Topic: Which ?DS?

Hej!
It's been a while since Nintendo released the first DS, and now there are more and more games for it that i would actually want to buy, so i thought it may be a good idea to think about buying one, but here is my issue: There are at least 5 of the ruddy things!

Well, i never really played with one, but the DSi XL seems nice. I would like a proper stylus, and the bigger display, just for the comfort, since i wouldn't carry it around much anyways, but then the colors suck - are there maybe some special editions? Import is fine with me. On the other hand i'm quite tempted to get a 3DS now that the price dropped, but i heard the device damages itself by screen scratching or something like that. While this hopefully should be an easy fix, i would prefer it if the problem wouldn't exist in the first place. Any chances of Nintendo fixing that issue within a reasonable amount of time (within one year or so)? How is the 3D btw? Anything else i would like to know? And can i still play import games? I live in Europe if that makes any difference.

The DS isn't exactly my field of expertise, i'm mainly a retro gamer, sorry for the stupid questions. Back in my days we got a monochrome display in a big gray brick and it was good that way hrhr.

Well I would recommend getting the 3DS so you can play both 3DS games and DS games. As for the screen scratching problems, I've never had that problem, but you could put a cloth in between the screens when closing it as a way to ensure they don't touch. And for the 3D I've seen it seems to be the more depth kind of 3D and it's really my longest time with using any kind of 3D. The 3DS is capable of the depth and popping-out 3D I believe. As for 3DS games, they are region-locked, and some DS games that used DSi's enhancements are also region-locked I believe.

Get a 3DS. Don't let all the talk about the 3D hurting your eyes or being bad get in your way, because it's not true. With the price being so much closer to that of the DS/DSlite/DSi/XL with the price drop, you'll regret not buying a 3DS. The only downside is the way the 3DS displays DS games; the different screen resolution makes DS games look grainy and washed out. However, some people say that the display looks better after updates, but I'm not sure about that. I couldn't see buying a DS just for better image quality, when you could buy a 3DS for only a bit more $ and get so much more out of it.

Current batches of the 3DS have reportedly fixed the screen scratching problem. Now I will once again fade into anonymity.

I think the resolution issue is worth considering - I bought a DSi XL rather than waiting for a 3DS as a result.

To elaborate: the 3DS has a higher resolution than the DS. As a result, when DS games are played on a 3DS they can either be run at their original resolution (making them look quite small) or at a higher resolution, which stretches them to fill the 3DS screen (although they do not display in widescreen). As the 3DS resolution is not an integer multiple of the DS resolution, the scaling is not perfect and can result in things looking blurry.

This may not be an issue for you, and if you want to play 3DS games then a 3DS may be the best option. It'll mainly affect sprite-based games.

I have both a DSi XL and DS Lite, both of which are nice. The XL in particular is great but obviously not as portable as the Lite. It has great battery life, the screens are excellent and the bigger stylus suits my man-hands.

As for importing, it's not an issue for most games. If you get a DS Lite, there's absolutely nothing to worry about as it does not support any form of region locking. It gets more complicated with the others:

• A select few DS games are region-locked, but the vast majority are not. A good way of checking is to look at Play-Asia, which will tell you if a particular game is region locked. These few games will be region locked when playing on a DSi or 3DS.
• All 3DS games, to my knowledge, are region locked.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! (I'm in Australia and have a US DSi XL so I'm pretty familiar with importing).

If you do decide to get a 3DS be careful about import games. I have a DSi XL and a 3DS, so it's not an issue for me but if you're going to buy most of your games second hand make sure they're your region. I bought a game from EB Games and tried it on my 3DS but it didn't work so I took it back. They told me that the 3DS was region locked which was why it didn't work and I switched it for another. The Bloke reckoned the one I picked should be right but lo and behold when I put in my 3DS it was an import.

That's typical of game retailer staff. They know nothing. The 3DS is region locked, but DS games are not, so they will work on the 3DS regardless of where they came from.

The DS game you bought was broken in some way.

There are a few region-locked DS games. Out of interest, what was it Usagi-san?

DSi games (and I think DSi-enhanced games) are region locked. DS games are not.

@Wheels2050: I suppose it could have been a region locked DS game, I'd forgotten that some are locked. The game was an Advance Wars game for the DS probably "Advance Wars: Day of Ruin" but I swapped it for "Tom Clancy's Endwar".

@WaltzElf: All the games I have that work in my Dsi XL and not my 3DS are Nintendo DS not Dsi.

They changed the rubber fittings on the sides of the top screen to make them long enough so as not come into contact with the bottom screen. So now no more scratches. This however doesn't help me any since i have scratches on both sides of my screen now. I'll send mine in eventually but a lot of good stuff is comming out soon.

Ah right, I forgot that there are some DSi-only games around. A difference in terminology though - I take DS games to mean DS and DSi-Enhanced (particularly as they are both advertised under the 'DS' brand, and can't be told apart on a shelf unless you look at the product code), the latter of which are usually region-locked.

WaltzElf is right though, there must have been something wrong with the game. AW:DoR isn't a region-locked game.

That's possible.

Strange though. I just tried the two games in my 3DS again and now they work. But I distinctly recall being annoyed that I had to wait until I got home to play them on my Dsi XL because they didn't work in my 3DS. Ah, well. sorry for the incorrect info, I would have sworn...

Haha, no worries it happens. Were they even recognized by the 3DS or did they give you an error message or something?

No error message. It didn't even recognise there was something in the slot when I put these games in until now. Of course I've only been playing them on my Dsi XL.

Very strange. Occasionally my XL won't recognise games (I guess due to dirty contacts or something) and I'll have to remove and reinsert them a couple of times to get them to register. Perhaps that's what happened?

Thanks so far, you guys are great. The region lockout annoys me a little. I'm a big fan of shin chan and if anything related would come out for the 3DS i would have to buy a second console. How about getting developer hardware? Is anyone familiar how those tick? Nintendo used to be really cool with all that, quite a view of my GB games are US and JP stuff.

However, i'm very pleased to hear Nintendo fixed the screen issue.

mine never scratched ever and i got mine launch week anyway to fix it put a cloth when closing it and i would so get a 3ds

Yeah, my buddy recently got a 3DS, and I noticed that those rubber things are extended. Also, the Circle Pad felt more rubbery to me than mine