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[TheFLYINGManga_Ka]

It... doesn't...?
In fact, in many cases, it makes it play better.

I meant, the resolution and color saturation.

 

[DidntKnowJack]

looks the same to me, but who knows.

we all know DSiXL is the best way to play DS games, anyway.

Agree completely.
So glad I held on to my XL. It's just so glorious.

But I never thought the 3DS display of DS games was that bad. Though I only checked it out for a few minutes when i got the system. Mainly out of curiosity.

 

[tborsje]

Woah, didn't know the 3DS made DS games play worse.

I guess it's good that I keep my DSi, which is what I always planned to do. But after this, it's a must!

Also, why am I getting the feeling that Nintendo will bring out the next 3DS model and one of its features will fix this issue?

There's no way for them to 'fix the issue', the resolution of the 3DS screen is higher than the resolution of DS games. They can scale it to the screen with perhaps some minor filtering (as is the default) or display it 1:1 with some quite large black borders, as happens when you hold select and launch a DS game already. Maybe they can improve the upscaling filter, but it can't work miracles. It will never be as clear as on an original DS.

Personally I run my DS games upscaled, I don't think that it looks that bad at all. DS games don't be the sort of games where I notice blurriness that much anyway. And the update did improve the colours too - especially the reds, which were looking a bit washed out and desaturated previously.

 

[Electivirus]

Slightly blurry, but otherwise DS games look just fine to me.

 

[marcurius]

So sorry for the necro bump, but this seemed like the best place to ask.

So I picked up a DSi XL yesterday, succumbing to the Chrono Trigger itch I'd gotten from Giant Bomb's endurance run. I debated whether to go with a 3DS or DSi XL for quite a bit, but decided on the XL because of the unavoidable scaling issues. I'm not fuzzed at all by less than top-notch graphics, playing things upscaled, however, I have a very hard time doing. I also plan to import a few games from the US, which wouldn't have worked out with 3DS (or so I thought), plus there's very few games I actually want for the 3DS, current and upcoming. I'd like Mario Kart once it's dropped in price a fair bit (which I assume will take a while considering the Nintendo legs) and I also want RE: Revelations.

However, buyer's remorse has hit me quite hard now. The XL was a bit on the heavy side I thought, I also dislike the clicky buttons and d-pad. Additionaly, I watched a play through of the Revelations demo and realized I might want it alot sooner than I expected (planned to wait for a revision of the 3DS or get one anyway if nothing had been mentioned within a year or so). I also realized that the 3DS region locking only applies to 3DS or DSi enhanced games (right?), so that issue gets thrown out the window. So now I'm thinking about taking the XL back and getting a 3DS instead.

But the fact still remains that I am primarily getting it for playing DS games while I would probably only get one 3DS game in the foreseeable future. So since whether the DS games look fine or not upscaled is obviously a very subjective question, I figured I could ask if the blurring is better or worse compared to that of a PSX game being upscaled on the PSP, since that would give me a pretty good frame of reference. I don't have any friends with either a DS or 3DS unfortunately, and it's really hard to make out the difference in every video comparison I've seen, due to poor resolution. I should also add that I don't care much about any color discrepencies, I wouldn't know how it used to look anyway as I haven't owned a DS since 2008, but I am quite anal when it comes to blurriness. I also imagine playing in the 1:1 mode on the 3DS might be a bit on the small side.

Also curious on how the font would look like in Chrono Trigger, if anyone has played through it on the 3DS, since enemy names and such is already pretty hard to read during battles.

Thanks.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

So sorry for the necro bump, but this seemed like the best place to ask.

Having used both a 3DS and a DSiXL, I can say that for DS games the DSiXL is like a Thanksgiving turkey dinner while the 3DS is lunch meat. Some people will say "this mediocre scaling sucks!" and "this mediocre scaling is pretty okay!" but if you're comparing it to an XL, it's going to be hard to find it anything other than disappointing. I strongly recommend seeing it for yourself, like, really. It's hard to quantify because there's not much I can compare it to; few game consoles have scaled their games this way. 1:1 mode is pretty small, but you kind of forget about it and only touch screen heavy games are impacted negatively by the screen size.

That said, the fonts don't seem to be hit as badly as some of the graphics. I'm running through Radiant Historia again on my 3DS and the fonts look fine. I mean, once you get over the "blurry jeepers!" it's still pretty playable, and the fonts are fine. I haven't tried CT on it though. As for the holding of the 3DS, it's definitely lighter and lacks clicky buttons compared to the XL.

And I may be wrong here, but I was under the impression that because the PSP screen has the same vertical resolution as PS1 games, they look pretty crisp. It's been about a year since I played a PSP so I can't recall.

 

[Mak]

The 3DS screens are the same size as a DS Lite, but it looks blurrier because there's scaling involved. Popping in Chrono Trigger really quick, everything including the text looks blurry and oversharpened, like its running through a filter compared to my DS Lite. I could only use my 3DS for DS games if I'd never owned a DS.

You could take the DS XL back, buy a 3DS, and buy a used DS Lite for DS games.

 

[sajj316]

Start + Select while the DS game is booting up. This will run the game not scaled to 3DS resolution.

 

[MLH]

I also realized that the 3DS region locking only applies to 3DS or DSi enhanced games (right?)

Yes, this is true. DS games don't have region encoding so they will work on any DS/ 3DS from any region.

Since you mentioned that you are quite anal about image quality, I would suggest you stick with the XL. I did consider selling my DSi to fund the 3DS, but I'm glad I didn't as I still play DS games and the the quality does take a hit on the 3DS; especially for 2D games like Chrono Trigger. However, 3D games like Okamiden don't look as bad on the 3DS and you can use the slide pad to move more smoothly. 1:1 mode is far too small to play comfortably IMO.

In an ideal situation buy both. But since you asked for one, I would keep the XL.

The 3DS does seem like the better investment, with a growing library and backwards compatibility. It'll be on the market 5 years from now. Whereas the DS won't have many titles in the future. It's all comes down to whether you prefer image quality to value for money.

 

[Santiako]

Start + Select while the DS game is booting up. This will run the game not scaled to 3DS resolution.

Just Start or Select will do, no need to press both.

 

[marcurius]

Thanks for the input, but man, I'm having such a hard time deciding what to do you wouldn't believe it! I think I'll head over to a Game tomorrow and see if they can show a DS game playing on a 3DS. Since Kirby Mass Attack and Ghost Trick are two of the games I intend to pick up, I don't like the sound of playing them 1:1 on the 3DS if the small screen size is a big negative for those sorts of games.

And I may be wrong here, but I was under the impression that because the PSP screen has the same vertical resolution as PS1 games, they look pretty crisp. It's been about a year since I played a PSP so I can't recall.

Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure PSX games can have all sorts of resolutions so I'm actually not quite sure how the PSP handles that. What I had in mind, though, is the Normal vs Original screen size settings, where the Normal mode is a bit stretched compared to Original. I always go with Original there since I don't like the look of Normal.

 

[sajj316]

Just Start or Select will do, no need to press both.

Oh ok. Didn't know it was either or. Good to know.

 

[dallow_bg]

Color saturation was fixed, so all that's left is resolution which you can fix with the tips above.

If you can deal with the smaller screen, then 3DS is fine for DS games.

 

[Freshmaker]

So it's less of a difference.?

I remember trying to play Skies of Arcadia on my smallish TV in college. I couldn't read the text.

I jumped over to my VGA monitor (same screen size), and I suddenly could read the text.

No difference my ass.

 

[randomkid]

You definitely need to see it for yourself. I thought I was pretty blase about blurriness as I've managed to deal with stretchy PS2 and PSX games for years, but I was surprisingly annoyed at how things like Layton looked in person.

Find a store with a good return policy like Best Buy and just try for yourself, I essentially rented a 3DS for a month thanks to the generous return policy and figured out that it wouldn't work for my needs.

 

[marcurius]

You definitely need to see it for yourself. I thought I was pretty blase about blurriness as I've managed to deal with stretchy PS2 and PSX games for years, but I was surprisingly annoyed at how things like Layton looked in person.

Find a store with a good return policy like Best Buy and just try for yourself, I essentially rented a 3DS for a month thanks to the generous return policy and figured out that it wouldn't work for my needs.

As far as I know there are no physical stores that work that way in Sweden. I could order it online as we have a buyers regret law in effect for goods purchased online, but then I'd have to deal with shipping and all that jazz, which I don't feel like. Especially since I'm already pushing it a bit with the XL, as the receipt says their return policy is on unopened goods only. The XL box wasn't sealed in any way though, so they can't really know I've opened the box and used it already

But yeah, I'll try to get a demonstration of it tomorrow.