New Nintendo 3DS Sells 230,000+ Units In Japan Debut

This information comes to us ahead of the full hardware and software sales charts for Japan in a few hours- Nintendo decimated the competition. The New Nintendo 3DS launched there, and sold 233,483 units. Of these, the breakdown was as follows:

New Nintendo 3DS: 61,151
New Nintendo 3DS XL: 172,332

In addition, 3DS also ruled with software, with 3DS exclusive Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate selling over 1.7 million copies in the debut weekend. 1.7 million. Alongside Smash 3DS and Youkai Watch (and with the upcoming Pokemon OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire), it doesn't look like Nintendo's iron grip on the market will end any time soon.

SOURCE

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Not Monster Hunter 4.

It might actually meet (or even exceed) 2013, but 2012 seems to be out of reach.

This needs to come over to the us already. At least announce it. You know they are holding off after the holiday rush, which probably means Spring/Summer 2015.

I've held off on getting an XL and after this announcement it doesn't make much sense to buy one, imo.

I'm buying this for sure I've just not settled on whether I should get the New XL or the New regular one. New reg is 4 inch screen? Though I did remember watching a video on the two models and the XL was described as feeling very premium--could be bullshit though.

Why cant Nintendo just make it right first time when release a new handheld? But nah they need 10 different versions of every gen or so...

I should be able to buy one, format it for US, and then be done with it. Even if it would be region locking it to US territory ................................ It doesn't make sense to me, even if there may be valid points to region locking.

The 3DS was such a poorly thought out and executed console, it is no wonder people move to what the 3DS should have been in the first place in droves.

I still love my 2 3dses though, so many good games on it.

Like Nintendo only does it?

Yes

It annoys me though that Nintendo still does this practice.

@Desmonic: I have said it before, and I will say it again. The new 3DS is what the 3DS should have been in the first place.

Lets just hope they stick to these decisions (as well as make improvements as needed) for the 3DS successor. I would hope for it to be at the very least as well crafted as the Vita.

That's some great news, I can't wait for the stateside release. I'm so torn on which one I should buy, Little screen,but with face plates and cool button colors? Or big screen?

Damn you Nintendo!!

@aroxx_ab: There were five variants of the PSP, and two of Vita already. Stop trolling.

That looks great. But I'm going to have to wait until I see a game that can't be run on my 2DS that isn't a port of a game I own. I look forward to what Nintendo comes up with for this machine!

Handhelds:

• GB: 2 versions (+1 more in Japan)
• GBC: 1 versions
• GBA: 3 versions
• DS: 4 versions
• 3DS: 5 versions

• PSP: 5 versions
• Vita: 2 versions (still considerable given the failed profitable state of the system)

• Mobile phones: go through many versions, especially in this day in age.

Then there are consoles, which PS3 and 360 had 3 versions + all the hard drive variants.

Stop trolling. These are basic facts, and in our era technology is now iterative at a faster rate. This is not a "Nintendo only" thing.

@trugs26:

All Ps3 games works in all versions; phat. slim whatever model you have. 3DS got 2DS and now new 3DS with new analog stick so your old 3DS cant play new games...not really same thing.

Okay, so how do you want to call it?

• GB: 2 versions (+1 more in Japan)
• GBC: 1 versions
• GBA: 3 versions
• DS: 4 versions
• 3DS: 3 versions
• New 3DS: 2 versions

Is this what you want to say? Because you're going off topic then. In your first comment, you stated that they do 10 different versions every gen or so. So they've either done 3 and 2 versions in 2 different generations, or they've done 5 in one generation. Either way, it still doesn't make them any different to the PSP brand (or other technology companies) in releasing newer versions of hardware.

I don't see the point in buying a 3DS with such a ridiculously small c-stick that was only designed for Smash Bros.

The eye tracking for 3D effect is nice, very nice in fact. But I'm sure that'll be on the follow up to 3DS too, so I don't see the point in this version.

Japan...

That thing is a freakin' monster.

They REALLY should change that name here.

I'm getting one and ya everyone does it stop acting like it is a Nintendo only thing and at least its not cutting features like ps3 did

Good things come to those who wait... sadly

I do think it is worth pointing out that none of the 5 PSP versions, or 2 Vita versions, play exclusive games which you can only access by purchasing the third/fourth/fifth editions. This is something that Nintendo does in the handheld market (and they did it previously with the DSi ) which Sony does not. It is, honestly, moreorless unheard of among Nintendo's competitors or among console gaming in general - unless you count peripheral exclusives, which I don't because they can almost always be attached to a Day 1 system.

[shrugs] I'm honestly a bit worried that high sales for the New 3DS will only serve to encourage this type of fragmentation in the future. I suppose it's the only way to stay competitive with mobile.

With the DSi, I couldn't care less. They were experimental digital download titles using the camera. And there are only 5 games in total, none of which I doubt many people care about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_DSi#Software_library

With the 3DS on the other hand, I am slightly concerned. So far they have Xenoblade, which is slightly worrying because it's a high quality game. The positive I see from this is that so far it's just one game and it's just a remake. I'll be annoyed if they start releasing new high quality games exclusive to the New 3DS.

Regardless, the initial point made was of making new versions of hardware, which everyone does. No one "gets it right the first time" and just has one build to last a generation nowadays.