New 3DS review – Nintendo’s best handheld yet

From the burst of 56 simultaneous colours on the Game Boy Color to the Game Boy Advance’s illuminating backlight, the days when Nintendo only released one version of its portable gaming console are long gone. Admittedly, we didn’t think it would take Nintendo three years to update the 3DS, but here we are with the New 3DS and its newly updated big brother, the New Nintendo 3DS XL.

Despite having been out for almost a year, the New 3DS hasn’t come down in price yet. You can pick one up the white model reviewed here for £140 from Amazon, but otherwise you’re looking at £150 or more depending on whether you opt for one of Nintendo’s game bundles, of which there are plenty to get stuck in with.

Alternatively, if you’re not sure what kind of games you like, Nintendo’s made it even easier for you to try different titles, as it’s just added over 100 demos to its online eShop store for free, which highlights including Super Smash Bros and Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. There are also dozens of free-to-start games to try, too, including the excellent puzzle game Fullblox. This doesn’t cost anything to download, but will require additional in-game purchases to play more of the game. In Fullblox’s case, this amounts to extra puzzle packs – which we can safely say are all superb having lost dozens to them.

C-Stick

The biggest new feature on the New 3DS is the additional ‘C-Stick’ nubbin just above the fan-pleasing SNES-coloured face buttons, which should hopefully appease anyone who felt the old 3DS was incomplete without a second analogue stick. It’s certainly different to how we expected a second analogue stick would look on the 3DS, but it’s surprisingly responsive, as we were able to navigate the home menu screens with only the tiniest of movements.

 The New 3DS isn’t out in the UK until February 13th, but we’ve been putting our Australian import through its paces

In games, its primary function is to move the camera around, but it won’t just be limited to new games such as Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, as it’s also compatible with older games that supported the Circle Pad Pro. We tried it out on both Resident Evil Revelations and Kid Icarus Uprising to great effect, as camera movements were smooth and fluid. We particularly like the small thumb indentation on the upper screen’s hinge, as it not only gives your thumb a firm foothold to rest in, but the extra room also makes it more comfortable to use over longer periods of time.

Another complaint levelled at the 3DS on launch was how you had to hold it in a very specific sweetspot to make sure its stereoscope ‘glasses-free’ 3D didn’t start blurring or making your eyes hurt. This has been greatly improved on the New 3DS, as the screen’s inner camera can now track the position of your head and will make adjustments on the fly to make sure the 3D is stable at much wider angles.

The New 3DS is noticeably bigger than its predecessor and has larger screens to go with it

It’s a shame the screen tends to flash slightly as it makes those adjustments, but we were able to tilt the screen significantly further than our old 3DS and still get a clear image. Whereas the old 3DS started blurring almost as soon as we moved it to either side, the New 3DS produced a clear, stable 3D effect at an almost 45 degree angle, which is much better if you’re playing games on the move, or physically moving the console around in-game in order to use its internal gyroscope.

Design

We love what Nintendo’s done with the rest of the New 3DS’s design as well, as the new, smooth plastic finish looks classy and feels fantastic to hold. Previous 3DS consoles felt a bit toy like but this, on the other hand, is a lovely bit of kit and the rounded corners fit snugly into each palm. The slightly larger chassis also makes snaking your index fingers round the shoulder buttons far less cramped, and the newly-added ZR and ZL bumper buttons lie within comfortable reach.

The ZR and ZL bumper buttons add even more flexibility to the New 3DS’s control scheme

Again, any game with Circle Pad Pro controls will support the extra ZR and ZL buttons, so you can still comfortably aim and shoot in games like Resident Evil, for example. They can also be used for switching tabs when browsing the internet using Nintendo’s internal browser, while the C Stick can be used to zoom in and pan round web pages on both the upper and lower screens. It certainly makes browsing the web a lot more user friendly than the old 3DS, as you couldn’t have separate tabs or zoom in without tapping buttons on the lower touchscreen.

Of course, with two extra buttons on the back of the console, this doesn’t leave much room for the game card slot or the stylus, so these have been relocated to the bottom edge of the console, next to the headphone jack and power button. We’re not great fans of the New 3DS’s stylus, though, as its short length means the curved end tends to dig into your hand. Still, it’s a small complaint overall, as a lot of games only require the stylus for a few taps, which a firm press or fingernail can more than adequately perform instead.

The New 3DS is beautifully designed and we much prefer its matt chassis to the glossy finish on the old 3DS

Elsewhere, the plain shade of white on our particular console extends both inside and out on the New 3DS, and the upper screen’s old outer lip is now completely flat, having been replaced by two small circular mounds either side of the camera. We’re glad the lip’s gone, as it made cleaning those last bits of dust out of our old 3DS a bit of a chore. Only time will tell if the two bumpers will adequately prevent the top screen from getting damaged by the raised lower touchscreen, though. We hope they do, as our old 3DS has taken quite a beating over the last four years, particularly where the rim of the touchscreen meets the top 3D display.

Now you’re playing with power

Another big attraction of the New 3DS is its brand new CPU, which allows it to play more advanced games than the original model. So far, the only game to really utilise this is the handheld version of Monolith Soft’s excellent 2011 Wii RPG, Xenoblade Chronicles 3D.

Xenoblade was by far our favourite Nintendo game of 2011, a year which saw the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Super Mario 3D Land. Of course, the 3D version of Xenoblade doesn’t exactly have Wii-level graphics, but if it’s capable of condensing a last-gen home console game down to something you can play on a handheld, it certainly suggests we could see more ports of Wii games in the future.

Sadly, the new CPU won’t improve current 3DS games, as the frame rate issues we had in Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, for instance, still persisted when we tried it out on the New 3DS. It does, however, make Super Smash Bros. for 3DS load much faster, and doesn’t require the console to restart every time you close the game down. Nintendo says it should also cut download times when buying games through its online eShop store, but this is obviously dependent on the speed of your internet connection as well.

NFC & amiibo

The New 3DS also has built-in NFC so you can use Nintendo’s line of Amiibo figures simply by placing them on the console’s lower touchscreen. These are compatible with dozens of games, including Super Smash Bros, so you can use the same Amiibo figures as the Wii version. In other games, they can be used to gain additional items or costumes to be used in-game, but you should check Nintendo’s amiibo compatibility chart to see what they do before you consider buying one. The 3DS, meanwhile, doesn’t have NFC built-in, so anyone hoping to use their Amiibo on the move will have to buy Nintendo’s additional NFC Reader accessory, which connects to the console wirelessly.

Storage

The switch to microSD cards might upset those who upgraded from the standard 2GB full-sized SD card to a larger card on the original 3DS, but at least the New 3DS comes with a 4GB microSD card in the box to get you started (and you can pick up a 16GB card for around £5 online). We wish it was a little easier to access the card slot, though, as it’s now located underneath the rear panel which is screwed down due to the new position of the console’s 1,400mAh battery.

The New 3DS has a slightly larger battery than the old 3DS and its new auto brightness setting should help extend battery life even further

It’s easy enough to remove the back plate if you have the right size screwdriver, If you’re a big Nintendo fan you’ll be removing it more often than you might think too, with the company gearing up to produce numerous interchangeable face plate packs to customise the appearance of your console. Just bear in mind that the New 3DS XL doesn’t have interchangeable face plates, so you’ll be stuck with its plain metallic finish for the duration of the console’s life span.

Battery Life

The New 3DS is also meant to last a bit longer than the old model. Factors such as the screen brightness, use of 3D, Wi-Fi and sound will have an impact on the exact battery life of the console, but while the ordinary 3DS had an approximate battery life of 3 to 5 hours, the New 3DS should last between 3.5 to 6 hours.

Fortunately, to help make the battery last a bit longer, the New 3DS has a new Auto Brightness setting which automatically adjusts the brightness depending on your surrounding lighting conditions. However, rather than a gradual change in brightness, we found it tended to change rather abruptly, creating an off-putting flash in the process, so we tended to leave it turned off while playing games.

New 3DS vs New 3DS XL

Of course, there’s also the New 3DS XL to consider, which has significantly larger screens and a completely different look and feel to its smaller cousin. We’ve covered the main differences in much greater detail in our full New 3DS XL review, but you can tell straight away that the New 3DS is the more appealing portable console.

While the New 3DS has a gorgeous matt texture, its big brother has a slightly oily glossy chassis, which we found didn’t provide as much grip when holding it for long periods of time. It was also much more prone to picking up fingerprints, so it looked perpetually dirty no matter how many times we tried to keep it clean.

We also found the New 3DS XL was a fraction too big to play games comfortably, as we found it more of a stretch to reach the C Stick and shoulder buttons. The lack of interchangeable face plates is another big deal breaker for us, as this is one of the New 3DS’s main selling points in our eyes. Instead, you’ll simply have to put up with the standard metallic black or blue colours if you buy one at launch, although we’re sure there will be plenty of special New 3DS XL editions available in the future to add a bit of colour and personality to the console.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate looks much more impressive on the New 3DS XL’s larger screens

There is a certain attraction in going for the larger screens, though, as some games such as Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate look absolutely outstanding. It’s far more immersive than playing it on the smaller New 3DS, but the screens’ identical resolutions mean there are a few downsides, namely a lower pixel density and more visible aliasing and jagged edges. This varies from game to game, but smaller scale titles such as Tomodachi Life don’t benefit nearly as much from the extra screen space. If anything, we’d say it actually looks worse on the New 3DS XL due to the sheer amount of aliasing.

However, the New 3DS XL does have a larger 1,750mAh battery, which Nintendo estimates will give you somewhere betwen 3.5 to 7 hours of play time. This gives you an extra hour over the New 3DS’s 1,400mAh battery, but both consoles should last around 3 days in sleep mode.

Conclusion

Naturally, new hardware never comes cheap, as the New 3DS is currently priced at £150, while the New 3DS XL is currently £180 for the standard version or £210 for the special Monster Hunter 4-themed model. Neither come with a charging adapter either, so this will have to be bought separately for around another £7 unless you already have one from your old 3DS, 3DS XL, 2DS or DSi.

However, when the New 3DS is so much quicker, more desirable and has a hugely better 3D effect, we can’t see any reason why you should opt for the old 3DS over the new one if you’re buying one for the first time. As for current 3DS owners, those who have played their old console as much as we have should be keen to upgrade, especially if your console has begun to show the same signs of wear and tear as ours. There may not be many New 3DS exclusive games around yet – barring the excellent Xenoblade Chronicles 3D – but this is still a superb console that has a huge library of games behind it and only looks to get even better in the coming year.