Celestial Council Congress #3 ~ 3DS Accessories

For the third Celestial Council Congress Nintendo fans from all over the gaming community have once again been assembled, this time to give their opinions on some of the various 3DS accessories available on the market. PlusXp’s Leon and Rob tell us the benefits of the  3DS Carry Case and Docking Station respectively, Alex Kinch talks about his portable mobile charger, HelenBaby writes about vinyl stickers, and Nathan Blades critically examines the Circle Pad Pro.

Enjoy~

James (Leon) Archer
Staff Writer/Editor at PlusXp.com

3DS Carry Case

 “At under a fiver, the Nintendo Licensed Executive Case doesn’t look like much. Designed for the standard 3DS model, I’ve had this case since I got my 3DS console and it’s served me well.

It’s a simple piece of kit, but definitely one of the best low-budget cases I’ve had for a handheld over the years. The faux-leather design is sturdy, lasts very well and keeps the 3DS safe – I’ve dropped mine plenty of times and it’s still good as new.

Even better, the case has a couple of slots to hold 3DS/DS cartridges, and also a stylus.

It’s definitely great value. It’s sturdy, holds extra games and fits in your pocket. Don’t think I’ll be changing cases any time soon”.

Like many 3DS cases, Leon’s Nintendo Licensed Executive Case comes with the additional benefits of stylus and game storage pockets, which are arguably essential.

Rob Bunce
Owner of PlusXp.com

3DS Docking Station

“One thing that has always frustrated me about portable gaming consoles is charging them. And it’s not necessarily because I have to stop the game I’m playing in order to replenish the consoles battery. The main reason is that I always seem to lose the charge cable in a tangle of other cables and have to spend half an hour trying to retrieve it. Sometimes I even lose the charger all together!

When I bought my 3DS however it came with a docking station, and I believe this is possibly the best invention in portable gaming yet! Now I can leave it consistently plugged in and all I have to do is place my 3DS on the docking station as soon as I get home in the evening. This means I don’t have to spend ages fumbling round for the charger in my mass of power supplies.

As I am not the tidiest gamer in the world it is a relief to not have to faff around with cables while my 3DS slowly dies (along with, potentially, my current game progress). I encourage you to use the docking station as it will make your life easier”.

The ultimate in modern-day convenience? Rob’s a big fan of the 3DS Docking Station, and is by no means the only one…

Alex Kinch
Former Employee of GAME

Mobile Charger

 “I love Streetpassing people. I take my 3DS with me everywhere I go. I’m up to 2815 hits last time I checked. Now, the trouble at events and expos is that the battery on a 3DS (or even a 3DSXL) is not fantastic, especially when you want to actually -play- the thing as well. Luckily when I popped into my local Clas Ohlson shop I found a mobile phone battery charger with a USB port. It takes 4 AA batteries and is made by a company called Exible. On eBay I found a DSi USB charging cable. By putting them together I’ve made a way of extending the battery whilst out and about. The catch is you need to use decent batteries as it will drain them quickly but as some events don’t provide power sockets for your chargers this is a Godsend.

A classic example is Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on the 3DS. Some monsters take up to 30-40 minutes to kill. If you’re playing in a team and one of you runs out of battery it can be highly inconvenient for the others.

I never leave my home with out it”.

Alex relies on this Excibel USB Emergency charger for all his portable charging needs. There are an increasing number of devices like this available on the market, and they are becoming a common sight at 3DS meet-ups.

HelenBaby
Owner/editor at 3DSBlessed.com/President of SonicLondon

3DS Vinyl Stickers

 “I had been thinking of upgrading my 3DS for a while, and when I saw via Twitter that there was a low-price offer going on on 3DS XLs at Tesco, with a further fiver off by quoting an included code, I couldn’t resist. However, the only colour they had left was silver which, tied with the Animal Crossing 3DS, was probably the 3DS XL incarnation that appealed to me the least.

I had a long, hard think of this best way to solve this problem, and in the end decided to order specially cut 3DS XL shaped vinyl stickers off Amazon. I opted for the floral pink ‘Super Funky Harmony’ design, because I thought it was just adorable. It was also a steal at just £4.95 including postage.

I ordered the set at the same time as ordering my 3DS and, to this day, have not looked back. My XL has an awesome design that looks better than any of the official ones (in my oh-so-humble opinion) plus it makes my XL seem quite original, as no one else I know even has vinyl stickers on their 3DS, let alone the same ones! So if you don’t like your 3DS XL’s design, or are simply looking for a way to make it stand out, you can’t go wrong with vinyl sticker sets.

Perhaps the best thing is that if I get bored of the ‘Super Funky Harmony’ design I can simply take it off and order a different one. Sorted!”

Helen just couldn’t resist snapping up one of Tomoco143’s pretty ‘Super Funky Harmony’ designs!

Nathan Blades
Writer at N-Europe

Circle Pad Pro

“To be unkind, the Circle Pad Pro is a peripheral that covers the 3DS shortcomings as a handheld, making it closer to a console joypad. This is especially true for the shoulder buttons, which are normally way too tiny for my hulking meat-fingers.

There’s a big sticking point to it, though – so few games support its use. The ones that do are, funnily enough, games and franchises that could be argued as better suited to standard console fare (did you know that Kingdom Hearts 3DS supports the CPP? Neither did I until I started writing this!).

It makes sense that the PS Vita, for contrast’s sake, has dual analogues built in when the majority of its games are pared-down console franchises that would suffer if the control scheme changed too much.

So when I’m not playing Monster Hunter, the CPP is dead weight. I can understand if other games don’t need the second circle pad; but pretty much any game will benefit from having a more comfortable handhold and bigger buttons”.

Despite using it to play Monster Hunter, Nathan is scepical about the overall usefulness of his 3DS Circle Pad Pro…

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Tags: 3DS accessories, 3ds carry case, accessories, alex kinch, Animal Crossing 3DS, cartridges, celestial counci, charge cable, circle pad pro, comfortable, congress, control scheme, CPP, dead weight, design, Docking Station, dsi, Ebay, Exible, floral, GAME, game progress, handheld, helenbaby, james archer, Kingdom Hearts, kit, leon, meat-fingers, monster hunter 3, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, n-europe, Nathan Blades, Nintendo Licensed Executive Case, pink, plusxp, portable gaming, ps vita, review, rob bunce, shortcomings, silver 3ds xl, slots, Super Funky Harmony, team, usb, Vinyl Stickers, vudget

This post was written by helenbaby, posted on September 4, 2013 Wednesday at 9:10 am