Nintendo fans have been so excited about the upcoming games for the Switch as well as the incoming release of the SNES Classic Edition, that they may have forgotten all about Nintendo’s current handheld system, the New Nintendo 3DS. Being released in Europe and North America just two years ago, the New 3DS featured a slew of improvements over the original, including increased RAM, an analog stick, and two additional shoulder buttons. And now, for some unknown reason, Nintendo has decided to end production of this system in Japan, which could lead to it being killed off all over the world.
According to a recent article from Kotaku, the official Japanese site for the New 3DS states that production for the standard model has ended. This includes the standard black and white color variations, as well as all the special editions.
This isn’t a complete loss for fans of Nintendo’s handheld system. There was no “end of production” notice on the New Nintendo 3DS XL’s official page, so the larger model will continue to be produced in Japan and the rest of the world.
This isn’t the first time Nintendo has announced the end of production for specific models of consoles. Nintendo made a similar announcement on the official website for the 32GB Wii U Premium Set when it stopped production for that, and did the same thing when all Wii U production had ended.
According to a report from Eurogamer.net, Nintendo of Europe has confirmed that production for the New 3DS has discontinued in Europe as well, making it that much more likely the trend will continue in North America.