The New 3DS XL is Not What the 3DS Needed

The orginal 3DS has a fault alright: it’s only got one thumbstick. Nearly every 3D game released over the past decade has used two thumbsticks, because it’s the best and most-employed method of controlling a character and a camera.

So the other explanation for the XL must be that it’s going to kickstart sales of a handheld that isn’t taking off like its predecessor, the DS, did. But, um, who exactly is this targeted at?

Let’s look at how Nintendo handled it’s wildly-successful DS handheld. The DS was weird, but wonderful. The DS Lite was needed because the original DS’ exterior design was hideous. The DSi added a camera, a marked improvement over the regular DS. The DSi XL did…well. Let’s look at that.

The DSi XL was released in Japan in 2009 and everywhere else in 2010. That’s 5-6 years after the launch of the original DS. The DSi XL was a “chaser”, the last hurrah of an ageing system that was pitched at a few niche markets still untapped by Nintendo; namely the elderly, those who played DS games at home and those who dug the classier, more adult colour schemes it launched in.

The 3DS XL, however, launches with the original 3DS only a pinch over 12 months old. It offers no major technical or functional enhancements beyond a bigger screen and better battery life (around 6.5 hours). It’s even, it can be argued, uglier than the model its replacing/complementing, looking more like a children’s toy laptop than the more refined design of the standard 3DS.