Comparing the OLD Nintendo 3DS XL VS the NEW 3DS XL

Christmas is right around the corner which means a lot of you are already doing Christmas shopping for your family or your kids. There's one item I noticed a lot of people are still on the fence about buying and that's the New 3DS. Tons of people currently own the original 3DS or 3DS XL so they're not sure whether the upgrade is worth it or not and to be perfectly honest I was on the fence too. With all the upgrades this machine brings and all the new games that seem to run a lot better on it I believe the upgrade might be worth it.

I've owned a 3DS since 2011 and a 3DS XL since 2013, making my transition to this snazzy red New 3DS earlier on this year.

The Machine for one is quite a bit lighter then my old 3DS XL and there are quite a few changes to the outside hardware such as a shinier outside, the moving of the volume switch to the side of the top screen and a change in the power button location (It's on the outside on the bottom right.). Some of the more drastic changes would be the moved cartridge slot from the back of the machine to the front, an NFC Amiibo scanner in the touch screen and the addition of a new control stick.

This thing may seem useless at first and I thought so too but after using it with games such as Super Smash Brothers for 3DS I realized how cool and convenient this little stick is as well as how much more control it gives you on certain games. I mean until recently I didn't even know that you could use it on games like Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance to move the camera around. All games that could use the Circle Pad Pro (An addon that came out when the original XL did that gave you an extra control stick, though it was kind of uncomfortable.) are compatible with this control stick. On Super Smash Bros it allows you to use smash moves without pressing B with a control stick input, lots of competitive Smash Bros players will love this addition as it makes the game work exactly like the Wii U versions gameplay wise. There are other new games that work with this too such as Hyrule Warrior Legends, Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask 3D and the Monster Hunter games. Oh yeah! They added two new shoulder buttons besides the normal shoulder buttons, these add for a lot more control options as well.

Another difference between this and the original XL is the fact that the SD card slot has actually been moved BEHIND the back plating (Which you have to unscrew), not just that too the NEW 3DS XL only accepts MicroSD cards. Now I know this sounds like a real pain, and I wasn't too sure on it myself but with a big enough MicroSDHC (Make sure it's HC because this 3DS takes up to 32 Gigabytes in MicroSDHC cards and only 2 Gigabytes in normal MicroSD cards.) you won't ever have to worry about switching SD cards out. Also this placement stops your kids from accidentally pulling the SD card out of the machine, before they could easily pop it out.

Now I can't forget to mention this, the New 3DS XL actually has an improved battery life, in my experience my old 3DS XL lasted quite a bit but the New 3DS pushed it even farther. The official specs say for the 2DS: 3.5-5.5 hours for the 3DS XL: 3.5-5.5 and for the NEW 3DS XL: 3.5-7 hours.

Here's a downside though and I really cannot write this blog without mentioning this because it's a pretty big problem... the New 3DS costs $199.99 yes but it actually doesn't come with a charger. Yeah I have absolutely no idea who at Nintendo thought of this but it doesn't come with a charger. You have to use your charger from your previous 3DS or if this is your first 3DS you have to buy it separately. Even worse you have to make sure the charger fits, some of my previous chargers I have do not fit in properly. So yeah please be warned of this, it's not something Nintendo seems to want to fix either.

The top screen of the new 3DS is 4.88 inches (Diagonal) and the bottom screen is 4.18 inches (Diagonal). Surprisingly this is exactly the same as the normal 3DS XL, I always thought it was slightly bigger but apparently not. One of the biggest selling points of the machine is the fact they actually fixed the 3D! It now uses a face tracking technology that tracks your face movement, meaning you won't see distortions when you move the machine anymore. The 3D in its entirety has been stabilized and I haven't had any eye strain issues. I wouldn't recommend using it for long periods of times still but it's actually usable and enjoyable now.

Getting a bit more technical the do dads inside the machine have been improved immensely, an upgraded processor, upgraded ram, it's definitely got a lot more power then the original 3DS. Allowing for faster gameplay and faster downloads on the eShop (Trust me it's a lot faster). Games like Super Smash Bros load and play a lot faster (Smash Bros plays at a constant 60 Frames per Seconds, even with the 3D on!) then the old 3DS XL and I also noticed when playing the Pokemon Sun and Moon demo it ran a lot faster on the New 3DS and even looked better. It seems like the New 3DS will be the better machine to play the new Pokemon games on this Holiday Season.

I put together these two videos showcasing the boot time between both machines and a Smash Bros load time video. You can check them out below, I did three attempts on each machine and I tried to be as accurate as possible.

Here's the video showing how fast Super Smash Brothers starts up.

As you can see there really is a big difference between the two, not so much on the load time to be honest but games like Smash Bros launch a lot faster on the New 3DS. 

Fun fact, when playing Super Smash Bros on the New 3DS you can actually use the Internet Browser and Miiverse while playing (You couldn't multitask at all when playing it on the old 3DS, I don't even think you could add friend codes while playing), which means you can finally post your screenshots up to Miiverse like you can on the Wii U version! 

Actually the Internet Browser has actually been upgraded as well, allowing people to actually watch Youtube on it now! Which means while you're playing a game and you're stuck you can watch a video on the internet browser without closing off your game, that's pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

There are New 3DS exclusive games as well actually such as Xenoblade Chronicles 3D and a selection of SNES games like Super Mario World, Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past and Donkey Kong Country.

So that's pretty much all the important stuff on the New 3DS. I've love this new machine a lot and I wouldn't ever go back. This upgrade I believe gave the 3DS that boost it needed to stay alive for a lot longer, with an ever growing library and some big games releasing in the near future I believe an upgrade is worth it at this point. It's lighter so it's a bit more portable then the 3DS XL and I find it a bit more comfortable in my hands. This would make an awesome Christmas present especially with Pokemon Sun and Moon coming out... Actually there's this super awesome Nintendo - New 3ds Xl Solgaleo Lunala - Black Edition that you might want to check out, it doesn't come with the games sadly but it's cool regardless.

Anyway hope this hoped you decided on whether to upgrade or not and I really hope I didn't ramble on too much I was trying to get all the important stuff said without dragging it out too much. Hope you enjoy your weekend and...

See you on the next blog!