Salnax on 16 December 2013
Things I would Include
- A Superior Battery - The 3DS Battery Life is, in my opinion, the system's greatest weakness. Don't get me wrong: it's far from terrible, and lasts a few hours doing crazy things like multiplayer games online in 3D with no problem. Still, A battery at least on par with the 3DS XL's would be nice. I'd personally like about 50% more battery capacity. That would put the 3DS battery life about on par with that of the original DS.
- More RAM - I do not want extra memory in my 3DS for the games: 96 MB of RAM is fine until Nintendo's 9th gen handheld comes out. However, things like the OS and functions like the web browser, YouTube, and Miiverse frankly struggle with the small amount of RAM available, 32 MB. Even a mere 50% RAM increase for the 3DS would triple the amount of memory available for things like Miiverse, making it a much better integrated part of the system.
- More Storage Space - 32 GB SD Cards are far from a bad limit for the 3DS, but I'd like to have even more options. Either giving the 3DS some internal storage space like consoles have or modifying the system to be compatible with those enormous 128 GB Cards would be great for digitally-oriented owners. It's let me put my entire music collection on my 3DS as well as my games for example. Speaking of which...
- Improved included apps - My #1 wanted improved app would be the music player, but the 3DS has a couple of bundled apps that can be improved. Video editing comes to mind, and would be a great feature for 3DS game reviewers. Even allowing for the saving of screenshots would be cool. If Nintendo used the extra RAM to improve these things, that'd be great.
Things I would NOT Include
- Second Analog Stick - It's too late for that! 3DS games rarely use or even would benefit from the Circle Pad Pro, and I can't see that changing in the second half of the system's life. Plus, it would involve either moving around the buttons or making the system larger. Neither would be ideal.
- Higher Resolution - The 3DS XL might be low resolution, but at over 130 pixels per inch, the original 3DS actually has decent pixel resolution. That said, it's borderline, so doubling the resolution might be tempting. The only problem is, this would require a lot more RAM than I recommended above. Even though RAM is not THAT expensive, this would require quite a bit more of it. Therefore, I honestly don't think a higher resolution is worth it, except for maybe a new XL model very late in the 3DS lifecycle.
- HDMI Compatibility - I just think this might only be a feature relatively few people will use considering the price of adding it. It's not a terrible idea; I just don't think it's necessary.
Time I want this thing to come out: Mid-2015. This would be the latter-middle of the 3DS lifecycle, when the system would need a bit of a boost like the Kinect gave the 360. Ideally, the price would be $200, knocking the XL price down to $170, the original model to $150, and the 2DS to $100.
