Early opinions & observations of the "New" 3DS XL

[gf78]

I didn't really think about the system being awkward to use until I went into a used game shop, and a kid and his mom were trading in stuff so he could get a GBA SP, I think.  They said they had gotten him a Vita a while back but immediately returned it because they were really confused by the backscreen and how to operate it in general.  He just wanted something simple, where all you do is plug in a game and play.  From that standpoint, a lot of the modern consoles fail.  I'm personally tired of modern consoles trying to be a one-stop shop for all your entertainment needs.

I haven't played on the Vita myself, but the bf has one.  I do love my PSTV, though.  Navigating the "dashboard" screens or whatever still confuse me, but once I am actually playing games, it's a good microconsole 

I still encourage folks to get Vita games and still hold on to the hope that more Vita support will come down the line! We'll see... 

Weird.  I would figure that juggling two screens, a stylus and blowing into the microphone would be more confusing.  But that's just me.

The dashboard on the PSTV is stupid.  It's exactly like what is on the Vita...but that is made for a touch interface.  It's awkward trying to use it on a television.

[aliensstudios]

Very true, straight up specs don't mean much if you don't have the means to deliver it (like a fast car with no wheels). I think the motion controls really hampered what could be done with the Wii as well, and so the games had to take a step down.

It's good to know that I'm not the only one who thinks the Wii's graphics were actually worse than the Gamecube's.   

I think Mario Kart Double Dash's graphics greatly outdo Mario Kart Wii's.

[aliensstudios]

Xenoblade Chronicles doesn't look much better on the Wii either. I think the PS2 is about on par with it. No charger though? That's ridiculous in this day in age.

I'm pretty sure the Wii is about as powerful as the original Xbox, give or take.

That's what they always claim and maybe I just see the Gamecube through rose-tinted glasses and the Wii through turd-tinted glasses, but I always thought Gamecube games looked on-par with Xbox games and the Wii games never looked as good as the Gamecube game. 

Maybe it's just because I despise the Wii's waggle-wand-forced motion controls, but that's what I see.

I agree. I think original Xbox and GameCube looked better than Wii. And I own all 3 consoles. I think Wii was more on par with PS2. Of course Nintendo's first-party titles looked better on Wii than other games, but then so did Sony's first-party titles on PS2.

Very true, straight up specs don't mean much if you don't have the means to deliver it (like a fast car with no wheels). I think the motion controls really hampered what could be done with the Wii as well, and so the games had to take a step down.

I kind of disagree with that. The number of quality games on the Wii probably is right on par with the number on GameCube, in fact it might exceed it. There is a lot of shovelware on the console but that can be said for the GameCube too. Motion controls or not, I don't think the games were hampered by it by design. I just don't think bad developers like EA knew how to use it.

[desocietas]

Weird.  I would figure that juggling two screens, a stylus and blowing into the microphone would be more confusing.  But that's just me.

Haha, fair enough, but the DS started that back in 2004 (ugh, over 10 years ago  ), and maybe a handful of games these days still implement the microphone feature.  A good portion don't use the stylus either.

I also wasn't sure about the double screen back in 2004, but it makes a lot of logical sense now, and I rather enjoy it.  It's a good way to expand screen real estate without making the system less portable-friendly.  And I think it created a lot of interesting game dev design choices outside of the usual 1-screen format (i.e. Etrian Odyssey, Elite Beat Agents, Rhythm Heaven, Hotel Dusk).

[telly]

I kind of disagree with that. The number of quality games on the Wii probably is right on par with the number on GameCube, in fact it might exceed it. There is a lot of shovelware on the console but that can be said for the GameCube too. Motion controls or not, I don't think the games were hampered by it by design. I just don't think bad developers like EA knew how to use it.

You may be right; I can't speak to the quality of Wii games EDIT: (in terms of graphical fidelity as opposed to the video output, and Maximo covered how the Wii's video output isn't that great) But concerning the experience of playing a Wii game I will at least say that: how many people prefer to play Smash Bros. Brawl with a GC controller instead of the Wii mote? Or Mario Kart Wii with a GC controller instead of a Wii mote/steering wheel?  Do you think that Brawl/Mario Kart Wii would still be just as good if there was no option to use a GameCube controller?

I think games like that speak to my point: The games are/ may be  of good quality yes, but are hampered by a bad delivery - motion controls. There are definitely exceptions though - like Resident Evil 4 (and probably others). But I think that out of however many quality games there are on the Wii, a lot of them (at least some of them) are held back by motion controls. I do need to play more stuff on the Wii though to form my opinion a little better

[gf78]

You may be right; I can't speak to the quality of Wii games since I don't own one myself, but I will at least say that: how many people prefer to play Smash Bros. Brawl with a GC controller instead of the Wii mote? Or Mario Kart Wii with a GC controller instead of a Wii mote/steering wheel?  Do you think that Brawl/Mario Kart Wii would still be just as good if there was no option to use a GameCube controller?

I think games like that speak to my point: The games are/ may be  of good quality yes, but are hampered by a bad delivery - motion controls. There are definitely exceptions though - like Resident Evil 4 (and probably others). But I think that out of however many quality games there are on the Wii, a lot of them (at least some of them) are held back by motion controls. I do need to play more stuff on the Wii though to form my opinion a little better

For me, the Wii's waggle-wand motion controls absolutely destroyed my enjoyment of the games on it.  The only two "AAA" games on the system that I can really stand to play are New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Donkey Kong Country Returns.  You just turn the Wiimote sideways and play (aside from the occasional shaking motion).  There are other games that I play on it, but the motion controls cast a dark cloud over every facet of the system for me.  Knowing that I can't play Zelda Twilight Princess or Mario Galaxy with normal controls ruined them for me.  Didn't even want to play them.  Why can't I just hit "X" to swing Link's sword instead of shaking a damn stick?  I hate even navigating the dashboard at startup with that damn remote.  Couple it with the graphics that were worse than it's predecessor and an ugly ass interface that looks like a 2-year-old designed it and it's my most hated Nintendo system.  Well, I should say that the only other Nintendo system I have no love for is the N64.  NES, SNES, Gamecube and Wii U are great. 

[aliensstudios]

I kind of disagree with that. The number of quality games on the Wii probably is right on par with the number on GameCube, in fact it might exceed it. There is a lot of shovelware on the console but that can be said for the GameCube too. Motion controls or not, I don't think the games were hampered by it by design. I just don't think bad developers like EA knew how to use it.

You may be right; I can't speak to the quality of Wii games EDIT: (in terms of graphical fidelity as opposed to the video output, and Maximo covered how the Wii's video output isn't that great) But concerning the experience of playing a Wii game I will at least say that: how many people prefer to play Smash Bros. Brawl with a GC controller instead of the Wii mote? Or Mario Kart Wii with a GC controller instead of a Wii mote/steering wheel?  Do you think that Brawl/Mario Kart Wii would still be just as good if there was no option to use a GameCube controller?

I think games like that speak to my point: The games are/ may be  of good quality yes, but are hampered by a bad delivery - motion controls. There are definitely exceptions though - like Resident Evil 4 (and probably others). But I think that out of however many quality games there are on the Wii, a lot of them (at least some of them) are held back by motion controls. I do need to play more stuff on the Wii though to form my opinion a little better

Those are some pretty good points. I think motion is better in some cases like Pikmin and Zelda: Twilight Princess. Even Mario Kart Wii was more enjoyable (for me at least) with a Wii remote. Smash Bros? Well I don't think they would have even developed it if they didn't have traditional control in mind.

[turom]

For me, the Wii's waggle-wand motion controls absolutely destroyed my enjoyment of the games on it.

Same experience here, playing Skyward Sword, Metroid Prime trilogy or even this cool Silent Hill game on the Wii got me the fun half-spoiled by the mandatory motion controls. I wish those were playable with a GameCube controller.

I'm just sick of it, you have no accuracy and no comfort when playing with those. We now have a technology that allows us to build high-end controllers that have very accurate response to your inputs, the Dual Shock 4 controller is an amazing opposite example. Waving the wiimote and try to break an enemy's guard or achieve a parry in Zelda SS after playing Zelda TP with a GC controller was like switching from a SANWA arcade set to an Atari 2600's stick. You have to play slow paced and you succeed like 60% of the time to do what was intended.

For the Wii U I couldn't care less about the Gamepad screen, I wish there was just a pro controller, it's a nice controller, very lightweight and with a good battery duration. I'm glad that they didn't use the Gamepad at all for Yoshi's Wooly World, I'm having a lot of fun on this game, good old platforming and focus on traditional gameplay. Now I just hope they won't try to justify the Gamepad's use too much in the next Zelda, if they intend to release it on the NX maybe they'll come back to their senses and make the NX traditional controls so no silly features will be mandatory in the game.

As for the next Starfox: If they wouldn't have tried to justify the Gamepad usefulness with the dual point of view thing that requires to render the game twice in 60Hz maybe Platinum Games could make a much better looking game, but the silly useless feature comes in the way and they really seem to think it has a real gameplay value? You know, like I'm watching both screens at the same time whiel I'm shooting...

[kamikazekeeg]

Xenoblade Chronicles is just the worst on 3DS and I don't think it has anything to do with the games screen.  It runs pretty poorly in busy spots like boss fights, textures are awful, and I think it's simply comes down to they tried to hard to shrink down a Wii game, hence why it has almost no extra polish or features cause they couldn't add anything more or didn't have the time.  I would almost call it a bad port.  It's playable, but I was incredibly unimpressed and I got rid of it after a few hours of play.  Also had bad amiibo support lol

I like the New 3DS XL, but I'm someone that came into it from a 2DS, cause I wanted just a simple, easy way to play 3DS games, cause 3D is a useless function, and it's way cheaper.  The leap from that to this was pretty fantastic, and I'm happy with it.  The extra nub analog could've been way better though and they really dropped the ball on its design, but I'm glad I don't have to strap my 3DS into a secondary analog station to play something like Majora's Mask and it shows how big of an error it was to not create the 3DS with a second stick in the first place.

[gf78]

I like the New 3DS XL, but I'm someone that came into it from a 2DS, cause I wanted just a simple, easy way to play 3DS games, cause 3D is a useless function, and it's way cheaper.  The leap from that to this was pretty fantastic, and I'm happy with it.  The extra nub analog could've been way better though and they really dropped the ball on its design, but I'm glad I don't have to strap my 3DS into a secondary analog station to play something like Majora's Mask and it shows how big of an error it was to not create the 3DS with a second stick in the first place.

To me, it boils down to Nintendo being stubborn and refusing to go with the flow.  It goes all the way back to the NES.  Nintendo stubbornly refused to release a new system.  The Genesis began mopping the floor with them and they finally, begrudgingly came out with the SNES (another fantastic system) that they marketed as being for more "experienced" players.  Yeah...they really did that.

Then they refused to go with CD-ROM format with the N64 which pretty much cost them all of their 3rd party support to PlayStation.

Next up, they finally release a system with an optical drive, but make it a 1.5 gig proprietary mini-disc in a system shaped like a purple purse complete with a handle.  I love the Gamecube, but it was yet another bone-headed maneuver.  3rd party support quickly dried up as the storage wasn't sufficient for their needs.

Moving on, they release the Wii and force crappy motion controls on everyone for nearly every game, regardless if it would play better with a standard controller. 

Which brings us to the Wii U.  A system that arrived five years too late with a big tablet controller that most people don't want.  Again, I love the Wii U and I actually use the tablet screen to game in bed or when someone is watching the boob-tube, but combined with being an underpowered system, 3rd party support came to an abrupt halt less than a year in and 1st party offerings barely drip in.

I love Nintendo and some of the innovation they bring to the table.  But as much as they add to gaming, they take as much or more away by forcing goofy stuff on us that we don't want.  Don't tell me how I have to play a game, give it to me and allow me to play it.

[desocietas]

I love Nintendo and some of the innovation they bring to the table.  But as much as they add to gaming, they take as much or more away by forcing goofy stuff on us that we don't want.  Don't tell me how I have to play a game, give it to me and allow me to play it.

As silly as I originally thought the original DS was, I actually thought it did a great job of adding an easy innovative feature for devs.  Being able to utilize two screens, a touch screen, microphone, and streetpass created some really interesting games.  I spent many, many hours on Nintendogs, Elite Beat Agents, The World Ends With You, and so many other games that wouldn't have worked as well on a traditional home or handheld console.

I adored the DS and still do.  As silly as some things Nintendo decides to do, I'll always love what they gave me with the DS.

[krelyan]

I just wish they would hurry up and announce some new colors for the device.

[gf78]

I love Nintendo and some of the innovation they bring to the table.  But as much as they add to gaming, they take as much or more away by forcing goofy stuff on us that we don't want.  Don't tell me how I have to play a game, give it to me and allow me to play it.

As silly as I originally thought the original DS was, I actually thought it did a great job of adding an easy innovative feature for devs.  Being able to utilize two screens, a touch screen, microphone, and streetpass created some really interesting games.  I spent many, many hours on Nintendogs, Elite Beat Agents, The World Ends With You, and so many other games that wouldn't have worked as well on a traditional home or handheld console.

I adored the DS and still do.  As silly as some things Nintendo decides to do, I'll always love what they gave me with the DS.

I agree with your sentiments when it comes to the DS and Nintendo hand-held systems in general.  They are fun, solid little devices that get a pretty good variety of games.  And hey...3rd parties actually put stuff out on them!  It's why I have a GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, DS, DSi, 3DS and New 3DS. 

After I complete my "Square-25" collection (all 25 games by Squaresoft on the original PlayStation), I'm going after the Square titles I am missing on the Nintendo handhelds. 

The dual-screens work great and do add to games that are built around that feature.