Nintendo has just aired a Nintendo Direct in Japan and while in some cases we would not ordinarily care about Nintendo’s announcements in Japan there have actually been a fair few announcements that I care about and I am sure many others feel the same. One of the biggest announcements to come out of this presentation was the announcement of a brand new 3DS model, this model of 3DS is going to be called the New Nintendo 3DS and will be quite different to any other model of console thus far.
The system features a second analog nub and much more like a cartridge slot on the bottom and ZL/ZR buttons.
New Nintendo 3DS is white and black. The XL model is metallic blue/metallic black.
New Nintendo 3DS is 3.88 inch, 3.33 inch for the New Nintendo 3DS. It’s 1.2 times bigger than the original model.
The top right of the New 3DS model has the little nub called the c-stick. It serves the same purpose as the slide pad. Nintendo went with the smaller C-stick so that the abyx buttons wouldn’t have to be moved/redesigned, and it’d still be close for the fingers. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Dragon Quest X, Final Fantasy Explorers, and Smash Bros. all take advantage of this.
Additionally, the button colors come in the same color as the Super Famicom.
New Nintendo 3DS can use the bottom screen to use NFC. In other words, you won’t need a special reader.
New Nintendo 3DS supports micro SD cards. Data can be sent over Wi-Fi to PC.
There’s also a more powerful CPU inside. That means things like HTML5 videos in the Internet browser will be supported.
New Nintendo 3DS features swappable covers and back covers. 1,000 yen per cover plate set, and many will be available at launch. 50 are due out by the end of this year.
New Nintendo 3DS launches on October 11. Pricing is set at 16,000 yen. The XL model will go for 18,800 yen.
I am excited for this new model and the potential it has.
