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3DS XL First Impressions/Previews

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Finally! After that nightmare at Wal-Mart last night, got one quick and easy at Target this morning. I went to electronics and was looking for an employee there and as soon as I spotted one, I saw him carrying the 3DS XL boxes over. So I got the blue one and was on my way. This thing is glorious... it's so big but comfy and looks great. Doing the system transfer now... I love those little Pikmin!
 
Waiting for my Target to open is brutal. There's a Walmart in town but I've decided I'm not even going to attempt it and just wait the 15 minutes for Target to open.
 
So called another Wal-Mart they have no one working in electronics lol. So I was told they lay them out at 500am. Well, going to Target tomorrow I get 5% off anyways.


That's better than what I was told when I called them. The actual guy who worked back in electronics said they didn't have them and didn't know if they were ever going to carry them. Mind you this was after a 5 minute conversation to get him to understand what I was asking for.
 
Heading to pick up the XL at BB then going to TRU to see if I can get the NSMB2 w/70% off to stack with buy one get one 40%. If not getting Pikmin 2 or Punch Out Wii.
 
For some reason, I started having doubts today about spending $100 to upgrade to an XL. It looks nice, but I don't know if it's worth it just for a few new changes. The problem is that if I don't get it today, I won't be able to do Gamestop's trade-in deal.
 
This is strange, I'm buying my XL from BB for store pickup but it's not giving me an option to buy an extended protection plan for it.

Did BB stop offering this for the 3DS uue to the issues the original had?
 
My local store is giving the choice of Star Fox 64 3DS or Tetris Axis when buying the XL. I am happy I never picked up Star Fox until now. It'll give me something to play until I get my copy of NSMB2 from Gamefly in the mail.
 
I thought the OG 3DS speakers sounded the nicest out of all the portables I have owned. If the XL sounds similar it should be fine.

They sound exactly the same to me.

All this shit about "yellow screens", "system scratches itself still", and "garbage speakers" are BS. Mine has none of those issues or anything remotely resembling any symptom of those issues.
 
I haven't been keeping up with this thread. Anyone know of a deal in Canada to trade in your old 3DS for this? The only one I know is the EB Games deal but that deal seems really crappy... :\
 
1 more hourrrrrrrrrrrr

I haven't been keeping up with this thread. Anyone know of a deal in Canada to trade in your old 3DS for this? The only one I know is the EB Games deal but that deal seems really crappy... :\

The best deal is the one that has been dominating the Canadian Gaming Deals thread for the last couple days. Trade 5 select games to Future Shop for a free XL. I picked up 5 qualifiers for $76 yesterday, so I'm pretty happy!
 
Went to Target at around 8:30 and they had a bunch of both colors. Picked up a Red, took it to the car and opened it. Pitted (scratched?) screen. Took it back in, showed them, and they replaced it on the spot. Showing up early has its perks since I was pretty much alone in the returns department. They grabbed another red unit and this time we opened it in the store and the top screen was a completely different color than the bottom. The employee was even surprised. Got a third one, and this one appears to be fine. Charging it now, but while going through the initial setup it became really apparent that people who complained about the speakers were 100 percent accurate. It's awful. When the volume slider is near the bottom, but not at the bottom you should still hear audio. On this, after around the mid-way point on the slider the audio just goes away, and even at it's highest point the thing doesnt come anywhere near as close to being as loud as my old 3DS. I have no idea if that's a defect or by design. Either way I hate it.

Now as for the 3DS XL itself, it's great to have big screens again. The first thing I noticed about the XL is that its really slippery. Be careful when you pick it up. It's a matte finish, but it's a slippery matte finish. I was hoping for a DSi matte, but this is still better than the fingerprint magnet that my old 3DS is. Not sure if I like the shoulder buttons yet. The old 3DS's shoulder buttons had a lot more click to them, these don't. And while the home/start/select buttons are a huge improvement, there's not enough click to them. In fact I'd say there's almost zero click. The dpad is in the same spot as the 3DS, but since the device itself is bigger, it's now comfortable to use. The slider and face buttons feel the same to me. All-in-all I'm happy with it simply because of the added real estate, but as a piece of tech it feels really cheap. It looks cheap, and it feels cheap. Probably because it is cheap, but Nintendo needed to make money off it, so can't really blame them. Going to use it today before I'm sure it's a keeper and then I'll do the transfer tonight. The only thing I absolutely hate about it at this point is the terrible speakers. Just terrible. I won't risk another return though after the (semi) nightmare of the first two.

My advice is to open it in the store, or outside while in your car. And do so carefully because it's kind of a surprise how slippery it is. You'd hate for the first thing you do when you pick up your new handheld is to drop it. Enjoy New Release Day, everyone!


They sound exactly the same to me.

All this shit about "yellow screens", "system scratches itself still", and "garbage speakers" are BS. Mine has none of those issues or anything remotely resembling any symptom of those issues.

This is wrong.
 
This is wrong.

No, no it's not. I have the 3DS OG and XL side by side with the same game. They sound identical. My first unit had zero defects out of the box. I highly doubt there is some PQ pandemic with the XL. That's too bad the store you went to had bad units I guess?
 
No, no it's not. I have the 3DS OG and XL side by side with the same game. They sound identical. My first unit had zero defects out of the box. I highly doubt there is some PQ pandemic with the XL. That's too bad the store you went to had bad units I guess?

They sound the same as long as you don't play a game with the volume at max. Once it's at max, they will vibrate, screech and just sound plain bad. It's not that noticeable in all games at all times, but try running out in the Hyrule Field in OoT for example and you should hear that they are not identical.
 
No, no it's not. I have the 3DS OG and XL side by side with the same game. They sound identical. My first unit had zero defects out of the box. I highly doubt there is some PQ pandemic with the XL. That's too bad the store you went to had bad units I guess?

If it was just mine, I'd say I have a bad unit. I read through this thread and it's more than obvious that people in Japan and Europe have the same complaint about the speakers. It's a very real problem.
 
Currently transferring but I have to go to a church picnic. I'm already late and I'm bringing the cups and plates. My pastor is probably drinking soda straight from the 2 liter bottle and eating potato salad with his hands.
 
They sound exactly the same to me.

All this shit about "yellow screens", "system scratches itself still", and "garbage speakers" are BS. Mine has none of those issues or anything remotely resembling any symptom of those issues.

So you are really dismissing everyone else's complaints because you just happened to have the perfect one?
 
My gf is hung over so I'm taking care of her before I leave. We were partying till 5 am last night but I'm dying for that XL goodness.
 
Transferring now. Love the little Pikmin moving everything over. ^^; My GOD the size is so noticeable!

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did any of u guys just walkin and buy it? no preorders?

I don't know if they even do pre-orders at Target. I just walked in and got it. They appeared to have a bunch, but I was there a half hour after the store opened.

Just played NSMB2 on it and the sweetspot for 3D appears to have gotten smaller for me. It didn't really matter for NSMB2, though, since the game doesn't really utilize 3D all that well to begin with. XL is definitely more comfortable to hold and play with the dpad.
 
So you are really dismissing everyone else's complaints because you just happened to have the perfect one?

It's more like it doesn't bother him but he shouldn't tell that they are the same.

The scratching thing is not an issue on most of the units.
The screens are warmer but it's a good thing because the picture is better than on the OG 3ds. Some people may prefer the old look so we should talk about it.

The speakers are indeed worse but it may not be an issue for everyone and the sound quality is improved with headphones.

People shouldn't act like those issues are deal breakers but we shouldn't say that there is nothing wrong neither.
 
I don't understand this transferring stuff. So, they both need to be on the latest firmware? Does the XL ship on the latest or does it need to be upgraded? And they both need internet access to actually do the deed?
 
I don't understand this transferring stuff. So, they both need to be on the latest firmware? Does the XL ship on the latest or does it need to be upgraded? And they both need internet access to actually do the deed?

My XL was not at the latest firmware. And yes, you need internet access to transfer the licenses from the eshop to the XL during the transfer.
 
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