Dude! OK, you will not believe this: this morning, as I was getting ready for work, I decided to randomly pull out my beloved GBA SP and turn it on just to see what would happen. Lo and behold, it worked! I played a race on Mario Kart: Super Circuit and a random battle in Golden Sun 2! So now, I have all these GBA games to get caught up on now too! And I was so close to rebuying all those GBA games released to Wii U, so I thank my main man Jesus for doing me a solid on that one.

But yeah, I remember when I first got the SP about a decade ago. I was a senior in high school, and it was around that time I decided to screw reputation and crap like name brand clothes and shoes, and get me some kickass games. That backlight is killa. Oh GBA, how I love thee. Let's never fight again. ~_~

Battle Chateau, Battle Maison, there are plenty of options. And the triple speed training is sort of there in the form of Super Training. You do a 90 second minigame to get like 4, 8, or 12 added to an effort value of your choice. Takes about an hour to max EVs for a Pokemon. I personally don't bother with breeding. By competitive scene, I just meant PvP battles. You can just go online and find people to battle and trade with now, so it's not like you have to be that good at breeding or training. I just meant that aside from the RPG gameplay of the main story, there's also the strategy element that comes in when you've got level 100 Pokemon. Mega's add a new layer of fun to that. If you don't feel like grinding and breeding and grinding, just do what I do: find 6 Pokemon you like, max out their EVs and level them to 100, then go find people to battle who aren't that serious about breeding the perfect mon and just play with the team they love.

Edit: Oh, and with Super training, you get this punching bag items for playing the minigames that give you 1, 4, or 12 points to a specific EV, speeding up the process even more. Trust me, I left the series over EVs too. This system is much better, and is part of why I came back. If you're the type that just wants to raise the 6 mons you love the most, you probably won't get sick of the minigames before you finish EV training, and you can ensure you get exactly what they need. If you're the type that loves the grinding, the whole thing becomes a lot quicker and more fun than walking in the right patch of grass, hoping for the right Pokemon, and OHKOing it just to do it again well over 100 times per mon.

I can't thank you enough for this info, for you have restored my faith in the game and the series. Walking around in the same patch of grass for hours on end for the 20 percent chance to find the wild pokemon I need to EV grind is exactly what I never want to do, ever.

Last year I bought two 3DS XLs used. Both in perfect condition from pawn shops. First one was $125 (Blue late Oct) and second was $140 (Red late Nov). Still going perfectly now.

If I was looking now, I'd expect to find another near perfect for about $120 to $130.

Those games should run you $15 to $25 each.

Why two?

My two boys. Ill likely buy a 3rd this year for my daughter. Still debating if her 8yr hands would be better off with a 2DS vs 3DS. Idk, she still enjoys her DSi for now and I'll consider the replacement later on in the year.

If my fiancee and I decide to have a child one of these days, I hope gaming is one of the bonds that bring me and my kid together.

I think the important question is, who buys $100 shoes?!?!

That being said, if you can get it for $80-90 and it is in good condition, GO FOR IT

My wife is not a gamer in any fashion of the word. In fact she'd be very please if I sold everything.

But she knows its my form of preferred digital entertainment along with movies. One aspect though is how to properly manage the time for my kids. They too easily allow it to rule their daily lives. No balance. Just be careful of that. I battle it daily.

Currently no gaming allowed during school days and we try to keep it in check on non-school days. Odd as I had no troubles playing outside or with other toys as a kid. Never let it rule my days. Yet, my children would be fine literally sitting on couch all day playing. Granted, I got far less games than they have and they have the iternet that provides a more constant stream of game info.

Ah well. Always something.

Have I ever told you you're my favorite gamer dad on the site? Well you are. I'm with burninmylight, I totally want to bond with my future kids over gaming some day. I know what you mean about the being fine literally sitting on the couch all day playing, though. I used to be like that, and my sisters are like that now. I've found that, for me, the secret was finding activities that captured my imagination in the same way. For me, that took the form of fencing, horseback riding, and if I ever get the opportunity, I'd like to learn archery. I've also taken a liking to hiking really scenic trails, when I can get someone to go hiking with. Look at my avatar. See the connection? I love Zelda because I'm a medieval adventuring hero at heart, and I've learned to find ways to live it out for real. There are things you can do. Get them some nerf swords and nerf guns and set up rules of combat, like each person has one hit point and a designated spawn point, swords can deflect bullets (and are great for stealth kills), either a set number of kills or a set number of lives, etc., and you've got yourself a real life FPS. My friends used to do that in college, and we got tons of excercise that way. To get a gamer off the couch, you have to capture their imagination and attention the same way games do.