Being a DS, DS:Lite, DSi and 3DS owner as well as an RPG fan. I would say screw budget and get a 3DS. Their are many great games coming to 3DS and their will be continuous new games coming for the next four to five years. If your going to own a Vita then owning a 3DS is essential to experiance everything the handheld gaming world has to offer.
3D is amazing and I can't wait to see what Square and other developers/publishers do with it in RPG's. Its only a 100$ that might sound like alot but when you look at the experiance and the fun your going to have, its worth every penny. I bought 3DS day one and haven't looked back the device is great and since your getting Vita your going to want to be able to play games on the latest Nintendo handheld as well.
Unless you are a "Nintendo hater" but as such I don't know why you'd want a DS. Think of it this way, in a year or so a DSi will cost like 40$ in your local flee market. But 3DS will still be at least 200$. If you really don't want 3D and you don't care to buy future RPG's and Nintendo titles then I'd say wait for DS to drop in price some more.
So the run down.
-If you want bang for your buck, you want the latest and greatest RPG's and all the RPG's DS has to offer. Then 3DS is the console for you
-If you don't care about future RPG's, you don't care about the Nintendo titles and the third party future titles, you just want to play those 6 RPG's and you want to play them now, then a DS:Lite is the answer
-If your in no rush and don't care about future games and content, you don't want to spend much. Wait a year and get a DS in your local fleemarket or Ebay!
-JC7
"In God We Trust - In Games We Play " - Joel Reimer
