We're almost a year into the life of the New 3DS, and we only have one game "exclusive" to it. Xenoblade Chronicles 3D. I would imagine that almost all games load faster on the New 3DS. A very few games, while not exclusive, run and look noticeably better on the New 3DS. Very few games also use the additional mini-Circle Pad, and even fewer use the additional shoulder buttons. Few games have additional features. Some games have amiibo support, which is built in to the New 3DS, while you can get the same effect by buying an NFC reader for your original 3DS. And of course there's the slightly better 3D. None of these minor adds, in my opinion, make the New 3DS worth a buy after already owning a reguar unit.

Now, if rumors are to be believed, Nintendo's next big "idk", the NX, is releasing before the year's end. And luckily enough, it's also rumoured to be both Nintendo's next home console, AND their next handheld.

I don't know what Nintendo was trying to accomplish with the New 3DS. I've felt like the New 3DS was simply a replacement for the 3DS (which it is), but one that they could sell to those who didn't already have the 3DS and they decided to throw in some new features because "Why not?" But the way they marketed it felt as though they wanted to people to rebuy their 3DS for the additional features. So they introduce a new model, one that they want you to buy for less than sufficient reasons, and so you do just that (despite already owning a 3DS), and less than 2 years later, they present you with the NX Portable, a very powerful successor that could probably run all of your 3DS games AND your solitary New 3DS game. Now what? It just seems like a blatant cash grab.

Someone enlighten me.

It was just the 3DSi, the "New". Nintendo's usual last gasp redesign to suck a few extra dollars and keep sales afloat for a little longer before ditching it.

I said it like 100 times on this board, but some people didn't want to listen a year ago.

Just like the DSi it basically got like 1 exclusive game and that's it too.

I think the point was to keep sales at a decent level for a bit longer. And it worked out to some extent, especially if we take a look at the 2015 line-up of games.

I'm pretty sure 2016 will be able to keep somewhat similar sales thanks to a much better line-up, and, of course, the New 3DS.

This

By releasing a new model, they can keep up the interest for this system without having to put too much money on R&D for the handheld

LOADSOFMONEY!!!

But yeah, this was probably the sole reason honestly, the fact that Xenoblade is still the only N3DS exclusive kinda shows that Nintendo didn't plan to make the new model completey necessary, bud added all these features that would help lure people into buying a new console.

(I know that Binding of Isaac Rebirth is a thing, and some games like Hyrule Warriors Legend run better on N3DS, but one indie game isn't as big as a AAA IP like Xenoblade, and at least the 3DS can still play 99% of the 3DS' library.)

Prolong the 3DS family's life cycle until the next generation is announce. aka filler.

I thought it was obvious by now.

Hell, without Xenoblade's need for a RAM increase I don't even think they would've done so for the N3DS; they would have used the second C-stick as the selling point and thrown the weight behind MM3D (which, y'know, is exactly what they did, except they threw a tiny bit of weight into Xenoblade because it had to be exclusive).

Not that I really care, I got the best version of the 3DS by soft boycotting the system from launch until they released MM3D, and I got a MM N3DSXL. I'm happy.

Nintendo needed more hooker money

because its awesome and the 3D is better