Nintendo revealed the 3DS XL last night during their most recent Nintendo Direct conference. The 3DS XL features a 90% increase in real estate with a 4.88″ top screen and a 4.18″ bottom touchscreen. It will be available in North America in Red and Blue, and Europe will have an additional colour of Silver. The 3DS XL will be available in Japan and Europe on July 28 and will reach North America on August 19 for a price of $199.99 and all 3DS XLs will be packed in with a 4GB SD card.
Battery life for the 3DS XL is better but not by far. With 3DS games the 3DS XL will last between 3.5 to 6.5 hours compared to 3 to 5 hours with the original 3DS. Japanese and European 3DS XL will not include a charger, while Nintendo of America has confirmed that there will be one included for North American units. The redesign still lacks the second circle pad which, in my opinion would have eliminated the need to make a Circle Pad Pro XL somewhere further down the line.
Bigger screen's nice ( and I hope they've improved the speakers), but I'm going to stick with my launch day original.
@Richard same sentiment here. Unless there's a special edition I really want or my launch 3DS dies a horrible and painful death, I'm not too willing to upgrade just yet, especially when I can put aside $200 for the Wii U later on this year.
I'd be more inclined to jump in if they upped the resolution. I have an XL & the screens are beautiful, but games do tend to show the effect of having fewer pixels.
I loved my DSiXL so I dont see why I won't love this more. So many complaints all over the Internet about it having no second circle pad. But it doesn't bother me at all. If you want a handheld with more of the core games and controls suited to first person shooters, get a Vita. Meanwhile, I will be playing Mario, Pokemon, Pushmo, etc, and heaps of other games that don't need that control set up.
It was always obvious to me that any redesign would not have a second circle pad. Nintendo would never split their market like that.
am i the only one that thinks the XL looks more like…a toy? idk the original just seems to have a finer touch to it the the new one