You Can Now Pre-Order The Most Gorgeous New Nintendo 3DS XL Console Ever Made

Aww, I thought it was going to be a European release

If they were to offer it in PAL territories I would jump on it (was hyped that this was such an announcement! Naughty NL! Getting my hopes up like that!).

They should also offer it with Super Mario World, Super Metroid, F-Zero & Zelda: Link to the Past already installed.

That IS very pretty.

Looks great. Too bad it will never come to the States.

If my 3DS XL ever breaks and this model sees a PAL release, I will be all over it!

I'm pretty sure Europe's SNES had a green power light right?

@Mr_Zurkon It could but it would have to be redesigned with a grey and purple scheme to accommodate the US SNES design (seriously who the heck redesigned it!)

@FX102A Why would Nintendo take advantage of that great idea??

That is definitely sarcasm because that is a brilliant idea, and one that if it came out, I would take advantage of.

Sux this is not coming to PAL region... I and many others I'm sure would buy it if it was. Not worth buying a Japanese version though

No

That's so close to being tacky but manages to be awesome instead. Not that interested in the console though. @FX102A At least my european (SCN) model has a red one.

So much want. But I already have a New 3DS XL and a Super Famicom, so they'll have to do.

My Monster Hunter New 3DS XL disputes the opinion that this SNES one is the most gorgeous one.

I'm not sure how, but I'm positive they can turn it into faceplate form for us N3DS owners.

The smaller New 3DS is better in my opinion so it would be great if this design was turned into faceplate form as @DTFaux just said. The SNES is my favourite console.

@FX102A yeah exactly. That color scheme was so ugly.

Looks sicc and it only furthers my point I had made months and months ago.

The name New 3ds is so confusing to a lot of people. Had to explain that it was a new system with the word new in the name. And before they announced the name, I felt it should have been called the Super 3ds, given the button colors and such. Also that name would of given it a good nostalgia factor for the SNES and now with SNES VC, it would have made even more sense.

Ah well, I might get one of these. I like nostalgia now that I'm old. Haha.

Holy damn cross, SUPPPPPAAAAA japanese people always said that....

Hyper hype still surround me..... wew

My European SNES has a red light, and all the SNES I have seen here have a red light, too.

@MajinCubyan Nintendo does seem to lack creativity in naming things sometimes. Super 3DS would have been a much better name.

@VanillaLake I probably would have gotten to the standard size of NOA offered it outside of the Animal Crossing bundle. It was so nice of NOA to make the decision for me. That said, I do love it and play it more than anything else lately.

Super Famicom and the Dreamcast are still the best looking consoles to me. Simple, sleek, and symmetrical.

@OneBagTravel Until they turn yellow, with envy! They can't handle the black sleekness of the Sega Mega Drive!

I mean sure it's pretty, but I already own the most gorgeous NN3DS ever made. It's gold, and there are five masks on the front . . .

I'm in love with this design but having just gotten a Hyrule Edition N3DSXL I simply can't justify jumping on this, even more so with it being a solely Japanese outing.
...then again I recently rode the Tram while playing said Hyrule N3DS and a school child sat down opposite of me, looked my way and started going "woah!" for about a minute while trying to sneak a look at the design.
So, yes, I'm feeling pretty good about that xD

@Mr_Zurkon It's bad that NoA did not let users decide what model they want to buy, I agree. I also don't understand why NoA did not release a physical edition of Maiden of Black Water. There are so many user-unfriendly NoA decisions.

I can 100% see the appeal—the SNES is still my favourite console of all time, and I think the actual SNES unit and its controllers still look great (that combination of the light and darker grey and the four coloured face buttons just works)—but it's not how I would have done a SNES themed 3DS.

Just thank God they never based it on the American version.

@FX102A

all the European ones I've ever seen, including my own, a borrowed one from the video store, and the ones of my two kindergarten friends who owned one had all had red power lights.

...that being said, I DO recall having seen a green one online at one point. Maybe a casemod of some sort?

@Kirk

it looks pretty much perfect in my regard. What would you have done differently?

@OneBagTravel Yeah, I love the SNES, specially for its library and the way Nintendo pushed quality to the highest level (something you don't see Nintendo doing any more) but Nintendo 64 has a retro "Beetle" style that I think it's unique and timeless. I don't know if somebody else here likes it, but I love the N64 design.

@FX102A Have you checked that you are not colour-blind? No offence, just kidding.

This would be a Japanese N3DS? So then it would be called N3DS LL, not XL and it's region-locked so it wouldn't be able to play any of my games...This is news, how?

@VanillaLake Yeah the 64 has an interesting design. One thing I never understood was why the original system was black and the cartridge slot and controller were grey. When I had mine, my OCD had to get the black controller and color the cartridge slot.

I think the European/Japanese SNES is the best. I don't like the American SNES look.

I disagree. I think the Gold Hyrule New 3DS XL is the most gorgeous 3DS ever made tyvm.

Too bad it's region locked to Japan. I suppose you could open it up and stick PAL or NA hardware inside.

@OneBagTravel I like the grey slot, but I prefer the black controller, so I got one. There are some... weird N64 consoles, like that one with the huge Pikachu on it.

@ollietaro Yeah, the headlines on this article are confusing and disheartening.

@VanillaLake What you don't like our boxy unrounded SNES? (sarcasm)

@Nico07 I like many things of your country though

If it were region locked I'd get it for sure. But nope.

@r4ind4nce Well, I wouldn't have gone with what looks like a printed sticker image of the actual SNES on the front, for a start. I would have kept it simpler and more deliberate, using the overall colour/tone of the SNES but not an actual print image of the console. At it's most simple, imagine the outside set in the light grey tone, with the coloured SNES logo printed on the top right corner (more ideally, subtly embossed into the cover), and maybe the darker grey used in some way too (possibly the top half of the console light grey and bottom half dark grey). On the inside, I would have used the two/three tone grey of the original SNES in a way that matched the actual controllers a bit closer (maybe having the darker circle around the face button area for example), still with the gorgeous coloured buttons (but maybe without the letters printed in white on them. The letters could embossed or just printed off to the side of the buttons like the original controllers instead).

That kind of thing.

The inside is actually generally pretty good; it's more the outside I'd change quite a bit.

I'm not entirely sure. I'd really have to take some time to think about it properly, if I wanted to do it right and avoid it looking tacky, but I just know this isn't what I personally would have gone with. It does look very close to the actual SNES in details, since it's basically just a SNES print (certainly on the cover part), but I don't think that's the core point in creating a well designed and classy SNES themed 3DS personally.

Like, imagine if Nintendo wasn't making a SNES "theme" to quickly and cheaply add over a standard 3DS and was instead actually making a proper SNES-3DS. . . .

How do you imagine that would look?

It certainly wouldn't have a print of a cartridge slot on it (the 3DS has its own cartridge slot), or a print of big Power, Eject, and Reset buttons. It wouldn't have a fake power indicator printed on the top, because the 3DS already has its own power indicator.

If I wasn't lazy and it didn't require a lot of work, I'd actually mock-up something. But I am and it does, and it's not likely to happen. lol

Living in North America, I recently purchased a Super Famicom because I always loved the design over our boxy one. I can still remember reading an article in EGM about the Super Famicom and thinking they were two different systems because they looked so different.

@MajinCubyan I agree that naming it 'super' would have been a nice throw back for the long serving fans. I think the idea of 'new' stems from the fact that it is in essence a hardware revision with a more powerful processor. Much like how Google or Amazon name their tablets the same name despite Subtle changes from year to year.

I just wanna say that I don't think this is a gorgeous 3DS at all. Yes I appreciate that it looks like a SNES, but at the end of the day, I think that design applied to a handheld actually looks quite ugly. Maybe I'm alone there, but I personally don't get what the fuss is all about for this 3DS, the design is too busy and lacking in any real aesthetic appeal for myself.

I have the NES one that came out briefly in North America back in 2014. I'd like to have the SNES one too if it would ever come out here. Does Nintendo even care how many sales they lose by not releasing things here that people want and would buy?

This is a special leave in the box 3DS. It doesn't mater where it's from

@Raiutora Super 3DS makes more sense than New 3DS. Every piece of news that starts like "New 3DS game" does not make clear if it's a new game for 3DS or a New 3DS exclusive game... :S

@Kirk Yours are good design ideas. As much as I love the SNES, this New 3DS design looks like a plain sticker I could print myself. Besides, after seeing those fan-made mod-consoles looking so gorgeous, Nintendo's designs look uninspired and cheap.

@OneBagTravel The first time I saw the American SNES on the internet, many years later, I asked myself what console was it.

This is really nice but it's no good if it doesn't release outside of Japan.

Forget calling the New 3DS the Super 3DS, I really think the New 3DS should have been called the 3DSi. That would have made the most sense to me by far.

I pray this comes to the U.S. As a Super Nintendo junkie, I'd go crazy for this

No, because of region lock

@Kirk I really think your idea would look much better, if I'm picturing it right! But this one, I don't know, it's cool that they made it...it just looks off somehow.

Play-asia has had this available for pre-order for the past week, hence it being sold out of pre-orders already.

Ohhhhhh noooooo play Asia has big import tax to country's such a shame local Nintendo stores should sell them.

I'm very tempted.

@Raiutora True, but comparing the two processors, one could almost say that the N3DS' processor is "Super" compared to the O3DS. Hahah

@Mr_Zurkon Indeed they do. Kinda bums me out but what can ya do?

I've been waiting for the right model (non-glossy!) to come along before I upgrade my old standard 3DS XL. If this makes it to these shores as a SNES tribute i'll be on it so fast...

I really want this but being on Play-Asia it'll be region locked. The second I get wind of a UK release though I'll be all over it.

I'm sorry, but I already have the most gorgeous looking New 3DS (non-XL) with my Yoshi's Island faceplates (this one http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTUwMFgxNTAw/z/M6UAAOSwHQ9WbBBv/$_1.JPG ).
Call me when they make a new Yoshi-themed XL, and I'll step over.

That still is pretty cool though, regardless. Put it next to that NES-themed GBA SP for a nice little set.~

@Yosher I really like that one. You got the Yoshi Siesta theme on there? Haha

@SanderEvers I think they meant to say "weren't".

Is sold out already?? Or I'm actually reading some comments here that preorders were live since last week and that's why is sold out already? Sighhhh

@3MonthBeef Thanks for that. I see, but if "New" means more than "Super" to Japanese in Japan language, shouldn't it be "New Nintendo Entertainment System" instead of "Super Nintendo Entertainment System", since the generation leap is much bigger from the NES to the SNES compared to the 3DS - New 3DS leap?

Also, does not Nintendo know that the biggest part of their benefits exist thanks to us foreigners? Why don't they think of a Western name for us, like they had done in the past ("Super Famicom" - "Super Nintendo")?

The region lock is what prevents me from buying it. I'll hope for an SNES version announcement soon!

I'll probably buy it and use the region free hack

@World I think the inside is generally pretty nice, although I keep getting a sense something isn't quite spot-on (not bad but just not quite how I picture the SNES aesthetic in my head), but I don't think the outside really cuts it. The outside, to me, is indicative of how I see modern Nintendo: It's happy to half-*** it in the name of quick, cheap, and easy cash grab from the most loyal and ardent fans. I know Nintendo can do much better on the outside.

@GN004Nadleeh Which people have found is controlled entirely via software, Nintendo could remove it, but they won't.

@VanillaLake No problem, and no offense taken. I prefer the look of the Japanese Super Famicom myself. Though I do like the color choice of the North American version, but then again that's just personal preference.

@3MonthBeef Yeah, it's like when you learn the "new technologies" term at school when they are not so new and are a standard now in many ways. The "New" Nintendo 3DS will be old soon. "New" Super Mario Bros. sounds like a "new detergent" being released. I don't like how Nintendo uses the term "New".

Imagine that NX is being called "New Wii U".

Or "Wii U They", since they had explained Wii is "we" and U is "you".

Oh, Nintendo's marketing...

@Nico07 I have to admit I prefer the colour scheme of the European SNES and controller, but I was a child when my father gave it to me so I can't be impartial.

already got a decal on my normal n3ds with that snes paint scheme

@MajinCubyan I have several themes in rotation but that is one of them, yes! Fits perfectly with those cover plates!

@CTMike Good luck there, Old XLs are a beast in durability

@VanillaLake NX could be called Nintendo Box. At least that's a fresh start for Box 1, Box 2 (...) brands, much easier to understand and sell.

@rushiosan Doesn't it sound too similar to Xbox?

What about GameCube? I think that it was the easiest to understand and sell, like PlayStation or Xbox. I know the GameCube was not the most successful Nintendo console but the name clicks. And perhaps if the next Nintendo console is called "GameCube 2" fans that were disappointed with Wii and Wii U would look at it.

Just an idea...

@VanillaLake You're right, GameCube had a great marketing, just failed at not using a standard DVD.

Bit weird you guys wouldn't mention it's region locked and you wouldn't be able to play any games you buy in the store here. Seems likely an ignorant kid/casual gamer has seen this news post and has ordered one from the site without knowing any better.

Due to how far homebrew has come, I'd get it. But there's one different issue standing in my way: Money.

this is so beautiful it's hard to look at it. i'm not a thief, but If I see someone on the subway with it, I might have a hard time keeping my sticky fingers to myself! These aren't region free are they? My first DS Lite was the light blue one from Japan, I loved that little machine. I find the colors of the current 3DS's kinda blah. I wound up getting the pink 3DS xl, but wish there were some better options at the time.

Im happy with my black

@samuelvictor
Japanese consoles are region locked for EVERYTHING.

The only thing you can really do in english are games with multiple languages. (Basically Pokemon and nothing else)

I would love one but they're Region locked, aren't they?

@FX102A Now you know good and well that's too forward-thinking for Nintendo. =P

@VanillaLake Yeah, and it's the fact that it's based on the Super Famicom which I don't think will tickle gamers' fancy as much as an SNES design would.

I miss grey consoles.

@samuelvictor Yes, the region-lock would prevent you from playing PAL region games. Keep in mind, it's a Super Famicom design and not a Super Nintendo one and there are differences in design and nostalgia between the two consoles.

Those looking for a cover plate just like this one I found a guy on Etsy that prints the design on them, I've ordered one myself can't wait to get it in ^_^

https://www.etsy.com/shop/NekoNinjaStore?ref=s2-header-shopname

@ollietaro True, what does "Famicom" emotionally mean to us? But the big problem is this ill Nintendo region-locking mania.

A lot of good that's gonna do for people in the US or EU, it's region locked, so you're pretty much screwed over lol.

Give us a PAL release Nintendo!

I think this should come with a brand new SNES controller thrown in for good measure

@Mr_Zurkon yeah! Where's our SNES version?! I'd buy a purple and gray system in a heartbeat!

@VanillaLake Please help me to understand this. Why do people want to play games from a different region?

@ollietaro Why would Nintendo stop customers from choosing what games they want to play? What's the point in region-locking?

@VanillaLake I don't know why. I was asking why a gamer would want to play games from other regions.

@ollietaro Better deals, better cases, better special editions, not being released elsewhere, going abroad, etc.

@VanillaLake Thank you. Are there ways to purchase a cheap 3DS from a different region? The only game from a different region that comes to mind that I would buy is New Style Boutique 2 (and the bundle with the New 3DS and face-plate doesn't look half-bad). There's still a window of opportunity for the game to be released in North America so I won't drop any money on it right now.

The first time I bought games from a different region was for Nintendo DS, because GB and DS were region-free. DS games have a nicer case in North America. I've been tempted to buy a system from another region sometimes, but the region where more games are available is Japan and I don't speak Japanese so it doesn't make any sense. Also, I've been abroad a few times and I'd love that there were no region-locks at all.

If I were you I would wait. It took Nintendo over one year to publish Maiden of Black Water outside Japan.

You are welcome.

@VanillaLake I didn't get your reply b/c you forgot to press 'Reply" but I came back to this page to see your reply. Style Savvy 2: Fashion Forward was just announced for NA so I won't be looking outside my region for games right now. Region-free benefits my Vita b/c I can buy the Asian import physical copies of games where there doesn't exist an NA one b/c most Asian releases feature the English language.

@ollietaro You are right, I forgot to click on Reply, sorry. Yes, many Asian copies include English. The problem is that when Fatal Frame/Project Zero Maiden of Black Water was released in Japan, it was region-locked and only featured Japanese. Over one year later, it was localised and published in here and America. I was lucky enough to find a Limited Edition copy.

Hopefully next Nintendo console is not region-locked and has a proper user account with benefits for users, plus all games being released worldwide.

@VanillaLake I've (so far) never needed a Nintendo game from a different region nor looked for a cheaper copy in another land. I suppose region-lock exists b/c they want us gamers to support our region's Nintendo. Playstation probably doesn't region-lock b/c as long as they get money, it just gets sucked up into a big Sony vacuum.