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Craving some pokemon should I buy a DSi or 3DS?

L

lordmac

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 15, 2004
241
0
Santa Cruz, CA
Hey my fellow macrumors users I could use some advice. A couple of friends of mine just got the new pokemon game and its seriously making nostalgic for when I used to play back in the day (I was a serious player of the first 3 generations of the pokemon games, the ones for gameboy color and the first on for gba).

I would just go out and buy a DSi but like most mac users I know the pain of buying a device to then want the newer version when it comes out a month later. Would I be stupid to by a DSi at this point with the 3DS around the corner? Nothing about the really 3DS excites me that much, at least none of the announced games for it so far do and the 3D thing is meh. Also $250 feels steep for how much I think i would use it.

I don't want invest in a device nintento is just going to stop supporting 6 months down the line. I have been outside of the nintendo ecosystem for so long that I don't feel informed enough to make the best call.

What do you think fellow macrumor users?


Thanks in advanced. :)
 
While the 3D thing might not interest you, the 3DS is much more powerful than the current DSi, meaning much better graphic capabilities. So if you ever want to play anything other than Pokemon Black in the next couple of years you should wait for the 3DS.

If you're not really interested in gaming on the DS or doing anything other than Pokemon Black go ahead and save some money buying the DSi.
 
Hastings101 said:
While the 3D thing might not interest you, the 3DS is much more powerful than the current DSi, meaning much better graphic capabilities. So if you ever want to play anything other than Pokemon Black in the next couple of years you should wait for the 3DS.

If you're not really interested in gaming on the DS or doing anything other than Pokemon Black go ahead and save some money buying the DSi.
Click to expand...

Not only that but you can filly adjust the 3D effect to your liking (including completely off) but again, I wouldn't knock it till you try it. I'm pretty sure Mario kart and ocarina of time 3D are going to be epic beyond people's predictions.
 
I would go with a 3DS. I am using a DS Lite still but the new Pokemon is great. I haven't played since red/blue/green/yellow days. Lots of cool upgrades while still feeling very at home. :)
 
At this stage I'd probably buy a cheap DS Lite! The 3DS is around the corner, but without a preorder you might not have any luck getting one for another month or so.
The DSi doesn't really do anything beyond a DS Lite, it just adds a bigger screen and a download store.
The (original) DS has a horrible display so avoid that like the plague.

Playing Pokemon White on my DS Lite at the moment. It's an outstanding game.
 
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If youre just looking for Pokemon Id say get a DS Lite on ebay for cheap rather than a DSi. Then you can hold out until the 3DS comes down in price and more games are released if you still need to get your mobile gaming fix.

I am playing Black on my DS Lite right now. I can tell it wasnt designed for the screen on the Lite though, as in battle the lettering in the pokemon names is really cramped.

The benefit of the Lite is that if you have any leftover Gameboy Advanced games you can still play them on it. I play Super Mario Bros 1 and 3 on my Lite which was the main reason I havent upgraded and probably wont upgrade for a while.
 
I'd buy a DSi if I was buying for 1 game. We have them for sale for around €100 brand new now. Considering 3DS is retailing at €260 here that's one hell of a difference.

DSi = 13 hour battery life, less than 1/2 price

3DS may be more powerful, but 2.5-3 hour battery life & twice the price to do what?

play a game designed for the ds. It seems like a poor trade off.
 
MacRumorUser said:
I'd buy a DSi if I was buying for 1 game. We have them for sale for around €100 brand new now. Considering 3DS is retailing at €260 here that's one hell of a difference.

DSi = 13 hour battery life, less than 1/2 price

3DS may be more powerful, but 2.5-3 hour battery life & twice the price to do what?

play a game designed for the ds. It seems like a poor trade off.
Click to expand...

I've heard that DS games get 5-7 hours battery life on the 3DS. I guess it doesn't need the same GPU and the 3D effect also chops down battery times (with 3D off 3DS games get hours more life).


I am playing Black on my DS Lite right now. I can tell it wasnt designed for the screen on the Lite though, as in battle the lettering in the pokemon names is really cramped.
Click to expand...
There's no resolution difference between the Lite and the DSi. The problem in Pokemon is the text is just really tiny, in-battle character names are 3 pixels wide. They'll be 3 pixels wide no matter what display. W looks like a H even on a DSi XL! It was a really poor choice of font.
 
If you think you'll be playing the next pokemon(like after Black and White) or think you might want any other new games in the future, I'd say go for the 3DS...if you're buying new, the extra 70 or 90 dollars allows you to future proof your purchase.

For the battery life, the physical battery is larger on the 3DS, so the fact that its dyes quicker relates to power usage for 3DS games, for DS games, you can expect better battery life that the 3+hours for 3DS games.

But if you're buying used, go for a DS lite for like 70 dollars, then sell it once you beat Pokémon.
 
I know I'm bumping a slightly old post, but I'm in the exact same position as you! I really wanted to get Black to for gaming nostalgia, but I read online that they are planning on a 3D pokemon title, and that game won't work on the DSi. So, I think I've decided to just go and get a 3DS--
 
jgonzo220 said:
I know I'm bumping a slightly old post, but I'm in the exact same position as you! I really wanted to get Black to for gaming nostalgia, but I read online that they are planning on a 3D pokemon title, and that game won't work on the DSi. So, I think I've decided to just go and get a 3DS--
Click to expand...

Nope. There have been no "official" rumours of a 3DS Pokemon game in the style of Black/White (and the other main series games). Of course the next one will be out on the 3DS. But there have been no rumours surfacing yet and it'll be at least 1 year until we see a new game, with the average being 3-4 years for a new title.

Of course there's always a kid on Youtube who says his uncle Jed works for Game Freak and knows all about the next game ;)
 
I picked up the 3DS since I don't see the DSphat - DSlite - DSi revision cycle happening. It's relatively future-proof as is and won't see any major revisions beyond new colors IMO. And we all know how Nintendo is on price drops, so now is as good a time to buy as any.
 
I was in a similar, ish, situation. Other half has Pokemon Black, but our DS Lites don't like our WiFi (how dare we use WPA...), so we decided to upgrade one unit to something more modern.

Initially we bought a 3DS, but sent it back within a few days. The handling of DS games on the upper screen isn't that good to be honest (scaling issues), and we felt the 3D was a waste of time and money. Instead we picked up a new DSi for £95 (love airports), and it's great - less than half the cost, far superior battery life, and also supports WPA and the DSi store.
 
peskaa said:
I was in a similar, ish, situation. Other half has Pokemon Black, but our DS Lites don't like our WiFi (how dare we use WPA...), so we decided to upgrade one unit to something more modern.

Initially we bought a 3DS, but sent it back within a few days. The handling of DS games on the upper screen isn't that good to be honest (scaling issues), and we felt the 3D was a waste of time and money. Instead we picked up a new DSi for £95 (love airports), and it's great - less than half the cost, far superior battery life, and also supports WPA and the DSi store.
Click to expand...

Something sounds wrong there. I get 4 or 5 hours battery life on my DSi (bought earlier this year so it's not old), my 3DS gets 7 hours battery life on DS games.
 
Dagless said:
Something sounds wrong there. I get 4 or 5 hours battery life on my DSi (bought earlier this year so it's not old), my 3DS gets 7 hours battery life on DS games.
Click to expand...

Hm, we're getting around 11-12 hours on DS games - though we do play with the screen on the dimmest settings. Not sure what impact cranking the brightness up has? (Though if memory serves, it's always killed batteries) The 3DS was getting about 6, although we only flattened it twice before sending it back.


Looking up Wikipeda, these are the official stats:

3DS playing a DS game: 5-8 hours
DSi XL: 13-17 (4-5 max brightness)
DSi: 9-14 (3-4)
DS Lite: 15-19 (5-8)
DS: 6 - 10

So it's pretty clear that cranking up the brightness does massively reduce battery length, but the DSi is capable of far out-running the 3DS if you keep the brightness down.
 
I can guarantee that the next Pokémon game will be 3DS only and they won't bother with the DSi.

3DS is a generational leap forward, you didn't see Super Mario World come out for the NES. Same with the 3DS.
 
Right now there isn't much available for 3DS to justify the price. The most economical move would be to buy a DS lite and play DS/GBA games. There are hundreds (thousands?) of games for both systems that are really good, and most of the can be bought for just a couple of bucks. By the time 3DS has a decent library, it will have gone through a price drop and a redesign anyway.

buying a first gen Nintendo handheld is always a bad idea, since the redesigns (GB pocket, GBA SP, DS lite and DSi) are way better.
 
Picked up Lego Pirates on 3DS today. Its the best game I've played so far on the 3DS with excellent 3D and graphics generally.
 
Dagless said:
Well that goes without saying for all game consoles.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily! I have an old PS3 that is backwards compatible, while the new ones aren't.

Nintendo Handhelds tend to be especially bad though, since the updates are always a huge step forward, adding backlighting, smaller forms, bigger screens, etc. I can't even imagine what they are going to change with the 3DS, but I'm sure they have something big planned and it will make the original look like crap.
 
DS lite just dropped to $99.

3DS: costs $250, can play 7 Pokemon games, there will probably be a better version of the system by the time any new Pokemon games come out.
DSlite: costs $100, available now, can play 12 Pokemon games

Seems like a pretty easy decision.
 
I don't see why anyone would buy a DSi, honestly. The DSi doesn't have a lot more software available.

Want to save money? Get a $99 DS Lite, get a 3DS in a year or two after a 3DS Pokemon game is announced and the price has dropped.

Want game selection? Get a $249 3DS and you can play everything on bigger, badder 3D screens.
 
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