To the surprise of no one, and just a week after Shigeru Miyamoto said Nintendo wasn’t going to be iterating on the 3DS, Nintendo revealed the 3DS XL during their Nintendo Direct event this evening.
The 3DS XL will feature screens 90% larger than that of the 3DS and will sport better battery life (though how long that battery life will be was not mentioned). Somewhat astoundingly, the 3DS XL will not include an AC adapter, so you’ll have to buy one separately if you want to use the system for more than one charge (though any DSi or 3DS AC adapter will work with the system). Red and blue will be the first two colors available. Also surprising is the fact that Nintendo did not include a second circle pad for the system. One has to wonder if they will make an XL version of the Circle Pad Pro (God, I hope not), or if this is a case of Nintendo being Nintendo and it spells the end of the second analog slider for the console.
The 3DS XL will be released August 19, which not so coincidentally is the release date of New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS. The console will retail for $199.99.
Anyone picking this one up in August?
Update: We learned that while the Japanese version of the 3ds XL will not include an AC adapter, the North American version will.
Well…. dammit. The size was one of the major things that turned me off of the device so when they release a black version I’ll think about it.
Brad… save me from myself!
You had better not! Your Vita is all the handheld you need!
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