Nintendo has announced a new handheld console

First released in 2011, the Nintendo 3DS has been re-released both as the bigger 3DS XL and as the the cheaper, kid-friendly 2DS. In today’s “Nintendo Direct” video update, Nintendo announced the “New Nintendo 3DS,” an update to the platform that’s somewhere between a minor update and a full-fledged follow-up. The most obvious changes are immediately visible on the outside of the device. The face buttons — A, B, X, and Y — are colored in a pattern similar to those on the classic SNES console. Instead of one button on each shoulder of the device, there are now two. If you look just above the face buttons, there’s now a second analog nub. Looking deeper, Nintendo says that the console will have a faster processor and more RAM. That means the device can offer better visuals than before, letting developers bring over experiences closer to what they offer on Nintendo’s Wii U (the fact that it now offers a control scheme that’s almost exactly the same helps too). Unfortunately, that also means that games built specifically for the New Nintendo 3DS (like an upcoming port of the cult-hit RPGXenoblade Chronicles) won’t be backwards compatible with older models. Nintendo also packed NFC into the device so that it can be used with Nintendo’s Skylander-like Amiibo figurines. Super Smash Bros., one of the first games Nintendo showed with Amiibo support built-in, comes out in October, so it’s probably no coincidence that the New Nintendo 3DS comes out in Japan October 11. Unfortunately, there’s no word from Nintendo on the release date here in North America or in Europe.