Nintendo 3ds

liz-paul

Hi, I know nothing about gaming at all! My son who is coming 10 wants a ds for Xmas. I really don't know whether to get him the new one which is around £145 or if the older one ( £85-100) is ok. I want him to have it a few years before it becomes obsolete but don't want to spend more than I need to. Any opinions are really appreciated as I'm totally lost here

kathrynha

My daughter who is the same age has had a DS for years and is wanting to upgrade to a 3DS XL this Christmas as there aren't any decent new games for the DS. If you are wanting a few years worth of use out of it I would definitely recommend the 3DS.


If you look around there are some decent deals with the console and an in built game for the same price as just the console, which is good if it's a game you want.
Also worth looking at second hand games. Game and Asda both sell them, and they come boxed like brand new ones. Remove the pre-owned sticker and nobody would know.


One annoying thing is I believe they don't come with a charger, so make sure you budget for that too.

bluenoseam

By newer one I think the OP might be talking about the old 3DS/XL which doesn't support the Amiibo & doesn't have the "c-stick" as a new 3DS/XL was released earlier this year. (Mostly because if anyone was selling a DS at £85-100 I'd point at them & laugh!)

The new 3DS/XL will be around for a few years & has all the back catalogue, but as far as I'm aware right now there's only one game which REQUIRES it. (Xenoblade Chronicles) There are several which support it & Animal Crossing also has a version available for the older 3DS models which contains an attachment for the NFC component of the game. Nintendo for all their failings aren't stupid, they'll limit the number of games which render the original 3DS models obsolete as doing so would create a massive customer backlash.

If you buy it pre-owned then I'd recommend Game, you get a year's guarantee with it so if it breaks down you'll get it replaced - unlikely to happen but it's peace of mind. Chances are pre-owned you'll also get a charger with it as well, if in doubt I'm sure if you ask nicely they'll let you see what they have so you can get a good one! (If they don't then I'd be shocked, it would represent very poor customer service, especially when spending a not insignificant sum of money!)

Brand new you should be looking at around £150 for the new 3DS & around £180ish for the new 3DS XL & they'll usually come with some games/accessories.

ricardinho88

I'd be careful with a 3DS, especially with young children. I think a child of 10 would be ok, but it advised that young children don't use a 3DS because the 3D effect can sometimes cause damage to their eyes.

Personally, I'd go for the 3DS. Nintendo have recently released the latest version of it, so it should stay 'current' for a few years yet.

liz-paul

Thank you everyone. Yes I did mean the old 3ds and the new 3ds rather than the 2ds. Good point about the eyes and the 3d element. I did read today that the games can played in 2d as well as 3d. Thanks again!

bluenoseam

I'm sure I heard the recommendation was to avoid the 3D element under 8 years of age, I could be wrong on that as it's not something I've ever really NEEDED to know. If that's a concern you can get a 2DS, plays all the 3DS games but only does so in 2D, it doesn't however fold over & so the screens are exposed to a little more potential for damage. They started out under a ton brand new & have probably had a price drop by now, worth thinking about but only if you can find a suitable case for it!

ineed

3DS do have the option to not use 3D and are a better design than the 2DS to protect the screens. I never use 3D on my XL systems But I do on my N3DS as it's superior to older systems (the new models are the N (new) N3DS/N3DS XL).

You'd have to keep an eye on children to make sure they don't turn it back on if you don't want them using it though, might be able to do something under settings I haven't checked.