In the wake of the extremely successful launch that it enjoyed, it is easy to forget that people were actually quite dissatisfied with the reveal of the North American release of the New Nintendo 3DS. There were many reasons for this ire, but the bulk of it was focused on the fact that only the ‘XL’ variant of the new models was launching in the region. The regular sized New 3DS would be skipping the territory, depriving many who prefer smaller handhelds of the system of their choice, and also of the additional perks that it brings, such as the customizable faceplates.
However, if you had given up hope of the new system ever launching in North America at all, don’t! A recent interview that Nintendo of America’s head Reggie Fils-Aime gave Kotaku seems to indicate that a North American launch of the regular sized New 3DS is on Nintendo’s mind.
“We analyzed the results in Japan and saw the lion’s share of the volume was on the XL model, and that’s with no 2DS existing in the Japanese market,” Fils-Aime said. “And so as we thought about: ‘What’s the best line-up for us?’ We thought the new XL and 2DS would be our best line-up. Not going to make any promises but, you know, I would suggest to your readers that they stay tuned and maybe some special SKUs might show up.”
Perhaps a launch during the holiday season, to give the 3DS one final push before the NX handheld launches next year? We’ll find out soon. Stay tuned.