Nintendo 3DS XL v.s. Sony PlayStation Vita

3DS is top selling hardware for a reason.

As a Vita owner, I'm going to have to say 3DS.

The Vita is good if you fancy playing ports, remakes, or classic games. If you want to play 2 year old indie games, dumbed down handheld versions, or PS1/HD remakes, grab a Vita. It does have a few games to call its own, but not as many as the 3DS.

The 3ds is amazingly over rated in my opinion and the vita trashed just for the fun of it. I own both and would say i use both around 40/60. The vitas integration with the ps4 is really awesome. Plus if u are a psn+ member then owning a vita is amazing value.

I prefer the Vita and one of the reasons is the screen isn't too reflective for when I want to play at work, but I don't know if the XL one is as reflective as my original 3DS.

The extra power is nice to have too.

You can't go wrong with either one but I prefer the ps vita.

Don't have a Vita yet so 3DS. But I'd like to get one to see off-screen play and their library. Maybe when Now hits I'll buy one.

That would be "a shitload of games vs. very few games". I think you can guess what I prefer.

@Consternated: everything this man this said. His words express my thoughts on the Vita completely.

I can't justify owning two handhelds, so I went with the 3DS this gen. Can't say I regret a thing.

3DS. Would only recommend the VITA for smallest market:

Novelty - leveraging portable game experiences beyond "simpler mechanics", ends up uncanny and ultra niche.. and Remote Play.

Playstation Plus user (PS3/4 user) - might as well mess with the "free" games and you can be set for X years of dicking with the system and never buying any more software specially if you get a bundle with 4GB card and have a spacious PS3/PC drive to save/transfer game files/data.

Otaku Taste - should be self explanatory.

Easy, go with the 3DS.

As an owner for both systems i'll have to say diffidently the Vita as it wins in terms of everything for me in terms of design, software, features and games.

The vita is a great system that does everything simply really good! games like Tearaway, killzone, Soul Sacrifice, Persona Golden are fine examples of what the system can do in terms of games so overall i'd say if you like a system with a perfect design, great screen, console like games with console like grapchics, features that rival those of next gen consoles then the Vita is for you and for $200 only its a must buy.

While the 3DS is a good system it fails in a lot of things from the garbage design that is extremely hard to hold sometimes to the terrible UI and system software i mean the friends list and the friends codes systems are pure joke... now in terms of games the 3DS just like the Vita has some solid titles like pokemon X and Y ( X2 and Y2 most likely this year ) and Bravely default this month so overall 3DS is a good system but is not worth buying for more than $150.

I would buy a vita if the memory cards weren't so high but sony seems to want to keep them high.

I own both, and i would recommend either one. If you have a PS3 or PS4 get the Vita and PS+ without question, if not get the 3DS.

@Consternatedpretty much nailed it. I also own a Vita, I love mine. It has some great games (although I wish there were more) like Soul Sacrifice/Persona 4 Golden, Muramasa,Toukiden, that I enjoy. The hardware & features are great as well.

The 3ds, when directly compared to the Vita, lacks in the features & hardware department, but makes it up with great games. I really want to play Fire Emblem, Phoenix Wright, and Bravely Default. They both are great handhelds honestly, can't really go wrong with either.

I have both. 3DS destroys Vita game by game. It's not even close.

I have both the 3DS and the Vita....it depends on what you like....though 3DS does have more games. I did not opt for the XL though.

I own both a 3DS and a Vita.

Now I absolutely love my Vita, it is a beautiful piece of hardware, and it's best games are shockingly good, but the 3DS so thoroughly outclasses it when it comes to sheer quantity of great games, that it is very hard to recommend the Vita over it if you can only buy one handheld.

I'd say the 3DS should be your first choice, but I would still urge you to pick up a Vita later if you have the budget. Really, owning both is the best way to go.

Buy Vita if you want better hardware but go with the 3DS if you want lots of games to play.

Vita by miles. Japanese support keeps building up. 2014 Vita already has the edge on 3DS in games for me since I follow Japan's release schedule.

if u have or plan to get a ps4 at some point, ps vita is the way to go

Vita has its own games, this guy obviously hasn't played them. Most of the good games on the 3DS are "dumbed down" handheld versions of console franchises i.e. three million Mario games, Zelda games, etc.

Nintendo fans tend to use their own special rules for Nintendo products especially when it comes to subjects such as milking, ports and handheld experiences. I've stopped wasting my time arguing with them.

So, no different to Call of Duty & Killzone then? Other than Tearaway, and P4G (which is little more than a HD remake with a few extras, so just play on a PS2 emulator in HD), the only thing I find myself playing on the Vita is old PS1 games that control better than they do on my PSP.

I don't normally put much faith in metacritic scores, but lets take a look at the highest scoring Vita titles of 2013... http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/year/vita?view=condensed&sort=desc&year_selected=2013

So, we have... Indie Port, Indie Port, Indie Port, Cross Platform, Vita Exclusive, Cross Platform, Cross Platform, Indie Port, Indie Port.

Compared to the 3DS... Exclusive, Exclusive, Exclusive, Exclusive, iOS port, Exclusive, Exclusive, Exclusive...

It's not even fair. I love Spelunky! Playing it on my PC or TV using Big Picture is great co-op fun, but do I really need to be able to take it everywhere with me? How about Limbo? Highest rated PS Vita game in 2013 - I played it 4 years ago.

One of them has games.

The other has tumbleweeds.

Your choice.

I prefer both. They both have great games.

As someone who owns both...The Vita. Has better games, and there's just so much more you can do with the Vita.

First of all, you're comparing a 3 year old system to a 2 year old system...

Secondly, plenty of people would love to play indie games on their Vita, including ones that have been already out. Playing Spelunky and Hotline Miami are much more fun on the Vita. .

Thirdly, multiplats still count. Games like Rayman Origins and Legends are best played on Vita. . Games like Dragon's Crown are awesome on Vita. FFX/FFX-2 will be awesome. Borderlands 2 is coming.

And finally, the Vita has exclusives! Both mainstream developer and indie develop, which is great! Why is that a bad thing?

And if you need more convincing, you can watch this video http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/16/the-top-30-playstation-vita-games-of-2014

**Also can't forget PS4 remote play**

Vita exclusives

Soul Sacrifice

Tearaway

Toukiden (coming in 1 week)

Muramasa Rebirth (like anyone played this on the Wii)

Killzone Mercenary

Ys Memories of Celceta

Gravity Rush

Lumines ES

Unit 13

AC3 Liberation (first released on Vita)

Ragnarok Oddysey

Persona 4 Golden (funny how 3DS fanboys don't complain about Ocarina of time 3D being a port, a much more direct one at that)

Wipeout 2048

[Indie]

Guacamalee!

OlliOlli

Tales from Space Mutant Blobs Attack

Velocity Ultra

[Upcoming]

Freedom Wars

Demon Gaze

Soul Sacrifice Delta

Gravity Rush 2

Persona 4 Dancing All Night

Monster Hunter Title

Borderlands 2

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD

God of War HD Collection

-------------------------------

Awesome multiplats (present and future)

Rayman Legends

Rayman Origins

Dragon's Crown

Spleunky

Hotline Miami/Hotline Miami 2

Retro City Rampage

Mighty Number 9

Super Stardust Delta

Sine Mora

MLB 13

PS All Stars

Disgaea 3/Disgaea 4

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3

Injustice

It kind of depends on what you are playing on the Vita. It's comfortable if you don't have to worry about the back touch pad. I really wish it didn't have that pad, though. I can never get it to work right when I have to use it, and it registers all the time when I'm just holding the Vita normally.

3DS actually has a future.

If I was given one as a gift i would get the Vita

i choose the Vita since its the only handheld system that lets me play MK9, UMVC3, Alpha 3, injustice and many more fighting games on the go.

My replies are bolded. Tearaway has me interested, but that really is about it exclusives wise... I'm really not buying that games like Rayman are better on the Vita, so that's not really a valid reason for me (although I can see why it would be for some people.

Like this dude. If you really love your fighting games, being able to take console-quality versions on the go is an awesome, awesome thing. For me, I'd much rather have games that can't be found anywhere else. I'll get Tearaway eventually, but for now...

I've followed my own advice, and ordered a Zelda edition 3DS XL, Pokemon X, Fire Emblem, and a 32GB SDHC memory card. Pumped!

Figure out which one has the games you want