Nintendo Reveals “New Nintendo 3DS” Will Be Out In Japan This Year

Written by Brandon Hofer on August 29, 2014

News: Nintendo has unveiled a new more powerful model that will be entering the 3DS library this year in Japan and in 2015 worldwide.

Earlier today Nintendo revealed that a new 3DS was coming out later this year in Japan with it set to hit North America in 2015. This new 3DS is officially called “new 3DS” and I am hoping it is something that will be changed ahead of the North American release. I’m hoping that they name it something to the effect of the “Super 3DS” or “S3DS” for short. The name aside, this new 3DS changes some things up a bit. The actual form factor appears to be the same but there are definitely some changes that Nintendo has made. The four buttons on the 3DS have been “retro colored” to look just like the buttons on a Super Nintendo (SNES) controller. Up above the buttons, near the top right of the screen, appears to be a secondary analog stick. It appears to be quite small in pictures and will most likely be used for camera control in games along with whatever other use they can come up with. This new analog stick almost looks like it serves the same function as the “c-stick” from the Nintendo Gamecube controllers. The slot where you insert the game card has been moved to the bottom left and the Micro SD card has been move to the inside of the system. To switch out your Micro SD card you will have to take off the back cover which looks like it can be easily done by unscrewing two screws.

This new 3DS will also be coming with a top screen that works better than previous iterations. This new screen will be able to automatically adjust brightness depending on the lighting. What this means is that this New 3DS will also have a better battery life. Additionally the 3D has been improved upon as well. With the current 3DS models you need to be in the “sweet spot” to take full advantage of the 3D effects in games. With this new 3DS apparently that is a thing of the past as, according to Kotaku, the New 3DS uses the camera and gyro sensors to track the face of the player.

”Amiibo"

Nintendo also appears to be adding an NFC reader/writer to the bottom screen which will allow this new handheld to work with the new Amiibo figures that will be coming out soon. It also appears that The New 3DS will have a better CPU which means the system overall will run better. It also means that this 3DS will be more powerful then the current models. What that means is that there will be games released for this new 3DS model that will not be playable on older 3DS hardware. Monolith has already revealed that Xenoblade Chronicles will be head to The New 3DS and it will be one of those games that utilizes the additional power and won’t be playable on older models.

In addition to all of that there appears to be two extra buttons on the back of it. In addition to the “R” and and “L” button will now also be “ZR” and “ZL”. There will also be two new models of The New 3DS released at the same time with the standard model and the XL model.

The New 3DS will launch in Japan on October 11 for 16,000 yen for the standard model and 18,800 yen for the XL model (called the LL model in Japan). That translates to roughly $154 dollars and $181 respectively. Nintendo has said the New 3DS will not be available anywhere else in 2014 and that it should hit North America and in Europe at some point in 2015. Will you be picking up the New 3DS? Tell us what you think below.