This Is Why Nintendo Should Bring The Smaller New 3DS To America

Do you live in North America? Want to get your hands on one of these sweet New 3DS faceplates? SORRY. Nintendo doesn’t want to sell them to you.

Let me explain. There are two models of the New 3DS: small and XL. But because Nintendo is Nintendo, North Americans are only getting the XL version when the new hardware launches outside of Japan next week. This might sound insignificant—after all, the normal 3DS XL is great!—but there’s a huge difference between the two models:swappable faceplates. With the smaller New 3DS, you’re not stuck to one color or design: instead you can buy, collect, and customize your own plates for both the top and bottom of the system. You can have a different 3DS every day.

But nope, we just get the big one. No customization allowed. That means we won’t get to use either of the two Zelda faceplates, pictured above. Sad, right? The Majora’s Mask art on the left is pretty, but a bit too busy for my taste. It’s the rightmost Zelda faceplate—announced on the official Zelda Twitter today—that’s making me really friggin’ jealous that the rest of the world gets these. Come on, Nintendo. People are supposed to be jealous of US.

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