After reading on here about an apparent change of release date for the 3DS XL at GAME, I decided to visit my local GAME shop and investigate this myself.
This turned out to be true, GAME are selling the 3DS XL on the 27th of July, a day earlier than the expected EU release date.
What's even more interesting is that the shop happened to have a 3DS XL demo unit readily available for play!
It was a pretty nice sight to behold in person, the screens look wonderful at this size and the 3D effect immediately looks much nicer than what the original model offers.
Unfortunately the protective enclosure was quite blocky and heavy, so I can't get a good impression on how much the systems weighs or feels in my hands. I was however able to pull out the 3DS XL stylus, which itself isn't too shabby. I'm certain it's the enclosure that is heavy since other 3DS demo unit (not pictured) was also considerably heavy with the enclosure.
In particular the Blue back, looks very nice.
Unfortunately the system wasn't running any software for some reason. There was this very young kid manhandling the system before me and somehow seemed to have crashed the system, displaying "An error has occured, please press and hold the power button", which I did.
I took the opportunity to set up a Mii and Streetpass Mii Plaza data, to allow for some Streetpass hits to happen. Anybody walking by this shop any time soon should hopefully get a notification on their 3DS that GAME has a 3DS Demo unit to try out.
Incidentally the Select/Home/Start buttons are much easier to press, but still lack a certain clickiness, but instead are quite soft to press. This is certainly an improvement over their horrid implementation on the 3DS.
With access to the DS Download Play menu, I got to transferring a Meteos Demo to the system.
Right off the bat, I loaded this in native resolution instead of upscaled by holding Select as I booted it, and it looks like the DS display mode is pretty much the same size as on a DSi, with added black space on the screens. Hurrah for not looking too small or too blurry!
Playing the game with the stylus felt pretty good, as with the game on a normal screen the precision of tapping the blocks to slide up and down was a little tricky, this is down either to holding the hefty system or an improperly calibrated screen, or simply not having played the game in such a long time. (It could also have been the kids manhandling the thing).
Overall though my impressions of the device are great and I'm all the more excited to be picking up one of these on Friday now, a day earlier than I was anticipating to boot.
Maybe if you visit your local GAME shop they'll have a 3DS XL demo unit too, if they had demo units to start with.
As i replied in my thread fella https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/3ds/3ds_release_date_chang... i played on one the other day and its definitely a much better experience on the bigger screens, however as i also have a DSi XL i was interested in how it handles/displayed DS games on it compared to the DSi XL as it might be worth getting rid of my DSi XL aswell as the screen is roughly the same size, now the 3DS displays DS games with a different colour palette compared to the DSi and the same is true with the 3DS XL i got the guy to run Animal Crossing on both the 3DS XL and the DSi XL and they most definately produce a different coloured image (will have to see which one is more accurate if its worth selling my DSi XL) TRUTH is if you know anything about displays that bigger is almost always better if the quality is there from Projector Screens to HDTV's to handheld devices etc i also played Starfox 64 on the 3DS XL whilst i was in there and having already got this game i can assure you it looks a whole lot better, prettier and your eye just picks out much more information at a glance thus improving the immersion factor.
I went back there today since it was on the way home again, this time I got to try out a regular 3DS XL unit rather than a demo one.
The game inside was Kid Icarus Uprising, and I got to try out Chapter 4.
The fast-paced action of KI:U looks outstanding as it unfolds on the enlarged screens, you can take in the detail so much better.
I played with the default controls, with increasing sensitivity mind you, and this played very comfortably as well. For this style of play the 3DS XL's enlarged size makes it comfier to hold and the added weight is negligible.
It was also a Silver unit I was playing on. I took a good look at it and whilst it's nice, I'm leaning more towards the Blue unit now.
It was definitely a treat getting to play my favourite 3DS title on the XL in advance.
1. What are the LR/ABXY buttons and D-Pad like?
2. How do DS games look without Start/Select? (Because holding them gets annoying XD)
The LR/ABXY buttons are great. They are made of the same matte material as the system as a whole, and don't feel glossy like the regular 3DS.
I'm sure the 3DS XL will not be getting sweaty like the 3DS.
I didn't try out any DS games in upscaled mode unfortunately, maybe another time but it's unlikely now.
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Topic: 3DS XL demo unit at GAME - Photos and impressions
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