
Thanks for the input guys. Are there any must-have accessories?
Well. Because 3D doesn’t work for everyone (some people either don’t have two eyes or they don’t focus properly to make 3D work, etc) it’s never going to be necessary to the function of a game. That’s how they can even do a 2DS. But it’s a really neat effect in the games that use it (particularly in cutscenes, etc).
Apparently the New 3DS XL doesn’t come with a charging cable standard? If that’s the case (bought mine used so I wouldn’t know), you’ll definitely need that. You’ll probably also want a bigger SD card than they provide, and a screwdriver with a small head to unscrew the backplate in order to install it (because for some reason that’s what they make you do to swap SD cards. I believe you’ll need a microSD card. It can support larger than 32 GB, but you’ll need to format them to FAT32 on your computer first, and you can’t do that natively in Windows, you’ll need a third party formatting tool first - there are several free options.
Have you considered the original 2DS? It’s around 100$ cheaper and comes bundled with a game download. Mario Kart 7, New Super Mario 2, or one of the Pokemons.
We have three of them in the house. They’re really comfortable to use.
There’s also a new 3DS (non-XL) that comes with Super Mario 3D Land. Might be hard to find now, haven’t seen it in a few months.
I had not, but I wanted the larger screen and increased performance of the newer model anyway. I took the plunge today on the 2DS XL from Amazon. I am considering adding a handgrip accessory, but I am not sure how necessary it is yet.
Welcome to the club! :)
Did you decide on a Fire Emblem?
Thanks.
I went with Awakening. Might try out Conquest later if I need another Fire Emblem fix.
So my girlfriend and I picked up a black and turquoise 2DS XL each over the weekend along with New Leaf because Pocket Camp was so soulless and abysmal. I <3 New Leaf so far.
I’ve got a friend who’s happy to lend me 3D Land, Luigi’s Mansion and Majora’s Mask but I didn’t know I’d want Fire Emblem Awakening until I saw it at the top of Metacritic. Had no idea the Advance Wars devs were behind the series (and I love and miss Advance Wars so much). I remember looking into Fire Emblem on my DS back in the day but never took the plunge.
I’d be curious to hear about those Fire Emblem Wars thing, because the older games were those (horrible to me) puzzle games posing as strategy games, where a single wrong move spelled instadeath and meant you had to start the map over.
Wrong moves would rarely mean death (though they would often mean injury and sometimes have a small chance of death). They certainly had a strong puzzle aspect to them, but all strongly abstracted wargames do.