Agreed over the dsi, though I love it. The only exception is if you only play physical media, then the DS lite's ability to play the entire GBA library is pretty cool.
For me it's the fact that I can emulate basically all retro consoles on the n3ds, including imo the best existent way to play VirtualBoy games in actual stereoscopic 3d. That on top of the fact that it's the only way to play 3ds games in the native experience, with 3d, which is impossible on any emulator. Combined with the social features and build quality of the device, and it's unbeatable. Get a USB 3ds charger and it's the perfect travel console. I bring it on every trip and leave it on streetpass mode. Especially for Japan trips, I still to this day pick up new street pass pings, which is so incredibly delightful to find when I get back to the hotel room.
Though I prefer the non xl version, as it's a truly portable console rather than the XL which is huge and heavy in my bag.
> the only way to play 3ds games in the native experience, with 3d, which is impossible on any emulator
You can get that with a headset; there's emulators for the Quest, or you can use Citra in SBS mode with a headset like the Vision Pro or Xreal glasses. But yeah it's more finnicky for sure.
Fun fact, all 3ds models can actually play GBA games natively. Nintendo only ever offered GBA games to early adopters who paid the launch price for the original 3ds after a significant price cut, but it's possible to sideload any rom to run natively.
I'm not sure. At least for me, part of the charm of these older consoles (do they qualify for the "retro" term yet?) is the smaller resolution of the displays. Especially for the bottom screen on the DS line, there is something very warm, fuzzy, and cosy about clearly being able to see each individual pixel.
Perhaps it's just nostalgia. I still own my DS Lite, though.
In 2004, the games I played that had come out ~22 years prior, give or take two years, were already considered retro: Donkey Kong, Pitfall, Pac-Man, Asteroids, etc. And ~21 years prior was the great video came crash of '83.
Suffice to say, we're dinosaurs. I've made my piece with it and spend a considerable amount of time listening to old British dudes break down 30 year old games.
I carried my N3DSXL pretty much everywhere while living and working in SF. Streetpass was such a cool feature for the urban lifestyle. The 3D experience on the New model was so much better than the old ones.
The biggest reason the 3DS can't provide what feels like a hologram is that the screen is too small. As objects come closer, they need to get bigger, but they can't get bigger than the screen's dimensions. So most games focused on objects going into the screen, instead of popping out.
But I think the 3D served one really wonderful purpose: it made the small screen feel larger overall. Not large, maybe, but larger than it really was.
Agreed over the dsi, though I love it. The only exception is if you only play physical media, then the DS lite's ability to play the entire GBA library is pretty cool.
For me it's the fact that I can emulate basically all retro consoles on the n3ds, including imo the best existent way to play VirtualBoy games in actual stereoscopic 3d. That on top of the fact that it's the only way to play 3ds games in the native experience, with 3d, which is impossible on any emulator. Combined with the social features and build quality of the device, and it's unbeatable. Get a USB 3ds charger and it's the perfect travel console. I bring it on every trip and leave it on streetpass mode. Especially for Japan trips, I still to this day pick up new street pass pings, which is so incredibly delightful to find when I get back to the hotel room.
Though I prefer the non xl version, as it's a truly portable console rather than the XL which is huge and heavy in my bag.
> the only way to play 3ds games in the native experience, with 3d, which is impossible on any emulator
You can get that with a headset; there's emulators for the Quest, or you can use Citra in SBS mode with a headset like the Vision Pro or Xreal glasses. But yeah it's more finnicky for sure.
Fun fact, all 3ds models can actually play GBA games natively. Nintendo only ever offered GBA games to early adopters who paid the launch price for the original 3ds after a significant price cut, but it's possible to sideload any rom to run natively.
I'm not sure. At least for me, part of the charm of these older consoles (do they qualify for the "retro" term yet?) is the smaller resolution of the displays. Especially for the bottom screen on the DS line, there is something very warm, fuzzy, and cosy about clearly being able to see each individual pixel.
Perhaps it's just nostalgia. I still own my DS Lite, though.
The DS came out ~21 years ago, in 2004.
In 2004, the games I played that had come out ~22 years prior, give or take two years, were already considered retro: Donkey Kong, Pitfall, Pac-Man, Asteroids, etc. And ~21 years prior was the great video came crash of '83.
Suffice to say, we're dinosaurs. I've made my piece with it and spend a considerable amount of time listening to old British dudes break down 30 year old games.
The best music is always from ones own youth
I carried my N3DSXL pretty much everywhere while living and working in SF. Streetpass was such a cool feature for the urban lifestyle. The 3D experience on the New model was so much better than the old ones.
I only played it briefly with a friend (street fighter) and the actual 3d seemed neat but it didn't wow me (or my eyes couldn't focus properly?).
I wanted to be wow-ed at the level of that old cowboy arcade hologram game. :)
I'm sure since it was the newest hardware it was the best.
The biggest reason the 3DS can't provide what feels like a hologram is that the screen is too small. As objects come closer, they need to get bigger, but they can't get bigger than the screen's dimensions. So most games focused on objects going into the screen, instead of popping out.
But I think the 3D served one really wonderful purpose: it made the small screen feel larger overall. Not large, maybe, but larger than it really was.
> old cowboy arcade hologram game
Sega Time Traveler
Playe it a few times. Never made it very far. Sure was cool to look at though.