Opinion: The lack of a second stick is an XL mistake, Nintendo

RealityBites | 06:04 - 24 June 2012

If Nintendo would have added a second stick, nearly every current 3DS owner would be up in arms over the fact that they now all have inferior 3DS's. They would have smaller versions of a now larger and more complete version. Not to mention the slidepad would be shunned for the original 3DS in favor of the newer 3DS XL. The 3DS XL is not an upgrade.

KuRiCobbY | 00:33 - 24 June 2012

This article is pretty misleading. If you're going to argue that Nintendo should've added a 2nd circle pad you should've argued against the main reason why it wasn't included.

Adding a 2nd circle pad to the XL would alienate everyone that bought the original 3DS (just over 1 year ago).

The XL isn't meant to be an upgrade - it's meant to be a different option.

jn2002dk | 14:39 - 23 June 2012

How on earth would they justify adding a 2nd circle pad to the XL?

You really dodge this issue which is obviously the reason why they didn't go with a 2nd pad

It would create massive confusion as a consumer and would likely result in future games forcing you to either buy the 2nd pad attachment or upgrade your 3ds. Screwing early adopters like that would be extremely poor business

Please, if you're going to write such a negative article at least argue your points. You're skipping all the cons of adding a 2nd pad and only focusing on why you think it would be a great idea. That's too easy

Axe99 | 13:42 - 23 June 2012

@WearyAmoeba - that's crazy logic, this was a great opportunity for Ninty to get in on the ground floor with twin-stick support, and make it worthwhile for devs to give it more support. Off the top of my head, genres that are much better with a second stick include third-person adventure/shooters/RPGs, first-person adventure/shooters/RPGs, twin-stick shooters and flight games. That's a lot of genres to be ceding quality controls over to the competition.

And don't write off the Vita on sales just yet - recent software releases suggest that it's a case of it building momentum. I'm yet to see one bad review of the Vita from someone that actually owns it, and have known of numerous people that weren't going to get it until they actually played it, and haven't looked back since. And, tbh, I much prefer the line-up the Vita has now, with far less time since launch, than the 3DS (noting that I'm not one for Ninty's approach to game design - if people like Ninty, they clearly should run with the 3DS (which is a great piece off kit), and would be insane not to :)).

Amacmac | 13:18 - 23 June 2012

WearyAmeoba attributing the vita's slow start to it having 2 sticks is stupid.

WearyAmoeba | 01:57 - 23 June 2012

I've never needed one either. I'd take it one step further. The vita has two sitcks and it caters to hard core gamers. It's also getting clobbered. Sales are anemic at best. I think that Nintendo has looked at how the HC gamer dream machine, the vita is selling and they've decided that they'll give those guys the twin stick shooters and do what they do on the 3ds.

paulthewall | 18:34 - 22 June 2012

I agree a second stickk would be great. However I've never needed a second stick for my 3DS. I've beaten RE Revelations, MGS3, and both worked fine using the face buttons as a second stick. I'm glad it will have a bigger screen. I've always felt it needed it.

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