Nintendo considered second Circle Pad for 3DS XL
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said that the company considered adding in a second Circle Pad for the 3DS XL.
Even though it was possible, Iwata believes that this wasn’t a realistic option. If another Circle Pad was built-in, it would have resulted in a larger piece of hardware. Nintendo wanted to increase the screen sizes and improve the battery life while maintaining a unit that is relatively small.
Iwata acknowledged that some consumers may be disappointed with the decision. It was nonetheless “a call we had to make”, and he is ultimately “quite happy with the product we’re able to offer.?”
“When we looked at the design of the 3DS XL we had to look at various factors, one was battery life, one was the overall size of the unit, and we had to make some trade-offs. The choice, if we were going to include the second analogue stick, was to reduce the size of the batters or make the unit much bigger.
“What we wanted to do was have a bigger screen in comparison with the overall size of the system, so had various discussions and had to make trade-offs and this is the outcome.
“Attaching a second analogue stick is possible but it would have made the system even bigger and, though it perhaps puts a burden on people that really want that second stick, it’s a call we had to make and these people will have to live with it.
“This [the lack of a second stick] isn’t my main focus when I look at the 3DS XL, it’s one point we had to cover, but for me personally I’m quite happy with the product we’re able to offer.?”
