So I'm thinking of buying one of these. TLDR at the bottom.

I played Red/Yellow/Silver/Crystal/Ruby/Emerald on Gameboy color and Gameboy Advanced SP back when I was growing up.

I borrowed my younger brother's original DS to play platinum.

In the last year, I've played through HG/SS, Black, and Black2 all on emulators, then moved on to trying a lot of different ROMhacks for them.

With X/Y coming out, I've decided that I do miss some of the more grindy parts of Pokemon. With the emulators, the completely solo play gets boring and there is no thrill to search for shinies or motivation to EV train. A lot of the risk and excitement of the game is also taken away by save states. I could deal with that by just having more discipline, but I don't so meh. I want to do all the stupid grinding and be a pokefag again, essentially.

So does anyone own a 3DS? Is it worth the buy? More importantly, does anyone have experience with both the 3DS and the 3DSXL?


TLDR: 3DS or 3DSXL?

 

I do wonder if they're going to be releasing special edition 3DS systems with X/Y. They did for B/W, if I recall correctly. So if you're someone who would enjoy one of those, you might wanna wait and see.

 

I think they might, but at the same time I want to play B/W2 and start grinding and breeding and all that so that I can have some pokemon ready to go for X and Y.

Also I kind of want to try out chaining in Platinum so that I can get a shiny or two.

 

3DSXL is better, bigger screen and using the analogue stick doesn't give you hand cramp.

Is it worth it? If you're getting one just to play Pokemon on it then I don't really know, though I got one for that exact reason. 3DS does have some cool features though. The games you get with it are pretty amusing.

If you've got the money for it then I'd say get one.

 

The 3DSXL has a larger screen and more internal memory. It's also larger, if you've got huge hands like I do it will be more comfortable to hold.

On the other hand, the larger screen stretches the image and the non-XL version is cheaper and has a few bundles (though there is a Fire Emblem 3DSXL that's pretty awesome) if you're into that.

There are your major pros/cons. If you're just planning on picking one up for Pokemon and don't have huge hands, the regular should be more than fine for you.

 

Having huge hands has been a minus for the 3DS XL for me.
The x, y, a, b buttons are fucking tiny and squished together. So much so I can't deny it was made for a child. Unfortunately I don't have a regular 3DS experience to compare it to so sorry for just a negative there.

 

Does the bigger, better, badder bonus mode take away anything from the portability? Is it noticeably larger when you carry it or hold it and on the pros side is the screen noticeably larger?

 

Size difference is noticeable, as well as battery life. There is no FE3DSXL.

If you wear jeans, it can still fit comfortably into an empty pocket, though you can't stuff it together with your phone.

 

Oh, the FE bundle isn't an XL? Whoops, must have misread something somewhere. Sorry about that.

 

The 3D system on the normal one adds zilch to gameplay. You have to keep it at the lowest possible 3D value else the graphics blur. I don't know about the XL.

My advice: Buy a cheap standard one so you won't care so much about forking over the money once you're tired of the game you got it for. That's what I did for KH: Dream Drop Distance.

 

Meaning better or worse battery life?

Size difference on the screen is noticeable or size difference in terms of portability?

Anyone have any experience with the XL who can chime in on the comparative 3D capabilities?

 

Okay yeah, I didn't clarify well enough.

XL gets roughly 2-4 hours more battery life at minimum, depending on your settings. I think I tested both on full blast and got another 1.5 hours out of my XL.

The screen size is noticeably bigger and the screen doesn't flop around like the regular 3DS does.

As for the portability, first of all, I wear primarily jeans with decent sized pockets. The DS Lite could fit in there as well as my Samsung Galaxy SII and have neither be noticeable. However, I can not fit both a 3DSXL and my phone in there without the added size being felt.

 

I'm in the same boat, jeans with decent size pockets, and I can fit the XL and an SII in my pocket quite comfortably, though climbing into an SUV or a pickup truck like this is quite tricky.

Only real problem is when sitting down, though I usually take it out and hold it in my lap/put it on a table when I do.

 

Go with XL, just picked one up a month ago and I love it.

I'd suggest grabbing a used one off eBay, especially if you won't be using it too much. Its still early in the year so there are a bunch of people who got one for the holidays and are already selling it. I paid $230 for one that was a month old with Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Pokemon Silver, Mario World 3d, and Heroes of Ruin.

 

Go with XL! I have a normal 3DS and didn't even know that there were XL ones until a friend turned up with one. They are immensely nicer looking; the screens are huge and it feels amazing.

 

Alright, thanks for the responses everyone.

I will probably be getting the 3DSXL the first time I see a good price, although I do have one more minor question.

I've read that the 3DSXL doesn't increase the resolution and merely blows up the image. Has anyone played one of the Gen IV pokemon games on one and if so, did you notice any pixelation?

 

Played HG and SS, on both 3DSXL and DSXL, no major differences, at least not any that I noticed.

 

So the very last thing to decide on is the decal I get:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DraconicDesigns

I haven't had much luck finding more than these. While these are all pretty fantastic, none of them are pokemon I use. Opinions and suggestions welcome.

 

Haven't ever looked for decals, but out of those I'd go with Charizard or Blastoise. Can't beat the classics I remember first playing with.

 

Yeah probably Charizard, though I would much prefer Typhlosion or Espeon, even Mew.