Skippy B. Coyote

Japan is a very different market from the Western world for sure. I mean, just take a look at last week's system sales numbers over there: 1. PlayStation Vita – 29,937 2. PlayStation 4 – 28,863 3. New 3DS LL – 19,111 4. Wii U – 7,260 5. New 3DS – 6,013 6. 3DS – 2,679 7. PlayStation 3 – 1,600 8. 3DS LL – 552 9. Xbox One – 490 (Source: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/03/nintendo_hardware_sales_climb_in_japan_despite_limited_new_releases ) We are talking about a market where the Vita, a system that is dead as a doornail in the West, was the #1 best selling console last week.

I'd say avoid using screen protectors at all costs. Not only do they reduce the sensitivity of the touchscreen, but they can be ridiculously difficult to apply without getting air bubbles underneath them and screwing up the visual quality of the screens. The New 3DS XL uses a pretty tough and resilient touchscreen too, so you're not very likely to scratch it through normal use and the clamshell design protects the screens when not in use. I personally don't see any reason to use a screen protector on any DS/3DS line system.

9. Dementium II (Nintendo DS) I loved the original Dementium when I first played it a few years back, so as soon as I got my hands on a copy of the sequal last week I just had to drop everything else I was playing and play through this one immediately. Dementium II picks up exactly where the first game left off story wise, in a new and much more visually diverse (yet no less unsettling) locale. I don't want to give away too much of the story though, so I will just say that it takes everything that I liked about the first game in the series and improves on it greatly; while also fixing just about every minor complaint I could have made about the original game in the process. If you're a fan of survival horror and first person shooters who happens to own a Nintendo DS then Dementium and Dementium II should be considered absolute "must own" games for your collection! Now that I've finished the sequal I think I'll be going back and playing through the original again in the very near future.

Well hey, at least you gave it a try. I was never too bothered by the DS upscaling on the New 3DS XL when I used to own one, it looked pretty clean to my eyes, but I'm not sure how I'll feel about it on the smaller screen of a regular sized New 3DS when I eventually pick one up later this year. In the meantime I just dropped the cash for a new in box Crimson & Black colored DS Lite this morning, so even if the DS emulation on the New 3DS isn't to my liking I'll still have a system to play original DS games on that is comfortable for me to hold and plays them in their native resolution. And even if I do find the New 3DS's visual quality for DS games acceptable I'm still happy to own a DS Lite too, because I'm just a sucker for any system that I can play both Doom and Resident Evil on.

And a big thanks from me as well! Even though the majority of my playtime has drifted towards ineligible systems from 2000 to 2004 over the last few months I still really enjoy participating in the tracker and reading what everyone is playing each week. It's definitely a highlight of my Sundays and Mondays every week, and I'm sure that once I burn myself out on the DS kick I've been on lately I'll get back to playing more Game Boy/Color, Arcade, and Sega Genesis games. My gaming interests really come and go in phases, so even though the Nintendo DS is my main interest right now I know it's not going to stay that way forever. Times like these do make me wish that there was someone running a 2000-Current tracker in the Modern Gaming subform, but I'm nowhere near organized enough to pull off something like that myself and I know that before long my interests will become more retro again. I am curious though, as the tracker goes along and the console generations pass, do you think there may come a point when you start making more years eligible for the tracker? For instance, right now game systems from 2000 to 2004 might not be inarguably "retro", but at some point after another console generation or two passes would there come a point when early 2000's systems would become "retro" enough to consider adding them to the list of tracker eligible systems? Just something I've been pondering lately.

I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! (But still sneaking in before the weekly stats are tallied, luckily! ) Ineligible Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS) - 96 minutes Clubhouse Games (Nintendo DS) - 42 minutes Dementium II (Nintendo DS) - 283 minutes Mario Kart DS (Nintendo DS) - 18 minutes Ōkamiden (Nintendo DS) - 335 minutes Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (Nintendo DS) - 108 minutes Touch the Dead (Nintendo DS) - 36 minutes Arcade Centipede - 9 minutes Game Boy Color Monopoly - 81 minutes Total Play Time This Week 1,008 minutes (16 hours 48 minutes) [90 minutes eligible] Individual System Play Times This Week Nintendo DS: 918 minutes Game Boy Color: 81 minutes Arcade: 9 minutes It was another one of those "Mostly ineligible" weeks around here, with the DS dominating my household's video gaming time. I spent most of the week once again borrowing my wife's DSi XL to play games on, however I did finally manage to scrape together the cash to buy a brand new in box crimson & black colored DS Lite on eBay this morning! So, as of next week I'll finally have my own system to play DS games on. Which is a very good thing, since the weight of that DSi XL my wife has is way too much for the carpal tunnel in my left hand to deal with and I'm one seriously hurting unit after all the time I spent playing it this week. What got me to log all those hours on the DS this week was my continued journey through the spellbindingly gorgeous and heartwarmingly charming Ōkamiden, and finally getting my hands on a copy of the long sought after Dementium II. Way back when I played through the original Dementium on the DS and thought it was fantastic, so when I was able to pick up the sequel this week it pretty much dominated all my gaming time from there on out. I haven't read any guides or spoilers so I don't know how much I've got left to go in the game, but at this point I'm just starting Chapter 5 and it seems like the conclusion is drawing near. Having played and been a big fan of Renegade Kid's two other first person shooters on the DS—the original Dementium and Moon—I can really tell how much they learned from their previous two games when playing Dementium II. Any minor complaint I might have had about their previous two releases has been fixed in Dementium II, and the whole game just feels like a masterpiece release from a company who knows the DS better than just about anyone other than Nintendo themselves. It is a direct sequel to the original Dementium that picks up exactly where the first game left off though, so anyone thinking about picking up a copy of Dementium II should really play through the first game beforehand to get the full story. I also spent a bit more time with Call of Duty: Black Ops even though I have already played through and beaten the story mode twice, but I just keep combing back to it for a few minutes here and few minutes there to play the addictively arcade style Zombies mode whenever I have a bit of free time to kill. I was really happy to see that they included this previously home console exclusive mode in a handheld port, since it really is what makes up the bulk of the game's replay value with the online multiplayer servers now shut down. As far as my wife's gaming time goes this week, Puzzle Quest and and Touch the Dead were the games she played. Not a whole lot of time was logged on those two, but she did have a lot of fun with both and will be continuing to play through them next week I imagine. Lastly, Monopoly for the Game Boy Color and Centipede on the 60-in-1 multicade once again swoop in to give my household a little tracker eligible playtime to contribute. That's all for this week!

Hot damn! The scorn is strong in this thread!

In my area there are four mom and pop game stores that get DS games in now and then, and unlike GameStop they actually hold onto the cases and manuals for them. However, most of what you'll find at those stores are either junk games that no one except completionists would want or 1st party titles that are massively jacked up over online prices. At this point I rely pretty much solely on eBay for building my DS library (since I only buy DS games complete in box) and I feel like I've done pretty well in that regard. Most of the really good games on the system are still under $20 CIB, so it's not too pricey to collect for. As far original DS Phat systems go, lately they've been selling for around $200 to $250 new in box, though used ones can easily be found in the $30 to $40 area.

Very well said! So far I'm not the least bit surprised that the New 3DS XL is leading in the poll, with the DS Lite a little ways behind. Unless you're someone like me who requires a smaller and lighter system due to physical limitations the New 3DS XL really is going to be the way to go for most people. Although, I think there could be some argument made for choosing the DS Lite instead on the basis of "Which game library is better? The DS Lite's DS & GBA library or The New 3DS XL's 3DS, DSi, & DS library?" The DSi doesn't bring a whole lot of worthwhile games to the table (just System: Flaw and Foto Showdown really) so it kinda comes down to whether someone finds the GBA or 3DS catalog more compelling. For retro gaming fans and collectors who prefer to own games on physical cartridges rather than digitial downloads I can easily see the GBA library winning out here; with ports of Doom, Doom II, Wolfenstein 3D, Zelda: A Link to the Past, the entire Classic NES Series, Final Fantasy I & II, Activision Anthology, all the Sonic Advance and Super Mario Advance games, plus more arcade game compilations, RPGs and Shoot 'Em Ups than you can shake a stylus at. The 3DS catalog on the other hand, while quite a bit smaller in terms of quality titles than the GBA catalog, still has a fair bit of retro offerings on physical media through 3D ports of some N64 classics like Star Fox 64 and Zelda: Ocarina of Time & Majora's Mask as well as it's own retro compilations like Mega Man Legacy Collection. And if you don't mind digital download games then the eShop opens up a whole world of retro offerings, including some pretty pricey and hard to find titles like Shantae for the Game Boy Color and Summer Carnival '92: Recca for the Famicom that most gamers may never get the chance to experience outside of the digital eShop ports. I think a good case could be made for both the DS Lite and New 3DS XL being the best options in the DS/3DS line, so it really comes down to whether the person shopping for the system prefers the GBA or 3DS library to supplement the stellar lineup of DS games available. And at the end of the day you can still play Chrono Trigger on both of them, so there's really no wrong answer here.

I really want to like this game, so badly. I grew up with and still adore Ultimate Doom, Doom II, and Final Doom and I own just about every console port that I've been able to get my hands on as well as the DOS originals. I still do full play throughs of the Game Boy Advance ports of Doom & Doom II once a year every year, and in spite of it's departure from the style of the previous games in the series I really like Doom 3 too. But this reboot, based on the preview videos at least, just looks too... complicated. There's all kinds of HUD menus popping up, melee combat, and way too much environmental stuff going on for me to imagine myself being able to keep track of everything going on in the game. Then there's the over-the-top levels of hyper realistic gore, which is more than a bit much for my stomach. In that regard I feel the same way about Doom that I feel about the Mortal Kombat series. I loved pretty much all of them up until Mortal Kombat 2011, but at that point the graphics just got too realistic for me to be able to enjoy the game without it making my stomach do flip flops every time I played it. In short, too much realism in video games isn't always a good thing. In my book at least.

While the screen resolution between all the different 3DS/2DS models is identical, the software used to upscale DS games is different in the New 3DS and New 3DS XL than it is in the 3DS, 3DS XL, and 2DS. For the "New" variations Nintendo has employed some new software that upscales original DS and DSi games more cleanly with less blurring and more accurate color definition. For evidence of this there are various comparison videos floating around online such as this one: https://youtu.be/h0rWS6dMM2I In short, due to some changes on the software side of things, original DS and DSi games look significantly more accurate when upscaled on the New 3DS and New 3DS XL than they do on previous 3DS iterations. Thanks for the advice, but I was already aware of the "Hold Select or Start when booting up" trick. It's a nice way to preserve the game's original resolution, but for my taste it just makes the game's screens too small for my eyes to see comfortably on smaller 3DS systems, and I can't handle the weight of the XL systems due to carpal tunnel in my left hand. For me it's full screen or nothing. Oh don't I know it! My wife actually has a bronze DSi XL that I've been borrowing to play older DS games while I wait to get a New 3DS system for myself. The visual quality is just outstanding and definitely as good as it gets when it comes to original DS and DSi games. Sadly though, due to my aforementioned carpal tunnel I can't handle the weight of holding the system for more than 20 minutes or so before my wrist hurts too much to keep playing. So, with that in mind, I'm going to stick to playing original DS games on a DS Lite until the regular sized black New 3DS comes out in North America and I can start digging into the 3DS library. Man do those screens on the DSi XL give me a serious case of size envy though!

I'd say if you can handle the weight then go for the New 3DS XL. The larger screen size makes it easier to see smaller objects and characters in games like Super Smash Bros. without having to squint, and judge your trajectory to take corners more sharply in Mario Kart without bumping into a wall. I think the larger screen size also makes for a more immersive experience regardless of what game you're playing. Original DS and DSi games also look very good on it without much in the way of pixel blurring like you'll find on the original 3DS, 3DS XL, and 2DS. They still won't look quite as good as they would on a DSi XL, but most games should look reasonably close. However, if the New 3DS XL is too heavy for you to hold for extended periods of time then the smaller sized New 3DS is going to be your best bet. Personally I can't hold the XL for more than 20 minutes or so before I start getting some serious wrist and elbow pain. My recommendation would be to buy a New 3DS XL from somewhere like Target that has a good unconditional return policy, then if you find it's too heavy to be comfortable for you play for long periods you'll have 30 days to take it back and exchange it for a regular sized New 3DS. Hope that helps!

At this point my plans for the 3DS are to wait until the regular sized New 3DS model is released in black in North America, then pick one up and start collecting the good games for the system. I did buy a 2DS last week since they've gotten so darn cheap at this point, but I ended up returning it the next day for a refund since I was really displeased by poor visual quality when playing original DS games on it. So now I'm just waiting for the black colored New 3DS to come stateside, since the visual quality for original DS games will be much better on that system. I don't mind buying into a system at the end of it's life cycle because that means that I'll already have a good idea of all the games that can he had for it, and with most people setting their sights on the NX it will be fairly cheap to collect for the 3DS as retailers start liquidating their stock of last gen games. Once the NX rolls out I think that will be the best time to start collecting for the 3DS.

Now that the thread has gotten a few replies I'll toss in my two cents. For me it was a really tough choice between the DS Lite and New 3DS XL, but I ended up going with the New 3DS XL since it covers all the handheld Nintendo games that I can't play on my backlit AGS-101 model GBA SP and I've had really bad luck with the build quality on the DS Lites I've owned. I love the DS Lite for it's compact form factor and ability to play original DS as well as GBA games in their native resolution, but all 4 DS Lites I've owned (all purchased brand new) had at least one or two stuck pixels on one of the screens combined with various other issues like misaligned backlights, wonky D-pads, and touchscreen problems. The DS Lite is still my favorite handheld, but for reasons of build quality and versatility I ended up voting for the New 3DS XL. It plays DS, DSi, and 3DS games on it and they all look great. The 3DS games are very enjoyable thanks to the super stable 3D, I dig the analog nub for Resident Evil Revelations, Moon Chronicles, and Ironfall: Invasion, and original DS/DSi games still look very nice on it in spite of not being displayed in their native resolution. The full screen DS/DSi upscaling in the New 3DS XL is much more clean and less blurry than in previous 3DS iterations. Mind you I've yet to own a regular sized New 3DS, since I'm waiting for Nintendo to release it in black in North America, but I have owned every other DS/3DS line system in the poll. I am really looking forward to trying it though, and it may change my vote when I do since the New 3DS XL is a bit heavy for my tastes. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Out of curiosity, I thought it would be fun to run a little poll to see what the members of AtariAge thought was the best Nintendo DS/3DS line system. Feel free to share your reasoning on why you chose the system you did and what makes it the best to you.

Because the current generation of core gamers have forgotten how to make friends without tapping or swiping their fingers on their phone?

Now that is an awesome week of gaming! I'm really not a JRPG guy, I actually loathe the genre most of the time, but even I have to admit that Golden Sun and Golden Sun 2 are some really amazing games. They're definitely my all time favorite RPGs and it makes me smile to hear that people are still enjoying them so many years after their release.

The reign of the DS over my household continues! Ineligible Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS) - 115 minutes Clubhouse Games (Nintendo DS) - 33 minutes The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS) - 147 minutes Mario Kart DS (Nintendo DS) - 170 minutes Ōkamiden (Nintendo DS) - 364 minutes The Pinball Arcade (Android) - 18 minutes Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (Nintendo DS) - 74 minutes Game Boy Color Monopoly - 146 minutes NES Freedom Force - 16 minutes Tetris - 54 minutes Xevious - 8 minutes Total Play Time This Week 1,145 minutes (19 hours 5 minutes) [224 minutes eligible] Individual System Play Times This Week Nintendo DS: 903 minutes Game Boy Color: 146 minutes NES: 78 minutes Android: 18 minutes It was another really big week for the (unfortunately ineligible) Nintendo DS around my household this week. After months of playing my wife finally finished off The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass the other day, and along with doing another play through of Call of Duty: Black Ops I started in on the gorgeous, charming, and just all around wonderful Ōkamiden. The original Ōkami on the Wii is easily in my Top 5 all time favorite games, and definitely #1 in terms of story, so I had been greatly looking forward to playing through the DS sequel for a very long time now. After logging just over 6 hours in it so far I can safely say that the sequel lives up to the expectations set by it's predecessor very well and hasn't disappointed me in the slightest! At this point I'm probably no more than 1/4 of the way through the game, but as far as I'm concerned this game could go on forever and I'd have no complaints about it whatsoever. The level of complete adoration that I have for both Ōkami and it's DS sequel is just... just... well let's just say that it's not an easy thing to put into words. In other gaming news, this week I also managed to complete and take 1st place in every track on every mode in Mario Kart DS and subsequently unlocked every hidden character and every kart available in the game. Now that Nintendo no longer supports the WiFi connection for original DS games I'm not sure how much more playtime I'm going to get out of Mario Kart DS, since I've unlocked all there is to unlock now and there's no longer any online multiplayer to be had, but I may still go back and play it a bit more every now and then. Lastly, when it comes to DS stuff, after completing The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass the misses started in on Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords this week. This looks to be another pretty long game, so I imagine it'll be showing up on our weekly "games played" list for quite sometime, but it does look really fun and it supports multiple profiles and save files on the same cartridge; so I maybe I'll give it a go too. To round things out and give us some eligible playtime to post this week I also played 4 games of my old favorite Game Boy Color game, Monopoly, and the misses spent the better part of an hour attempting to neatly arrange falling blocks on our NES. Watching her play Tetris made me start itching to borrow her NES Advantage arcade stick to play Xevious and break out the NES Zapper for Freedom Force, so I managed to get in a little NES time there too. All things considered I think it was a pretty good week for gaming around here.

Freedom Force (NES) Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS) Clubhouse Games (Nintendo DS)

Most of the game stores around where I live are really good about pricing. They look at whatever the lowest Buy It Now price for a game or system in similar condition on eBay is then undercut it by a few bucks, and I think that's a pretty good system to make their customers feel like they're getting a good deal and bring in repeat business. However, there is one store around here that does kinda annoy me because they tend to price games at double whatever the average eBay Buy It Now price is then offer "Buy 1, get 1 half off" or "Buy 2, get 1 free" deals on their games. The shop is called High Score Games, but for obvious reasons all the collectors and other shops around here refer to them as High Price Games. They do offer pretty good deals on consoles sometimes, but man are their games ever overpriced.

"Beep"ing and "boop"ing, is that what the kids are calling it these days?