Nintendo's North American Website Now Only Advertises The 2DS Line

3DS model is officialy discontinued on USA...
But, i'm still searching for New 3DS XL Europe version for playing PAL exclusive 3DS games or Europe version 3DS games if the USA version was extinct from Ebay. 😀

It's been that way for quite a while. I had to buy a refurbished New 3DS XL a few months ago from Nintendo's website because no one else was selling them new at a reasonable price.

Because it's over. May it rest in peace.

They’ve been ignoring the 3d models for a few years already, it’s not that surprising to see them remove them from the site when they don’t really sell them anymore.

My New Nintendo 3DS (not XL) with its big games library is a precious treasure.

@StableInvadeel
Is it me or i think the 3D effect from Older 3DS XL looked better on straight looking than New 3DS XL (a bit Double vision).
From aesthetic aspect, Old 3DS XL looks more beautiful than New 3DS XL. 😘

But remember folks, the 3DS is still selling like hotcakes, and the Switch Lite is NOT replacing it!!

Glad I kept my New 3DS XL since it’s launch in 2015. Best Valentine’s Day gift to myself ever!

That's honestly really weird, if they're discontinuing the 3ds systems, that'd be a real shame since they're the most comfortable out of all the 3ds family of systems. The 2ds is just a brick, and the new 2ds xl just feels wonky. The new 3ds xl is definitely the best out of all of them

The super nintendo themed new 3DS XL I picked up will forever make me remember this console as one of my favorites of all time.

Referring to the 3DS models that did have 3D:

Say what you will, this was a freaking amazing system with HUNDREDS of AMAZING games not counting the great virtual console. This deserves a large pedestal in gaming history

Maybe Nintendo is planning to sell 3DS games on Switch. Yes you can play games in 3D using LABO VR.

@Aaronnnnn Yeah I agree, I've been having my red New 3DS XL since Christmas 2015 and I still love it. I have a ton of games for it so it's not going away. I'm thinking Nintendo's treating it as a budget system, so they ditched the models that have the 3D screen. It's a bit of a bummer, but alas...they gotta focus on the Switch.

Imagine if there will be Nintendo Direct September 2019 with announcement of Nintendo HDS aka Switch + 3DS with clam design and the SKU will be launched on 2020.

@Anti-Matter As much as I'd love that system, I dont see it happening. Almost definitely won't be hearing about any new sku's for another 4-6 months either. They won't shoot the Switch lite in the foot like that, nor the slightly upgraded model of the regular Switch.

It’s such a shame that we never got the Dragon Quest 2DS metal slime special edition! That thing is gorgeous! And region locked.

This has been increasingly evident for some time. 3D units have been harder to find new for a reasonable price. Only 2D units, with one notable exception, were the only ones advertised during the holidays in North America.

I'm glad I upgraded to a N3DS XL unit this past holiday season after using an OG 3DS since 2012. The 3DS library is excellent, has access to an amazing eShop, and is backwards compatible with all but a handful of DS games to boot.

@Aaronnnnn the not xl is better.

3D was only fun in small doses to me. I couldn't play an entire game like that, that's for sure.

There are some games that I feel like are terrible in 2D. Mario 3D Land felt more difficult when played flat. Additionally, I preferred the way certain games like Xenoblade 3DS or Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon looked with 3D turned on.

I only ever used the 3d when I ran into it at a Toys r us. It looked really bad and gave me a headache.

Nintendo really should have given the 3ds a higher resolution.

It is still possible to buy unused (both old and new versions) 3ds in some stores but for price from 300 to 500 USD. Nintendo Switch library is already 2300 games, compared to 1300 games on 3DS/2DS. You can see many 3DS games on Switch. 3DS/2DS is easy to hack, they will end 2DS production soon.

I sold my old Yoshi 3DS XL a few years back when I had beaten all my games at the time...ended up getting a New 3DS Galaxy Edition a few weeks back and have been seshing Bravely Default, Animal Crossing (again obvs), Pokemon Diamond/UltraSun, and am excited to delve into the part of the library I neglected! Plus I just need to have something around that plays DS games. Glad I snagged one before the prices inevitably jump.

Honestly haven’t touched my 3DS since the Switch arrived

Playing in 3D is excellent. Such depth. I can't play in 2D if the game supports 3D that's just weird. Sucks it never took off (stereoscopic) it really is great.

Kinda odd how we still hadn't gotten a proper 2DS game though. Everything is still under the 3DS or New 3DS label.

@joey302 Honestly haven’t touched my 3DS since the Switch arrived

Good cause the Switch is the HDS (Hybrid Dual System).

Of course... Facepalm

If you're upset by this but okay with the Switch Lite...

I don't even know where to begin.

3d was a gimmick that most didn't use. Its a miracle that 3ds still was a moderate success despite the failure of the gimmick. Wish it was 1D with a screen as good as Vita/Switch

That reminds me, I should buy an extra New 3DS XL soon before they become eBay bait.

My Metroid New 3DS XL has had a crap right speaker just weeks after use.

Nintendo's UK Store stopped selling 3D 3DSes a year or more ago so this isn't really a surprise.

@dimi completely disagree, i always play in 3d as it enhances the experience. Never liked 3d in films though

At least one of our local stores still carries some N3DSXL units, although they're still priced just $100 below Switch units. And picking a used but clean (not hacked) one from the flea market is a much taller order now than it used to be in 2016.

This was expected, still sad the New 2DS XL feels so cheap (and has strange design choices like speakers and the back camera on bottom, or the super short non telescopic stylus)

The 3DS line feels great, the OG 2DS feels good and sturdy but the New 2DS XL feels cheap and weak like it would fall apart in seconds (opinions may differ)

But again it was to be expected they would do this, it was already very difficult to find a new 3DS model for a good price lately.

@nhSnork same here, sometimes it feels like every 3ds seller (and Vita one) hacks the system before selling, extremely annoying.

@Anti-Matter You need natural lighting or uniform lighting or darkness. If you play with lateral lighting the camera will have trouble finding your eyes. Anyway, you can always turn superstable 3D (that is the tracking method) off on the settings menu if you want the straight effect.

Finally. Now that the 3ds is dead they can shift their resources toward bringing [insert name of obscure franchise here] to the Switch.

Bwahaha
jk

@benchan would be a great idea but I don't know how plausible it is to have only half of the screen responding to touch in an emulator.

You've not been able to buy a 3DS model in the UK brand new for a few years now. I'm surprised they've taken this long to drop it from the website

Its the only system where I have actually gone and bought spare units, so glad I did as they seem to be scarce in UK for brand new 3DS anyway. Best handheld for me hands down, without the 3D effect I wouldn't have bothered, but the 2DS is a good budget option for sure.

I asked Nintendo to remake Mario & Luigi Partners In Time for the final farewell and release GBA games too.

I honestly think the non-clam-shell 2DS is a slicker design than the new 3DS/2DS models, but I do wish is were actually a 3DS with the 3D effect.

I'm glad that I bought a N3DS two years ago, as my used 3DS died one year after that.

It's not a huge surprise. They were moving away from the 3D aspect of 3DS games by 2013.

A couple years ago I upgraded from my original 3ds xl to the new 3ds xl and I'm so glad I did. Partly I just wanted to make sure I have a working 3ds for years to come, but with the new stable 3d effect I started playing in 3d a lot more and I love it. I still play it frequently, as much or maybe even more than the switch.

2DS line will probably be gone by like next year. Switch Lite is likely the replacement for both the 2DS and 3DS lines.

@DarthSidious63 I asked for Super Mario 64 3D.

@retro_player_22 and yet has never left the dock so far - all TV ☺️

this is why l will still keep my old 3ds xl when l get the new 2ds xl
anyways my old 3ds xl loves me, so l will never get rid of it.

I hope I can keep my New 3DS XL working for years to come even long after they've stopped supporting it. Mine is modded so I use it to play NES, SNES, GB, GBA, DS, and 3DS games, and I still love it even now with the Switch in full swing.

No one is going to buy a $200 New 3DS XL when you can buy a Switch Lite at that exact same price.

The New 2DS XL and 2DS are each sold with a bundled game (Mario Kart 7 or NSMB2), so they at least look a bit attarctive next to the Switch Lite.

They also removed the DS games on the main site, and DS filter...They also messed up some of the knowledge base articles such as menu updates, it is not december when the last update occured.....

The Switch didn't kill the 3DS.

The 2DS killed the 3DS.

Nintendo has been quietly killing off the 3DS for years, is just recently becoming painfully obvious they don't want to talk about it anymore...

I think there is hardly anyone who ever had any intentions of buying a 3DS that hasn't bought one already. There are no new games for it, stores are trying to clear out their old shelf space they had dedicated to it, it is very clearly past it's prime. It won't be long until you only see 3DS stuff used, this is basically what happens to all game consoles when the games are no longer releasing and the manufacturer is no longer really supporting it.

@Chibi_Manny Well can you blame them? The 3DS is no longer the cash cow that it used to be, and I feel like a lot of people here must be quite young because they don't seem to have any knowledge of how Nintendo slowly phased out the GBA. The 3DS basically went down the same exact way.

Back when Nintendo was phasing out the GBA they did everything they could to deny it until it was too obvious. For starters they never announced the DS as the successor to the GBA, they kept trying to act like the Game Boy line wasn't being replaced. It's the same way Nintendo was acting with the 3DS, never announcing the Switch as a true successor to the DS line. Of course all of us who lived through that transitional era before knew all too well how that was just Nintendo being Nintendo.

On a related note, I hope there's still a game or two in development somewhere for the upcoming holiday season. I'd like to get one more 3DS game, and to me, it seems like the system's last Christmas season is appropriate. Persona Q2 slipped out midsummer which somehow seems anticlimactic. But if anyone does have something in the pipeline, they are REALLY keeping it a secret.

@JayJ you're right, just like how they denied the discontinuation if the Wii U and lied about them supporting the system along side the Switch and then a couple months later the system was discontinued, and is the fastest discontinued system in Nintendo history since it literally got discontinued on the same year the Switch got released.

@Chibi_Manny And they stopped releasing games for Wii U before the Switch was released. Nintendo only really supported Wii U for a couple of years.

@N00BiSH Nothing killed the 3DS or the 2DS. It just got old and the tech is obsolete. But the games are still fun and nothing is stopping you or anyone else from continuing to use it. People still play their Atari 2600 in 2019. Nothing wrong with that.

2DS is much cheaper and a more suitable option for a system at its end as Nintendo can't expect people to pay full price for a redundant system. They probably stopped producing the 3DS long ago and it's only now with low levels on store shelves they can officially discontinue it.

@Heavyarms55 I was just making a joke about the common misconception about the Switch killing the 3DS in the handheld market.

@benchan No they can't. I don't know too much about the tech, but something about the way the Switch is programmed makes it impossible for it to be backwards compatible with past systems. IIRC, it's because they're using an Nvidia system architecture.

If backwards compatibility was feasible, they would've done so with the original Switch model to begin with. As is, the only way they can put 3DS games on the Switch is with ports.

@Chibi_Manny Yeah moral of the story is Nintendo will never admit when they are moving on from an old platform.

I'm not surprised. Everyone knows the 3DS was a step back from the best 2D handheld ever, the DSi XL. I still regret transferring my DSiware games to the 3DS.

The 3DS has been phased out for quite a while now. This isn't surprising at all.

This is a bit of a non-story and rather stating the obvious. It's been clear for some time that the 2DS is the main one being marketed and after the 3D eye-health hoo-hah Nintendo would rather stick to the winning formula of the original DS simplicity with the power of the 3DS.

I personally have just recently ( a few weeks ago) unboxed my New 3DSXL SNES Edition (JPN) and tried (in vain) to find a case and case covers for it... Only 2DS and 2DSXL accessories around now....

The 3DS/2DS has been dead for a while now,and lets be honest it's had a pretty decent run as far as consoles go,the only reason Nintendo mention it at all now is to sell as much remaining stock as it can.

@wildbob I don’t see many 3ds games on Switch

@koekiemonster you can not run original 3DS games on Switch of course, but there are many ports (steam world dig 1&2, sw heist, cave story, VVVVVV, gunman clive, donkey kong, bla bla)

I’m in the market for a New 3DS XL. The backlog is incredible and I’m a huge fan of having my stereoscopic slider at 11. I’d probably buy one new if they were available with a price cut over here.

@benchan It would be great to get some backwards compatibility with 3DS games. Maybe in a few years they might release a hybrid of the two consoles with dual screens...but I'm just dreaming.

While I understand preferences may vary, I'm all for the 2DS XL.

• The (New) 3DS XL looks and feels old now. It has bulky design, the lower screen is bumping above the lower panel, and the upper screen bezels are huge enough to land an airplane. Yes, this was the norm in 2011 or 2013, but come on, it's a monster in 2019. We're in the era of sexy looking gadgets, and the 2DS XL is as sexy looking as the hardware that old can possibly be.
• Stereoscopic 3D is a flopped technology. Yes, it looked like it could become in thing back in the day, but it never has. Consumers clearly don't want it, so there's no point for Nintendo to keep it. It's what you call a gimmick - I think only Super Mario 3D Land uses it for actual gameplay. The Switch has clearly showed Nintendo is giving up on it - as has Sony, Microsoft, Nvidia and all the makers of 3D-enabled TVs.
• Features, axed in the 2DS XL, are actually useless. Come on, a 0,3 MP camera? The cheapest smartphone out there has better ones now.

I, for ones, got a Lime Green 2DS XL after owning a New 3DS (non-XL) and feel like it's quite an upgrade.

I made a post about this on your Facebook back in July. Guess you don't read them.

@Anti-Matter Why not simply "hack" the console? Thanks to this, I can use the exclusive US retail releases (or jap.imports) on my european console with no need of an additional one.

@Rei
No thanks. 😑
I play my games just the way it is.
No hacking, No pirating, No CFW, No Jailbreak, whatsoever.
I love to get multiple of New 3DS XL with same Pearl White color as my Best color choice.

I far prefer my 2DS XL to any of the other 3DS models I ever owned

I got super lucky, just last month for some reason I said I want to trade my New 2ds XL for the New 3ds XL. I don’t know where you live but my local Meijer’s had 4 of the Galaxy models in stock. They have a super random “diamond in the rough” stock selection because they don’t profit like a Walmart, Target, Best Buy, etc. So I got it brand new, standard price $299.99.@eaglebob345

@Anti-Matter

Man, I don't mean to count your money, to each their own and everyone is free to do whatever makes him or her happy, - but that's one hell of investment. You really can modify your 3DS just to make it region free. That would technically allow piracy, but nobody makes you pirate your games if you don't want (and thumbs up for that!). It's not that gaming experience is different on a 3DS of a different region, you get the same user experience on a Japanese 3DS with Japanese game cards... So, what's the point?

@ibis_87
I have started to be an Original gamer since 28 August 2013, started from my first purchase of Original 3DS game LEGO CITY Undercover the Chase Begins.
From that moment, it changed slowly my mindset from pirated gamer became Original gamer.
Also, i have vowed to myself to NOT play pirated games, hacking the gaming devices for region free and using jailbroken machines. I completely stop thinking about those piracy things on year 2015 after i packed my pirated games and illegal modded consoles, stopped playing those items for 1 year while i built again my game collections from Zero.

And about multiple of New 3DS XL, since i strictly play my games in Original condition, i have to purchase other region machines to play other region games since 3DS is Region Lock.
I know Region lock is really useless, but i will NOT try to hack the machine to force my machine play other region. I will not break my vow. This is my decision to give respect to Nintendo and the games i bought.

Not just only that. Last time i purchased an Used PS2 Slim Japan, after i made sure the machine can be reverted back to original state, i asked the seller to remove completely the modchip inside. I was the only customer who ask the seller to remove the modchip in order to make it strictly play original games only while the other peoples keep looking for modded machines.

Back to 3DS, why did i refuse to hack my 3DS ?
1. I want to pay visit eshop page.
2. I want the badges from Badge Arcade
3. I always update my machine to make it immune from hacking.

If i hacked my machine, Nintendo can kill my machine while accessing eshop or any Online service. I don't want to regret after hacking my machine, so i will never want to hack my machines whatsoever. If you think hacking just made it easy to experience with other region games, i don't want the easy way. I want the hardest way but in the right way to play other region games.

So what is the point for making such a hard way to play other region games ?
Only one answer, HONESTY

@CTmatic Darn it, I didn't even think of Meijer. I check Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Gamestop, and Amazon. No worries though, the one I got from Nintendo was in perfect condition.

Yup, I know. Who does? Lol. The only reason I knew about Meijer was cause I used to work next to one and would occasionally browse their game dept on lunch breaks. If you have one nearby you should take a look. They have a good amount of stuff that you’ll never see in retail stores ever again just collecting dust waiting to be sold or recalled elsewhere. @eaglebob345

It really is not surprising. No new software has been promoted by Nintendo, rumors have been floating for a while and the the Switch Lite came and it was all but official.
I looked at the 3DS but I still feel the DS line is the best and I will keep mine in good shape. I have extra batteries and chargers, Games are available for literally nothing now and the Switch is keeping me busy as well with the plethora of AAA and Indie games. If only Battletoads had been announced my life would be complete but for now I play the Dragon Quest demo and await the full game. And then Luigi's Mansion and then....
I will be broke.

@Anti-Matter
Oh, I see. While my own perception is different, I'm sure Nintendo must be happy (hell, even proud) to have such a fan, you're really one in a million.

@Anti-Matter I played the games exactly the way they were too and it never prevented me to buy games since I dislike virtual copies, legal or not. ^^" (unless you consider the fact I was keeping saves cpopies separately since I'm easily losing things, like game cards, in order to avoid starting all over again once I find another card)

PS: thanks for the story below, it was fun to read.