I got my 3DS today! It’s a blue 3DS XL.
For those in the U.S., this is a great time to buy a 3DS. Through Saturday (March 30th), Target has regular 3DS systems for $129.99 and XL systems for $159.99. Those are $40 off the normal prices. It looks like they’re currently sold-out on the website, but call your local store to see if they have any. Also, Nintendo is having a promotion through April 30th that if you buy a 3DS XL and either Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon or Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, you can get a free game (such as Super Mario 3D Land).
As for the system, there was one thing that surprised me: How small the buttons are! The main X-A-B-Y buttons are tiny! My Game Boy Advance SP, which is about half the size of a Nintendo 3DS XL, has bigger buttons. And I thought those were pretty small to begin with too. Not cool. Well I guess this is just one of many reasons I prefer console games to portable games.
Anyway, I played around with some of the included apps, but not all of them yet. First, I wanted to see what demos were available in the eShop. I was hoping for a Pilotwings demo (no such luck). I tried out the demo for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate. (What’s with two-colon games?) Much like Wii U demos, 3DS demos allow you to play them 30 times. As for the game, the graphics are 3D, but the gameplay is 2D. So I was surprised it didn’t let me control the character with the control pad; you have to use the circle pad to play. The game is set up like a Metroid game or Symphony of the Night, but the gameplay didn’t seem as fun. Enemies take a little too long to defeat and it didn’t really feel like a Castlevania game. It was okay, but it’s probably not something I would buy.
But as you may know know, I got a 3DS primarily for Animal Crossing: New Leaf, which comes out in June. My Animal Crossing blogs are the most popular part of my site, and I’m looking forward to blogging New Leaf from the very beginning. My other Animal Crossing blogs were started years after I had most tasks completed, like having my house paid off, the town upgrades, and so on. So this upcoming blog will cover everything, so keep an eye out for that, coming soon.
And of course, much like City Folk and Wild World before it, Animal Crossing: New Leaf will have online play. Since 3DS systems have one universal friend code (instead of separate codes for each game), it’s not too soon to start adding future New Leaf players to your friend rosters. In fact, that’s what I’m doing now. For a limited time, I will be adding people to my roster for future New Leaf play.