Get it

According to some users on this site I thought the VITA was the only handheld you ever needed to own

Yeah I have 3 of the bloody things 2 originals and an XL although I have been spending all of my gaming time with the WiiU I mainly use the 3DS for Resi Evil Mercs & Revelations online, Tekken online fights and Virtual Console/eShop titles. I was never into Pokemons and Denpamens because I always assumed those types of games were for babies.

Ordinarily I find this kind of post annoying because it smacks of trolling since making a decision on whether or not to buy something based upon opinions of strangers on Internet forums isn't a great idea and such posters are often disingenuous and are merely trying to stir people up.

In this case however it looks like a genuine outreach and was useful to me as well since my daughter is a big Pokemon fan and that's pretty much all that's driving me to consider getting a 3DS for her birthday so she can then get the new game at launch. I wasn't aware of the screen resolution issue; since she's got DSiWare to transfer I wouldn't be trading in her DSI towards the purchase which will give her a chance to see how DS games look before migrating them.

This does spur an additional question:

I understand that DSiWare can only run from internal storage on the 3DS and she only has a few titles, but how much storage is available for this?

I'll probably mainly be getting her retail downloads where possible so I figure a 32GB SDHC card is in order given the file sizes.

Long as we're talking Pokemon what eShop titles are available and does anyone have any favourites so I could potentially pre-load the system for her?

@sean_aaron
Yes, dsiware can only play off internal storage. There isn't much space either. That's a downside for sure, but I haven't had an issue since I didn't have dsiware games to start. You can store them on the sd card and swap them out as you want them however.
DS games look just fine on the 3DS. You won't find this to be an issue.
I don't know how old your daughter is, but I have a nine year old son. The eshop games he enjoys are pushmo, zelda (NES version) and Denpa men.

@Sean_aaron, for eShop games, Family Tennis 3D, Pushmo, Denpa Men, 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure, 3D Classics: Twinbee, Mario Land 2 (VC), Kirby's Dream Land (VC), Kirby's Block Ball (VC), Tetris (VC), and Super Mario Bros (VC) should be safe picks for your daughter.

Some (like Twinbee) might be a little difficult, but content wise they're all good. The bold titles are the ones I'd really recommend, though.

I've been buying almost exclusively Nintendo handhelds with the exception of Sega Gamegear (because it had color!). I pre-ordered the 3DS due to the great experience I had on the DS. The strength of the DS was that it offered very original and creative games not to mention it started the casual gamer games that have carried over to the iOS and Android machines. The only problem with the DS and with Nintendo in geneeral was very little 3rd party support. With the 3DS, Nintendo vowed to change that and the 3DS has started to enjoy 3rd party support. The top game IMHO last year was Resident Evil Revelations. Capcom promised a console worthy title on a handheld and they delivered. It is close to 4 gig which is still the biggest to date I believe. While a port MGS III showed graphical improvement over the PS2 title. The eshop offerings have been amazing. If you like platform games there is Mighty Switch Force which uses the 3D effect in hilarious ways (you or your enemies get crushed onto your screen!) and is my personal favorite platformer at the moment. Pushmo and its successor, Crashmo is a popular puzzle game that uses the 3D effect to solve the puzzles. Marvel Pinball is amazing on the 3DS and I can't wait for more DLCs for it! Denpaman utilizes AR technology in which you grab these virtual creatures from the your real world surroundings, form a party, and go dungeon romping.

The eshop has even begun to offer exclusive only digital download of retail quality games such as Unchained Blades which was Japan only retail game. They also have begun offering digital versions of some retail games. It seems you are really into rpgs and the 3DS has gotten quite a few up to now. There is eshop offereings of Unchained Blades, Denpamen, and Crimson Shroud. For retail there is Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor, Harvest Moon, Tales of the Abyss,

To your question about DS games on 3DS- it is so bad that I won't play DS games on it. Luckly I have my original phat DS. The colors get all weird and if you decide to play in original resolution, the screen suddenly becomes so small to be unplayable (at least to me).

To your question about Pokemon: I believe you can trade and battle other Pokemon players around the globe.

Anyway, I wholeheartedly recommend the 3DS if you like quarky and cute, innovative and original, and if you have enjoyed Nintendo games in the past. if you are worried about the smaller screen size (compared to your Vita) get the 3DS XL. The social aspect of the device is much better than the near useless Near (Sony's answer to Nintendo's Streetpass/Spotpass feature). I enjoy it s much that I take my 3DS everywhere hoping to collect another Mii which can be used for other games such as Mii Quest (a very silly dungeon romp).

Thanks for the feedback guys, though I was specifically interested in any pokemon eShop titles (I assume they exist). She's going to be ten in June, but I expect I'll get it at the end of the month since I have some holiday standby money coming. Nice to see the console is cheaper than I thought it was; she wants the red one.

Though she does have a few other games pretty much the only thing she plays on it now is Pokemon Black version 2.

@sean_aaron
There's Pokemon dream radar. In which you can catch one of 20 some Pokemon in an AR style game. You can then import these caught Pokemon directly into your Pokemon black/white 2 game. Also, there's the pokedex that has all info on every Pokemon and displays them in 3d. Otherwise, that's it for Pokemon eshop games.

Don't forget about the Virtual Console!

Both of those sound right up her alley. Super, that's the bounus pre-installed software covered!

Just remember that the Pokédex is $15 (the most expensive eShop item), and it's not even a game per sé.

It has loads of statitics, facts, 3D models, and sounds of all the Pokémon, as well as a couple of quizes, but that's it I believe (someone clarify if I'm wrong).

She knows what a pokedex is and despite having one in-game I'm willing to bet she'd still like the standalone version, but I'll read the review to be sure.