I mean, there’s clearly a demand for it since the prices have gotten through the roof. Should I really purchase one or is it pointless and a waste of money. What’s the reason behind its sudden resurgence despite it being an “old” console as the Switch lineup has replaced it? Does it have to do with physical game ownership?
To anyone thinking about buying a 3DS: If you like the form factor and if you’re not opposed to emulation, I’d suggest you look at some dual-screen Android handhelds like the Anbernic RG DS, Retroid Pocket Duo, or Ayn Thor. They’re quite neat pieces of hardware. The Retroid and Ayn handheld are powerful enough to emulate 3DS games, the Anbernic one (the only one of these I own) isn’t, but it’s able to emulate DS and PSP games quite well and play simple 3D games (I’ve spent last weekend trying to run Morrowind on it).
Why would you? My argumentation is, if you like the form factor and want to play 3DS games, why emulate it rather than playing it native on original hardware? Just hack to jailbreak the 3DS. I think it plays DS games as well? Unless you want to emulate other systems such as PSP in example.
Price. At least one person here says the official hardware is going for like US$1200 on eBay.
Maybe features too. I generally prefer to emulate older games because of instant save states, fast-forward, slow or rewind, rendering improvements, that sort of thing. Not sure how much of that is possible with jailbreaking.
I personally prefer emulation if its good too. And yes, some features would be a reason to do it, I didn’t think about those. To me emulating 3DS was always a hassle that the only solution I saw was using original hardware to play the games. Now that you brought it up, I can see it. Also the price is true too. I don’t think it will go down, if anything, in future it might be more rare and go up.
Good points.
More powerful handhelds can also upscale and handle heavier graphical tweaks. Honestly, except for the actual 3D effect itself the experience for me has just been better in general on an emulation handheld.
Also, in my experience setting up an emulation handheld was easier than setting up a hacked 3DS.
That must be some mint unopened special edition 3DS. Cheapest route is to get Japanese used 3DS and jailbreak it.
Reason to prefer original for 3DS is that emulator handhelds have subpar stylus for stylus heavy games. I’ve been drawing with Pokémon art academy on mine.
Don’t forget performance. Yes, playing 3DS games on native hardware will be the most authentic experience, but a Thor can emulate a lot more than a 3DS can. Wind Waker HD on a portable dual screen is cool as fuck.
As someone lucky enough to own both a modded New 3DSXL and a Thor, I’d recommend the Thor first unless you’re looking to only play games from the 3DS era or older.
The Ayn Thor has such a beautiful display. I’d rather play on that.
Another good point I didn’t think of before. Glad I asked.
Stylus on the dual screen emulator handhelds look subpar to the rubber tipped ones. I think stylus is the main draw of 3DS and DS games, and that is going to be the big con for stylus heavy games. Some games only use the stylus like Trauma Center Under the Knife, and trying to draw in games like Pokémon Art Academy with rubber tipped stylus doesn’t sound great.
Until some spen, apple pencil, wacom quality pen for emulator dual screen handhelds comes out I’m sticking with the original hardware.
Got my Ayn Thor shipping email a few days ago! I’m very excited to set it up and be able to emulate all kinds of games on DS like form factor
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