Bowser ponders his micro SDHC options

With the New Nintendo 3DS just over a week away the big N has been updating some of its support pages to help confused consumers get the most out of the new hardware. One inevitable sticking point is the switch in storage media from SD to Micro SDHC cards, meaning that those with more than 4GB of content - as per the pack-in card - need to go out and buy a larger capacity replacement.

It's certainly an inconvenience compared to simply completing a transfer and swapping SD cards in the older models, albeit not a road-block to lose sleep over. Nevertheless, much like its external Wii U hard drive equivalent Nintendo's now set up a page listing formally tested cards that can be used - as it's the North American page it's referencing the New XL, but it makes no difference if you're in another territory and pick up the smaller model. It's made clear that the system only supports up to 32GB for a Micro SDHC card; for the record only a 2GB standard micro SD is supported, so don't buy one of those - if the product description doesn't say SDHC, run a mile.

Below is the official list of cards that have been tested; this writer's sad to see that his class 10 (the higher the class, the better) Samsung 32GB micro SDHC card isn't listed, but doesn't expect his New Nintendo 3DS to explode any time soon.

SanDisk Extreme microSDHC

16GB: SDSDQXL-016G-A46A
32GB: SDSDQXL-032G-A46A

SanDisk Extreme PLUS microSDHC

16GB: SDSDQX-016G-A46A
32GB: SDSDQX-032G-A46A

SanDisk Extreme PRO microSDHC

16GB: SDSDQXP-016G-A46A
32GB: SDSDQXP-032G-A46A

Toshiba microSDHC

8GB: PFM008U-1DCK

It's worth pointing out that other micro SDHC cards of a reputable brand should be absolutely fine, but this list provides some solid reassurance if you're in doubt. That same support page, linked again below, also has some further tips on formatting.

Thanks to Ryan Millar for the heads up.

[source en-americas-support.nintendo.com, via gonintendo.com]