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Going full Nintentard

treave

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Codex 2012
So I might be buying a Nintendo portable console tomorrow. No, the Wii is out, I don't have a TV and even if I did I'd rather get the console with games that I can't emulate. Being a filthy pirate and all.

Should I get a regular DS, or should I go for broke and splurge on a 3DS on the odds that someone might actually hack it someday?
 

DakaSha

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i always stay a generation behind because handheld hacks BLOW at first.
Get a nintendo ds. get one of those cards. play anything.

Right now im playing my psp hacked wthout even changing a DAMN thing on the firmware. i literally start my psp. start a program. and can play anything i download (including snes, genesis and scummVM)

Only possible becaus ethe scene has had time to mature. once the next generation comes out you get this current generation. simple as that
 

treave

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Yeah, well, I love my PSP and all but I only use it nowadays to play the occasional stuff that comes out from Japan. Hooray for no region locking

Honestly the only reasons I'm considering one is because of the thus far horrible sound emulation (can someone with a DS confirm if the sound is better with the actual console + earphones?), and also the fact that there's a lot of unused screen real estate when you're emulating it on a computer monitor. Irks me for admittedly no good reason.
 

Hobo Elf

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Last I heard of the 3DS was that it was bombing pretty bad. And no games. Yet. Get a DS instead. It's cheap and has a very strong library of good games.
 

treave

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If you have no interest in DSiwares, there's probably no reason to get a DSi over a DS Lite, right?

Anyway, thanks for the input guys.
 

SuicideBunny

(ノ ゜Д゜)ノ ︵ ┻━┻
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Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Torment: Tides of Numenera
if you're a big person you might wanna get the xl, which is a dsi, other than that there's no reason to get dsi, since for most games dsi enhanced equals region locked, pirated games don't run in dsi mode anyway and the lite has better battery times.
 

sea

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The biggest problem with the 3DS is a lack of games and higher price. They just came out with Mario Kart and Super Mario 3D Land, which both look good if you're into that sort of thing, but there isn't much else right now. The original DS, meanwhile, has a massive software library, and a ton of good games.
 

Dirk Diggler

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I own both a DS lite and a 3DS.

Here are the primary differences ime:

3DS is backward compatible with the DS, but not GBA. DS is backward compatible to the GBA.

3DS lets you shop on the interwebs for video games a la playstation network or xbox live.

3DS is heavier, and has three cameras on it(one facing you on the inside when it's opened up, two on the outside facing away from you when it's opened up). At the same time, it also feels more fragile as a result of that weight. The DS lite feels like a pretty rugged toy in comparison.

The difference in display quality is indistinguishable.

The speakers on the 3DS are better placed in my opinion. If you are holding it at the distance and angle necessary to get the 3D effect, the sound shoots right into your ears and you can hear what's going on w/o it being super loud to others around you. Of course, headphones sort of obsolete this feature...


While the 3DS has some good games for it(Shadow Wars, first party titles), it's not a huge step up. On the other hand, it's useful for starting conversations with people who don't know shit about electronics/video games while you show off the (admittedly impressive, if occasionally headache inducing when improperly calibrated) 3D gimmick.
 

sser

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I have a DSi XL. It's pretty awesome.

I wouldn't bother with the 3DS until it starts getting the improved builds and better games. I got my DS way late (couple months before 3DS) and I'm still burning through games. The library is just endless.
 

PorkaMorka

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Get a DS:Lite.

That way you not only get every DS game for free, you also get every GBA game for free.

The GBA arguably had an even stronger library of the titles than the DS, so that's a lot of games for 99$ + the price of your piracy devices of choice (they're cheap).
 

Renegen

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Well technically, DS games can be emulated quite well, be sure you think over what you're doing. :M

But if you insist, get an old DS version. Cheaper and can use R4s more easily? not a big DS expert.
 

treave

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Renegen said:
Well technically, DS games can be emulated quite well, be sure you think over what you're doing. :M

But if you insist, get an old DS version. Cheaper and can use R4s more easily? not a big DS expert.

I have a pretty comprehensive library of... uh... 'emulated DS/GBA games' on my computer, and have been playing them since... huh, about 2006.

However, as I mentioned earlier, the poor sound quality and small window-size is not very fulfilling, plus I'd like a way to play them on the go too.

At any rate, I've gotten a DS Lite, so again, thanks for the input, guys.
 
Repressed Homosexual
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In retrospect I think I regret getting a DS. You mostly get these things for quality Japanese games, but they're few and far between, and usually very cheap and of low quality on DS. The only thing I really enjoyed were the Atlus dungeon crawlers.

Wait for Vita, it'll be a high quality handeld, with good graphics, controls, a big screen, and some really interesting efforts.
 

treave

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Nah, it'll be priced out of my budget. I'm not keen on getting consoles the moment they launch.

There's some pretty cool quirky Japanese shit for the NDS though, even more if you don't mind playing games in moonspeak.
 

Mortmal

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Id advise too the dslite for now, theres nothing worth getting on 3DS or almost . I tried the atlus games too, some are very good , the devil survivor(highly recommended), etrian odissey, dark spyre etc... But no idea on what to get from the GBA library, i completely skipped that era, and diddnt grew up with consoles.In fact my very first console was a gamecube, and first handheld the DS, now catching up time on the ps3.Theres simply not enough games on pc anymore to get myself occupied.
So what is worth looking for on the GBA ? That will skip me a few google search, plus i'd rather have codexers opinions than any random guys on the net.
 

kaizoku

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why not buy an android phone with 4'' screen and play old adventure games in scummvm and dosbox?
maybe even play some nes, snes and GB* games too
or even ps1

although a good mobile to run all that may be a bit pricy
 
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treave said:
However, as I mentioned earlier, the poor sound quality and small window-size is not very fulfilling, plus I'd like a way to play them on the go too.

The real thing has an even smaller window size, you know...

Anyway, be sure to buy one of those R4 chips, felipepepe has one and he fucking loves it. You'll probably need it for GBA games, anyway.
 

treave

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kaizoku said:
why not buy an android phone with 4'' screen and play old adventure games in scummvm and dosbox?
maybe even play some nes, snes and GB* games too
or even ps1

although a good mobile to run all that may be a bit pricy

I already have an Android phone that I load those old games on... so yeah. There's some games unique to the DS that you can't get anywhere else.


Clockwork Knight said:
treave said:
However, as I mentioned earlier, the poor sound quality and small window-size is not very fulfilling, plus I'd like a way to play them on the go too.

The real thing has an even smaller window size, you know...

Anyway, be sure to buy one of those R4 chips, felipepepe has one and he fucking loves it. You'll probably need it for GBA games, anyway.

Yeah, but I hate having all that unused screen real estate around the windows. I find myself losing attention span as I get older. If the game screen doesn't take up at least three-quarters of the monitor I'll be drifting my mouse off to the taskbar and then find myself browsing the Dex or something. Again, that and the mobile factor.

R4s are a given, of course. I coupled that with one of the 16GB micro SD cards I have lying around and now I have about a hundred DS games on one flash cart.

Mortmal said:
So what is worth looking for on the GBA ? That will skip me a few google search, plus i'd rather have codexers opinions than any random guys on the net.

Off the top of my head, GBA games I've enjoyed...
Advance Wars (kinda anime strategy game),
Fire Emblem (anime as fuck strategy RPG),
Astro Boy Omega Factor (anime but old school as fuck platformer),
Mother 3 (jRPG but less stereotypical),
Advance Guardian Heroes (great beat'em up),
Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis (prequel to the highly rated PSX strategy RPG Tactics Ogre).
 

Ituhippi

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kaizoku said:
why not buy an android phone with 4'' screen and play old adventure games in scummvm and dosbox?
maybe even play some nes, snes and GB* games too
or even ps1

although a good mobile to run all that may be a bit pricy
Too bad android battery is empty after 10 mins. :smug:
 

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