Nintendo Announces The New 3DS For Japan, Includes a Faster Processer, More Buttons, Second Stick, amiibo Reader and More

Posted Aug 29, 2014 at 09:35 AM PDT by Brian Hoss

Can there be any doubt that North America and Europe will be next?

'Super Smash Bros.' for the 3DS looks to be a pretty important game for Nintendo. But for Japan, Nintendo has announced several other big 3DS releases, including 'Dragon Quest X: Online,' 'Final Fantasy Explorers,' and of course, 'Monster Hunter 4G.' To help facilitate this big slate of releases, Nintendo is taking an interesting step, and it comes in the shape of the New 3DS and the New 3DS LL.

The two new models are thinner and faster, but more obvious to the naked eye, is that they incorporate two add-ons. Sporting a button sized C stick as well as two more shoulder (Z) buttons, the New 3DS incorporates the Circle Pad Pro add-on (finally). It also has a built-in NFC reader, which means that amiibo figures will work natively. The SD card slot is dropped in favor of a micro SD slot. The screen now carries an adaptive brightness and contrast ability (like cell and tablet screens), which should help with both battery power and varied lighting conditions. The 3DS passive 3D ability is now (hopefully) much more useful as the camera and gyros track the user's head position, making the 3D less of a sweet spot experience.

A more controversial addition is the increased CPU speed, which not only helps downloading, installing, etc. of current games, but also means that the New 3DS will have exclusives, such as the just announced (Japan) 'Xenoblade Chronicles' port.

The New 3DS and New 3DS LL are due out in Japan on October 11th. With the device being region locked, users in the rest of the world will need to look to 2015 at the earliest for their own New 3DS models.

Preorder at Amazon

All twelve amiibo figures can be preordered here. These will undoubtedly be a hot holiday item, especially with the debut of 'Super Smash Bros.' for the Wii U. Preorder now or be sad later.

You can find the latest info on 'Super Smash Bros.' linked from our Video Game Release Schedule.