Our 3DS is dead and the kids would like a replacement. Should I be looking for any particular model?
The one we have is Gar's original 3DS and we were more than happy with that are the XLs worth the extra cash? Is the new version of the XL different in some way? I vaguely remember something about them being better for Xenoblade? Is there any benefit to buying a 2DS or are they just ugly and huge?
My poor 3DS! I hope you gave it a good burial.
It's a bit of a minefield but broadly:
Original 3DS - you know what this is
3DS XL - larger screens, slightly more comfortable form factor, otherwise the same as what you had
New 3DS - significantly more powerful, has an analogue "nub" (like a right stick), has eye-tracking so you don't have to keep your head perfectly still for the 3D effect to work, has swappable face plates
New 3DS XL - as above, larger screens but no swappable face plates
2DS - ugly, uncomfortable, no 3D effect, looks like it was made by Fisher Price
New 2DS XL - like the New 3DS XL but no 3D effect
Basically the "New" models are a huge upgrade and well worth it if you can find one. But most 3DS models apart from the New 2DS XL are now discontinued, so not easy to find new if that's what you want. It really depends on what you want, how much you use the 3D effect, and whether you want small or large screens.
Personally I have a New 3DS XL, I'm happy with it though the buttons are now starting to stick. Bear in mind the 3DS is quite low-res so the larger models can look a bit less sharp, it bothers some people more than others (I'm personally fine with it).
Cool. Thanks. I'll just be keeping an eye on eBay until something sensible pops up.
We've actually tried quite hard to get your 3ds working again. It was suffering from the popping bug, so we bought the new ribbon cable to fix that but a couple screws were fused so just getting it open was a hassle. Then my sister (who was doing most of the work) lost the B button so we had to order another one of those. Finally we got it all out back together and now it refuses to read any sd cards. So I called it. Time of death, this afternoon.
It’s had a good innings, two careful owners and a lot of use: I think it can rest in peace. The build quality on those OG 3DS machines was never great, anyway.
I'm certainly not feeling short-changed. Looks like I can replace it for £60-70 from eBay. I might be able to snag a new version but I don't have any real desire to buy an XL and they seem to be a lot more expensive anyway.
If you use the 3D function, the New models are a massive upgrade.
If you don’t, they give improved performance in a handful of games but are otherwise non-essential.
I quite liked the 3d, but it's far from essential.
I got a New 3DS for our son for christmas as it happens. I'd say definitely get a "New" type, although it won't actually be new, obviously. There are a few games that only work on the New variety. Xenoblade Chronicals is probably the most notable. It's getting hard to find non-New models anyway. Whether you go for a normal size or an XL is up to you. There's no difference apart from the physical size of the screen. I got one from CEX, and the difference in price between the normals and the XLs was significant, and they had a pristine normal size one, so I got that.
They're not cheap, even now. You're looking at over £100. The price has gone up a lot since Christmas, actually.
We have most models in our staff shop. We usually see lots popping up in our internal Christmas sales for dirt cheap. But that's over six months away and entirely depends on if it even happens.
I have a couple of old ones somewhere in a box being unused - I'll dig them out and see if they work. I assume you still have your charger and stuff?
I do!
I grabbed a cheap 3ds on eBay in the end. £60 for an original white one. I decided paying almost double that for the upgraded "new" 3ds wasn't worth it. This one arrived in a massive hard case which makes the unit fairly heavy but comfortable to hold, it's also a battery extender which is nice.
So far I have reminded myself how fun, and unchallenging, Mario 3D Land is and Ghost Recon Tactics or whatever is called still holds up as a surprisingly good game with a terrible story.
The kids are playing Fantasy Life and Pokémon X.
I'm going to buy Crimson Shroud again. I never did finish it.
Can you get R4 cards for 3ds?
I was looking at them recently, I got a dsi for the little one, she doesn't play games on it yet but she loves drawing in the empty pictochat room or taking photos.
Annoying the ds card slot isn't working, I took it apart and played with the pins and now it will sometimes read games but need to have a proper look at it.
Ghost reacon is great though on that, need to get back to it as got stuck and gave up. Also don't think I ever played the Advance Wars on there so need to check into if I have it and just forgot, or if I did skip that dark conflict one.
Is this our unofficial 3DS thread? I think it is.
I'm having a bit of a 3DS revival at the moment. The eShop shuts permanently at the end of March so I've been trying to fill some gaps in my collection. I'm kind of assuming that (Nintendo being Nintendo) game patches will probably cease to exist when the eShop goes down, so I'm working through my physical and digital games loading everything at least once to make sure everything's up to date and then my 3DS can become an archive machine of all the great games that were released on it.
I still love the 3DS, a lot more than I do the Switch. The lighter weight and the clamshell design makes it far more comfortable to use, and I'm one of those weirdos that still thinks the 3D effect is amazingly cool (on the "New" models at least). Also it's the kind of system that will never be successfully emulated given the nature of its design so for once I'm quite keen to keep a working physical machine and games collection. It's certainly the last console I have where the majority of my library exists as physical games.
I'm surprised how much of its library I actually have. I've got most of the big first-party games from the first few years of its life, and quite a lot of third-party stuff too. I've just managed to fill a few gaps:
I guess the two big outstanding gaps in my collection are:
Still browsing eBay, Amazon etc for anything really good I might have missed. Prices are going up already and new hardware is now essentially unobtainable. If anyone has any recommendations for anything maybe slightly obscure that I might have missed then let me know.
EDIT: Rhythm Paradise Megamix added to the shopping list, damn you Mart.
The hinge on my DS (yes, the original) shattered a while back. I was idly looking for a replacement - I've had a weird urge to play Ouendan again lately - but they're really expensive and I'm not sure I can justify it.
I literally gave away a boxed DSi about a month ago, Ninchilla. Wish you'd have said, you could have had it.
You can play DS games on Android now. Some work better than others.
I didn't know the shop was still open, whilst I liked it I never got into the 3DS as much as I did the DS.
That Pocket Football game is brilliant and I don't think that ever came out on another system did it?
If I wanted to put a beefier, fresh new battery in my 3DS which would I want for a New 3DS specifically? If I get something too 'juicy' will it fry my 3DS from the inside out?
Also playing Theatrhythm: Curtain Call on my 3DS. I dunno' if I'll go super hard because the Switch/PS4 version is out next month so I dunno if I'd recommend it either (all depends on how it controls tbh) but if a rhythm/bemani game is judged on it's songslist it's hard to look at this game and say 'Nah, I don't think the entire Final Fantasy series including spin offs had good songs and I definitely don't think Nier, The World Ends With You and SaGa had good OST either (if you hold this opinion unironically I'll be very shocked but have a nice day I guess)
I literally gave away a boxed DSi about a month ago, Ninchilla. Wish you'd have said, you could have had it.
Well, shit. 
If I wanted to put a beefier, fresh new battery in my 3DS which would I want for a New 3DS specifically? If I get something too 'juicy' will it fry my 3DS from the inside out?
Honestly… fuck knows. Tech internet likely does.
- all the Atlus RPGs that were released for it, I don't really know where to start.
Radiant Historia is a good, it's a nicely put together timey-wimey traditional JRPG type thing.
Good move getting DQ7 too, lovely game (although a little slow to get going). It's more explicitly episodic than other DQs I've played, really suits the format.
The hinge on my DS (yes, the original) shattered a while back. I was idly looking for a replacement - I've had a weird urge to play Ouendan again lately - but they're really expensive and I'm not sure I can justify it.
I have a standard 3DS in a hard case in the loft, I upgraded to the New one - I'm not sure where the charger is, but I'll have a look if you want it. I think they are fully back compat?
Yeah, I think any DS games work on anything with "DS" in the name - how much do you want for it?
Except for Xenoblade Chronicles which was only New 3DS
That's fine, I have no 3DS games (never owned one), and I'm not really looking to expand my collection - just play what I already have.
Just FYI, Ninchilla: I'm in our staff shop right now and there's a big pile of brand new boxed New Nintendo 2DS XLs (white with orange trim) for €40 each. Shout if you want one!
I've just taken possession of Cheddar's 3DS, in fact, but thanks for the heads-up!
Just FYI, Ninchilla: I'm in our staff shop right now and there's a big pile of brand new boxed New Nintendo 2DS XLs (white with orange trim) for €40 each. Shout if you want one!
I can highly recommend Mart's 3DS buying-and-shipping skills.
Incidentally, you can sell those on Facebook Marketplace here for £300 quid. (I kept mine!)
Incidentally, you can sell those on Facebook Marketplace here for £300 quid. (I kept mine!)
WHAT.
(I would be fired immediately if I did this, so no. 
)
Just FYI, Ninchilla: I'm in our staff shop right now and there's a big pile of brand new boxed New Nintendo 2DS XLs (white with orange trim) for €40 each. Shout if you want one!
Oh, if they're still there, I'll take one please!
Want me to pm you to sort out the logistics? 🙂
Message replied!
Ages behind everyone else I have just seen the 3ds and the Wii U eshop closes this month.
I need to find the charger for my 3DS but I oddly still have the Wii U up in my games and office space and had it on last week as just had a ridiculous HDMI Switch arrive so was testing that.
Just checked some of the "suggestions to buy" list but what lesser known stuff do they have?
Mart I presume all those 2ds Xls are gone?
Mart I presume all those 2ds Xls are gone?
They come up now and then. I can keep an eye out if you want one.
Yeah cheers. My kid has just started to ask about the ds and 3ds games she has spotted about the place.
If you're planning to get any digital ones, you'll need to get on that ASAP. You can get them without a 3DS by just making sure your Nintendo Network ID (NNID) is linked to your Switch's Nintendo Account (NA). Then you can just buy games through the relevant gamepages on the Nintendo website (nintendo.co.uk for you) and they'll be added to your Download list when you set up the 3DS. That's assuming they don't disable the ability to add NNIDs post closure… but I don't believe that's happening.
My younger kid has just found my 3ds which has been missing for about a year!
Now to quickly decide if I want to buy anything for it while I still can.
Get Pocket Card Jockey!
Pocket Card Jockey, Rhythm Heaven Megamix, Picross 3D Round 2, Pokémon Picross (and the free Zelda one assuming it's still available from My Nintendo with Platinum Points), HarmoKnight, the Mario & Luigi games, Luigi's Mansion, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call, the Hatsune Miku game they released, Virtue's Last Reward, Bye Bye BoxBoy, Pushmo and the sequel… will add more if I think of them.
You can't get Fire Emblem Awakening as I think that already got removed from the store early… something to do with having to play a chunk of it to get to the part where you 'buy' the DLC that matches your story path.
That’s Fire Emblem Fates you’re thinking of there Mart… Awakening should still be available.
Also, some games are still cheaper on cart, though I'd expect them to go up in price rapidly once the shop closes. I've picked up WarioWare Gold, Dragon Quest VII and a couple of other bits at quite reasonable prices lately.
Still hanging on in the hope of a last-minute fire sale for some of the stuff on the eShop but it's looking less likely with every passing day. I've got 90% of what I want now, just got a few gaps to fill. Don't forget some games also have DLC which you might want to pick up before the shop closes (for instance the two 3DS Phoenix Wright games have excellent DLC cases which are well worth getting).
That’s Fire Emblem Fates you’re thinking of there Mart… Awakening should still be available.
Ah, yeah, good catch.
Still hanging on in the hope of a last-minute fire sale for some of the stuff on the eShop but it's looking less likely with every passing day.
Some companies are doing it - Thunderful has one up, which covers all the awesome SteamWorld titles - but why it's not a blanket thing totally bemuses me. There's so much money there to be made, just getting flushed away. Given how long it takes to set things up on the backend too, I think what's there now is your lot. Capcom has one up with some fabulous titles… but it's US only and there's nothing I can see of it coming to Europe. Bullshit.
The steam world games are cheap. Are they not available on other platforms though?
I have no idea what Pocket Card Jockey is, but it's a Feltmonkey recommendation so it's probably weird.
Fire Emblem is tempting, but they are expensive.
Yeah, Steamworld games are on everything, the 3DS versions are decent though.
There are three Fire Emblem games on 3DS - Awakening is the most widely-liked of the three, Fates isn't worth considering as it's now impossible to get the full game, and Shadows of Valentia is a remake of one of the older titles. They're all full-price still even on cart and are only likely to increase in price - honestly you'd probably be better off getting one of the Switch instalments instead at this point.
My recommendations for weird 3DS games you're not likely to get anywhere else would be Kid Icarus Uprising (unless you are left-handed, in which case it's virtually impossible to play), Zelda: Link Between Worlds (the last traditional Zelda game we got and honestly one of the best, with amazing use of 3D), Aero Porter (eShop-only luggage sorting game), and the two exclusive Phoenix Wright games.
I have no idea what Pocket Card Jockey is, but it's a Feltmonkey recommendation so it's probably weird.
Pocket Card Jockey is a Solitaire-based horse racing adventure, made by the Pokémon team. It's ace. Definitely, definitely get it (it's now also on Apple Arcade).
So in the end I bought Zelda Link Between Worlds and Crimson Shroud. Everything else is too expensive for jrpgs I'll probably never get around to playing.
Been playing WarioWare Gold a bit this weekend, it's great. I mean it's exactly the same as every other WarioWare game and it's definitely a series where they nailed it the best in the first instalment, but it's fun and it's very silly and it's made me laugh a few times so it's a thumbs up from me.
My favourite Wario Ware was the one for the GBA with the tilt sensor. So much of what it tried ended up in Wii games with it's motion controller and it's huge!
I don't really understand Pocket Card Jockey.
I play all the solitaire games, clear all the cards, seem to be doing well, then in the final race bit I'm just stuck behind every other horse, and the Go button and blue flame cards don't make me go much faster.
The horse that pops up with tips always says "You didn't get a great start that time" but I usually do. I get the five-orb Start card, and quite quickly too.
How do I actually win?
I need to go back to this, so I can check what the deal is. Sounds like you're doing it right, and yet getting it oh so wrong.
Yeah it's frustrating because there's clearly just one mechanic I'm missing, but even watching Youtube videos I can't figure it out.
I just had one race where I got a perfect 5 orb start (in 3 seconds), cleared all the cards in comfort zone 3 every time, stayed near the post to avoid the turn penalty, got the super wotsit on the final heat mode, ended up with about 350 fire… things, had enthusiasm 100… and came eleventh. My horse just doesn't go fast in that last bit, even with the blue flame card and 'Go' button.
So I end up playing an enjoyable little solitaire game for ten minutes, then wasting it all in the final 20 seconds.
This game is significantly more complex than I remember… and also much funnier, I've laughed repeatedly at the player jockey's stupidity.
I'm not really sure what you're doing wrong, unless you're already on some late game races? I just won my first G1 and have only lost one race so far. I'm doing pretty much everything you are:
So I don't know what the difference is? Maybe it's because you didn't name your ride Barry P. Horsey like I did, that's probably it.