[Updated] Nintendo Discontinues the New Nintendo 3DS in Japan

Published: July 13, 2017 12:11 PM /

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New Nintendo 3DS

Update: Nintendo of America has gotten back to us and sent the following statement regarding the New 3DS:

“This announcement does not affect Nintendo of America territories, as the model in question was only sold in limited quantities as special offerings. There are no changes to the sales status of New Nintendo 3DS XL, Nintendo 2DS or the upcoming New Nintendo 2DS XL, which launches on July 28.”
Original Story Below


Nintendo has officially discontinued the production of the Standard New Nintendo 3DS in Japan.

Nintendo confirmed the news this morning, where it announced on its product page that the system will cease production in Japan.  Nintendo has done this in the past in particular for the Wii U, which ended production last fall with Nintendo announcing it on the systems product page.

This does not mean that the New 3DS line is dead. Only the standard version has been discontinued and only in Japan at this time as far as been announced. The 3DS XL, however, is still being produced.

In fact, Nintendo is releasing a new system into the New 3DS family, the New Nintendo 2DS XL, to replace the New Nintendo 3DS.  The 2DS XL will feature the same screen size as the 3DS XL, including all other buttons controls and amiibo functionality as the XL system, save for the 3D feature much like the original 2DS. The system launches today in Japan, and will be brought to the West on July 28th, priced at $149.99.

The New Nintendo 3DS was introduced in Japan in 2014, before getting released to the U.S in 2015. The major features of the New 3DS was amiibo functionality, upgraded processors and RAM, two additional shoulder buttons and a 4GB micro-sd card. The system was to be taken advantage of for games to add amiibo functionality, as well as more graphical heavy titles that can only be played on the New 3DS systems, most famously Xenoblade Chronicles 3D and the virtual console having SNES support.

The 3DS systems continue to be major cash machines for Nintendo, with the whole 3DS family shipping over 65 million units as of December 31st, 2016 and in 2016 alone sold over 55m units of software.

Nintendo has promised to continue supporting the 3DS line throughout 2017, despite speculation that it will soon be fully discontinued in favor of the Nintendo Switch.

We have reached out to Nintendo to find out what this might mean for the New Nintendo 3DS worldwide and will update when we learn more.

What are your thoughts on the New Nintendo 3DS? Is it a good move by Nintendo? Leave your comments below.

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


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| Staff Writer

A longtime player of games, creator of worlds, and teacher of minds. Robert has worked many positions over the years, from college professor to education… More about Robert