The 3DS XL doesn’t have a second slider because it would have made it bigger

The new 3DS XL/LL holds several improvements over its predecessor like a larger screen and less portability, however there is one notable omissions. After Nintendo commissioned an add-on for to add a second analog slider to the 3DS it seemed like an obvious choice to simply add that second slider to the next 3DS iteration without needing an add-on. In an interview with the UK Independent, Nintendo global president Satoru Iwata finally revealed why the revised system doesn’t have what seems like an incredibly obvious choice.

“Attaching a second analogue stick is possible but it would have made the system even bigger,” Iwata said. “It perhaps puts a burden on people that really want that second stick, [but] it’s a call we had to make and these people will have to live with it.

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“When we looked at the design of the 3DS XL we had to look at various factors,” Iwata said, explaining the XL’s design further. “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 battery or make the unit much bigger.

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So, to clarify, they didn’t give as a second slider for the larger version of their console because it would have made the system larger. Yeah.