New 2DS XL Owners Need Not Worry
With Nintendo just announcing the very sleek and sexy New 2DS XL, it’s no big surprise that Nintendo is continuing to support the 3DS handheld in 2018. The vanilla 3DS’ launch in 2011 and has seen many iterations with the latest one ditching the 3D feature and incorporating some of the bells and whistles of the newer versions like the C-Stick or amiibo reader. Besides that, the games released for the handheld continues to grow as Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadow of Valentia and Dragon Quest XI are just some of the big titles scheduled for release for the system.
In an interview with IGN, the ever-ready Reggie Fils-Aime said:
“We will certainly be announcing new titles for the 3DS platform, and we’ll do that continuously. Some things that will be announced at E3. There will be some that we announce after E3. For us, E3 is an important event but it’s not the one defining moment,” he told IGN. “Obviously with Nintendo Direct, we’ve created means to speak directly to our consumer base. We want to provide news and information when we believe it’s most relevant.”
Besides that, he told IGN that they will continue to support the New 2DS XL and the 3DS by continuing to add new games to the company’s Nintendo Selects line — a special lineup of games the company sells at a lower cost than new software. IGN also checked in on the Virtual Console situation for the handhelds, but he said they had nothing to announce at the moment, but offered that they recognized there was a large amount of interest for it.
While NeoGAF has whispered rumors about a Sony patent for a handheld, there’s not really a clear threat to Nintendo’s handheld dominance. Its effort in the mobile space grows as the recent Fire Emblem Heroes is still getting plenty of updates. Perhaps, the biggest threat to 3DS’ dominance comes from the portable Switch. But, with plenty of upcoming quality titles that are 3DS-exclusives, it’s clear that Nintendo has a lot of faith for it and this support will go a long way in easing anyone who is on the fence on grabbing that New 2DS XL.