Hi,
I’m thinking about buying myself a Nintendo console for Christmas - and I’m on the fence between NEW 2DS and NEW 3DS.
Does anyone have personal experience about 3D gaming on 3DS? Does it work well (especially on retro/Virtual Console console), is it worth to spend extra $50 to get 3D capability?

I own a new 3ds xl. I can say that the 3d is not very good. I get dizzy when I have it on. Also not all games support it and if they do the fps drops a lot.

I wouldn't bother with the 3D, I haven't used my 3DS for a while now, but I played it quite a bit and other than a few times I mostly played with the 3D off.
Some games (Mario) required it at times to be able to see puzzles correctly but that was very rare.

The main reason I would choose the 3DS over the 2DS is I'd prefer the clam shell design over the flat 2DS.

I've seen some pretty good deals on both over the last few weeks, so you should be able to get either one at quite a reasonable price.

Very few games actually used the 3D mechanic in any actual meaningful fashion. The NEW 2DS is a sensible investment.

The Virtual Console games have no 3D to them at all. The only exception is certain games like Sonic or Excitebike that they remastered/re-released for 3D.

That being said, I quite enjoyed the 3D effects for most of the games I've played. It's obviously one of those things where it depends on the person, but I found it a lovely enhancement, especially for platformers which have that multiple-layer-background effect (I dunno the word I'm looking for).

Well, I sold my New 3ds XL because of the Switch... My gaming library was kind of "overlapping" already, and being a sort of minimalist and moving countries I kinda had to choose one or the other (and the money was put to good use hehe). Between the 2ds (new clamshell design and better internals) and the new 3ds I would go for the 3ds. Yes, it's more expensive, but truth be told, I never turned it off. I'll admit I used it just a little over the bare minimum, but the depth it gave to the games was really cool, if only a novelty and didn't affect the gameplay at all. The only games that I'm aware that affect the fps are Pokémon games and those barely use the 3d effect. I would advise to try it on before you get it. Some people simply can't see the 3d or get dizzy, and some people just don't care. I liked it while it lasted.

As for games:

Super Mario 3d Land, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Luigi's Mansion & Dark Moon, Super Smash Bros. for 3ds, Mario Kart 7 are good recommendations.

In my opinion, the 3D is pretty good, but it is hard on your eyes and of course, it drains the battery faster. It is interesting to experience the 3D but you can easily do without it.

There are some games where depth perception is genuinely helpful (platformers, 3D scrolling shooters), but those are few and far between. In most games it's a nice effect but not especially beneficial. I generally play with the 3D on as I enjoy the effect and have never personally found it to tire my eyes.

Speaking of retro/virtual console games, what exactly were you expecting in terms of 3D? Virtual console games are all emulated so there's not much room for 3D. Modern 2D games tend to use the 3D only as an enhancement to parallaxing.



Edit: it's worth bearing in mind that the only 3DS still in production are the new 2DS and the new 3DS XL. You wouldn't just be getting 3D for that money but a bigger screen as well.

Nope, ignore that. Apparently the only New 2DS is XL. The New 2DS is clamshell, you're thinking of the (old) 2DS.

I mean, I'd personally save up for a switch since the 3DS line is EOL and unergonomic as all getout.

I found the 3D to be largely a gimmick and many of the games in the later library don't even use it either. I can only think of one game that made thoughtful use of it.

Parallaxing. ;D

Sega's 3d Classics lineup is often considered to have some of the best 3d effects on the system (particularly the super scaler sprite based games) as they had a lot of work put into remaking them, although yes as others said regular virtual console games aren't going to have anything in the way of 3d effects.

I have got a new 3ds xl and its good for games that support it , i always have that slider fully turned on but not many games uses it.If you want better portability , i would go for the new 2ds xl , smaller and proper clam shell

DS, 3DS, 2DS, SmartPhone, handhelds.. meh....

They all hurt my neck to look down; And with such small buttons or working area for my large hands. I remember trying out the Metroid Prime for the DS and my hands cramped up so hard trying to give it a try i knew immediately even if i liked the game i couldn't play or enjoy it.

Really? Every single 3DS game I own supports 3D in some way, can you name some of the ones that don't?

To name a few, here's a list someone else made.