Topic: Comparisons to the Vita from a Longtime owner who recently switched to 3DSXL

I may even do a Youtube movie on my channel LiquidEvil Gaming about this as i think with the Vita doing poorer and poorer many people are considering switching at this point (or still haven't decided yet period)

I'll make this simple and short so you don't have to read several Paragraphs of my ranting and or praise.

Things i PREFER about the 3DS XL
1.VASTLY superior games Library for almost any Genre anyone who says the 3DS is only mario and Pokemon (Though i love both) is kidding themselves

2. SD memory cards! THANK YOU NINTENDO! for using standard CHEAP memory instead of sony's 80$!!! for a 32 GB card proprietary memory. I can not thank Nintendo enough for this really...

3. The analog nub? While the 3DS does only have one it's FAR more comfortable and easier to use than the Vita's IMO especially over long sessions.

4. Not focusing on all PORTS and Indies experiences i can get superior versions of on Steam and or a console. What makes the 3DS unique is most of the games are exclusive to the handheld making me WANT to play it even if i'm not traveling.

5. Not focusing on Touch Screens on most of your games...if i wanted to use Touchscreens more i'd focus on my tablet or Phone more..My Galaxy note 3 runs Modern Combat 4 at 1080P flawlessly on max settings and looks visually superior to Vita..however it's pure touch screen or i have to carry around a MOGA controller which is a pain. The stylus and touchscreen is THERE on the 3DS but iv'e yet to encounter any game i play/like that forces it upon you.

6. a USER replaceable battery...this is HUGE to me as i tend to keep my handhelds unless i have a good reason not to and getting the battery replaced if it's not user replaceable costs a fortune.

7. A steady game release schedule, i can't tell you how many times on my Vita i went MONTHS without a decent game to buy. (No joke)

Now Things i PREFERRED about the Vita (Obviously not enough since i sold it and kept the 3DS XL i bought recently)

1. The online services/downloading of games...Nintendos policy on game downloads is downright Draconian so much so i refuse to give them a single dollar on the Eshop because i can't just easily re download them to another handheld if anything goes wrong or a second handheld etc...tying games to a machine is about the dumbest thing I've ever seen in my life. Also the Nintendo online friends service etc...seriously Friend codes? I feel like this is 1985 and i'm entering in a password code to an NES game that can't save to the cartridge...beef up your network Nintendo it's light years behind PSN in functionality.

2. Graphics (Obviously) but the quality of 3DS games is so much better i don't put much emphasis on this one...after all many SNES games i still prefer to any PS4/Xbox one/PC game.

3. Bluetooth this was an insane omission...so many headsets speakers etc i used to use with my Vita that i can not with my 3DS XL. I ended up buying a set of Seinheiser Earbuds to use with the 3DS XL since none of my bluetooth sets work and the stock speakers on Vita AND 3DS XL stink.

4. No second analog nub? For the love of god why....I realize it's a bit too late to add one now but from the get go...why why why....The stylus is a poor poor replacement for a second analog nub. I pray to the Gaming gods of Hyrule the next NIntendo handheld has a second Analog nub.

All in all i'm much happier with my 3DS XL than i was with my Vita and honestly i have bought more games for the 3DS XL in the last 30 days than i did for my Vita in 6+ Months(And that includes free PSN + downloads) If your considering making the switch and reading these forums...Do it you won't regret it..and this is coming from a Sony Diehard fan who lived by PSP and PSPGO and was a much bigger fan of the Playstation brand in general than nintendo and even with that I can't really find enough reasons to recommend a Vita over a 3DS.

On a total unrelated note....HURRY UP WITH PERSONA Q....CAN'T....WAIT.....MUCH....LONGER!

I agree with much of your assessment and don't have much to add. I actually did the opposite of you though, I just recently picked up my Vita after having been a 3DS owner for a couple of years now.

What really appealed to me with the Vita was that it seems to be a haven for the exact type of niche games I enjoyed on the PS3, such as visual novels and JRPGs. Developers like Atlus and NIS seem to have opted to keep developing for the PS3 and Vita rather than switch to the PC architecture and increased cost of the PS4. Combined with the fact that much of the Vita's library is ports of PS3 games, it's like being able to put a PS3 in my pocket and take it with me wherever I go, which is great because I absolutely love the PS3. It's not for everyone, but that's the kind of thing that I really enjoy about it so far.

The only thing that I really hate about it is the proprietary memory cards and their low storage capacity. For a system that encourages digital sales over physical, 32GB just doesn't cut it when games are typically well over 1GB each. Content Manager does ease the burden though.

But if you're looking for a unique gaming experience with one of the best software libraries of any system to date, then the 3DS would get my universal recommendation over the Vita as well.

Worth considering though, if you're a gamer on a budget, you can get a $50/year subscription to PS+ and have access to a lot of free games. It may not be always what you're looking for, but it's usually quality titles and a free game's a free game.

On an unrelated note... Persona Q and Persona 5 both can't get here fast enough.

@Caviarmeths
$50 for a subscription to games you cannot keep, is not free. That's like saying all the movies on Netflix are free, even though you're paying $8-10 a month for on demand.

@OP
I think you got everything right. While I agree bluetooth, 3G, etc. would be awesome, I just don't think Nintendo is there yet. Not to mention that you can buy bluetooth adapters or a mobile hotspot... The memory thing is weird, too. I don't get why Sony was unable to use SD cards for at least the PSP.

I think Sony could have done much more with PS Vita, but sometimes it just seems like Sony doesn't know what they're doing. I could make a list, but I don't think it's really necessary.

You know about the CPP, right? Works great. It's only useful for a few games though, which is the reason it's not included at the outset. Hardly any games of the 3DS need it, and therefore Nintendo rightfully didn't include it.

3G is useless, slow and laggy.

I agree with your comments with the 3DS, the 3ds is a better console because it has more exclusives and uses standard SD cards however the Vita has some other positives in addition to those you mention

1. Region Free
2. Account system'
3. More reasonable prices for classics... (Nintendo's VC prices look ridicuolous compared to Sony's pricing for PSone and PSP titles which are just a better value (if you disregard the part where they need to be stored in hyperexpensive propietary memory cards)

Are the prices different on Vita than on PSP then? Cos the more popular PS1 classics (FF7, MGS, RE2) are £8 on PSN for my PSP. That's more than anything on the 3DS VC (granted those games are better than anything on the NES or GBC)

I also agree with most of your points. Although I think it's insane how few people are buying the Vita cos it's a pretty awesome device too. The main thing that makes the 3DS the winner in my eyes is the exclusives. Games like Fire Emblem, Link Between Worlds, Mario 3D Land, OoT 3D are frankly worth about 3 vita exclusives each.
There are only 2 areas where I think the vita wins:
1) Graphics obviously (and the fact that it therefore gets a few console ports like Walking Dead)
2) Better indie games. Minecraft, Terraria, Fez, Limbo. Sorry people, they just outclass Steamworld Dig and Pushmo.

@Dezzy I use the NA store, most PSP titles are $9.99 and only the very top ones are $19.99 PSone some are $9.99... but there are plenty that are but plenty are $5.99..... those prices are more than Nintendo charges for NES, Gameboy, ect titles, but PSone and PSP titles simply hold better to modern games in terms of content, yah there are exceptions like SMB3 but most NES games, stuff like Urban Champions or Baloon Fight are not worth what Nintendo is charging for them...... you also have to add that Sony do more frequent and better sales, while Nintendo idea of a big sale is chopping of 1 dollar off stuff like DK Nes or Links awakening DS (Sony recently had a sale where you could get some psone classcis for Vita at 0.99 cents)......

Thats why I say Sony offers better value for money in their classics range for Vita than Nintendo does with the VC (again without factoring those damn memory cards which almost singlehandedly ruin all positives Vita has over 3DS)

It depends. I've watched videos in HD over 3G. That's more than enough to game online. Also, there is 4G. So ya, it depends... I should have said cellular internet, because that doesn't necessarily mean 3G.

Agreed on all counts. The Vita is simply a terribly designed system with games poorly suited for a handheld. It doesn't matter if Sony has a better account system than Nintendo, when they have worse games and worse hardware. Sure it may have more processing power, but that doesn't matter when the overall design is such a mess.

Nope.

@psxsage what's worse about the Vita design, software library of 3DS is definitvely better but Vita hardware is pretty good (3DS has two screens which I like but Vita has two analogues which I also like) Vita has the useless and uncomfortable rear touchpad that was tacked on in early games but Sony seems to have given up on it so it doesn't bothers me anymore than it is there......

I'm actually GLAD they gave up on it as games that rarely do use it (and PS4 remote play which uses it for R3 And L3) the way i held the Vita i always accidentally used the touch buttons on the back. The Vita is insanely uncomfortable to hold if you hold it the way it was intended without using a third party grip,so i always overlapped onto the back touchscreen somewhat.

@Aviator @Mahe

Well the hardware it depends from a horsepower prespective the Vita is unarguably more powerful but from a games prespective unless all you want is indies which are playable elsewhere and for MUCH less, Ports that have superior versions on console and only about 10% actual UNIQUE AAA experiences...than yeah the Vita games Library is really lacking. The TOP 20 Vita games sales wise COMBINED have not equaled to the Top ONE selling 3DS game.

3DS definitely has better games.

Sales ≠ quality.

@psxsage I agree the rear touchpad made thing uncomfortable but now that they are not using it and its not an issue to accidentally touch it, it doesn't matter that it is there...... I agree the 3DS library is far better but 2014 is shaping to be a good year for Vita (2013 really wasn't) with a number of triple AAA exclusives releasing (Dagganrompa 1+2, toukiden, Neptunia Re Birth + PP)

Agreed but the two problems with that are

1. Those are exceptionally niche games that none but the most hard-core gamers would even know of so they definitely won't help propel the Vita sales forward and less sales = less developers support = less AAA Games

2. While they do have a handful of decent titles coming this year for the first time in awhile it's just that... A handful, this has been a fairly slow year for the 3ds compared to the last and still they will dominate the sales market in handheld games. A "hit" year for the Vita is around 4 games that aren't indies or ports that are of any decent quality. Tear away and killzone mercenaries were both fantastic but they need an entire library of games like that not just a tiny shelf of them.

It technically is subjective about which system has the better library, but I'm sure that most would agree that 3DS has more games that appeal to a wider crowd,

Fairly put but it's unarguable by anyone that the 3ds has more hit games in every genre outside of FPS and sports games in total than the Vita does and that's likely not changing anytime soon. It's not that the Vita doesn't have some good games I didn't keep it since launch till last month to stare at it. It's just for every ONE great vita game I found in a genre I enjoy the 3ds offered me 5-20 in that same genre.

It's awesome that you're loving the 3DS! I personally like owning both systems. That way I don't miss out on anything (since I haven't played most of the ports and like the indies in portable form. Plus, those online sales are great).