Lime wrote:The thumbstick broke on my (2nd hand from CEX) 3DS XL.
I've had it a couple of years, and I guess the stick's always felt a little off, but a few days ago the circle part came off, leaving a stump. I've never see this kind of wear on a Nintendo console - but I'm betting whoever has it before me played a lot of Smash Bros on it.
A glue repair has left it feeling a little off, so I've got hold of a replacement stick for fitting.
I've not brave enough to fit it but nothing seems to faze my cousin, so he's going to have a go at it. Says it looks 'easy' according to youtube videos. He is most definitely gifted at fixing stuff, so I totally trust him to do it.
I love the 3DS, I hope it is supported for a while yet - and if not, there's a huge library, including the DS library & digital, it'll keep my going a long while yet.
The motherboard is easy to access, and I think the solder pads for that part are quite large compared to the rest, so replacing the whole stick assembly shoudnt be too hard.
Be really careful with the ZIF retention clips/flaps, especially the microphone's, as I broke mine this way. These are were the ribbon cables attach and detach. You'll need to detach stuff to flip the motherboard and clamp/secure it for solder. Forget about fixing those without ordering a new motherboard just to desolder and resolder that part which is ,of course, pointless.
Plectrums or a spudger are a good way to get it open. And nintendo have for whatever reason decided to actually use Phillips screws for once.
It didn't matter that much, but I really liked my red 3ds XL, and I would have kept it if it weren't for money and I found a dinged up New 3DS XL priced as a standard XL for £75 (managed to sell the 3ds XL for 60 quid so pretty sweet upgrade for 15 quid). Need to replace the shell on that but everything works perfectly. You can get them from Shenzhen on eBay, someone appears to have acquired the mould and the finishes even look the same (may even be factory parts who knows ). Mine is gunmetal which is pretty nice but they are selling the majora's mask gold shell which is nice way to get that look for cheap... Might just go for red again and do my own design with my decals.
Back to games though I've finally got metroid back for my birthday (I was forced to sell the legacy edition without even playing it) and I've been really enjoying dallying about it Rune Factory 4 after that was on sale. Digital only western release so it's easy to forget about it. It's a decent little rpg with nice characters mashed together with harvest moon and crafting elements. There's even fishing. You can capture and rear monster allies and harvest their fur, eggs etc. Nice to dip in and out of as you can do strawberry float all but grow stuff for a bit and fast travel in and out of the overall areas and the town. A day lasts about 20 minutes. everyone is just nice ,it's a very pleasant game.
My favourite moment is probably triggering some bizarre gathering with some character activations at night that gave me an overpowered giant turnip as a greatsword for some reason. Yeah, no idea either.