this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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Bought a 3DS XL last year (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 2 days ago by neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/retrogaming@lemmy.world
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I bought a 3DS XL sometimes last year. It was under $200.

After seeing the surge in demand, I feel lucky that I bought it when I did. I also decided to take it out and play some animal crossing new leaf for the first time and I’m really enjoying it.

I sometimes wonder if I should have bought the “new” variant back then, but they were much more expensive and I’m still not sure if the performance improvements would have been worth it.

I’m basically just using not for ds and 3ds games, so, I’m guessing the power difference would not really matter.

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[–] rezz@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

New2DSXL is what you want. And a back up motherboard in case yours fails and needs to replace.

It’s the goat pirate/homebrew console. Pretendo is thriving.

[–] Goretantath@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Without 3D its not worth having a physical console when everything else can be emulated extremely reliably everywhere else and 3DS games are getting better emulated day by day. Its like if you bought a SNES but played it on a shity LCD TV.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The (New) 3DS XL has quite nice haptics, and emulating the dual-screen setup is a little awkward especially handheld.

Apart from that I agree with you.

It was worth getting a second-hand New 3DS XL for €100 a few years ago, but the prices people talk about here are just not worth it.

Same holds true for old Gameboys and similar tech.

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 2 points 1 day ago

Same experience here, there have been a couple of interesting devices to run double screen games (AYN Thor), but it's rather expensive for having a dedicated device for just the DS and 3DS catalogues (with some hardware gaps).

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Is the “new” version worth it if I already have an old 3ds xl?

[–] Zedstrian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

The N3DS differences are:

  • Improved 3D consistency via face tracking
  • C-Stick (too small to be usable in my opinion) and ZL/ZR buttons
  • Limited number of system exclusives (Minecraft, Fire Emblem Warriors, Runbow Pocket, Xenoblade Chronicles, and digital-only games)
  • Games with N3DS enhancements (including Hyrule Warriors and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, with most improvements being faster loading times, C-Stick support, home menu access for certain games, and the ZR/ZL buttons)
  • SNES virtual console.
[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Also, if you have a hacked N3DS you can enable the overclocked speed in original 3DS games to make stuff like Pokemon games lag less. Going from 268MHz to 804MHz does make a difference.

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

Thanks! It seems that it’s not worth getting the new 3ds since I already have the base one.