I don't like the New 3DS XL...

The 3D still doesn't work, I don't get why there is so much praise, it just spazes out all the time for me as it tries to track my eyes. It doesn't help that the brightness just seems to strobe like mad, the slightest movement and for some reason it feels the need to change it. I ended up turning both of those features off right away, so well done Nintendo for those.

The hinge is just crap, all the ones I've seen have this weird mm or so gap where you can move it side to side. Not only that but it still is really flappy.. why is it so hard to make a hinge Nintendo? It isn't for anyone else but you.

They've made the bumpers too small but added two more, constantly now when playing Mario Kart, I'll let go of things I've holding behind me without realizing. They're just so fiddly and hard to hold down now, the old ones were much bigger and nicer to use.

The placement of the cartridge slot sucks, I love to rest my little finger under both sides of the system. Now however you have this nice flush right side and the left side my little finger feels so uncomfortable. Why couldn't you put it on the top where it doesn't get in the way? Also though I keep ejecting games now because of the way I like to hold the thing.

The C nub is crap, it doesn't work well at all, been trying it in Zelda MM and it just makes me wish they put a circle pad on that side as well. All you had to do was put the start/select and home where they used to be and there would have been another room.

Getting access to the SD card slot is such an effort now, I wont be surprised if people break the thing trying to get in there as well. Another weird design choice that makes no sense what so ever, I don't get the move from SD to Micro SD either, it isn't like Micro SD is faster or the 3DS makes use of fast speeds and it isn't like the system is too small now... it got bigger!

The stylus is also on the bottom where my little fingers are resting and it feels so loose in there. The old 3DS it used to be out of the way and was tight in the slot, now it just feels so cheap and rocks about in there.

The new power button sucks, the original 3DS got it the best....

I think it is a poorly designed system and tbh I'd rather use my old one.

Then sell it and use your old one.

None of those complaints concern me at all or simply aren't true for me. The super stable 3D feature is occasionally wonky if I'm playing in the dark, and I feel like I need to hold it closer to my face than the launch 3DS, but those are both incredibly easy things to remedy.

Also, in terms of the weird design decisions you cited, it's likely that they were all made for logistical reasons. Every bit of hardware needs to be jammed into this little case, and they can't always fit everything in exactly how they want to because of how the internal stuff has to be laid out. For example, I doubt that they could just put another circle pad on the right side. The C-stick seems to take up significantly less room than the circle pad, both on the outside and underneath. Every millimeter of space matters in these things. This would explain the move from SD to microSD as well.

I swear everybody, this is not one of my alt accounts....

The 3D is fine my end.

The only complaints I agree with are the slightly downgrade in the hinge from the previous XL. It does slide side to side a bit. But if you don't push it, it's fine while playing.

The C-stick isn't good enough for shooters. I think it's fine for camera movement though. And you can't know how easy it would be for them to add a second C-stick without knowing about the design problems they had to solve internally as well as externally.

Sounds like you have a broken one. I have none of these problems.

Sell it, no problem with mine...3D works better than the original..the nub suxballs but its works. Hinge?..just a normal hinge.. :P

yup..i suggest you go back to the walmart or target you bought it at and exchange it asap.

One of the things I've found is that if the sun is shining behind you, it will interfere with the infrared headtracking. Also, I agree that the autobrightness sucks. I don't use it myself. And I agree with you about the positioning of the stylus and card slot, as well as the ridiculousness of accessing the micro SD. Honestly, Nintendo could have developed this thing far far better. The logistics excuse is just a cop out. I mean, the cell phone I have now is more powerful than my old laptop.

lol it crossed my mind. Well not enough curse words but still close.

The only complaints of yours I share is the placement of the power button and the cartridge slot, because I like to rest my fingers there. However, I've yet to eject the cartridge or accidentally press the power button, so the problem is mostly just in my head. Also I turned off the power saving screen within an hour of getting the 3DS.

The 3D headtracking is so good that I'm able to use the 3D while riding in a car or bus; something I wasn't able to do with the normal 3DS. Interestingly, it was terrible at the start. However, I think I've learned to hold the 3DS at the proper distance and it's become super stable for me.

Love the speed increase, love the placement of the shoulder buttons, I'm OK with the C-nub and understand a full circle pad would not have fit. The SD card placement doesn't bother me... it's like the same placement as it is on my phone, and consider it a security feature since I've got a 64GB card in there right now.

Your phone also costs $300-$600. If you want the perfect 3DS, it would cost twice as much. You can't just create smaller tech and fit it into tighter spaces without paying for it.

Just saying that there MIGHT POSSIBLY be a better reason for the design than "Nintendo is stupid."

The C-stick works excellently for me and I am liking the auto-brightness feature. So when the OP is crapping on those things definitely makes me wonder if there's a lot of negative for the sake of being negative going on here. I'm liking the New 3DS XL quite a bit, no complaints. I haven't played MK7 so I can't comment on using the shoulder buttons in that, but the shoulder buttons work fine in MH4U.

My cell phone is expensive because its tech is far, far more powerful than the 3DS, not just because of how its laid out. Quite simply put, there could have been any number of ways to organize the components in the New 3DS that actually made sense. Most of the 3DS's tech is four years old, and I'm sure it wouldn't have cost Nintendo that much more to shrink a few extra components.

Oh wait, nevermind. This is Nintendo we're talking about. They'll do anything to save themselves money, not us.

Then why didn't they? If the solution to these problems is so obvious and easy to implement, then why did the hardware turn out the way it did?

Oh, okay. Greed. Evil corporation always money grabbing. I see.

So either the designers at Nintendo are stupid or the suits are just greedy. Or both. Couldn't possibly be any other explanation.

Skim over the Iwata Asks about the original 3DS XL. It doesn't take long to see that they seem pretty careful and deliberate about their process.

I'm not saying the design is perfect, but there are hurdles we don't even know about. There are usually good reasons for decisions that seem so weird on the surface. "They're not good at their jobs" and "they're greedy" shouldn't be the first we go to.

Greed wouldn't be the word I'd use. I'd use cheap. The New 3DSs don't have AC adapters. A few cents worth of plastic and metal and they can't be bothered to include adapters with their systems? So, instead, they make people who've never owned a 3DS before go out and buy AC adapters which clearly would cost the consumer more than it would to buy it with the system. This is the same company that can't even be arsed to pay a buck for a DVD/Blu-Ray codec for each console. Yeah, cheap is what they are.

And if they're pretty careful and deliberate about their design processes, then why do they yield some pretty head-scratching results?

Because we're not a part of the design process. It's only head-scratching if you have no idea why these decisions are made. That's why I linked to the Iwata Asks interview. Those features offer a ton of insight into things you never would've thought of.

But yes, Nintendo is cheap in that they're trying to make hardware that they can sell cheaply enough to garner demand while also making a small profit with each unit. That's, quite simply, good business. It's exactly what they should be doing.

The AC adapter decision is weird, I'll grant you that. They talk about it in the Iwata Asks I linked to since the Japanese XL didn't come with one. It was specifically Iwata's idea. He says he wanted to make it "easier to buy," which, like you said, seems pretty counterintuitive. The designers even say they worried about that decision but ultimately decided to separate out anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. That leads me to believe that their profit margin on those things was EXTREMELY small at the time. They were desperate. It seems the same may be true with the New 3DS.

I agree....the new 3DS sucks.The original 3DS XL is the best.

Are you serius....??The AC adapter wasn't absolutely necessary....??lolololololol

AC adapter is absolutely necessary for a console.

Pretty sure TC complaining about design flaw, not really a faulty product.

The logic is that the majority of people will already own a Nintendo handheld from DSi onward and already have the adapter. Remember, that quote comes from Iwata talking about the Japanese XL. In Japan, that makes sense since everyone has at least a DSi. It doesn't work as well outside of that market.

@gajbutler: Does the New 3DS also bite you every time you close it?

Faster loading and amiibo support does it for me.

3D not working, brightness strobing, hinges being crap, the nub not working well in MM (this is potentially design), aren't design floors.

And what no one seems to talk about. I played MH4 on a new 3DS. Daaayyuum, it runs much, MUCH smoother on the new 3DS. I had no idea games would run with better FPS.. I knew there was an upgrade in hardware, but the difference between 3DSXL and N3DSXL was huge.

Edit: I just read a little.. Better framerate is apparently exclusive to MH4, the game being made with N3DS in mind.. Older games will still run the same.. Oh, well, MH4 runs awesome..

The 3D most certainly does work! I played for 2 hours last night and when I turned it off I noticed I didn't have one problem with the 3D.

In the dark sometimes you have to hold it closer, but I love the new 3DS.

Wont be playing much else anyway ;D

I wouldn't say the unit sucks. I posted in the other New3ds impressions thread and I understand what is said about the strobing.

The original 3DS is still the most solid unit in a few ways. I upgraded because of the c-nub addition and that the dpad on the launch model is just difficult to use for me.