Nintendo’s handheld device the DS has received a “large” makeover. Last night Nintendo announced their new device which will be dropping later this year. Check out the new Nintendo 3DS XL after the jump.
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For those of you who love the Nintendo 3DS but just find it a little too portable for your tastes, Nintendo has answered your prayers, announcing the larger Nintendo 3DS XL in a Web video presentation late last night. North American consumers will be able to grab the super-sized hardware and a 4GB SD card for $199 on August 19, alongside New Super Mario Bros. 2, while Japanese and European consumers get their hands on it July 28.
The redesigned hardware, which has the same internal computing power and software compatibility as the original 3DS, sports a glasses-free 3D top screen that is 4.88 inches diagonally, up from 3.53 inches on the original 3DS, while the bottom screen has been extended from 3.02 inches to 4.18 inches. That is 90 percent more total screen space, but keep in mind that the 3DS software will still be running at the same resolution, so the pixel density will actually be decreasing, leading to graphics that may look a little blockier.
Extra space inside the case means extra space to fit an expanded battery, it seems. Nintendo is touting an improved 6.5 hour battery life for the 3DS XL, improving on the paltry three- to five-hour charge that was a major sticking point in our review of the original 3DS.
Besides the larger screens, the redesigned hardware should also be a bit more comfortable to hold in larger hands, which should make games like Kid Icarus Uprising much less hand-cramp inducing. The XL doesn’t use any of its extra real estate for a second circle pad, though, and the existing Circle Pad Pro add-on definitely won’t fit the new system’s bulkier frame. That means you’ll likely need to buy an inevitable Circle Pad Pro XL, and make the system even larger, to control games like Resident Evil: Revelations the way they were meant to be controlled.
The announcement of the 3DS XL echoes the 2010 release of the DSi XL, which similarly embiggened the original DS in 2010 (yes, “embiggened” is a perfectly cromulent word). That unit came out almost six years after the original Nintendo DS, though, making it feel like a bit of a late-in-the-game afterthought for the DS line. The 3DS XL, by contrast, will be hitting stores barely a year after the original 3DS launched to initially lackluster sales and an early price drop.
Nintendo is counting on rapidly increasing 3DS sales to turn around historic losses for the last fiscal year, but the market for larger Nintendo portables isn’t exactly proven. While the DSi XL has sold just over 12 million units worldwide through March, the smaller DSi cleared 22 million unit sales, and the original DS has sold over 116 million.
Nintendo didn’t address whether existing 3DS owners would be able to easily transfer their existing digital purchases to a new 3DS XL. That feature was a major omission from the DSi XL, though the 3DS did let DSi owners bring their files over, and Nintendo has promised that the Wii U will do the same for existing Wii downloads.
Nintendo also used its presentation to highlight many upcoming 3DS titles, including a Street Pass-enhanced Animal Crossing game, a new version of Super Smash Bros. being co-developed by the fighting masters at Namco Bandai (alongside an upcoming Wii U version), and new titles in the Professor Layton and Fire Emblem series. The company also confirmed its first foray into portable downloadable content for New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Fire Emblem.
