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3DS XL First Impressions/Previews

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I think my favorite improvement is the stylus placement, surprisingly enough. It's back where it belongs. With the regular 3DS, I would often just tap the screen with my finger because there was no way I was going to turn the 3DS to try to find where the stylus is and pull it out constantly. Now it's where it is on the DSi, easy to pull out without moving anything.
 
GameStop >:(

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http://www.gamestop.com/3ds

I feel like going back for Pilotwings.

is this online only or has anyone got it in store?
 
I dunno, the 3D spot seems the same to me, but I only use the 3D on certain things so I dont care much.

Now the 999 sequel just needs to hurry up and Atlus needs to announce EO4!
 
lol I called GameStop about the free game.
After checking that this offer applies to the XL, he said I could pick up the game with my receipt.
 
Loving mine so far. The blue and red are both solid choices. I personally went with the blue and was surprised at how metallic it looks. Really nice.

Really glad I decided to upgrade from my OG Ambassador. After system transfer, I put my OG up on Kijiji for $110 and the guy is on his way over right now to grab it. Worked out perfectly.
 
I realize I may be being a bit hyperbolic here but damn, playing NES games on the 3DS XL is just.. *tear*... it's like I am finally playing a portable NES. The screens are big enough where it actually feels that way. If Nintendo would release SNES days eventually to the e-Store for the 3DS, I don't even know what I would do.
Couldn't agree more. Just played some Balloon Fight on this thing. It's fantastic. The screen just sucks you in and makes you feel like you're sitting really close to your TV.
 
Picked up a red 3DS XL with NSMB2 from Gamestop. Nobody else in the store was there to buy the system, which was just like last year when I bought the original 3DS from the same location. The told me that I would not be able to get $100 for a 3DS if I brought one in later; that promotion is only good at the time of the XL purchase.

My XL didn't have any dead pixels or other defects. The system doesn't feel that much heavier than the original 3DS and the casing is a darker, more metallic red than some of the photos that have been posted. of it.

The system transfer wasn't too bad- I just copied the 3DS 2G SD card contents to the XL's 4GB SD card, put the 4GB card into the 3DS, then started the transfer process. Being prompted multiple times with what was essentially "Are you sure you want to transfer? Are you really sure? REALLY REALLY SURE?" was kind of annoying, but whatever-- it's a one time thing.

Now onto what's important:

-The screens really are THAT much bigger. Huge, huge difference.

-Virtual Console games look a lot better on the XL screen (when launched with start held).

-Regular 3DS games vary. SSF4 3D Edition looks awful; it's like playing the iPhone version now. Tekken 3D also didn't look that much better and the 2D artwork appeared very grainy. Although a little grainier, I thought RE The Mercenaries looked good. Super Mario 3D Land looked great.

-The original 3DS hurt my left hand after 10-15 minutes of use on a lot of games. I have only found that SSF4 continues to cramp my hand, and even then it's not as bad as it was on the 3DS.

-The Select/Home/Start buttons are MUCH better.

-The speaker quality is still mediocre and the volume is too low. I thought the same about the original 3DS.

-The hinge feels sturdier and the 3D on/off switch has been improved. You can now "lock" 3D in an off position.

Overall the XL feels like a minor upgrade. I bought it mainly for comfort-related issues with the original 3DS and have had mixed results. The larger screens are nice for older games, but 3DS games don't look as crisp and sharp as they did on the original 3DS. I don't feel as if I wasted my money on the XL, but if I had the opportunity to try it before buying it, I'm not sure if I would have purchased one. No question that it has been massively-overhyped.
 
I picked my XL up from BB a few fours ago. I was so paranoid that I checked the screens right there in the store before leaving the counter. I really like the color temp, looks great to me.

One thing I've noticed though is the 3D effects seem to vary more now from game to game. I tried RE:R and SM3DL and they looked about the same to me as on the OG 3DS but MK7 on the other hand... Wow, it's like a whole new game :O
 
I want to go pick this up at GameStop, but I'm waiting for clarification on the Pilotwings/Steel Diver promotion... the store I called said that they're not doing it with the XL "as far as they know", but it seems like it's just an oversight - it is still 3DS hardware, anyway.
 
Well... I called my local gamestop and the girl on the phone said they'll only give me the $100 credit if I trade in my 3DS right when I purchase the XL... they won't let me take it home and transfer then return to the store and trade in and get the $100 back.

WTH. I'm not going to drive to gamestop if that's the case.
 
Well... I called my local gamestop and the girl on the phone said they'll only give me the $100 credit if I trade in my 3DS right when I purchase the XL... they won't let me take it home and transfer then return to the store and trade in and get the $100 back.

WTH. I'm not going to drive to gamestop if that's the case.
Did you talk to the manager? It seems like they're supposed to know about it. A regular dude I talked to had no idea about it either.
Do you have another GS to try?
 
So my system transfer appears to be stuck on the eShop data. My Internet cut out and now my XL is stuck on this part. Should I turn it off and try again. I'm worried it'll brick or something if I stop halfway. Can someone please help?
 
Are the sweet spot issues some of you are having because of how close you are holding the 3DS to your face?

That fixed the issue for me. I was holding up really close because I'm use to doing that with the 3DS. Held it further back and the sweet spot was there, better than the original and the 3D popped more (in Dead or Alive at least). Really loving this thing in my limited use with it.
 
What the hell? Do you guys think I can go in there and ask (demand?) they give me Steel Driver for free? They never mentioned it when I picked my XL up :(

yeah what the hell i didn't get a free steel driver either. i always wanted to try the game, my friend says it's awesome and a real piece of nintendo quality that was overlooked by the obviously biased games press.
 
I stated this several times but didn't get much feedback. After the EU launch this thread was full of "the 3D is better in every way" posts and it's clearly not. On the XL I only get a clear 3D image aka sweetspot at one particular distance (30cm/11"). And yes, less "wiggle room" as well. The 3D on the orig 3DS works fine from "in my face" to "on my lap".
Damn. :(
Guess I'll have to see for myself.

yeah what the hell i didn't get a free steel driver either. i always wanted to try the game, my friend says it's awesome and a real piece of nintendo quality that was overlooked by the obviously biased games press.
Haha, c'mon.
 
I saw the thing about a free copy of Pilotwings or Steel Diver on the Gamestop website this morning, so I asked the guy working in the store about it when I went to pick up an XL. He said he didn't know about it but he'd try scanning a copy of Pilotwings to see if it'd work, and it did. Not a bad extra. So if they say they aren't doing it, ask them to try scanning a copy of one of the games after scanning the XL and it should ring up as zero dollars.
 
I saw the thing about a free copy of Pilotwings or Steel Diver on the Gamestop website this morning, so I asked the guy working in the store about it when I went to pick up an XL. He said he didn't know about it but he'd try scanning a copy of Pilotwings to see if it'd work, and it did. Not a bad extra. So if they say they aren't doing it, ask them to try scanning a copy of one of the games after scanning the XL and it should ring up as zero dollars.

Alright, cool. Going to try this.
 
Did you talk to the manager? It seems like they're supposed to know about it. A regular dude I talked to had no idea about it either.
Do you have another GS to try?

I was told the same thing at the Gamestop I got mine at. The clerks agreed that it was stupid.
 
I was told the same thing at the Gamestop I got mine at. The clerks agreed that it was stupid.
The manager at mine made it sound like it was company policy, that you can buy the XL for full price, take home and transfer, and bring it back within 7 days to get credited back. Seems so weird that some won't do it.
 
The transfer is confusing as hell. After the transfer was complete it was talking about deleting my DSi ware games and I had no idea what do next so I powered the thing off. Downloading my games from the eShop to my XL now. Was I supposed to switch the SD cards or something?
 
That fixed the issue for me. I was holding up really close because I'm use to doing that with the 3DS. Held it further back and the sweet spot was there, better than the original and the 3D popped more (in Dead or Alive at least). Really loving this thing in my limited use with it.

Same. Kid Icarus looks amazing. I've noticed that the XL's 3D doesn't like it when you jitter the system around even less so than the original 3DS. The sweet spot is a touch harder to maintain.
 
The transfer is confusing as hell. After the transfer was complete it was talking about deleting my DSi ware games and I had no idea what do next so I powered the thing off. Downloading my games from the eShop to my XL now. Was I supposed to switch the SD cards or something?

Yeah, you need to switch the SD Cards. The DSi games are copied over to the SD Card. When you switch, the games are copied over to the system hardware. Strange procedure.
 
The transfer is confusing as hell. After the transfer was complete it was talking about deleting my DSi ware games and I had no idea what do next so I powered the thing off. Downloading my games from the eShop to my XL now. Was I supposed to switch the SD cards or something?

LOL, yes...you switch the SD cards at the end.

So what's the proper way to transfer my 3DS stuff over onto the 4GB card and onto my 3DS XL?

Just copy the contents from the 2GB card to your PC, then copy the contents to the 4GB card.

I copied the contents from my old 3DS 2GB card onto the 4GB card first, then kept the 4GB card in the old 3DS. You don't need to have an SD card in the XL to do the transfer.
 
So what's the proper way to transfer my 3DS stuff over onto the 4GB card and onto my 3DS XL?
If you're just talking about transferring stuff between SD cards, once you finish the actual transfer process and it has you put the SD card from the 3DS into the XL and that's all done, then you can just copy them over on a PC.
 
So what's the proper way to transfer my 3DS stuff over onto the 4GB card and onto my 3DS XL?

Keep your original card in your 3DS and have no card in the 3DS XL.
Turn on System Transfer for both systems.
Tell 3DS to transfer to 3DS XL and tell the 3DS XL to receive from the 3DS.
After the transfer is complete put the original 3DS SD card in the 3DS XL.
Turn on the 3DS XL and make sure it accepted the original SD card.
Turn off system and put original 3DS card into a computer.
Copy original SD card contents into the new 4GB SD card.
Put 4GB SD card in 3DS XL.
Enjoy!
 
If you're just talking about transferring stuff between SD cards, once you finish the actual transfer process and it has you put the SD card from the 3DS into the XL and that's all done, then you can just copy them over on a PC.

Are you so sure about that? I just completed the system transfer process and the new XL is reading all my games on the 2GB just fine. However, I tried to copy the entirety of the 2GB cart onto my PC and then copy it verbatim over to the 4GB card. After I did that, I put the 4GB card in my XL...

Alas, none my DSi ware shows up with the 4GB card. When I put the old 2GB card back in, it works just fine. What did I do wrong?
 
Performed a system transfer (just 3 left)

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New XL feels realllllyyyy damn good. Though the screen seems to distort easily in 3D (weird waves) ?:0/

Couldn't find a chopper purse, so picked up a blue fabric DSIXL wallet + car charger combo for $6.99, to match my blue CN pouch that arrived. The blue is fucking beautiful. EU owners were absolutely correct. Pics haven't done it justice, in person, wow..wow!
 
I'm expecting strong Day 1 sales. We blew through half our shipment right before I got off the clock 15 minutes ago. Heavily outselling our Day one 3DS and Vita sales.
 
Are you so sure about that? I just completed the system transfer process and the new XL is reading all my games on the 2GB just fine. However, I tried to copy the entirety of the 2GB cart onto my PC and then copy it verbatim over to the 4GB card. After I did that, I put the 4GB card in my XL...

Alas, none my DSi ware shows up with the 4GB card. When I put the old 2GB card back in, it works just fine. What did I do wrong?
It worked for me, although I didn't have DSiWare on my SD card, just had 3DS stuff. Nintendo's site actually suggests doing what I said, in the transfer video they have.
 
Are you so sure about that? I just completed the system transfer process and the new XL is reading all my games on the 2GB just fine. However, I tried to copy the entirety of the 2GB cart onto my PC and then copy it verbatim over to the 4GB card. After I did that, I put the 4GB card in my XL...

Alas, none my DSi ware shows up with the 4GB card. When I put the old 2GB card back in, it works just fine. What did I do wrong?

Edit: nvm. Hmm, im not sure what you did wrong.
 
My first impression after holding the Blue XL. ^_^ Simply amazing! The color is almost mesmerizing and makes me feel relaxed for some reason. And the curved edges feel so much more comfortable than the OG. I feel like Christmas day and have one week left before school starts up again.

Also, Gamestop gave me Pilotwings for free with it. Yay! Got the last copy as well. Which is good because I really didn't want Steel Diver.

Now to charge this baby up and play some Zelda OOT!
 
It worked for me, although I didn't have DSiWare on my SD card, just had 3DS stuff. Nintendo's site actually suggests doing what I said, in the transfer video they have.

I'm just talking about the Ambassador games....when I copy my 2GB card to my PC and then over to the 4GB card...none of it shows up. What am I missing?

You have to transfer them from the 2 GB card to the 4GB using your computer.

This is what I did...I have one SD card slot and copied all the files to my PC. Then copied over to the 4GB card and nothing is showing up on the XL.
 
The transfer is confusing as hell. After the transfer was complete it was talking about deleting my DSi ware games and I had no idea what do next so I powered the thing off. Downloading my games from the eShop to my XL now. Was I supposed to switch the SD cards or something?

That part of the transfer is pretty stupid. At the start it asks you if you want to move the DSi games from the original 3DS's internal memory to the original 3DS's SD card. Then at the end of the transfer it asks you if you want to move the DSi games off the original 3DS's SD card into the internal memory of the new 3DS. If you do this without moving the SD card from the old 3DS into the new one, it will give you an error. If you swap the SD cards, it will work.


Sorry to ask another transfer question:

My old 3DS has a 16GB card I want to use for my XL. So would I just initiate transfer with the systems first and then simply pop my 16GB card from old system to new one?

Correct.
 
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