The main criticism of the design of the 3DS XL is the lack of a second circle-pad; there will instead be an add-on for a second circle-pad just like the regular 3DS. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata said that a second circle-pad was considered for the 3DS XL, but it got cut out due to other considerations.
“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.The choice, if we were going to include the second analogue stick, was to reduce the size of the batteries or make the unit much bigger,†said Iwata. “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,” Iwata. Noted. “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.”
Source: The Independent
