PotD: Which is the better handheld?

[TooB]

In all -ness though, the new 2ds xl is probably the best designed and feeling hardware for the ds line

[YPrrrr]

Remember, Boyah practically unanimously agreed that the Wii is the best of Nintendo's 3D home consoles.

https://boyah.net/forums2/index.php/topic,69245.msg1554133.html#msg1554133

Neither can every ds play gba games.
But gba wouldn't technically be part of the argument, because Nintendo swears ds is a separate line from game boy.

Pc doesn't officially support ds so that doesn't work either

...but the ds does officially support gba games regardless of what nintendo calls it

the backwards compatibility argument is completely moot anyway because what we're comparing is exclusive console libraries

t see anything in that post that shows that

Just that the SNES is unanimously better and that the GC and N64 had better top tier games (90+ Metacritic) than Wii m

[C.Mongler]

But 3ds does everything ds does, and then some

i mean if we're going to use that as an argument then the Wii U is then the definitive greatest nintendo console of all time because it has pretty much all generations of backwards compatibility, playing wii u and wii games out of the box, and then adding NES, SNES, N64, GBA, DS through VC, then even more non-Nintendo consoles via Wii VC, and then even moreso if you hack the thing which adds every NES, SNES, GBA, DS game that aren't on VC, Gamecube compatibility, and ups the N64 game count by a few (n64 emulation has always been shit kids!)

obviously we can all see this is a goofy argument, so let's judge systems by the games that came out on them pls lol

but damn the 3ds xl is such a nice piece of hardware

i kind of fucking hate the design of the 3ds XL tbh lol, or the DS XL for that matter. the screen stretch looks fucking bad after a while.
new 3ds normie size and DSi are god tier.

[bluaki]

3DS has:
+ far better Zelda games than DS: ALBW, 64 remakes, and even TFH vs PH and ST
+ far better Fire Emblem library than DS: 2 full new games and one remake vs two remakes (one in US)
+ better overall Kirby games: Triple Deluxe, Robobot, and others vs Squeak Squad and Mass Attack, although Super Star Ultra bumps DS's score way up in my eyes despite being an SNES remake
+ marginally better Metroid: 3DS has that Metroid 2 remake, everything else on both 3DS and DS sucks as far as I've heard
+ much better 3D Mario: 3D Land vs Super Mario 64 DS
+ more Mario & Luigi
+ better Animal Crossing
+ stole Monster Hunter from PSP
= Otherwise pretty comparable 3rd party support from the likes of Capcom, Atlus, Level-5, Square Enix, and Sega
= The Pokemon library is hard to compare
= the Mario Kart titles are hard to compare
= Both Yoshi's Island games suck
- New Super Mario Bros 2 was a pretty dull release compared to NSMB, despite being an overall improved game
- Overall fewer great visual novels than DS
- Worse WarioWare

I consider that a win for 3DS. Also, GBA really doesn't stack up to either, but considering its mere 3-year lifespan before being replaced by DS I'm surprised in hindsight by the breadth of quality it managed to get.

[Kalahari Inkantation]

at the very least we can all agree that only the truly nostalgia drunk would say the gba's library is better than either ds's lol

[bluaki]

Also in terms of the hardware gimmicks it's hard to pick one. DS's touchscreen and dual-screens definitely had a tremendous effect on gameplay while stereoscopic 3D has none at all (and was even dropped by a lot of games and two hardware revisions), but tbh I kinda appreciate the N3DS's incarnation of 3D more. As of the original 3DS though, 3D was just terrible and never worth using.

Of course the DS and 3DS use of dual screens hands-down beats Wii U's and is honestly in a completely different league, but honestly I can't think of many games that wouldn't works as good or better if just designed for one bigger screen.

3DS added an analogue stick which is a much more huge improvement than any of those gimmicks.

[C.Mongler]

if we want to talk about shovelware the GBA was absolutely inundated with half-assed liscenced movie/tv show platforming titles. like literally every fucking property to exist on the boob tube had a shitty GBA game i swear to god

also the DS has three of the finest Castlevania titles to ever grace mankind

also canvas curse is secretly one of the best Kirby games

also the M+L games on 3DS are ass, whereas the DS ones were still actually good

also the DS has the best Mario Kart (DS one is GOAT, comparison is ez) and Tetris games period, the definitive version of Chrono Trigger, the last actually good THPS games,  one of the best GTA games (though it's been ported to hell), Advanced Wars, Meteos (where the fuck is Meteos 2, shit), Elite Beat Agents & Ouendan 1 + 2, the best Pokemons, some good 2d sawnics, etc.

man i'm getting a boner over here

there's also trauma centers, scribblenauts when it wasnt complete shit, picross out the ass, professor laytons, pheonix wrights, TWEWY, Ghost Trick, Hotel Dusk, 999, Contra 4, the billion final fantasy properties, Dairy Quests out the ass, motherfucking ROCKET SLIME, etrian oddysy, the AoE, AoM and CIvilization RTS games, Puzzle Quest, Okamiden, Henry motherfucking Hatsworth, Ninja Gaiden, megaman ZXs, and that's just what i can name off the top of my head


MAN that system was fucking ace y'all shit don't downplay my girl's legacy here. 3ds is good too don't get me wrong, but DS fuckin SLAPS

[YPrrrr]

at the very least we can all agree that only the truly nostalgia drunk would say the gba's library is better than either ds's lol

Idk I'd rather play GBA than the DS.

Better Zeldas, Golden Sun, better Advanced Wars, better Metroids, better kirby, better mario tennis and golf, better fire emblem, better kingdom hearts, wario land 4

DS had better Pokemon (Heartgold/SS especially)and maybe better mario? Idk. Castlevania was about even

[YPrrrr]

there's also trauma centers, scribblenauts when it wasnt complete shit, picross out the ass, professor laytons, pheonix wrights, TWEWY, Ghost Trick, Hotel Dusk, 999, Contra 4, the billion final fantasy properties, Dairy Quests out the ass, motherfucking ROCKET SLIME, etrian oddysy, the AoE, AoM and CIvilization RTS games, Puzzle Quest, Okamiden, Henry motherfucking Hatsworth, Ninja Gaiden, megaman ZXs, and that's just what i can name off the top of my head

collective zzzzzzz

[C.Mongler]

better Advanced Wars, better Castlevanias, better kirby,

there's also trauma centers, scribblenauts when it wasnt complete shit, picross out the ass, professor laytons, pheonix wrights, TWEWY, Ghost Trick, Hotel Dusk, 999, Contra 4, the billion final fantasy properties, Dairy Quests out the ass, motherfucking ROCKET SLIME, etrian oddysy, the AoE, AoM and CIvilization RTS games, Puzzle Quest, Okamiden, Henry motherfucking Hatsworth, Ninja Gaiden, megaman ZXs, and that's just what i can name off the top of my head

collective zzzzzzz

didn't you admit in another thread that you had like 6 DS games and 3 of them were nintendogs?
i mean this is a guy who thinks the n64 is good because of metacritic so

[bluaki]

The touchscreen certainly affects gameplay a lot, but the only instances I remember playing that felt truly necessary or beneficial in good games were Kirby Canvas Curse, Trauma Center, and some of the Layton puzzles. I guess touch is pretty decent for navigating menus too but that's hardly a stand-out feature. I loathe using touch to move like in the DS Zelda games or Pokemon Dash, and even in most puzzle games like Picross/Tetris/Puyo/etc dpad is much better than touch.

That also reflects my opinion of mobile games: I dislike touch gaming in general and I'll only appreciate it for entirely menu-based games like VNs, and I'll tolerate it when I have to for a few others like rhythm games, FE Heroes, etc. Mobile is a bit worse than touch-only DS controls because of the absence of a precise stylus. Are there any games that actually rely on the Galaxy Note Pen?

Also I don't care much for dual-screen and the only reason I'll ever miss it on Switch is that DS emulation won't play as well if it ever comes. At least it's a good way to handle a clamshell design: people complained about GBA SP being too cramped (it isn't to me but whatever) and look at the GPD XD for what happens to the bottom part when you try to make a wider clamshell without dual screens.

The only instance I know of for stereoscopic 3D actually affecting gameplay is in Dai Gyakuten Saiban, an Ace Attorney game that will never be translated. In the last case, there's a security camera set up to take periodic photos of the crime scene (it missed the crime, but captured before and after) and in order to compare them Sherlock introduces the protagonist to a stereoscope: put one photo to each eye and the part of the picture that looks off is the part that changed, which turned out to be a small item being moved just a little bit. Without 3D, the game asks the player to cross their eyes.

[YPrrrr]

better Advanced Wars, better Castlevanias, better kirby,

there's also trauma centers, scribblenauts when it wasnt complete shit, picross out the ass, professor laytons, pheonix wrights, TWEWY, Ghost Trick, Hotel Dusk, 999, Contra 4, the billion final fantasy properties, Dairy Quests out the ass, motherfucking ROCKET SLIME, etrian oddysy, the AoE, AoM and CIvilization RTS games, Puzzle Quest, Okamiden, Henry motherfucking Hatsworth, Ninja Gaiden, megaman ZXs, and that's just what i can name off the top of my head

collective zzzzzzz

didn't you admit in another thread that you had like 6 DS games and 3 of them were nintendogs?
i mean this is a guy who thinks the n64 is good because of metacritic so

y used metacritic because Tec did

You shouldnt discount Nintendogs it's probably one of the best DS games. I don't hate the DS but it is my least favorite Nintendo handheld

[C.Mongler]

i'm taking your gamer card bro

[YPrrrr]

That's okay I know I am not a good person because I own too many EA Sports games

[bluaki]

Idk I'd rather play GBA than the DS.

Better Zeldas, Golden Sun, better Advanced Wars, better Metroids, better kirby, better mario tennis and golf, better fire emblem, better kingdom hearts, wario land 4

I agree most of that, but better Kingdom Hearts, really? Chain of Memories is the most hated title in the entire franchise. I couldn't bear to make it through (albeit on the Re:CoM remake) and just watched all the cutscenes on YouTube.

358/2 Days doesn't have great KH gameplay, but at least it is actual KH gameplay and it has much better story too. Re:Coded has a pretty pointless story but its gameplay is much improved over Days. 3DS's Dream Drop Distance without a doubt is leagues above any of the GBA or DS Kingdom Hearts games in terms of gameplay, but to call its story divisive is an understatement.