Great Gift Idea: Nintendo 3DS XL

Disclosure: Nintendo of America provided me with a New Nintendo 3DS XL system and games for review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

I am so excited to share with you that my family recently partnered with Nintendo to review and share with you the Nintendo 3Ds device. This was pretty exciting for us because to be very honest, we have been quite slow to get into the handheld gaming world. My kids were thrilled to review the Nintendo 3DS XL and I thought that this would be a great time for us to find out what the excitement is all about. I have had several of you ask me about deals on these this holiday season, and now I will also be able to share with you our review of why this might be a great gift ideas. After reviewing these products for the last couple of months, I have to say, we are very impressed with this gaming system!

First of all, right out the package, set up is really easy. I was especially impressed with the parental controls. As soon as you begin the set up process, you will be prompted to to through the parental controls. These are easy to adjust based on the age(s) of your children and provide extra peace of mind for parents.

Here are a few specs about the Nintendo 3DS gaming systems.

The New Nintendo 3DS XL system plays all Nintendo DS games. Nintendo DS games will not appear in 3D
AC Adapter sold separately. New Nintendo 3DS XL uses the same AC adapter as Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS and 2DS.
3D Mode recommended for Ages 7+

The Nintendo 3DS is the best portable gaming device for families that encourages the young – and young at heart – to be a kid again! If you’re on board, we’ll send you a system along with an assortment of games for you and your family to play and enjoy! You may be surprised – and delighted! – to see iconic (and new) characters like Mario, Kirby, Donkey Kong come to life in 3D! Packed with many fun features, the 3DS XL is perfect for sharing awesome and age-appropriate entertainment with your little ones. And, going beyond just gaming, when connected to Wifi, you can stream movies and shows via Netflix, Hulu and more on the 3DS.

Some of our favorite features:

AR GAMES

View the six included cards with your system’s 3D camera and watch as characters leap into your world. These cards are really cool because they provide fun options like a Graffiti creation option, and they all work as a sort of reality game where the camera is used to virtually deliver the card to the screen. (We’ll have some videos coming on this soon…it’s super mind blowing cool)

3D Cameras and 3D Viewing

The screen on the 3DS XL is amazing, very crisp and sharp and the 3D literally jumps out at you!

Face Tracking 3D

Using the inner camera, face tracking 3D provides an improved 3D gaming experience. It offers a wider range of viewing and actually uses the user’s face to adjust the 3D sweet spot. (crazy cool and literally over my head but fascinating to play and watch)

Lightweight and VERY portable

This next point might be very obvious, but it wasn’t to me until we actually reviewed this unit. These gaming systems can literally fit in a purse, which means that they can be great for on the go and excellent for travel. My kids earn electronic time, so I am happy to allow them time to play if they have earned their play time – and also thrilled to have a boredom buster for those times when we are traveling or needing something to break up the downtime.

I’ll have some more fun Nintendo 3DS information shares coming soon, including some videos that my kids have been working on to show you some tips and tricks. I’ll also be sharing with you how they use friend codes to safely connect with their friends to play together!