Congratulations, 3DS Owners. You Just Helped Nintendo Beta Test a Product

Nintendo is no stranger to hardware iterations. Its last portable, the Nintendo DS, saw several major revisions. The 3DS is a different story. It just came out a few months ago but is already seeing half-hearted hardware upgrades. (A snap-on second slide pad? Ugh.) And 3DS owners should be pissed.

The 3DS has been a cold, greasy buffet of Nintendo mistakes. Even for Nintendo, from whom we can expect multiple hardware iterations, everything was so sloppy, so unpolished, so expensive, and ultimately, so un-Nintendo.

https://lastchance.cc/here-are-the-nintendo-3dss-biggest-mistakes-5838286%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

What current 3DS owners should be ticked about is that Nintendo is releasing a second circular slide pad. It’s a tack-on peripheral, and it’s not free. Nintendo is releasing the AA battery-powered peripheral for ¥1,500 (US$19) this December in Japan. That’s right, battery-powered, so the hidden costs don’t stop at ¥1,500.

https://lastchance.cc/nintendos-ugly-3ds-circle-pad-add-on-priced-and-dated-5839599%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

A handful of big 3DS titles—titles I want to play on my 3DS—support the second control scheme. I imagine the game will support stand alone single circle pads controls, too.

If given the choice between have two slide pads or having one, I’d chose two. I think most people would. Nintendo isn’t adding a second slide pad because it’s a bad idea, but because it’s a good one.

Nintendo isn’t adding a second slide pad because it’s a bad idea, but because it’s a good one.

If big games support the “3DS Kakuchou Slide Pad” or “3DS Expansion Slide Pad”, then that means more and more games will support it. Ultimately, I might be pressured into buying one, meaning that I will have to spend more money than the original ¥25,000. And then I must feed it batteries to keep it running.

There will inevitably be a new hardware iteration, because as former Halo developer Ryan Payton said on Twitter, no way is Nintendo going to have a celebrity spokesperson hold up that ugly 3DS Expansion Slide Pad.

https://lastchance.cc/halo-creative-director-leaving-halo-4-update-5837475%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

The new 3DS will be remarkably different, far different than the thinner and brighter DS Lite. With dual thumb pads, the way players control games will change. It’s essentially a different product and not simply a new feature. It changes gameplay to its core.

When I bought the 3DS back in February, customers didn’t have a choice between one thumb pad or two. There was only one. While developing the 3DS—a handheld that Nintendo said would not be subjected to a new iteration anytime soon—Nintendo had that choice, but went with a single pad.

That choice was a mistake. If you bought a 3DS early, you helped Nintendo discover that. You paid Nintendo to beta test a product for them. And soon, you’ll be footing another bill.

Nintendo doesn’t just owe gamers twenty free digital games. It owes them a free second circle pad.

https://lastchance.cc/full-list-of-free-famicom-games-for-3ds-owners-5835706%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

(Top photo: Damian Dovarganes | AP)

You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.

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