Review: The ‘New 3DS XL’ is Nintendo’s Most Potent Portable

Nintendo could use a power-up.

We’ve known about the Wii U’s sales problems for a while now, of course. More surprising? The 3DS, which was once considered a buoy in a storm, is slowly starting to sink.

While there are now an impressive 50 million 3DS units in the wild, sales are slowing down. Blame it on smartphones or free-to-play or whatever you want, but the fact remains that even with great-selling software like Super Smash Bros. and Pokemon, fewer people are buying 3DS systems. Nintendo has even lowered its fiscal year forecast. Companies hate doing that.

The good news? The company has a plan, one that should be familiar to longtime Nintendo watchers: Tweak the thing and release a new model.

Nintendo has already done it twice before with the 3DS. First came the 3DS XL, a boon for gamers with adult-size hands. Then came the 2DS, a flat, indestructible doorstop stripped of its 3D capabilities but built to weather the bumpy lifestyle of a 5-year-old.

Now we get the New Nintendo 3DS XL. Already out in Japan (as is the regular-size New 3DS, which isn’t making the trip overseas), it hits stores February 13 for $200. But while its low-effort name leaves something to be desired, this is actually the handheld’s biggest jump; it’s technically the most powerful 3DS available, boasting a new processor, improved 3D tech, and a few very handy physical changes. The result is undoubtedly the best 3DS system yet, though it’s not without some head-scratching missteps.

New looks

At first glance the New 3DS XL looks awfully similar to the regular 3DS XL, but open up the device and you’ll find a slew of little improvements. The most important? A tiny nub, of all things.

It’s a laptop pointing stick, basically. (Ben Silverman)

For years 3DS gamers have complained about the lack of a second analog stick, and while Nintendo’s remedy is a bit small, the new C-stick sits nicely tucked above the face buttons and works surprisingly well. It’s a boon for camera control, especially in a third-person game like the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D.

Nintendo also decided to free up the sides by moving the volume slider up to the top screen and ditching the Wi-Fi toggle switch (Wi-Fi is now built-in). This means you won’t accidentally mute it with your left hand or switch off Wi-Fi with your right. Two new buttons, ZR and ZL, join the standard L and R triggers on the back of the device.

A few other tweaks seem more cosmetic than functional. The Home button has shrunk, Start and Select have shifted to the right, and the power button, stylus holder, and game card slot can now be found on the bottom front.

The new unit feels sturdy and sleek. It’s a hair larger than the 3DS XL, but that tiny increase is mitigated by what amounts to a wealth of intelligent redesigns.

New guts

Messing with the placement of knobs and buttons doesn’t exactly herald a significant leap. Futzing with its power? That’s big.

There’s a faster processor, and you definitely feel it. Games load more quickly on the New 3DS XL compared to the old one (Super Smash Bros. showed a good four-second boost in my tests), and typically sluggish activities like accessing the eShop or bringing up your Mii Plaza just seem to work better.

So does the 3D, thanks to Nintendo’s new “Super Stable” tech. Improved facial tracking has effectively widened the viewing angle for 3D; you no longer have to look at it dead-on to get the effect to work. It’s a vast improvement, cutting down the annoying flicker and subtle eyestrain that made 3D gaming on the regular 3DS XL a drag. I’m a little surprised Nintendo decided to do anything about the 3D — the fad’s kind of over, right? — but kudos to them for attending to it. Maybe now I’ll actually turn the 3D on from time to time.

One caveat: Despite tweaking the 3D, Nintendo didn’t touch the relatively poor screen resolution. It’s still running at 400 x 250 resolution, a far cry from the PlayStation Vita (960 x 554) or even your new-ish iPhone 6 (1334 x 750). The games still look decent, but it’s a missed opportunity.

Fans of Nintendo’s Amiibo toy line are in luck, however: The New 3DS XL includes NFC (near-field communication) support, which allows you to bring Amiibo figures into 3DS games. And while typically these sorts of changes lead to a crummier battery life, the New 3DS actually lasts a tad longer on a charge than the older systems. Magic!

Xenoblade Chronicles in the palm of your hand. (Nintendo) 

New games

The added power also means the New 3DS XL will be able to play certain games that the older models will not.

This isn’t the first time Nintendo has fractured its user base in this way — the DSi had a handful of exclusive game cards that wouldn’t run on other DS systems — but it’s certainly a line in the sand.

I wouldn’t worry too much about this for now. Nintendo has announced only one New 3DS XL exclusive so far: Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, a port of a 2012 Wii role-playing game due out in April. It’s a safe bet that, for a while at least, very few game makers will want to alienate the tens of millions of gamers who own an “old” 3DS by making games playable only on this system. Unless you’re absolutely dying to play Xenoblade on a handheld (and, to be fair, the Wii version was pretty awesome), there’s little incentive to get a New 3DS for the “new” games. Yet.

New missing cable

More irksome than splitting up its user base with exclusive games, though, is how Nintendo chose to package the New 3DS XL.

Specifically, they chose to package it without an AC adapter.

Open up the New 3DS XL box, yank out the new handheld, and watch it sit there like a brick because you can’t charge it. You wouldn’t really know this if you just went out and bought one, though. Here’s how Nintendo has chosen to advertise this rather significant omission:

Always read the fine print. (Nintendo)

Since the New 3DS XL uses the same proprietary adapter as the older models (it’s compatible with chargers packaged with the 2DS, 3DS, 3DS XL, DSi, and DSi XL), Nintendo thinks you probably have one sitting around right now, so why would you want to pay extra for another? They’re saving you money by not including one in the box!

Unless, you know, you’re one of the roughly 7.1 billion or so who don’t have one. Nintendo’s pulled this move before in Japan and Europe, but it’s the first time they’ve tried it in North America.

It drives me nuts. If you’re trying to sell more 3DS systems, alienating potential new owners is baffling. Even the smartphone industry, which has convinced people to upgrade to new phones every two years, ensures new users can get up and running out of the box.

The solution is to just go buy an adapter online. It only costs $10. At best, this is annoying; at worst, it will drive some poor, excited kid to tears when he stares at a brand-new, unusable video game system.

New memory issue

With no charger in the box, Nintendo is saying, loud and clear, that the New 3DS XL is really intended to be an upgrade for existing 3DS owners. And sure enough, you can transfer your current 3DS content to a New 3DS XL via Wi-Fi, which is relatively painless.

However, you can’t simply remove the SD memory card in your current system and pop it into the new one, because Nintendo has switched to a microSD format. You can’t fit SD into a microSD slot, plus Nintendo weirdly decided to trap the microSD card inside the unit itself. Wanna get to it? You’ll need a tiny screwdriver.

And there’s a good chance avid 3DS gamers will want to do just that, because the built-in card is a paltry 4 GB. I was able to transfer only five digital games from my old 3DS XL to the new one. The rest were deleted, and while I can freely re-download them onto the new system, I certainly don’t have room for them unless I upgrade the memory, too.

This isn’t a deal breaker — a 32 GB microSD costs about $20 — but it’s a seemingly needless hurdle for the die-hard fans Nintendo is hoping will plunk down $200 for the upgrade. If this device is indeed for upgrading, Nintendo should give gamers enough memory to make it quick and easy. No one buys a new smartphone with less memory on it.

New verdict

Ultimately, though, both of these headaches are solvable. And should you have $200 burning a hole in your pocket, a large-ish microSD card, and a spare charger handy, absolutely go for it. If you’re totally new to the 3DS ecosystem, though, be warned that this system will actually cost you $210 — $230 with a decent amount of memory.

The thing is, even at that price, it’s worth it. The New 3DS XL is an excellent system, an improved one, and coupled with the deep 3DS library, it will deliver countless hours of portable gaming fun. Just make sure you have that charger first.

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