regular 3ds or XL?

Does the e-shop have full retail games on it?

Is the memory card proprietary?

Any games that are must buys?

Thanks

1) There is no way in hell that I would go for a regular DS now that I've seen the difference between my old "phat" DS and my new 3DS XL. I think the regular 3DS's screen was bigger than that phat DS, but not by that much, and the 3DS screens are awesome.

2) Yes. Some. Not all, but a decent number of. However, the only way to transfer games from one 3DS to another is, well, to have both 3DS's on hand and near each other and use Nintendo's backwards ass way of doing it. So if your 3DS gets broken beyond use, then you won't be able to use any of your digital purchases. You'll have to re-buy everything on your next 3DS. I strongly recommend sticking to retail.

3) Nope. Regular-ass SD card, and the XL comes with a 4GB one.

4) Mario 3D Land and Etrian Odyssey IV are the only two 3DS games I have at the moment and I really like both, but Fire Emblem Awakening and Luigi's Mansion 2 both seem to be pretty good. Shin Megami Tensei IV comes out later this year, that should be another must-play. And of course a whole lot of people like Ocarina of Time, if you want to pick that up.

so the digital purchases are not saved onto the memory card?

i prefer regular but some prefer the larger screen

Yes, the eshop has many full games on it

No, it's just a standard sd card, there are some size limitations on what you put in but you'll be able to put in more than enough memory

The top three games i'd say are probably Fire Emblem, Super Mario 3D Land, and Luigi's Mansion but there are so many more good games out there

Everything is saved to the SD card (no internal storage except for like firmware, I think), but your saves (and digital purchases) are encrypted such that only your 3DS can use them. They aren't tied to any account like PSN or Xbox Live, and are basically locked to that one 3DS by an encryption key that only it knows. Like others have said, transferring purchases from one 3DS to another is awkward and not really encouraged by Nintendo.

@thestandardtoaster said:

You download games onto the memory card, but they're specifically attached to the 3DS you've purchased them on, unless you manually do a system transfer. I like my 3DS a lot, but it's a totally bullshit system.

great thanks for all of the help guys!!!! Probably going to get one soon...

It does come with the benefit of being able to copy and paste your files from one SD card to another which is super convenient.

I'll go with the must buys since the others have actually definite answers.

Fire Emblem and Super Mario 3D Land I would say are must buys.

Must buys are Super Mario 3D Land, Pushmo/Crashmo, Paper Mario Sticker Star (thoroughly underrated), Kid Icarus Uprising, Fire Emblem Awakening and Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon.

1. XL without a doubt. The regular 3DS screens are too small, (especially if you use a tablet) the XL has a bigger SD card, and it doesn't cost much more than the standard 3DS.

2. Yup, and the selection is pretty awesome too.

3. Already been answered by other duders.

4. Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, and Luigi's Mansion are my favorite 3DS originals right now. If you have nostalgia for them Star Fox 64 3D and Ocarina of Time are awesome too.

Do you really want an XL? Here is a weight comparison:

• 214 grams - DSi
• 218 grams - DS Lite
• 230 grams - 3DS

• 275 grams - DS fat

• 314 grams - DSi XL
• 336 grams - 3DS XL

XL also comes in fewer colors, and is imho a bit ugly.

That said, some people online claim to have upgraded to the XL and view it as an improvement.

Sure, my roommate doesn't carry any sort of bag to work, so he bought a reg 3DS because the dimensions allow it to fit into his pants pocket much more reasonably. That is a reasonable consideration. But mass comparisons? Really? Unless you have a significant physical disability, the difference of a hundred grams is completely irrelevant. Cannot tell if serious.

The resolution being what it is, games look really blown out and crappy on the XL screens. This doesn't seem to bother most people though so I don't know... You could go either way really.

I think the buttons feel nicer on the XL, not as clicky as they are on the original 3ds.

As for games: Fire Emblem. (Hope you like strategy!)

Lighter weight is a good perk in general. (see also PSP-2000/3000 vs PSP-1000) However the existence of a top screen magnifies that difference in weight. Especially when using the dpad instead of the slider, and considering the general unergonomicness of the XL model.

Admittedly, it could just be me.