Nintendo 3DS right analog stick attachment confirmed

Nintendo has confirmed that it is working on a new attachment for the 3DS, one that adds a right analog stick and extra shoulder buttons.

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This photo of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu may seem like a fake. The existence of a right analog stick attachment for the Nintendo 3DS poses many difficult questions for Nintendo. For example, why is Nintendo fracturing its already diminutive 3DS audience? Who would want to use a peripheral that makes the system not only bulky, but asymmetrical? Finally... why?

Unfortunately, this scan is not a fake. Nintendo has confirmed that it is working on the device, to be first used by Monster Hunter 3G, an expanded version of the Wii hit.

The attachment acts as a cradle and adds significant bulk to the device. In addition to a right analog stick, the peripheral adds R1, R2, and L2 buttons. "I am predicting that added bulk, particularly in its thickness, serves as a battery pack, too," Tiny Cartridge postulates. Well, at least that would be some good news, right?

Given Nintendo's penchant for redesigning their portable hardware, some are concerned that Nintendo will eventually make a 3DS system that has all these control options built-in. If that were to happen, developers would have more incentive to utilize controls that early adopters won't have access to without the bulky peripheral. For many, the inability to play future games will undoubtedly outweigh any benefits of the Ambassador Program--announced after Nintendo hastily dropped the retail price of the system by over 25 percent.

A Nintendo UK spokesperson told Edge: "We can confirm that Nintendo does plan to release the attachment but that any further announcements on the attachment will be made at some later time by Nintendo." The announcement is likely to happen at a Nintendo conference happening next week, before Tokyo Game Show.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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  • reply
    September 7, 2011 6:00 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Nintendo 3DS right analog stick attachment confirmed.

    Nintendo has confirmed that it is working on a new attachment for the 3DS, one that adds a right analog stick and extra shoulder buttons.

    • reply
      September 7, 2011 6:02 AM

      Ugh, that's awful.

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      September 7, 2011 6:03 AM

      That thing must be selling so so bad. iphone wins guys.

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        September 7, 2011 6:43 AM

        There's been rumor of this for a long time, even the next version having that built in.

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          September 7, 2011 6:45 AM

          The 3DS needed 6 more months of dev time. No idea why they rushed that thing to market like that.

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            September 7, 2011 6:52 AM

            Because phones were coming out that had the selling point and Nintendo wanted to be the innovator.

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            September 7, 2011 7:27 AM

            Yea, it definitely needed more time in the oven, no idea what Nintendo was thinking. They really squandered the goodwill they built up with the DS (DS Lite is probably 2nd all-time favorite "console" next to SNES).

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        September 7, 2011 7:42 AM

        If the iPhone wins the entire portable gaming market (and more generically, if smartphones win the portable gaming market) then that's going to be sad because of what we'll lose.

        The market is too crowded and the accepted $0.99 price points are just far too low to invest millions in making a AAA portable game like Zelda or GTA. When a developer like Square has the balls to charge $15.99 for a game like FFT on the iPhone they're greeted with not enough sales to even make the charts.

        The kinds of long, involved affairs that the GBA/DS/3DS games are good at are not really playing to the strengths of a phone. A game like Angry Birds makes sense - it's dead simple, loads quickly, and you play a round in minutes. A game with long dialog scenes and intricate sequences doesn't jive well with a platform where a game can be interrupted with a phone call.

        And maybe that's where portable gaming is headed, and maybe it's inevitable, but it's kinda sad if that's the case. I think there's an entire segment of games which would not work well (sales or reception wise) on either a regular game console or a smart phone.

      • reply
        September 7, 2011 1:38 PM

        [deleted]

    • reply
      September 7, 2011 6:51 AM

      what a colossal fuck up

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      September 7, 2011 7:01 AM

      It's your fucking software Nintendo. Get it through your head. No one is playing it because there's nothing to play outside of a Zelda remake.

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      September 7, 2011 7:02 AM

      This is just making them look even worse now. It should have had that from the start.

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      September 7, 2011 7:11 AM

      Eww, what a clunky looking mess

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      September 7, 2011 7:20 AM

      [deleted]

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      September 7, 2011 7:25 AM

      That is bad, like Atari Lynx bad. It's pretty obvious they're going to do a redesign of the hardware (3DS Lite or whatever). They really fucked up with the 3DS, I don't understand why they botched this so badly, it's not like Sony was breathing down their neck with the Vita.

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      September 7, 2011 7:25 AM

      This thing was DOA for a lot of us. This only confirms diagnosis.

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        September 7, 2011 7:29 AM

        I was actually pretty excited when they announced the 3DS, then I heard about the battery life, then I heard about the small sweet spot, then I heard the scaling with DS games isn't good, then I saw there were no good games for it, then I figured I could just wait for the inevitable redesign...

        I really loved my DS Lite, I imagine I was probably in their "target" audience for the 3DS, but it just didn't do anything to make me think I had to have it. And now I'm obviously going to wait until they release a version of the hardware that doesn't look like shit.

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          September 7, 2011 7:31 AM

          Same here pretty much. And yes it looks like a joke with the add-on. So stupid.

        • reply
          September 7, 2011 1:41 PM

          Hey aethyr did you get a shackmessage from me? I sent you one after you messaged me but I sent it from my phone and I'm not sure if it worked.

    • reply
      September 7, 2011 7:35 AM

      In theory, that should all be good stuff, but hopefully that's an early design, because it doesn't look so hot. Also, as much as I'd like a 3ds with longer battery life, L2/R2, and a 2nd control stick built in, it probably isn't a good idea to split the userbase, especially since devs will probably just design for the one with more buttons. Honestly, the 3ds (right now) is a PS3-level fuck up (please note that I'm talking about the PS3 launch, not the PS3 at present).

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      September 7, 2011 7:38 AM

      did they get complacent? did they think they could gimmick their way through another product cycle with the 3DS? I am not sure what went wrong with this machine, but i do hope that it becomes successful and viable at some point.

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        September 7, 2011 7:44 AM

        They did the same thing they did with the DS - they took a gimmick (dual screens) and rushed it out the door to beat the competition (the PSP) to market. And it worked. We forget now but when the DS was announced people thought it was stupid and the first round(s) of games were crap. Now we talk about it as the greatest portable console ever made.

        I can see why they'd think it would work again.

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        September 7, 2011 7:50 AM

        I don't think it was complacent as much as they bragged too soon when their next tech was. The window was open way too long and other devices were almost ready to launch with 3D screens, so they had to move quickly or lose "First"

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      September 7, 2011 7:49 AM

      wtf nintendo. spend more time in R&D plz.

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      September 7, 2011 8:04 AM

      I'll be waiting for the redesign - 3DS lite or whatever.

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        September 7, 2011 8:26 AM

        Just about everyone is at this point, save for the saps who get it for Christmas.

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      September 7, 2011 8:32 AM

      I actually still liked my 3DS up until this point.

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        September 7, 2011 8:44 AM

        [deleted]

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        September 7, 2011 12:41 PM

        I still do, too, but just like the original DS, I'll give it the boot when the next version comes out.

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      September 7, 2011 11:13 AM

      Here we go again.
      The device is a wonderful and I fucking hate 3D.
      But I like it in my hand where it belongs. NOT in movies and NOT in my 70' TV. In my hand its just right and Pac-Man never felt better and Zelda NEVER looked better. My racing games are awesome and I'm looking forward to Starfox.
      This perihiral they want to sell so that I can play what was one of the best games for the Will I don't mind. IPhone?
      They can only dream about the kind of things this device can do.
      This is a dedicated gaming machine not an all-in-one device that struggles to do one thing right. So please I don't even see the comparison.
      Unless you've bought the machine and it's software and dedicated time to it I don't see the point in bashing it.
      This is no "gimmicky" machine.
      This is legit and powerful.
      I don't particularly care for 3D like I stated above but in this device It is good and if they can keep the quality high and the games creative then I'm sold.

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      September 7, 2011 11:56 AM

      Ok.. that's it. If this is true.. both Sony and Nintendo have gone completely off their rockers.

    • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      September 7, 2011 12:04 PM

      Ugh, that add-on looks like shit. I'm not too excited about the dual analog in general. It's the same reason I didn't buy a PSP - I just don't care about playing traditional console-style games on a portable. I feel like Nintendo completely lost sight of where their success came from by trying to push the 3DS in that direction.

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      September 7, 2011 1:26 PM

      I could grump about Nintendo with this, but I'll just say it's cool that the shack is reading tiny cartridge

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      September 7, 2011 1:40 PM

      I know the 3DS gets some hate on the shack, but I saw one in action at a gamestop today with Zelda on it, and going from 2D to 3D was pretty damn amazing - I think I'm definitely wanting to pick one up now :)

      Also there was some submarine box that had a hologram cover thing - it was really cheesy but made me smile :)

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