Duders, I need some help...

A little background about me. I'm primarily a pc guy - having one hooked up in my living room to play some of the latest/greatest games from the comfort of my couch. I've owned a 360 and a PS3 in the past - but have since sold both. For my portability, I once had a 3ds and really loved the games - but my hands hurt too much when playing it for more than 20 mins. I traded it in toward a VIta - which is now my primary portable device.

Man, I love the vita. It's so great - and theres a ton of indies (albeit, almost all are also available on pc) but the attempts at triple A games are really poor - so much that Sony has recently come out and said that they realize that the vita is for indies.

Jump to about a week ago - I was so pumped from Nintendo's E3 that went out and got a Wii U - and man is this thing neat!

Now because of all of this, I'm thinking of jumping ship again - and picking up a refurb 3DS XL from Nintendo directly for about $135.

Now the actual stats. I'm a somewhat full grown adult in my early 30's with a full time job and living with my girlfriend. She's able to play a little bit on the Wii U with me but I don't see her borrowing my current vita/potential 3ds anytime soon - she's got an ipad and I got her hooked on Hearthstone.

I mostly use my portables when traveling (which isn't frequent) or when lying in bed before bed. Sometimes I'll play on the couch while watching a dumb movie or something - but now I've got the Wii U for that also...

I tend to be the gamer that starts a ton of games - but never quite seems to finish them. The exception to this has been Nintendo. Mario, Mega Man, Pokemon - no matter what I start I seem to see through.

My question to you duders is this - what do you think of my situation?

Should I just shutup, and be happy with what I have? Should I trade in/sell my vita to help fund some of the cost of the 3DS?

Or is this my own problem and I should stop asking the internet what to do?!

Either way I just want to know your opinions.

Edit: With shipping and tax the refurb 3DS XL is just under $150.

The 3DS has some killer games on it. Three of my top ten games of last year were exclusive to that platform. However, the vita is a great piece of hardware and it basically does everything the 3DS does and more, I wouldn't trade it in for what is unquestionably inferior hardware. In my opinion, you should wait until you see a 3DS game that you absolutely have to play and then take the plunge. It's how I've decided to buy every console I've owned and its worked for me so far.

Thats a great strategy - but my tastes in games wafts so much.
For example, I really thought I would want P4G. I really did. But after playing it - it's just not my jam. I can totally see the appeal and thats great, but again - just not for me.
However, seeing things like Link Between Worlds and Pokeman has me wanting to go back to my old old gaming roots. I did play Super Mario 3D Land and had an absolute blast. I'm also having a ton of fun with Mario Kart 8 and NSBMU.

I also tend to start a ton of games and just never play them all the way through. I've done this far too much on my vita - stuff like a ton of PS1 games, old PSP games and even dumb remakes that I've already played and got bored with - like God of War and Borderlands 2. I get enticed by the portability, but since I'm not going anywhere I'm just not sure...if anything I'm thinking I'd rather have a unique experience (Zelda/Pokemon) that I can't replicate anywhere else.

It's just $135 mate, and you have a full-time job (that I assume pays you well). The amount of time you spend mulling over it would cost more than that. It's not a lot to lose if you end up not playing it much. You could just later give it to someone as a Christmas gift or something.

Hahaha, yeah yeah - I'm thinking about pulling the trigger. I just don't know how long this portable generation will last.
I've been known to buy portables RIGHT before the refreshes come out - GBA, 3DS and a Vita now...

I wouldn't get rid of the Vita, because it's a cool platform, but the 3DS is definitely worth having around. Maybe buy a 2DS, actually. That thing'll play Fire Emblem and Zelda and Tomodachi life just fine.

I don't think I can deal with the ergonomics of a 2DS - I actually really like the clamshell design of the 3DS.

Alright duders - thanks for all the input. I think next paycheck I'm going to pull the trigger for that 3DS...

I have a Vita (with the OLED screen) and 3DS XL and don't regret getting them one bit. PS+ has stocked the Vita library (on top of physical copies of P4G, which has like 130 hours in it, Soul Sacrifice and Demon's Crown, which I also have a lot of hours in).

With my 3DS, I only have a few games for it but hilariously (stupidly) enough, I have only really played Pokemon on it (X and Y). Whenever I open that thing, I see Pokemon already in it and just go back to playing that. While Pokemon can sustain me on it (and then refresh me on it when those next remakes come out...oh god help), if you have some games you'd like to play on it, I would say go for it.

...I should really play A Link Between Worlds sometime but Pokemon won't loosen its' grasp.

Oh god. Spam bots are posting on other people's posts now?

To answer your question, I have a 3DS but not a Vita. I really enjoy the 3DS because it has a ton of great games to play. I've spent well over 50 hours with Fire Emblem: Awakening, played through Ace Attorney twice, beaten Link Between Worlds a few times, etc. When I first got my 3DS, I was skeptical because there weren't many great games on it, but Nintendo has really delivered. If you have the money, you should definitely pick one up.

Ugh. Fire Emblem and Pokemon and Link Between Worlds - those are pretty much my wants.
I've tried Disgaea 3 and it's just too much to take in for me - and I'm actually turned off by the ultra chibi style.

I haven't played a Pokemon since Red. Would I still be able to pickup X/Y easily? (I'm assuming I will)

There's a ton of new stuff but yeah, it's Pokemon. Catch Pokemon, train Pokemon, beat Gyms, evil team, be champion.

The only thing you would probably need to get used to are the new types of Pokemon but that's easily solved with a quick Google or search on Bulbapedia, or just by playing the game.

@bemusedchunk:

Are there [INSERT NUMBER HERE] video games that you want to play on that video game system that you can only play on that video game system?

• If yes, then buy that video game system.
• If no, then do not buy that video game system.

@fattony12000: Meaning games that have already been released? Games with a future release date? Or games that have been announced but just have tentative dates?

Either way I think the answer is the 3DS...

Wait a month. If you feel like you still want to buy a Wii U or 3DS and have a game you want to play then, then go for it. Otherwise you are just throwing your money away on what was essentially a giant commercial telling you to buy something without a need or a purpose.

@bemusedchunk: Either/both/all of the above.

Sure do it. There's a pretty limited amount of actual games (2 or 3 a month) but all of them are at least a 3 out of 5.

don't. The 3DS XL is ugly, unergonomic, and pretty poor quality. Why would you trade a far superior device away all because Sony said they will not be supporting it as much? You pretty much said yourself vita is better than 3ds. Just go with which you concretely like more and not worry about what companies say.

My GotY list from last year was 80% 3DS games, and there's bunches more that I love. Bravely Default was good, I'm kinda deep into Monster Hunter right now, Kid Icarus was amazing, Ocarina of Time 3DS is basically a must-have... yep. And with more to come, I'm pretty darn happy with my 3DS.

I have both and I play both quite a bit, but most of what I play on the Vita is available elsewhere. I usually play PSP or PS1 games on it, really.

The 3DS has several great exclusives that are well worth getting. If you really like the collect-em-all aspect, then you could also try Shin Megami Tensei IV. You gather and fuse demons quite a bit in that game. Fire Emblem Awakening seems to be the system's star game, The Legend of Zelda A Link Between Worlds is pretty excellent, both Etrian Odyssey's are pretty great, and so on.

I'm not going to lie to you if you don't envision yourself sitting on a couch and playing your 3ds since you don't travel probably don't get it. I love my 3ds and do that all the time when watching tv or just chilling. My recommendation is wait for a game that totally blows your mind and then purchase the XL at that time hopefully by then you can get a better deal on a 3DS XL. Just save your money since it also sounds like you have a backload of games as well.

I would think so you just have to think about if you want to use the exp share or not.

@extomar: BUT THE COMMERCIAL HAS PRETTY LIGHTS!
Honestly this is probably the best advice.
However, I have almost no willpower when it comes to this...

@superkenon: "Bravely Default was good" BravelyvDefault has randomly triggered encounters

@egg: Bravely Default has some issues, but that's not one of them. The game lets you set the frequency of those encounters, if not turn them off entirely, meaning you're only fighting stuff when you want to.