Go away.

Where would the second circle pad go? Would it replace the position of the ABXY buttons? If so, that's a terrible idea

What's the point of a second circle pad? Games that work best on handhelds need buttons, not analogue sticks

Presumably you're the same people that complained at Nintendo for dropping the price- how do you think people will feel if the new 3DS basically made their's obsolete, instead of just being larger?

I want a 3rd analog stick!

I swear that would be the most awkward thing ever

Nope, I don't think so. The vita has the same layout if you switch the directional buttons with the pad on the left, and it feels wonderful.

Well, they could have changed the places of the left circle Pad/D-Pad to solve this issue.

I have no problems not getting a second analogue stick, i have never enjoyed that control method anyway, although i can understand people being frustrated that the model only has one stick. Given the choice between a bigger screen and a second stick i would have definately chosen the bigger screen.

I don't know much about the device but I'd consider it if the screen is sharper (no mention of an OLED display, huh?). The select/start/home buttons seem to be better, though.

But this thread is about the lack of a second analog stick. Okay, then. I read the OP and it seems pretty well thought out. I have a 3DS, a Circle Pad Pro, and a Vita. (OP forgot Metal Gear Solid 3, btw). I've use the CPP with MGS3 and RE:R (not so much Kid Icarus due to poor implementation) and I have to say that the games seem a whole lot better when using the second analog. The CPP is a big add on, though. I'd love to hav seen it built into the 3DS. The Vita has two analogs and it makes a difference in games where you have to navigate a 3D world.

So would it isolate existing owners? No. Just do like they've done with the few CPP supported games out there: give us an alternate control scheme. Each game that works well with the CPP had an alternate control scheme that worked decent enough without it. I've seen it stated that adding a second control scheme is pretty simple andinexpensice.

the second nub would have been worth it just so that the 3ds could act as a secondary wiiU gamepad.

Man, fuck that last post. Tried typing on my phone and it went insane near the second paragraph. Couldn't see what I was typing. I'll try to come back later. My point: Options=Good