Why I Wanna Buy a New 3DS Lately I´ve let a sibling borrow my 3DS, specially during the summer when we´re hanging out of the house. While I don´t dislike sharing, in fact we´ve practially been sharing stuff since little kids with no issue, I realized that I can´t just play my handheld whenever, I gotta wait for her to be done. It´s at this point I realize, maybe I might wanna get her own 3DS. At first she hesitated cause, she doens´t play a lot of games to justify such a purchase (mostly some rhythm titles and Brain Age), only to realize we proabbly might be better off instead of trying to coordinate playtime, plus there´s the added feature of multiplayer. I guess we made some sort of agreement, that I would help her hunt down a 3DS once she has the money for it, which leads me to the whole rabbit hole of second hand gaming market. First off, while ebay is tempting I decided to avoid it all together, cause the prices are insane. I´m sorry for whoever told you this, but no a 3DS is not worth that much money, if you payed that much you overpayed. This is all happening due a bunch of people riding the coatails of the retro becoming more popular, I for one blame those rating companies, and those influencers telling everyone to get a 3DS. And you just know most of thoses influencers are just doing it for the clout and not actually playing with the 3DS in long around. I´ve noticed their content fits a pattern that they show the same titles over and over. And do yall really need 5 special editions 3ds, that you will never gonna play and just leave on the self? These things were meant to be played people! A disclaimer here, I´m not saying, everyone who makes this type of content is just doing it for the trend and is a turist, I´m pretty sure some are passionate about it and wanna share said loved with others. And I get, it´s a great handheld, still is, one the last true handhleds made for such purpose. Plus I´m somewhat disapointed with the modern gaming scene. But sadly this leads a bunch of people dealing with fomo, doing impulse buys instead of stopping and think if its actually worth and they might be better alternatives out there. I guess I´m kinda guilty of this because despite having a perfectly working handheld there this part of me who wonder if I should make the upgrade. Which I´m gonna explain why in a minute. But Is It Worth It? With Ebay out of the picture, I decided to go some place else specially since I live in Europe and wish to avoid heavy shipping fees, wether its trying to find a local retro store or an online marketplace with items being sold by local countrymen or fellow Europeans. As luck would have it, the online site has much better prices, usually by people who are simply trying to get rid of their handheld and are simply looking to make some extra cash. And I found, I kid you not, a good condition special pokemon edition NEW 3DS XL for less than it was being sold on freaking ebay. I was planning on getting my sister the same model as mine (an Old 3DS XL) because it would´ve been cheaper, but dear reader, I almost gave in. I was this close to click buy, heck the own even gave the option of keeping it moded so I wouldn´t even have to the trouble of having it to myself even I thought I already did so with my original one. You might be wondering, what the hold up? That´s a great deal, grab while you can who knows when you´ll ever find something like that again at a decent price? However, it is a this point, I started to pondering the pros and cons of getting (yes there´s some cons), that did give me something to think about. For one, if I were to get it I could just give away my old 3DS and enjoy a supposedly more upgraded model, since her type of gaming doesn´t require much power. But is getting the so called “definitive model worth it? So I came up with a list. Pros It has a slighty larger battery life Better 3D Effect A small chance of getting a better screen More Power Makes it more faster Exculsive Games A second analogue stick Emulating more powerful systems like the Playstation Some Homebrew/Fan Ports can only run on the N3DS Stream Games through moonlight Slighty better hinge Cons I don´t spend a lot of hours per game time that I need that much battery life (also there´s this long lasting third-party battery if you really need that much time) I Barely Use the 3D effect, and while better its still not perfect More powerful yes, but the difference is not all that noticeable, the most you get it turns on a couple of seconds more faster, that´s it The exclusive games don´t interest me (Xenoblade is better in other systems) and did you know you can actually emulate snes on the old models, yeah Nintendo could had them avaible in the virtual console but decided to limit them to the N3Ds to get more people to buy them. That analogue stick is bad, looks more like a nipple and not a lot games use them (pss, its the exculsive ones that do use them), if I want one there´s a an acessory that has better one the same size as the regular circle pad. Playstation emulation is still not great, and frankly I would rather just emulate it on the pc, my phone or heck just emulation handhelds that have been trending lately These ports (like the sonic one) are games that I can already play somewhere else, excpet for the novelty, I don´t care about it that much yes its got a better, hinge, but being a newer one in compraision whose to say it wont also fail in the long run, also what yall doing to your old models, are yall throwing them in ground and holding them by the top screen (Mine is 10 years and is still fine), also its fixable, there are repair guides teaching how to do a reshell and heck maybe even some retro repair service out there. Due to its position the stylus tends to fall off more easily compared to the old models The paint job is actually worse than the old models, its more prone to fleaking and is a magnet for visible greasy finger prints And the number issue why I´m probably not getting is… the sd card slot. Why fix what was not broken. In the older models you have card slot outside and if you needed to remove it for any reason, it was easy. The newer models? To take the card out, you got unscrew the backplate, if you´re trying to mod it… imagine having to this several time in a row and hope you don´t accidently break the backplate. Yes afterwars you can use FTTPS to transfer files over the internet without having to touch the card slot.´ Let´s face is still too much of a hastle and the only reason why you should even uncsrew the backplate is to put a new battery in. I would also have to transfer all my game data over to the console, where if she got here own handheld the only data I would have to transfer would be her game files by using the checkpoint app. Added to the fact I feel a certain emotional attacthement to my 3DS, a lovely Special Edition Red Pokemon XL, that brought me joy during my college years. This is not even a trend for me, I got it when it was still being sold, it gave me much respite in between stressful study sessions, and made my weekend travels to my hometown by bus much more bearable. Sure its got some small scratches here and there that are barely visible, but to me that´s just a sign of well loved and used console, and it still working condition, the only thing it needed was a brand new battery, which I did in order to give a new lease in life once I find out how moddable it really was. Do I really want to just give it away? Amid the whole advice that I´ve seen people giving what 3DS model you should get. The answer is always gonna be “just get the New 3DS it is the definitive way to play 3DS games” Beyond just my list, you got the fact that prices for this model have increasing (the others models too but the n3DS gets the worse of it), it seems not stopping anytime soon, unless there´s some retro gaming bubble popping up. And in between is it really worth to buy an outdated handheld for the almost price of a switch 2 or a steam deck, when there´s other options? Maybe if you can find it a better price (you would have be lucky and be willing to spend a lot of time searching). What better stuff is there? Just Get An Ayn Thor Or any other retro handheld (original or not), really if its emulation is what you want. If you´re gonna spend that much money, you´re better off getting something that much better screens, better baterry life, heck it can even play other system besides just 3DS and DS. Emulation has made huge strives over the years, to the point you barely notice the difference, you can do upscale which gives you better graphics, its easier to mode those games. I supect may the bottom screen migh not be as accurate as in the original, but the difference is probably not big. There´s a part of me that wants to get my hands on one just for what it could do, playstation 2 games on the go? You can play some indie titles plus android games? Maybe I´ll just save up for a bit. Is it either this or the retroid pocket 6, I like its egronomic psp like style. The sad thing is, getting a second hand 3ds used to be worth it… in the early days, or at least slighty before this retro thing all blew up. But now, can´t really recommend it. You could thank capitalism and even greed for that where others feel they must resort to turn even the most niche hobbies into a money maker, I guess I get it for some. Times are tough, and you try whatever soruce of income you can get.. Still it does suck getting people priced out of a hobby, and it does suck that everything has to be made into content, and people feeling inlfuenced or pressured to buy in when otherwise they´d be better over doing something else, and all this happening due to alienation from communites and the death of third spaces, where consumming is the only thing that fills the void anymore and… And this in face of gaming companies wanting to get rid of physical media alltogether. And AI is also making machine components more expensive. My final veridict is this, sometimes playing on the original hardware is not aways the end be all, its only worth it if you get if you can afford it and if you really just want to play mostly 3DS games. Heck despite its backwards compatibility, if its mostly DS you want, the original or even the DSI is still somewhat affordable and the graphics look much better. Otherwise, get anything else, and who knows maybe if a lot more people start slow down and think before buy we might help ease the burden in this hobby. I think it would be funny if one days those type of resellers who have a habit of snatching up consoles at a lower price in droves to just sell a much more higher one, wake to find one day barely anyone is buying their stock and they gotta compete better emulation handhelds ad nitnendo porting the games to the switchand realsing some extra dual screen acessory. That would be the dream. A growing issue This post was inspired by my own life, my frustration the higher prices of things and my observations on the impact (for better and worse) of social media when it comes to hobbies. As a final word, for any readers out there, what are your frustrations latetly with your favorite hobby communities, how did online trends impacted it. Gaming or no gaming, did you ever had second thoughts on buying something due to pricing, how did you deal with FOMO, and what alternatives you personally found? My comments below are open, I would love to hear from you. Special Blaugust Mentions The Palworld Lesson - Through Wolfy´s Eyes The Altholic Conefession - MMO Casual Hobnochi Weeks: Layouts from 2024 to the Present - Lost Letters Moss and Peace - fyr.io Which Was The Style At The Time - Point, Click, Repeat