Japanese 3DS GET!

December 16, 2014 by awesomecurry 4 Comments

Because watching others celebrate the festive season while you’re stuck writing 6 + 1 exams and seeing your roommates slowly go home one by one as they finish theirs and you still have half of yours left is exactly the situation that prompts irresponsible money spending, I bought a Japanese-region New 3DS LL to play import games. I’ll probably regret it when I check my credit card bill later as I also bought a bunch of games this month (not to mention, lol, more games to play on my New 3DS), but for now let’s embrace the spirit of the 性なる夜 (<— most definitely the correct セイ).

My NA region 3DS is the regular-sized one, so needless to say, the LL size feels big. Which is good, because the normal 3DS’ screen feels like it’s for ants after getting used to the Vita. It’s not too bad when it comes to games with bright and simple graphics like Pokemon, but a few hours of Monster Hunter 3U had me in headaches.

The LL’s upper screen is almost as big as the Vita’s, and while the graphical capabilities are undoubtedly worse, at least it’s at a comfortable size to look at. I don’t know how people managed to use the Gameboy Micro with that tiny screen, but I sure am glad I don’t have to do it. Maybe I’m just getting old and my eyesight has seen better days.

New 3DS LL vs. normal 3DS screens

One thing I don’t like is the glossy finish on the outside though, because the inside is matte finish and feels much better. I don’t know why glossy finish is so popular with handhelds, but I’m guessing it’s because the majority of the Japanese population doesn’t have filthy, sweaty hands and skin made of sandpaper, unlike me. I’ve scratched a screen protector with my dry skin before and realized I was born a monster. Also for some reason Japanese 3DS LL’s don’t come with chargers. Going ahead and assuming I already have another iteration of the console, huh? Or does standardizing your handheld chargers suddenly mean you no longer have to include one? I’ve had a bunch of phones (and a Vita 2000) that use the same generic charger and they don’t suddenly stop including one in the package…

I want to say something about the C-stick that’s an addition to the New 3DS line, but I don’t actually have any games that support it so I’ll stay silent. So far the only games I’ve bought are the Tales crossover SRPG and Kinki no Magna:

Youkai Watch? Dragon Quest VII? Big-name games? Sorry to disappoint but my first 3DS game will be a $20 waifu game that’s already treated as kusoge. I’ll check out Youkai Watch and possible DQVII in the future though, and already have Metal Max 4 coming in the mail. I’ll probably end up grabbing the 3DS version of Xenoblade when it comes out, watered-down port or not, because I’ve accepted the fact that I’ll never be able to buy the Wii game without paying an arm and a leg (and I don’t have a Japanese Wii).

Thickness comparison:

Closed size comparison:

I was originally going for the New 3DS because exchangeable faceplates sound cool, but the bigger size won me over.

Last but not least, the best thing about the 3DS is that the Eshop takes foreign credit cards!! I can actually purchase some Eshop-only games or digital games without having to pay for expensive points cards. Now if only Sony will learn from Nintendo’s acceptance of foreign credit cards and latter adopt a proper account system like the former…

I’m looking forward to the upcoming library as well as failing university. If any of you have any JP-only 3DS game recommendations, feel free to shoot me a comment or bother me on Twitter.