Revised the game section and gave my thoughts on the games themselves. I've removed my thoughts on the comparisons of the 3DS games to the Vita games since apparently some people don't like to hear that Vita games are better. I've also removed all of the games I haven't played, which really benefited the 3DS over Vita.
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I own a 3DS, 3DS XL, and a Vita. Both have good games, while I feel the Vita has better games and is a better value. I wanted to post a detailed opinion piece comparing both systems.
Cost and build
The 3DS has multiple variations. Either the 2DS coming out soon at $129 that removes a few features, such as speakers(has in ear headphones included) and the 3D, the regular 3DS at $179, and the 3DS XL at $199.
Never using a 2DS I can't say anything about that, but if you have the choice between a 3DS or a 3DS XL, go with the XL. Except for maybe my left hand, my hands aren't very big, but the regular 3DS has many problems that make it uncomfortable to play longer than 30 minutes. The XL on the other hand isn't uncomfortable at all and in addition, the screens are 40% bigger.
Backwards compatibility is available on the 3DS with all DS games, but there's a noticeable drop in quality since it doesn't upscale. You can reduce the size of the resolution by holding select before starting the DS game but it will be 60% of the already small screen size. With the XL being 40% larger, the size of the DS game will be that of the regular 3DS screen size if you reduce the resolution. Pick your poison, but in the end, I feel the lower quality and slightly washed out colors are better than almost half the screen size.
Sound quality on both the 3DS and XL doesn't go very loud and it's poor. It's also a cheap LCD so don't think of playing it anywhere near natural liight if you want to see what you're doing.
The Vita has recently received a price drop to $199 and this is for all models. Whether you purchase a Vita by itself or one of the bundle packs with Call of Duty/Madden and a memory card, you're still paying the same price.
The Vita doesn't have the issue with comfort but the analog sticks are slightly closer to the buttons than I would have liked and are very sensitive. While it's not often you'll touch the sticks there's the rare time that your thumb will slightly tap one and cause an issue.
Sound quality is good and the 5 inch OLED is beautiful. The Vita can be played in natural light.
Games, backwards compatibility, etc.
3DS and Vita games both cost up to $50 with most games releasing at $30-$40.
3DS backwards compatibility is both physical and digital through the virtual console, which while there are a few good games here and there, it's lacking. The 3DS virtual console only seems to have NES and Gameboy games as well. Every single DS game is backwards compatible but since the DS doesn't upscale, it takes noticeable hit to quality unless you reduce the resolution which you then need a magnifying glass if you want to play the game.
Vita backwards compatibility is digital only. Not all PSP games have received a digital release so some good titles are missing, in addition, not all of what's available is playable on the Vita. Most of the best PSP games are playable on the Vita though, most PSX games, most PSP PSN games, and all Minis. Anything backwards compatible upscales to the Vita's highest resolution, so the quality is much better. Load times are also quicker than even the PSP Slim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w4t1ef7ETg
As a new Vita owner, if you're interested in a variety of quality games that you can have with you at all times, I'd recommend getting Sega Genesis Collection and Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded. 40+ games in which over half are quality titles. Each game costing $9.99 each. For every Vita owner I'd also recommending paying $50 and signing up for PS+. Whether you own a PS3 or not it's still worth it, as you'll get 24+ games that are playable on the Vita throughout the year.
While both the 3DS and Vita have backwards compatibility, the library that the Vita has to pull from, even in its incomplete state far outweighs that on the 3DS. Prices for digital games on the 3DS are a ripoff as well. $4-$5 for Gameboy and NES games, while PSX titles are $6, a few premiums mostly Square Enix being $10, and most PSP titles are $10-$20.
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Both 3DS and Vita have a wide variety of games, but the Vita titles are overall better. Most of the quality Vita titles might be ports or multiconsole title, but what are you going to do? Bring your PS360 and TV with you wherever you go? The PS Vita is a portable console. Keyword. Port.
Fighting
3DS - Super Street Fighter 4, and Dead or Alive Dimensions.
Vita - Street Fighter x Tekken, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat, Blaz Blue Continuum Shift Extend, and Dead or Alive 5 Plus.
If you're interested in fighters, right now there's a better variety of titles that are good. Mortal Kombat has the same story mode as consoles and a more stable online, also has a new challenge tower. The Vita versions of SF x Tekken, Blaz Blue Continuum Shift Extend, and Dead or Alive 5 Plus have cross platform play so PS3 and Vita owners can play against each other. I prefer both Dead or Alive titles over the others and Super Street Fighter 4 over the rest, though all the games are good games.
2D Platformers
3DS - New Super Mario Bros. 2, Cave Story 3D, Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate, Sonic Generations, Rayman Origins, and Shinobi.
Vita - Little Big Planet Vita and Rayman Origins
Rayman Legends on the Vita is much better than the 3DS version of the game and LBP Vita is the better game on this list, but the Nintendo titles on this list are all quality games and there's more of them.
New Super Mario Bros lacks what made past Mario titles so great and New Super Mario Bros 2 is no different, being a decent game that's way too easy.
Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate takes the style of exploration Castlevania titles combined with your level based title and a combat sysstem that feels like it wtas pulled from the console Lords of Shadow. The game is a bit easy and auto saves at every screen transition as well as whenever you pick up any scrolls or any items. If you acquire all scrolls, all magic, and all health pick ups, then the game will only save during screen transitions and after storyline portions, so playing in hardcore mode at that time is really how the game should be experienced. Additionally, Mirror of Fate has the best 3D, absolutely jaw dropping how well it's done, where there is actually depth to each piece of scenery in the room as well as the characters you are playing as. If you like the 3D effect then you have to play this game.
Aside from the final two stages which push cheap deaths, the stages in Shinobi are all well done. The third person behind the back style used in a few portions of this game are the worst part about the gameplay, but thankfully they're limited. The standard gameplay is excellent although a bit difficult for most gamers.
3D Action/Platformers
3DS - Super Mario 3D Land, Lego City Undercover, other Lego games.
Vita - Gravity Rush, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus, and Jak and Daxter Trilogy.
Super Mario 3D Land is a good game but it's too slow and it's too easy. The only dificult part about the game is trying to find where all the coins are which are required to complete stages at the end of the game or special stages once you beat the game. I never completed the special stages, got to world eight, only because you need almost every special coin from all stages and you can only go through a stage so many times before you become frustruated with not being able to find the missing coin in the stage.
Lego City Undercover is the only Lego game not on the Vita, and while I'm not a fan people do like these games. I didn't enjoy the other Lego games, I didn't enjoy what little I've played of Lego City Undercover, however there are a lot of fans of these games f or some reason. They keep selling and we keep seeing more Lego games.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Sigma 2 Plus are 3D action platformers in which the 3DS has nothing to compare to. Like God of War that comes out in the future, the has you dodging, countering, and stringing single or multiiple hits into combos. The combat not only feels great, but is also flashy. The first one has its problems, but I'd recommend the second one if you're into these types of games. I wrote a review here on both of these.
Gravity Rush has unique gameplay allowing to shift gravity and walk on walls, on the celing, underneath the floating cities, etc. While the world is detailed, exploring each of the city burroughs there's not really much to do if you just want to screw around, but the games missions whether it's following the story or the challenge missions are diverse and require to use every skill that Kat has. Along Kat's gameplay, these are what make the game. Areas where you'll use stealth, areas you'll shift gravity from platform to platform, races where you'll use the gravity slide or a combination of most of your gravity powers.
The original Jak and Daxter is a great game, and for that alone you should pick up the Trilogy. The game is a collect a thon, but it's not monotonous like it is in most games that make you travel back and forth or repeatedly doing the same levels constantly. In Jak and Daxter, you're acquiring all these items as you platform your way across all these areas you'll be going anyways. Some areas you don't have to go to and you can still finish the game without doing so, but while you might just be collecting items by going there, you're also having to platform your way to those items.
Racing
3DS - Mario Kart 7, and Sonic and All Star Racing Transformed.
Vita - Wipeout 2048, Need For Speed Most Wanted, Modnation Racers, and Sonic and All Star Racing Transformed.
Mario Kart is a well loved franchise and while it's a little fun at times, I personally don't enjoy it. The conpetitive nature of games or in this case, racing games, is to win. The harder you try and the better you do, the worse the game penalizes. If you do good you're never guaranteed a win because of it. The only way to guarantee that you'll win is to sandbag and overtake the opposition at the end, so to me there's no point. Online is available, but there's no voice chat. Since Mario Kart is designed to give worse players a chance and be less competitive, then why no voice chat so you can joke around with friends while playing.
Like Mario Kart, I'm not a fan, but I added Modnation Racers because it's pretty much Mario Kart without Mario or anything Mario themed. If you like Mario Kart, then you'll like this. Now one problem with the Vita version is that the online only allows you to download other characters creations, not actually play against other people. You can however create your own tracks, characters, and cars, as well as download those people uploaded online giving this game unlimited replay value.
Wipeout 2048 is easily the best racing game on the two systems. Unfortunately, Nintendo didn't release an F Zero for the 3DS because Wipeout would actually have some competition if it was anywhere near as good as F Zero X. Tracks in Wipeout 2048 are wider and there are multiple shortcuts or branches in each stage. The game now includes defense weapon, along with the standard weapon, and boost pads. Weapons while having a marginal effect will not help you win in this game if you're not very good, unlike the Mario Kart series where one weapon can be the difference between first and last. This game, like all the other Wipeout games has different speeds, while going from Vector to Phantom(and Mach,) on other games, goes from D to A+(as well as Mach on Zone races) on this game.
Wipeout HD and Fury are also available for the Vita as DLC packs for 2048. If you purchase Wipeout HD/Fury for the PS3, then the DLC will be free for 2048. If you purchase the DLC, the PS3 games will be free. It includes every track and every bit of content that those games have to offer. In addition, Wipeout 2048 has cross play where you race against Wipeout HD owners. If you don't own the DLC you can still race against them in two tracks, while you can race against them in any track if you do have the DLC.
3DS - Star Fox 64, Resident Evil Revelations, and Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D.
Vita - Uncharted Golden Abyss, Killzone Mercenary, and Unit 13.
Resident Evil Revelations addd a little bit of exploration to it trying to bring it closer to the older Resident Evil styles for some of the game, but Capcom doesn't let you forget you're playing a new style Resident Evil title, which atleast 90% of the game is a shooter fest. It's not a terrible game, but it's largely overrated. It's not as good as Resident Evil 5, but it's not nearly as bad as Resident Evil 6.
Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D takes the mini game added to the later games and sells you it as a full game. Most of the stages are either the full or cut down version of their respective stages in Resident Evil 4 and 5. If you have Resident Evil 4 and 5, there's really no point in buying it other than being able to upgrade your weapons as you progress.
Uncharted Golden Abyss may have been made from Bend Studio instead of Naughty Dog, but it still feels like an Uncharted game and almost as good as any of the console games. The game was good enough for me to replay through twice and finish crushing difficulty. There are minor issues like the forced touch screen aspects of the game and the game does have a very slight dead zone whenever aiming that you have to get used to dealing with. The story character development in the g ame was just as good as any of them, very glad my favorite character Sully made an appearance because his dialogue with Drake is always amazing, but one of the newer characters, Dante, is one of my favorite Uncharted characters.
Unit 13 is 40+ missions that take anywhere from a few minutes to 20. The games control is excellent, everything being extremely quick and fluid. The touch screen controls are actually intuitive and while they're required, they don't ruin any of the experience. Most missions are designed so you can gun your way through the mission or stealth your way through with silenced weapons, or even a bit more difficult, knife your way through. There's evenmissions that you could possibly make your way through without being seen or killing one opponent. Depending on the type of actions, the more times you do those actions in a row, and the difficulty of those actions, you get more bonus'. It's a great game and the scoring system makes it really addicting to retry stages.
Killzone Mercenary, while having poor load times, a bad online infrastructure, and having issues with some of its mechanics, is the best Call of Duty clone I've played. The online infrastructure might suck, but the online netcode was good. The vanguard system where the vanguards dropped from the sky for anyone to pick up but also allows for you to carry you own vanguard which fills and allows you to use when you gain enough money balances the kill streak system and makes it fair. The different objectives in Warzone tries to remove the aspect of camp to win and requires you to go out there and complete objectives in order to win, much like other Killzone titles or Battlefield titles.
RPG
3DS - Shin Megami Tensei 4, Devil Summoner Soul Hackers, Fire Emblem Awakening, Tales of the Abyss, and Etrian Odyssey 4.
Vita - Persona 4 The Golden, Disgaea 3, Atelier Totori, Atelier Meruru, and Dragon's Crown.
Shin Megami Tensei 4 is the best RPG on the 3DS, third best on the list. but I was really disappointed with a lot of the game. The first part of the game is the biggest flaw, two dungeons that can be fully traversed in 30 minutes, yet it takes about 10 hours to actually get past the first part of the game, until the game actually starts. The dungeons while being visually detailed are all very small, and the world map is just annoying to traverse. Additionally, the stats in the game are also broken, as having a much higher attack, intelligence, or agility, won't make too much of a d ifference how much you damage you do or how much you hit or dodge an opponents attacks. HP/MP variances is yet another disappointing change that had me avoiding certain demons simply becausue they had no MP to use skills that they had.
Devil Summoner Soul Hackers is also a good game, but demons don't level up, and something common with most demons throughout the game is that a lot of attacks are worthless in combat. You actually don't see any physical skills until you're halfway into the game. If by s ome chance you get a demon with a bunch of great skills, you're going to keep at most one of those skills when fusing the demon later since even when both or all the demons like you, the transferred skills don't take prioirty and if the fusion says that it's skills you don't want, it's set in stone. Fusion skills don't change except when fusing with a different demon. So basically most of the time your demons are more or less there to heal your main characters or cast buffs which add a ridiculous amount to the damage you'll do.
Fire Emblem Awakening is a great game and there's other than Disgaea 3, there's no TRPGs on the Vita yet. Fire Emblem wins against Disgaea no contest. It has a good story and great graphics, but like the rest of the series the gameplay is much better at the beginning, rather than closer to the end. Fire Emblem combat has where each character and class can use certain weapon types. Depending on the weapon your character is using against an enemy when you attack them or they attack you, you might be either strong or weak or neutral against the opponent. Early game you really need to use strategy in combat. Late game when you've leveled up and changed classes, weak to a weapon or not, except against bosses, it really makes little difference.
Etrian Odyssey 4 is the first in the series I've played and it's a great new take on the dungeon crawler style game. While the game auto maps where you walk, if you choose it to, you have to use the stylus to write in the walls, place landmarks, place where barriers are at like water, mark locations t hat you might question, etc. The combat is your standard dungeon crawler, so it's good, and Etrian Odyssey does require a great deal more strategy than most. It is a little bit grindy, but overall well done.
Persona 4 on the PS2 I've played and it's a great game. Although I own The Golden, I haven't played it, but there's extra content on an already good game with little to fault.
Disgaea 3 has a lot of content, but if you've played a Disgaea title at all, they're all about grinding to become more powerful and less about the strategy.
Atelier Totori and Mereru's gameplay is all about time management. There's a lot of text in these games and it actually has very little to do with story than it does with character deveopment. The personalize you with the main characters and many of the side characters. The combat is a lacking, but the quests, exploration, gathering, and alchemy is more enjoyable than you'd think. The combat isn't the main aspect of this game though and in that case, is atleast good enough to not hold the rest of the game back.
Dragon's Crown is only technically an RPG because it's heavily influenced by RPG elements in just a bout everything but its combat which is why I'm including it in this specific list. I prefer this over everything listed but Persona 4 and as a 2D side scrolling beat em up, it's up there as one of the best, if not the best I've played. 2D side scrolling beat em up, the characters are actually more varied than any other in the genre that I've ever played with the exception of the Wizard and Sorceress which are almost clones of one another with different skillsets. The game is four player local co op or online, which unfortunately the online is not unlocked until you get around five hours or so into the game, per character, so if you play through as every character, you have to go through the story mode each and every time. I'm going to write a review on this after I complete infernal with all characters, so won't go too much into detail here. The game has a lot of replay value through its loot drop system and 99 floor Labyrinth of Chaos. The game is not without issues though, as that five hours that you play atthe beginning, you'll go through all those areas again, but with a few more screens per each nine areas and nine n ew bosses on path B. Further gameplay you're just redoing all the stages over again, and Labyirnth of Chaos is randomized screens with a boss at the end, each floor but those with the Demon Lord consisting of three seperate stages. Floor 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 for example, so each randomized and each with its own random boss.
Action/Adventure, Stealth, Hunting, Other
3DS - Monster Hunter 3, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Animal Crossing.
Vita - Ragnarok Odyssey, Metal Gear Solid Collection.
I'll go with what someone recommended and say I don't like any of these. Aside from Animal Crossing, or Monster Hunter in Japan, these are fairly niche, but they do have a vocal fanbase.
Monster Hunter has you in one town, accepting quests where you gather or kill certain monsters, going back to the same locations repeatedly, then once you finally go to a new location, you'll eventually fight the same monsters in those areas. Ragnarok Odyssey is similar but even more boring with smaller less detailed maps. There are people who like it, but I'm only adding it as a comparison to Monster Hunter as it's not good.
Animals Crossing consists of shaking trees, digging up stuff, catching bugs, and digging in the trash. After you do everything, wait until the next day and then repeat the same thing all over again. Not sure how people get off on this, but this game has a lot of fans.
Metal Gear Solid 3 on the 3DS runs at 20fps while Metal Gear Solid Collection includes MGS2 and 3, plus the first two Metal Gear games running at a higher resolution. Not much of a point getting the 3DS version if you're interested in picking up the game.
Digital/indie
I'm not going to go into detail on the digital titles, but the Vita has many more quality digital only titles than the 3DS does. Vita has Uncharted Fight For Fortune, and Guacamelee that are good. Most digital titles I feel are lackluster though. Before playing it, the game had a lot of promise, but after playing Retro City Rampage, I'm going to say the game is extremely boring and not very enjoyable at all. Also not going to bother with the lame AR card games for 3DS or Vita.
Other games to come out for the 3DS and Vita in the future are Pokemon X/Y, Ys Memories of Celceta, Valhalla Knights 3, Borderlands 2, God of War Collection, Bravely Default Flying Fairy, Super Smash Bros, and Demon's Gaze.
Additional Features
3DS and Vita can both take pictures, both listen to music, both go on the internet and use Netflix, but outside of all that, the 3DS can't do much more.
The 3DS has a the ability to let you take pictures in 3D which is kind of cool. The 3DS has a pedometer built in to gain coins for walking around with the 3DS(or shaking it.) The very rare game will use these 3DS coins to give the player additional features. I have two games which use it, both of them SMT.
The cross game chat feature available on Steam and 360 is on the Vita as party chat. I feel this has a major benefit as there are some games that don't include voice chat for either the 3DS or Vita, yet on the Vita you can still talk to your friends while playing a game with them or if you're playing a different game. On a game like Mario Kart 7, it really doesn't matter if you're playing with a friend or not if you can't speak with them.
Some features you won't commonly use are Facebook, Flickr, Youtube, Email app, Skype, etc, but they're still there if you do want to use them.
The next feature requires a PS3. Adhoc Party allows for local only adhoc play to be played online. It was developed with the PSP in mind, but it also works for Vita games. Most Vita games have online multiplayer so it's not really that worthwhile right now, but atleast it's still available for PSP games like Dissidia, Monster Hunter, etc.
Then finally Remote Play. As of right now, with your PS3, it works with PSX games, Minis, some PSN games, a few PS3 games, and any audio/video files on your PS3. With the release of the PS4, Remote Play will work with 99.9% of all games on the console. The best thing about Remote Play is that this will make any game that you own digitally on your console, or any retail disc that's in your console, be playable regardless where you are. Your PS4(and even now with your PS3,) has to be connected through a wired connection and be set up with Remote Play to auto start. Say you're at a friends house and they're playing some lame garbage like Mario Kart Wii and you want to play Infamous Second Son, as long as they wireless you can. You'll open Remote Play through your Vita and connect wirelessly through the internet, which your PS4 will receive a signal to remote start and then you'll be connected to play Infamous. Works this way with the PS3 now if you wanted to play say, Shadow of the Colossus or ICO.
While the 3DS is a good portable, the Vita is a better portable on its own with the PS4 making an already great portable better.
