3DS XL: Hands-on review

Massive. That’s the only way to describe Nintendo’s latest monster of a machine – but not just in the size of the beast, but the scope of what it means for 3DS.

The handheld is a big deal, in more ways than one. 3DS sales, while decent, are not staggering. Nintendo has posted losses for two years running. The house of Mario is rather hopeful the XL will accelerate the company from its current standstill.

Impressions? It’s brilliant. I’ve gone hands on with a Red/Black 3DS XL for 24 hours now, ahead of its European release tomorrow, and I can honestly say any fears I had for the machine have been firmly quashed.

First off, those screens. No, they aren’t as crisp. But they really are huge. Almost too big. The effect – with the 3D at max, too – is to draw you totally into the game. You’re so engrossed by the two big displays that the system just envelops you in its gaming in a way its smaller brother can’t manage.

The jaggies? Not an issue. Some worried it would be a mess of pixellated disappointment, but in fact, once you get going you never notice. Sure, if you stop to look you might see the odd jaggie here or there and the overall crispness and sharpness of the picture has lost a little edge. But it’s nowhere near what I feared it would be and it’s well worth the trade-off for the screen size and overall experience.

Ergonomically, the new system wins too. On my old Aqua Blue 3DS I felt my hands cramp up after a while and my palms start to hurt from the squared off corners, the new model is smooth all over, rounded at the edges and is much easier to hold for longer game sessions.

But the analogue nub is one of the biggest revelations. The little stick (yes, there’s only one, deal with it), has been much improved. Whereas I used to feel myself lose control in the middle of a tight corner on Mario Kart 7, now it seems to respond and move more tightly and fluidly than before, allowing for better angles of control. I’m really surprised no hands-on previews have mentioned this so far, as it’s one of the very first things I noticed as it helped me 3* a tricky Mirror Race tournament I’d been struggling with on my very first play with the machine.

A long bout of Karting was quickly followed by a Super Mario 3D Land session. And it’s unbelievable.

 The larger screens actually help you notice things you’ve never seen before. Within moments of starting a world, I noticed a little crevice I’d never spied in myfirst 15 hours with the game, hiding a Star Coin.

 Not only that, the 3D effect is much more pronounced. Whereas the old 3DS had depth, the XL also ‘comes out’ a lot further. Coins, jumps and platforms seem to jump or jut out into the space in front of the screen much more than they used to – all thanks to the 90% increase in 3D screenage.

The sound is no improvement, though. The old one was too quiet and this one’s marginally quieter. Though the speakers are a tiny bit crisper, they aren’t as powerful as the original – probably to help stuff them either side of the bigger screen. It’s no louder than it used to be through headphones, either.

On the plus side, regular old DS games are far better on XL. Somehow, Nintendo has managed to push them much larger than the tiny, grey squares on the old 3DS, stretching the bottom image to fill the (bigger) touch screen and the top image to almost fill the top screen. As if by magic, despite how poor the old DS games’ resolution is, and how vast the new screens are, it looks better than on 3DS and is a brilliantly involving experience. Check out this image of Pokemon Black. I might not skip Black/White 2 after all.

The system transfer took a while, but now my old Aqua Blue doesn't know who it is any more (it says 'Select Language'), and my new 3DS has the soul of my old one. Except, for some reason, the 3DS Ambassador games. They don't transfer over, you have to go back into the e-Shop and re-download them all again. 

To add insult to injury, the save files don’t seem to have moved either. I fired up Yoshi’s Island with renewed determination to beat the damn level I was stuck in, only to be greeted with three blank files. The window? That’s where those ten hours have just gone out. There might be a fix for this if I play around with files on my PC, but for now, it's annoying.

Other gripes: The blue light still flashes dimmer and brighter. Not a problem for most people, but I can’t sleep with lights on at the best of times, least of all when a light is glowing interchangeably like a bloody irradiated lighthouse. Just like the old one, bedtime becomes 3DS-in-the-drawer time.

The camera’s still rubbish, the battery still pretty bad (but lasts 30 minutes longer than it did) and the volume slider is still on the side – meaning when I play aggressively, I often end up jacking the slider to the max or pulling it to zero – very annoying if I’ve got the sound off in a public place and suddenly scare the bejeezus out of the small child/old biddy sat nearby.

All in all, the 3DS XL is a great improvement over the old model. The larger screens make for a much more engrossing, involving experience. The colour schemes are actually pretty slick (the Red one matches the exact shade of Beats By Dre headphones – geek chic much?), and the slight loss of crispness is more than made up for in SCALE.

The best part is, the new system isn’t even that much bigger than the old one. I just about jammed the thing in my pocket when I walked into work this morning, and it has a satisfying weight about it that makes it feel expensive.

Combined with its improved ergonomics and smooth shell, it’s a console that looks, feels and plays superior to the regular model. 

If you were wary of plonking down the cash for a 3DS – now’s the time. With New Super Mario Bros 2 round the corner and the likes of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, Mario Kart 7 and e-Shop gem Pullblox/Pushmo already available, the (not so) little handheld has finally found form.

This latest version may have some flaws, but it’s flawed perfection. With XL, 3DS is set to go big in more ways than one.