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.

iPad 2 does 3D screen trick

Researchers in France have managed to get '3D' images to display on iPads using camera-based head tracking.

Jeremie Francone and Laurence Nigay, from EHCI research group have created a program which shows 3D images on the tablet's 9.7 inch screen.

The program uses the devices' front-mounted cameras to track your face. It then moves and tilts the image on-screen so it looks like a 3D image, with real depth.

The difference between this and a 3DTV or a 3DS is that it's just a trick - it isn't really showing 3D at all, and in fact it can run on any normal iPad or iPhone.

DSi's '3D' game, Looksley's Line Up

This trick has actually been seen before - on Nintendo's DSi. Looksley's Line Up, a downloadable DSiWare title, released last year and it used the DSi's front camera to create supposed 3D.

3D is all the rage this year, with 3DS recently becoming the first glasses-free 3D device to hit the mass market and phone-makers LG looking to follow suit with the LG Optimus, the world's first 3D smartphone.


Whether Apple actually take the French pair's research and apply it to their apps and firmware remains to be seen - but it shows how 3D content is being delivered in ever more clever ways.

Is 3D really the future?

One day, you'll tell your grand-kids about ye old times when you drove a car which ran on explosive fuel, watched ITV without a 'talent' competition on it and looked at 2D pictures on every gadget's screen.

This week, a device released promising the 3D-screen experience for around £200 - about £1000 cheaper than any 3D-enabled kit so far. It does 3D movies, photos and games all without glasses - the Nintendo 3DS.

Heralded by many as the device which will finally break the uncertainty barrier keeping people from investing in 3D tech, the 3DS could well spark a revolution of sorts. Remember how after the DS launched, every piece of tech, from mobiles to printers, slapped on a touch screen? Or how every film suddenly rushed to slap (often rubbishy) 3D effects on their flicks after Avatar? The same could soon happen with 3D on the go.

The iPhone 5 is rumoured to be packing 3D. LG are already prepping their 3D mobile - the LG Optimus 3D - while TV companies charging over a grand for a flatscreen which needs £150 glasses are suddenly scrambling around trying to do damage control.

But is it hype for nothing? After all, I've seen many a person struggle on with a touch screen, wishing they'd stuck with the cosy comfort of proper buttons.

Similarly, many people complain of sickness, nausea and headaches when viewing 3D images. Just today, The Sun ran a scaremongering attack on the 3DS, citing the views of "The Sun Doctor" (I'm not making this up) who said the 3D effect was 'unnatural' and will make your brain explode, or something.

But there may be something to the reports. And leaving the queasy aside, there's still people with weak vision and lazy eyes, or missing eyes (honest) who can't see 3D at all.

And to top it all off, we've been here before. Feast your eyes on this film advert, for a movie released in 1922.


Now, 3D before they had talking parts was probably sprinting before we could gurgle, but the point is: we've had several 3D resurgences since and they've all failed too. Can it ever work?

Well for one thing, the glasses are gone - at least in the portable realm, and TVs will catch up some day.

For another thing, 3D is backed by Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, LG, Nintendo, Philips - pretty much anyone who's anything in the tech world.

Plus, the amount of 3D content available this year is astronomical. Sky Sports 3D, hundreds of 3D games both on 3DS and PS3, as well as several major 3D movie releases.

3D isn't the future, it's the present, and it's a great time to get on board.