The perfect way it feels in your hands. (adult hands at least, don't know about kids)
The glassless 3D that surprisingly WORKS and is amazing and for the first time ever sold me on this whole 3D gimmick. Screw movies and dorky glasses. This is 3D you can actually carry in your pocket and if you buy used you can have for as low as 100$. (and don't listen to the naysayers about the narrower 3D sweet spot of the XL...it's totally functional, I can't compare it with a regular 3DS but it just works...suffice it to say, I can still keep it in the sweet spot while aiming with the gyro in RE:Revelations, 3D slider to the max and "added" in-game 3D on "Normal", ok I'll admit that on higher than "Normal" it becomes impossible to use the gyro, but I think the same happens on a regular 3DS)
The MAJESTIC look of games on that HUGE widescreen display. I never owned a non-XL ds/3ds but I think it's safe to say that there's no reason to settle for anything less than the majestic immersive display of the XL version. Games feel like real honest-to-goodness bona fide home console games on that huge screen.
The killer looks of the RED model. Not as elegant and clean as a wine red DSi XL, with its glossy boxy minimalistic look, but still killer. With a mushroom decal or something Nintendo could have sold it as a Mario Limited Edition for 349$. I grabbed a good as new one for about 100$. No box, no club nintendo code, but who cares.
The gyro. Aiming with the gyro in RE:Revelations (what a game by the way...I must have finished the demo like 10 times now..so perfectly integrated with the console hardware, so well executed), and having 12 buttons (6 + d-pad + select/start) and a joystick (problems iPad/iPhone?), the touchscreen for the inventory management and map, and the 3D effect...wow. I'm a big iOS/Android gaming advocate, it's good for some genres, but you simply can't have all of the above on a phone/tablet.
Again, the 3D. I went back to the slider pad calibration menu screen just to see the animation of the nub hovering above the screen. Mind blowing how our brain can be tricked. Will I get tired/used to this? I don't know, at the moment I just can't understand people who leave the 3D slide turned off. I always keep it on max. Of course I understand people turning it off on 30FPS games like Dead or Alive. Not worth halving the FPS, especially in a fighting game.
Fun fact: I thought a volume SLIDER (as opposed to + an - buttons on my DSi XL) was stupid on paper, but now I see it as the best thing ever: you always know how loud you left the volume when opening the 3DS, no surprises. Wanna mute it before awaking the console? Just slide it all the way down. Handy.
About scratches: I've already scratched the touch screen (playing the stupid sky fishing mini-game in Mario vs Donkey Kong Minis, by the way great value for 9.99€ on the eShop) but it was entirely my fault because I used a non-licensed cheap stylus. Luckily the scratch is not visible when the screen is on. So my word of warning about scratches is: stick to official/licensed styluses and/or use screen protectors at least for the touchscreen. As for me, oh well at least I won't have a "new car syndrome" about it anymore.
Mad, mad props to Nintendo for what is easily the best all-in-one (i.e. including displays and controls) gaming console ever built. And props for bringing 3D gaming to the masses.
I don't know if and how they will improve it in the next few years (integrated circle pad pro? wider 3D sweet spot? better battery life? cleaner design?) but it's refreshing to see such a mature iteration so early in the life cycle of the platform.
What I'd like for the future is to have EVERY retail game also available on the eShop and an account system to make buying digital games less of a risky bet. They already keep track of purchases via Nintendo Club, just let me redownload my stuff on ONE authorized hardware. They can keep all of this optional if they don't wanna break the "convenience" (for kids and non-tech-savvy dads) of a zero-setup account-less system. The 3DS can hold up to 128GB SDXC cards, no reason to carry/store/swap game cartridges. (I know this will get a lot of hate by box+artwork+manual+cart lovers but it's just so convenient to have any game at any time)
Cheers
The glassless 3D that surprisingly WORKS and is amazing and for the first time ever sold me on this whole 3D gimmick. Screw movies and dorky glasses. This is 3D you can actually carry in your pocket and if you buy used you can have for as low as 100$. (and don't listen to the naysayers about the narrower 3D sweet spot of the XL...it's totally functional, I can't compare it with a regular 3DS but it just works...suffice it to say, I can still keep it in the sweet spot while aiming with the gyro in RE:Revelations, 3D slider to the max and "added" in-game 3D on "Normal", ok I'll admit that on higher than "Normal" it becomes impossible to use the gyro, but I think the same happens on a regular 3DS)
The MAJESTIC look of games on that HUGE widescreen display. I never owned a non-XL ds/3ds but I think it's safe to say that there's no reason to settle for anything less than the majestic immersive display of the XL version. Games feel like real honest-to-goodness bona fide home console games on that huge screen.
The killer looks of the RED model. Not as elegant and clean as a wine red DSi XL, with its glossy boxy minimalistic look, but still killer. With a mushroom decal or something Nintendo could have sold it as a Mario Limited Edition for 349$. I grabbed a good as new one for about 100$. No box, no club nintendo code, but who cares.
The gyro. Aiming with the gyro in RE:Revelations (what a game by the way...I must have finished the demo like 10 times now..so perfectly integrated with the console hardware, so well executed), and having 12 buttons (6 + d-pad + select/start) and a joystick (problems iPad/iPhone?), the touchscreen for the inventory management and map, and the 3D effect...wow. I'm a big iOS/Android gaming advocate, it's good for some genres, but you simply can't have all of the above on a phone/tablet.
Again, the 3D. I went back to the slider pad calibration menu screen just to see the animation of the nub hovering above the screen. Mind blowing how our brain can be tricked. Will I get tired/used to this? I don't know, at the moment I just can't understand people who leave the 3D slide turned off. I always keep it on max. Of course I understand people turning it off on 30FPS games like Dead or Alive. Not worth halving the FPS, especially in a fighting game.
Fun fact: I thought a volume SLIDER (as opposed to + an - buttons on my DSi XL) was stupid on paper, but now I see it as the best thing ever: you always know how loud you left the volume when opening the 3DS, no surprises. Wanna mute it before awaking the console? Just slide it all the way down. Handy.
About scratches: I've already scratched the touch screen (playing the stupid sky fishing mini-game in Mario vs Donkey Kong Minis, by the way great value for 9.99€ on the eShop) but it was entirely my fault because I used a non-licensed cheap stylus. Luckily the scratch is not visible when the screen is on. So my word of warning about scratches is: stick to official/licensed styluses and/or use screen protectors at least for the touchscreen. As for me, oh well at least I won't have a "new car syndrome" about it anymore.
Mad, mad props to Nintendo for what is easily the best all-in-one (i.e. including displays and controls) gaming console ever built. And props for bringing 3D gaming to the masses.
I don't know if and how they will improve it in the next few years (integrated circle pad pro? wider 3D sweet spot? better battery life? cleaner design?) but it's refreshing to see such a mature iteration so early in the life cycle of the platform.
What I'd like for the future is to have EVERY retail game also available on the eShop and an account system to make buying digital games less of a risky bet. They already keep track of purchases via Nintendo Club, just let me redownload my stuff on ONE authorized hardware. They can keep all of this optional if they don't wanna break the "convenience" (for kids and non-tech-savvy dads) of a zero-setup account-less system. The 3DS can hold up to 128GB SDXC cards, no reason to carry/store/swap game cartridges. (I know this will get a lot of hate by box+artwork+manual+cart lovers but it's just so convenient to have any game at any time)
Cheers
