Is the 3DS XL good for playing DS games as well?

So I finally think I'm going to make the leap and pick up a 3DS. I still haven't touched the DS RPG library and there are several 3DS games I'd love to play as well. I'm thinking the 3DS XL would be a good choice since I could play both DS/3DS games, but my only concern is how DS games look on the 3DS XL. Do I need to pony up for two devices or should the 3DS XL be good enough?

So I finally think I'm going to make the leap and pick up a 3DS. I still haven't touched the DS RPG library and there are several 3DS games I'd love to play as well. I'm thinking the 3DS XL would be a good choice since I could play both DS/3DS games, but my only concern is how DS games look on the 3DS XL. Do I need to pony up for two devices or should the 3DS XL be good enough?

darktx2005

As long as you hold "select" when the game starts it will look normal.

As mentioned above, they are upscaled to fit the 3DS's screen unless you hold select to run them in native resolution. Personally, 3DS XL is my favorite way to play DS games as I feel like the tradeoff between having the screen be way bigger and blurriness is completely worth it. It nice too because if you are picky about native resolution, if you run it in native mode on an XL, it is about the same size it would be on a DS Lite. On a regular 3DS it was kind of comically small.

On some games it isn't as bad, it's typically the sprite based games that tend to get pretty blurry.

Picked up Pokemon Black 2 a couple days ago, been playin on my 3dsxl. I did the native resolution, hated the small screens. Id just play on my DS Lite if I wanted that size.  Little blurry when scretched but its completely fine IMO. 

So I bit yesterday and picked up the blue/black 3DS XL and a few 3DS and DS games. I'm excited with my choice. I tried out a couple DS games and it looks fine to me (of course I don't have anything to compare to) and I've already sunk several hours into Chrono Trigger. So many great RPG's for me to experience on this device!

So I bit yesterday and picked up the blue/black 3DS XL and a few 3DS and DS games. I'm excited with my choice. I tried out a couple DS games and it looks fine to me (of course I don't have anything to compare to) and I've already sunk several hours into Chrono Trigger. So many great RPG's for me to experience on this device!

darktx2005

I have a XL and I've never found any reason to need to compare because I am completely satisified with what the 3ds XL presents.