Weirdness: These Push Guards for the New Nintendo 3DS Will Stop Game Cards From Popping Out

I'm (almost) upset that these had to be a thing... I called that this would happen once I saw where the cartridge slot was located.

my old 3ds xl has this issue a lot. i just have to make sure i have everything saved before i put it in my bag.

i think thats pretty cool actually. and its kind of a dust guard too. i wish all the ports had covers and dust guards, like the vita does.

My biggest issue was the placement of the Power Button.

When I upgraded from the Light to the standard 3ds I would be playing for hours at a time in pokemon black without saving, then I would go to press start (located where the power button is now) and I'd turn off the game -_-

Takes note of serial number of New 3DS

Considering I have only one game cart, just protect the slot against dust or debri, I might get one.

Haha. I don't need this, but I'm sure some will buy it.

It is a nice snug fit though, I'll give em that

I could use this for my old model, but doubt the new one.

I once played ocarina of time for 6 hours put it down for a minute and when I picked it back up the game popped out so yeah id use one of these.

I carry my 3DS in my bag all the time and the game card has popped a few times so I'll definitely be getting one of this.

Erm... Doesn't everyone have nice cases like me to keep our 3DS's in? I could never put my Zelda special edition XL in a bag without it!

I don't see the point of these for the new models. Ive had a n3DS since launch here in Australia and I've never had an issue with this, whereas with the older models I've had (3DS, 3DSxl), games have accidentally popped out numerous times.

seriously?

Considering how the carts are already sunken in with the New 3DS, Nintendo should've added a built-in cover door like the one used for the memory card slots on the PSP, DSi, 3DS, Vita, etc.
Or the cover used for Vita's game slot.

This actually looks pretty handy, especially since I have had a few instances of games popping out of both my original and XL models while in my pocket. (And once when I was playing Animal Crossing, put it in sleep mode for a second, and then accidentally hit it with my foot, causing the cart to come out and my 3DS to slide across the floor!)

Hey you never know

I've kept my 3DSXL in a soft case in my bag. Not being able to see through the case, once or twice I've managed to pull it out of my bag and push down on where the cartridge is, popping it out! Still, I reckon I can survive without the push guard.

Took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. xD

Yeah, this makes sense. I've accidentally popped my game out of my DS/3DS before. Now that it's down on the bottom for some reason, this would be nice... if it was free.... Guess I'm just cheap.

I'd buy it for a few bucks. I've had games pop out every once in a while, once while I was just fidgeting with it in my pocket, admittedly. It's kinda like an idiot guard, lol.

I've actually had my Link Between Worlds special edition XL stuck in sleep mode due to a running cartridge accidentally being hit out of its slot. Had to send it in for repairs and everything. Personally these simple things are extremely helpful. Although I try to make it a point to save and quit if I'm playing a cartridge based game now.

I honestly had no idea that this was an issue.

kinda like thr PS Vita

kinda like thr PS Vita

I will sadly admit that I had this happen once with my Pokemon Y 3DS. It was my own fault, I was walking around when my headphones wrapped around a doorknob and knocked the 3DS out of my hands. I didn't catch it in time, but thankfully got it to land on a carpet.

So, I might get one to at least combat my clumsiness!

This is one thing that I won't be buying. I fail to see why they are relevant or add any benefit.

I was hoping originally it would be built in, because many of my friends joke around and remove the game card while I am playing...

THANK YOU NINTENDO! One time, I was quite far in a level for Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon. I had to put my 3ds in my pocket, because we were leaving. When I took my 3ds back out, the cartridge was ejected.

While it has never happened to me, a Game Card coming out of the slot seems to be a bigger issue than I thought based on this comment section...

@TeeJay And do what with that number? Dere ain't no Club Nintendo in the woild that'll take dem codes!

Not so rare for my game card to come out when I run to work everyday and back with my 3DS XL in my satchel. Happens like every other trip. I may get this accessory for the New 3DS.

@TeeJay Huh? Why?

This isn't as rare of an issue as the article writer may think. I carry the 3DS around in my pocket, and I work with computer recycling; the cart has popped out without my noticing it tens of times. This accessory would be quite helpful. (Although I wouldn't pay any more than $5 for it...)

I cram my 3DS xL in my pants all the time and yes, on multiple occasions, I have had the 3DS card partially eject from the slot. I would be concerned however, that the device in question may inadvertently scrape the 3DS card, or worse, get stuck between the card and the system, preventing a proper ejection.

A better implementation would have been for Nintendo to just redesign the card slot to be flush with the end of the card. The outer wall of the system stops a couple mm short of the edge of the DS/3DS card. If the outer wall was flush with the edge of the card, but still had the finger dimple for easy removal, then a lot of accidental ejection incidents would be averted.

My game card has only come out once when I dropped my 3DS. Also those Wii accessories were terrible and I have no idea why people bought them (other than the Wii Wheel, but that was official).

I randomly get this problem of the cartridge "popping out" even though it isn't visible that it popped out from my 3DS.

I know with my 3DS XL, when I put it in my pocket, the games sometimes pop out, causing me to lose them in my pocket somewhere, or worse. This is probably something that would be a good add-on for a family with children. My kids are 3 and 4, my 3-year old is in love with mario, so she grabs the 3DS and Wii U whenever she can to play...and she actually knows how to do everything on them...including purchase games (thank God they have passwords if you want to buy something). Anyways, I see this being a good thing, but not selling in massive quantities...but I figure that this will be pretty expensive ($10 or more for a small plastic piece is pretty expensive when you come to think about it). If you really need something like this and it is that much...a piece of tape can fix it, or you could even make something yourself. I honestly don't know why they don't make something to cover the game slot anyways...nobody wants dust to collect in there.

@ryanator008 My wife and I actually bought some of those accessories. They made it a little more fun when it was cold outside or rainy, but they were a pain to put on and take off all the time. The wheel I never liked, but I could never do the motion-racing thing anyways. The worst accessory I had for the Wii came with the NHL SLAPSHOT game. Took me forever to put the stupid thing together, and when I did, the signal from the remote wouldn't pick up because the accessory covered it. When I took it off, I couldn't play the game right. Was just as useless as that zapper gun nintendo made (with only a very few games made for it). Nintendo seems to be a company that makes stuff and they discontinues it...I remember the zapper gun for the NES only having 2 games, the one for Super Nintendo only having a few, and microphones for the systems that only had a few games to use them on. It seems like everyone loves making these accessories that they hope people will buy, give them money, and then they laugh at you for buying them.

I'll agree it's weird. But I will also agree that I will get one because I have this problem A LOT.

I could use one of these for my XL. The game card is in a pretty terrible location. Even if the game only pops out one out of every 250 times, it's still too many. Most cameras and other small devices have an SD card cover, so a gamecard cover would have made a lot of sense to include on any version of the 3DS. I wonder exactly how well something like this item would work, but it may be worth trying out.

Whenever I grab my 3DS XL I always hold it at the top and bottom. Meaning I almost always touch the game cartridge at the top. It always feel as though I might accidentally pop the cart out, so this is a nice thing to have actually.

We have 3 DSi XL's and 2 3DS XL's and never has a cartridge ever popped out on its own.

had all nintendo portables and never had a problem

Games popping out of handhelds has been a problem ever since their inception.

I remember the atari handheld that had some problems with games not staying locked in.

My PSP liked to randomly launch games out for no reason.

My 3DS XL actually has the opposite problem, its hard as hell to get the games out.

I have this problem occasionally with my 3DS and XL. It's such a pain. Luckily, it only happens if I forget to put my handhelds in their cases.

Really? Ok I'll confess that I was worried about this, especially how strong the dent of the xl slot is so that the game card doesn't pop out like that.

....But really? Ok if its one thing that I'll admit, it helps to protect it from dust but that's just about it.

I don't put my game in the slot during travelling and I always eject the game after I stop playing so as of now, this has never happened to me.....and yet I'm still paranoid about it.

@Zyph Your hands must be big. But even then, you need to push it really hard inorder for it to come out so its very tight.

This would've been perfect for my spiteful 3DS and 3DS XL since at times when I play on the game cartridge and put it away in my bag/pocket in sleep mode, the game would pop out. Yet when I play my downloads, it almost never happens, like it mocks me.

I'll get it to cover the gray cart so it'll be a all black.

@JLPick "I remember the zapper gun for the NES only having 2 games,"

There's a lot more zapper compatible games for the NES than just Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley, you know...
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NES_Zapper#Games

That's happened to me several times. Never bothered me though, since I have never lost too much progress in any game because of this.

I have never had a game accidentally come out of my New 3DS. I thought it would have been a problem I would have to deal with, but so far it's been ok. I also thought that due to the placement of the slot, it would be annoying as I have large hands, but that's not an issue either.

Well I've definitely had that problem.

After using the ambassador new 3ds for a few days I can see how these would be useful as it would make sense for the cartridge to accidentally pop out on occasion. However if it's anything like the screws on the back cover plate it wouldn't surprise me if it broke after a couple of uses. (The back cover plate screws seem to have some issues that resulted in my back smash plate being unusable).

Game carts alway pop out of my xl in my bag, dont know if new xl will be the same but i quite like the idea of that

If it helps keep out the freaking dust then yes I welcome it then again that hole there says otherwise.

I love the idea as it's on the vita as well but for my original 3ds the card has only ever popped out for me once and that was when the 3ds slipped out of my hands and fell to the ground.

Never happened to me and I can't see it happening on New 3DS. I carry the 3DS either in my pocket or a case, never loose in a bag so that's totally useless to me, especially that most of the games I have in digital copies anyway.

Why, oh why didn't Nintendo do it like they did with the old 3DS. There the SD card wasn't naked!

As soon as i saw where that slot was, i wondered why there was nothing protecting it. It should have been built in with the console as it wouldn't have ruined the look. I wouldn't be surprise if this wasn't intergrated with later versions of the handheld. Then again it's a neat little money earner so it could be a good idea to keep it as is.

I haven't had a problem with the card's positioning yet so I think this accessory is pointless & funny

I'm pretty protective of my electronic devices, so this was never an issue for me with my old 3DS and I don't think I'll have any problems with the N3DS once I get one. But I guess it's nice for people who do need one of those push guards. And yes, I find the position of the card slot weird as well, but we have to deal with it, so no use crying over spilled milk...

That is the one of the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.who is going to buy that ?

Wait a cotton pickin minute, the N3DS might have this problem. I.am still not that worried about it. It's all about choosing where you put it when your on the go.

Shame the new 3DS doesn't have a cover for the game slot. If for no other reason than to keep the dirt off the connectors inside...

Happened a few times on my old xl- happens a lot on my new 3ds so might get one of these....

I've haven't had any issue with the card popping out yet. But I do find my little finger rests across the card slot (especially while playing monster hunter), which is quite uncomfortable. This might actually be useful.

I think I'd prefer a power button cover instead

If you've never had this problem then you probably don't carry your 3DS in your pocket much. I've had this happen a few times when taking my 3DS out of my pocket. I'd like one of these so I know for certain it'll never happen again.

This has happened to me a dozen times. Very annoying.

When I put my 2DS into my coat pocket (sideways, only just fits) the cart pops out occasionally while I walk. The first time it happened I had Animal Crossing running. Needless to say, Resetti gave me a verbal lashing.

I've been playing the DS/3DS since '05 and never had this happen before. However, I did accidentally turn the power off once.

This happened to me a lot, wether it's ejected In pocket. .. or a child yanked it out to see what I was playing. Accidents happen ... often. So I came up with my own cheap solution. I just stick tape over it.

@Nico07

May be irrelevant to you, but I will share with you and whoever else may agree that I feel this could be absolutely relevant to me.

The first thought I had when I saw where the slot was located was oh jeez because of my hand placement on my XL that is the exact location I use my pinky finger to support the weight.

I started doing this back with the original brick DS and sure I could try to adopt a new way to hold my device but after so long it is a habit I don't want to have to worry about trying to kick.

Without a doubt the placement of the volume button on the Original 3DS XL was the worst. It was so annoying to randomly have the volume shoot all the way to maximum while playing game. Honestly I might be most excited about the New 3DS because of the new volume switch location. Do they do any user testing on these things?

I've never had a problem. This is just a gimmick.

@Fafnirchaos07

Not really. It isn't something that was created to convince people to buy because they are told this is an issue when it really isn't. While the target audience is apparently small it addressed the exact "problem" I was concerned with. It's just a product that some people may buy, and more than likely, a lot won't.

I have wanted something like this FOREVER. I can not tell you how often my game has popped out in my pocket and left me cussing. That was on my 3DS, and my 3DS XL, and I'm assuming I'll run into it with the new model. What I'd always wanted was just a little flip up cover built into the 3DS to cover the game cart.

Eh, not a problem if you carry your console around inside a case, which I do. Ain't no way I'mma scratchin' dat bad boy.

I miss the Gameboy on switch that locked the game in place.

When I hold my 3DS right now, my left and right pinky fingers rest under the console itself, RIGHT where the power button and cart slots were moved to. This is one of the things I'm upset about with the new designs, as the top-loading slot would never get in the way of your hands or need some piece of metal to make it better.

I think this is stupid. If a 3DS cartridge would fall off the console, it can only mean that the owner hasn't been taking good care of his 3DS and it is damaged.

@BassLostie these are to stop the game cards accidentally being ejected. I sometimes do this with my current 3DS XL, so it actually sounds like a good idea to me.

The Game Boy never suffered from this problem!

@Lukey64000 I have the PC Engine one

http://www.japanese3ds.com/post/59698327131

@LawRulesAll They are awesome!!!! Must get!!!

This was made for me lol. This happens a lot with my XL when I put it in my pocket. It can be frustrating when I don't save a lot.

I bring my 3DSXL to work everyday, and my cartridge pops out at least once a day from being in my pocket. Luckily most games I play are digital, or I don't leave them running all day.

I'm definitely getting one of these, especially with the new location of the card slot. It's not really weird at all.

@Lukey64000 Same goes with my pikachu xl! Always in a case!

I NEEDED THIS YEARS AGO!!
Looks like there's another reason to get the New Nintendo 3DS.

I'm not getting it I've never had that problem and I have got ever console since the ds lite

@BassLostie That spring loading crap was the reason why my copy of Pokemon Platinum was SMASHED to smithereens by a vehicle. I'm glad they added this feature to the NN3DS because that nonsense won't happen again.

@TeeJay "Takes note of serial number of New 3DS"

Umm.. why?

@realar I think this would fit the older 3DS's just as well, since they should have the same cart slot?
Except if the New 3DS slots are different yet again due to the exclusive games.

Does anybody that has a New 3DS know how much f a problem the cartridge popping out really is? When I play I often have the corners of the 3DS in my palms so the design decision to put the cartridge on the bottom corner has always seemed questionable to me.

the only people i've seen with a problem of the cartridge coming out are those that pull the cartridge out forcefully instead of pushing down to make it pop back up. you know who you are

It does happen i don't really have it happen much but i sit wieredly and sometimes knock it slightly on my knees and it only take a little flick and it sais removed its annoying about 3 times now atleast for me in a month and im sure it will keep happening. Also find it feels more plasticky and my screen has a lot of give moving left to right compared to me standard 3ds xl. Also find that the new c stick is not that great especially going down and seems to get gradually less responsive constantly as its held down. Other than that i think the 3d is better still a lot of like ghosting though. I also fine the sound controls are betttter and am quite happy with the speed of menus just wish i could still use my circle pad pro and the game slot was at the back.

I honestly need these. Even though the game card slot is located at the bottom of the system, and in a less vulnerable area,I am commonly around people who get a kick out of popping my game cartridge out of the system, so I definitely need this.