No second stick on 3DS XL? "Live with it", says Iwata

Disappointed by the lack of a second analogue stick on the upcoming 3DS XL? Well, Nintendo boss Saturo Iwata says you’ll have to live with it”.

The inclusion of two control sticks was considered for the unit, Iwata has confessed, but the idea was ultimately rejected as it would have led to too many other compromises.

When we looked at the design of the 3DS XL we had to look at various factors, one was battery life, one was the overall size of the unit, and we had to make some trade-offs,” Iwata told The Independent.

The choice, if we were going to include the second analogue stick, was to reduce the size of the batters or make the unit much bigger. What we wanted to do was have a bigger screen in comparison with the overall size of the system, so had various discussions and had to make trade-offs and this is the outcome.

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

This [the lack of a second stick] isn’t my main focus when I look at the 3DS XL, it’s one point we had to cover, but for me personally I’m quite happy with the product we’re able to offer.”