New 3DS XL

If you follow me on Twitter or read my New Leaf blog, you probably know that my 3DS XL has been falling apart and I was in need of a new system. Even though I was tempted to get another 3DS XL, I decided to upgrade to the New 3DS XL instead. This way, I won’t have to buy the separate NFC Reader for the Amiibo cards in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. Also, I’ll be ready for any future games that will only work on the New 3DS.

I got a red one, and it’s a nice, shiny red. (The picture below doesn’t do the shininess justice). The bad thing is that fingerprints show up on it quite easily. The system has improved 3D abilities, although I rarely use the 3D functions anyway. Some of the buttons have been moved to different locations, as have the volume slider, cartridge slot, and stylus slot. I think I’m going to be reaching for things that aren’t there, for a while at least. The stylus itself is shorter and thicker than the previous one, and I don’t care for the change. I think I may continue using my old stylus most of the time, at least when I’m at home.

Red New 3DS XLWhile it may be a temporary inconvenience to have buttons in different places, some things are gone completely–such as the wireless switch. It allowed you to immediately cut off all wireless communication to save battery power when you’re not playing online or going out for StreetPasses. It was also helpful in games like Animal Crossing: New Leaf: If someone was causing damage to your town or stealing items from you, you could cut the connection to preserve your town/items by reverting to the previous save.

Another change is that you need to use a tiny screwdriver to remove the MicroSD card. And then you’ll likely need an adapter to use the MicroSD card in a regular SD card slot on your computer. But fortunately, there is a way to move files wirelessly. It took me a little while to get it set up correctly, but I did figure it out.

Red New 3DS XLI’m hoping this New 3DS XL proves to be more durable than my regular 3DS XL, but I’m going to try being extra careful with it regardless. Portable or not, a video game system should not need to be replaced after 2.5 years. While I’ll still take this system out to get StreetPasses, I may skip taking it to amusement parks. It has the potential to take more abuse there, even though that was one of my best places to actually get StreetPass hits.

I performed my system transfer wirelessly yesterday, and it took about 2.5 hours. There is a faster option that lets you move files from your SD card to your computer, and then to your microSD card, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find a MicroSD card adapter. I think I have one somewhere, but I’m not sure where it is. But everything transferred over smoothly, with all of my data intact, so I’m happy about that.

I am enjoying my new New 3DS XL, and it’s nice to play games without having to literally hold up the top screen. I was a bit surprised that the New 3DS didn’t come with any new apps or anything fun to play around with, but it’s a big relief just to have a fully working system once again.

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