Nintendo 3DS Second Analogue Stick Official

Although Nintendo's clip-on analogue stick for the 3DS brings back all kinds of memories from the Game Gear era, this console add-on has now been officially presented on the Nintendo website.

Designed to bring an evidently much-needed second 'circular pad' to the console, the accessory clips onto the 3DS in a similar way to the charging dock. As well as the analogue stick, the dock also has a second R2 trigger button on the right.

We were hoping that Nintendo would have included an extra battery in the dock to boost the console's poor battery life. However, although the dock does indeed come with a battery, it's actually an AAA used to power the dock!


Although this clumsy-looking accessory certainly won't win any prizes for style, a second analogue stick should make first person gaming a much more pleasant experience. It just remains to be seen how the dock will affect the console's handling.

We're not the only ones who seem a little dubious about Nintendo's add-on either, as the firm doesn't exactly seem keen on plugging its new accessory. The clip-on controller wasn't even mentioned at the press conference the firm held ahead of the Tokyo Game Show. Nor did the firm present a new version of the 3DS with two analogue sticks as predicted by some. Then again, Nintendo probably doesn't want to do anything that could potentially affect the already sluggish sales of the current 3DS.

The add-on controller dock will go on sale on 10 December in Japan for 1,500 yen (£13) but no release dates have been given for other countries as yet. In the meantime though, Nintendo has already released a list of compatible games: Resident Evil Revelations, Monster Hunter Tri 3G, Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D, Ace Combat 3D Cross Rumble, Kingdom Hearts 3D et Dynasty Warriors VS.

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