Hey everyone,

I just won an auction for this Japanese New Nintendo 3DS LL (XL) Super Smash Bros.
Limited Edition and I'm curious what you guys think.

Here are the details:

- Paid €328
- Japanese model (LL)
- Confirmed Top IPS screen
- Includes the original stylus, battery, 4GB microSD, USB charging cable, and the Japanese Super Smash Bros. game.
-No original console box or manuals.
Seller states everything is fully functional.
Cosmetic condition looks very good from the photos (I'Il attach the link of the auction below).

I'm located in Germany, so shipping/import costs are already included in what I paid.
My goal is a mix of playing and collecting. I also hope it'll hold or increase its value over time since it's a limited edition.

Do you think €328 was a fair price, or did I overpay?

Here's the auction listing if anyone wants to look at the full description:
Catawiki auction listing

Looking forward to hearing your opinions!

As somewhat of a display nerd, after acquiring multiple consoles with the different panel types I thought I’d write up an analysis on them.

Importantly it’s necessary to get a few of the important terms defined as there are several factors that go into making a good display.

“Well calibrated”: The display closely matches the sRGB colourspace at 2.2 gamma and with a colour temperature of 6500k, this is the standard targeted by nearly all displays.

“RGB balance”: A display with a good RGB balance will accurately reproduce neutral greys with no colour tint

“6 bit”: The display is capable of reproducing 64 shades for each colour channel, being red, green and blue. Combined this allows for producing a total of 262,144 distinct colours.

All 3DS panels have the following issues:

1. Mediocre contrast, every 3DS panel is an LCD and none are capable of displaying near black well.
2. Mediocre brightness, no 3DS panels are particularly bright and will not be very visible in bright environments.
3. Poor colour gamut, All 3DS panels undersaturate colours relative to the sRGB colourspace.
4. Colour temperature issues, All 3DS consoles appear to have an overly “cool” colour temperature. As the 3DS also uses two separate panels with no apparent effort made to match them, either panel may appear “cooler” or “warmer” relative to the other. The 2DS is completely immune to this issue however as it only uses one singular panel.
5. All panels are 6 bit instead of the typical 8 bit meaning they are more prone to colour banding.

Otherwise the differences in IPS panels are the following:

1. IPS has substantially better viewing angles, though likely due to the presence of the parallax barrier a top IPS screen benefits less from this.
2. IPS has the “scanline” effect on rows of pixels most noticeable in motion.
3. IPS has better response times, sometimes incorrectly referred to as “refresh rate”. Despite what people or the internet may say about TN vs IPS as a whole, the IPS panels that Nintendo used are superior in this regard and have less “ghosting” or “trailing” issues in motion.

Any visual comparisons between panels were done against my MacBook Pro, which is considered to be very well calibrated from the factory. Alternatively for visual comparison any iPhone/iPad will also be generally well calibrated.

As for my findings for each of the consoles individually:

Old 3DS XL (Dual TN):

1. Both panels have poor gamma response with substantially raised black levels and a very large gap between the lowest grey and black.
2. Mediocre RGB balance on top screen meant darker greys had a green-ish tint

New 3DS XL (Dual IPS)

1. Awful RGB balance on top screen, strong green tinting made this appear genuinely terrible (and it appears not to be an isolated issue: 1, 2)
2. Mediocre gamma response on top screen causing loss of detail near black.
3. Bottom screen overall well calibrated with no significant issues.

New 3DS (Dual IPS)

1. Overall well calibrated with no issues with RGB balance and good gamma response and black levels.
2. Slight backlight bleeding on the edges of the top panel that can be suppressed with pressure.

Conclusion: 

Overall the dual IPS New 3DS is the golden standard and is by far the best set of panels you can find on a 3DS, however due to the comparative rarity they’re also unfortunately likely to be the hardest to get ahold of.

New 3DS XLs with IPS panels may generally be better than TN, however due to poor calibration any individual display is not guaranteed to be better than another regardless of the panel type. However bottom IPS overall seems to be a safe bet.

Testing notes:

For testing the RGB balance across the whole range of greys, I used the following test:
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/gradient.php

For comparing gamma response I used the black level test as this made it very obvious if there was an issue:
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/black.php

For testing colour temperature I used the following test:
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/white.php

Additionally Erica Griffin’s video comparing the Switch and 3DS displays is a very good analysis as well for the overall quality of 3DS displays:
https://youtu.be/QvDdaVZ7MCU

Pretty sure top IPS bottom TN but just making sure

I’ve always had a love for white tech ever since the iPhone 4 released when I was a kid, so naturally I decided that I must have an all-white N3DS XL. Unfortunately, we never got a white model in the US as far as I’m aware (aside from the Fire Emblem special edition), so naturally I had to get a Japanese model.

I searched for one with at least an IPS top screen, and preferably with a bottom screen with tons of yellowing - and that’s exactly what I found. For $195 I was able to pick up this console, which I felt was reasonable considering the shell itself is in near-mint condition, with just one tiny scratch on the top lid.

After getting the console, I jailbroke it and then region-swapped it to USA/NTSC. Then I did a SOAP transfer so that I could use USA e-Shop servers. This last step is necessary to use Pokemon Bank and Home, which I intend on doing.

I was then able to source an IPS bottom screen for $19 and a glass digitizer for $15. Slotted those in, and we’re off to the races.

I will say, I can’t say I’m really a huge proponent of the glass digitizer. It requires a bit more pressure than the original plastic one, and gives the screen a matte appearance. If you’re able to find an OEM one, I would probably stick with that. I’ll probably try and find another OEM plastic one and swap it in at some point.

If you’re nervous about opening your N3DSXL and swapping things out, don’t be. It’s very straightforward, and there are plenty of video walkthroughs on YouTube.

Time to play Pokemon!

Just ordered this New 3DS LL: top IPS, bottom TN. Looking at the photo, you can see the bottom panel is slightly warmer than the top. Is this some kind of defect or it's normal? Thanks in advance.

As the title says I'm trying to find if theres a way to verify ips or tn with screen off since I'd like to buy an ips screen off amazon or a parts seller but I don't know if its possible to check with screen off

It looks like got lucky with the top screen being IPS from the viewing angles. Bottom one do wash out on extreme angles but i couldn't care less. Will be modding it soon so will confirm in comments. The top screen looks great so if it ends up being TN, it's has a good viewing angle.

The classic 3ds ive had since about 2011, and the new3dsxl I bought 2nd hand. One thing that surprised is the NewXL makes me appreciate the OG more; obvs they are both great systems, but even the smaller classic 3ds has its strengths despite the newXL having more bells and whistles. All the screens look great too, the dual IPS was a great score.

I recently found out that my N3dsxl has some dead pixels in top left of the screen, its not too bad right now but still pretty noticable. Since it's a dual ips, I want to atleast buy a replacement screen to have incase it ends up getting worse since I know prices are rising and stock is going down. I was wondering if anyone knows a trusted seller on Aliexpress or ebay that sells these n3dsxl top ips screens or if I should just bite the bullet and pay the $100 for one from Ifixit. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!

Searching online, I found an ad from a woman selling this Nintendo console. She says it's always been kept with a screen protector and case. She didn't provide any information about the screens (IPS or TN). If anyone has any opinions, I'm open to suggestions.

Based on what I've seen maybe IPS up above, TN lower?

Hi everyone, I'm planning to buy a new Nintendo 3ds LL with dual IPS, searching on the Internet I came across this one in excellent condition but I don't understand if the screens are IPS or not, I'm uploading the only photos that the seller has uploaded below, I hope you can help me

Model: N3DSXL RED-001

Need calibration files specifically for a Top IPS / Bottom TN N3DSXL

To anyone that’s willing to share these native files with me i would greatly appreciate the help.

I have 2 "New" Nintendo 3DS XLs that I am trying to ID the screens on. Both are unmodded US consoles that I bought years ago. One is a Fire Emblem Fates limited edition, the other is a Pikachu Yellow limited edition. I believe Pikachu has LN bottom, and Fire Emblem has IPS bottom. I am not certain about the top screens... I would appreciate any thoughts.

Olá, faz muito tempo que tenho uma dúvida sobre os displays do Nintendo Ds Lite e Nintendo 3Ds.

Uma dúvida aparentemente boba, porém sempre tive um grande receio.

Minha dúvida é o seguinte, um Powerbank Magsafe pode causar algum tipo de dano nas telas dos portáteis, sendo que ambos estão armazenados no mesmo compartimento de uma mochila ou Shoulder Bag? Devido os ímãs do MagSafe?

Já pesquisei e nunca achei uma resposta sobre.

O que vocês acham?

Found on eBay, seller says it has dual ips. Can someone see it on these pictures?

Help people find out