New Nintendo 3DS Review - Review 2022

Nintendo'due south naming conventions accept made things a chip disruptive, so permit's get this out of the way: New is a brand. The New Nintendo 3DS is an upgraded version of the Nintendo 3DS ($125.84 at Amazon) handheld game system, but like the New Nintendo 3DS XL ($260.00 at eBay) is an upgraded version of the Nintendo 3DS Xl. The XL version of the New 3DS came out terminal year, but information technology'southward taken a while for the smaller, not-XL model to make it in North America. Now that is has, you have your choice of New Nintendo 3DS sizes, both of which are bachelor for the same $199.99 price. There are some subtle design differences, simply whether the New 3DS or the New 3DS XL is a better pick for you will boil downward to personal gustation. Either style, they both earn our Editors' Choice.

Design

The New Nintendo 3DS ($323.00 at Amazon) is plainly smaller than the New Nintendo 3DS XL. Closed, it measures 3.ii by v.6 by 0.ix inches and weighs viii.ix ounces, making information technology half an inch shorter, 0.seven-inch thinner, and 2.7 ounces lighter than its larger sibling. It's slightly more rectangular than the XL as well, with much less pronounced curves near the edges, giving the organisation a flatter, starker contour.

Screen size is the biggest alter. The New 3DS's top screen measures 3.88 inches and the bottom screen measures three.33 inches, respectively a full inch and 0.85-inch smaller than the 40's screens. They share the same 400-past-240 and 320-by-240 resolution, though, which makes them slightly sharper. Like the New XL, the New 3DS has the same spectacles-free 3D consequence for the top screen, with the same vastly improved camera-based eye-tracking system compared with the previous 3DS systems.

Face/Off

Aside from the difference in size, the most notable modify between the New 3DS and the New 3DS XL is the sometime's support for interchangeable faceplates. Y'all tin switch out faceplates for both the top and bottom halves of the system, letting you customize the look of the arrangement. The height faceplate snaps in securely, with no need for tools. You'll need a pocket-size screwdriver to switch out the bottom faceplate, which is secured by a pair of small screws and covers the system's microSD card slot and battery compartment.

New Nintendo 3DS

While yous can bandy out faceplates, your initial ownership options for the New 3DS itself are limited. While the New 3DS XL comes in a variety of colors and designs (scarlet and black versions, along with a variety of themed designs based on Fire Emblem, Fable of Zelda, Mario, and other games), the New 3DS is only bachelor in the class of the $199.99 Pokemon Red/Blue parcel I tested, and the rarer $219.99 Animal Crossing: Happy Dwelling house Designer package. The Pokemon bundle includes red Charizard and blueish Blastoise faceplate sets and codes for Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue on 3DS Virtual Console, and the Beast Crossing bundle includes two Brute Crossing faceplate sets and a code for Animal Crossing: Happy Domicile Designer.

If you desire a New 3DS that isn't covered in Animate being Crossing or Pokemon designs, yous'll need to pay extra for other faceplates. Additional faceplates with dissimilar designs and color patterns are available online for $15 and more, and at certain video game and electronic stores. Over 70 faceplate sets have been released in Nippon, though availability in North America depends on where y'all shop. I've seen about a dozen faceplate varieties at the Nintendo New York store in Rockefeller Center and at Video Games New York near St. Mark's Identify in New York City. I personally concluded upwards importing a Japan-only Hanafuda-mode (a traditional card game) faceplate prepare, which you can see in our slideshow of the system. The thing is, if y'all buy a new faceplate you'll likely cease up spending more what you would take on a New 3DS XL that catches your fancy.

Besides important to keep in listen: The two New 3DS bundles are increasingly rare, and you lot're much more likely detect the larger XL system in stores.

Just Like Big Bro

The layout and design of the New 3DS are identical to the XL, just scaled accordingly smaller. The New 3DS has the same direction pad, left analog pad, and right analog stick equally the Xl, forth with A/B/X/Y face buttons, Get-go and Select buttons, and 50/R/ZL/ZR shoulder buttons on the lower one-half of the device. The book slider is still on the left side of the top half, while the 3D issue slider is on the right side. The power button sits on the bottom border of the lower one-half, next to the recessed area for the included stylus and the game card slot (which accepts both 3DS and Nintendo DS games).

I used my New 3DS 40 for a year, and the Nintendo 3DS Xl long before that, and had go accustomed to the larger screens of both devices. However, I establish that the New 3DS' smaller screens were just as comfortable to apply, and experienced no middle strain from the size change. I comfortably played Burn Emblem Fates: Birthright, Pokemon Omega Ruby, and Pokemon Yellowish on the New 3DS. The first two games use both screens and display practiced 3D furnishings, while Pokemon Yellow, as a Virtual Console game originally on the Game Boy Color, uses only a cropped portion of the superlative screen. All 3 games were enjoyable on the smaller system.

New Nintendo 3DS

Bated from the smaller screen, the gameplay experience on the New 3DS is near identical to the New 3DS XL. The screens become similarly bright, and the speakers go similarly loud, so you don't accept to worry nearly any sort of downgrade from the non-Twoscore.

Select Your Size

The differences between the New Nintendo 3DS and the New Nintendo 3DS Xl are primarily size and aesthetics. Ultimately, they're the same handheld game system with the same price tag. If you desire a larger, slightly more rounded handheld, the New 3DS XL is the ane for you. If yous adopt a more pocket-friendly pattern and the option to swap out faceplates, the New 3DS is the better choice. Subsequently using both, I'thou sticking with the smaller New 3DS, but both are first-class handheld gaming systems.