Charge cradle confirmed for 3DS

By Ellie Gibson Published 8 October, 2010

Iwata explains Nintendo's thinking.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has confirmed the 3DS will come with a special charger cradle.

Speaking during this month's Iwata Asks he said, "As for the battery, it is inevitable that Nintendo 3DS will be a device which requires more frequent recharging than Nintendo DS.

"This is why we are going to include the cradle, which is a dedicated battery charger."

And just in case 3DS owners forget to use it, Nintendo's going to offer a helpful reminder. "Perhaps we may need to dispatch to our consumers a message, something like, "Please place your Nintendo 3DS on the cradle as soon as you return home with it."

As announced last month, the 3DS will launch in Japan on 26th February. US and European launches will follow in March.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • lucky_jim #1 2 years ago

    Given this news about the battery life, and the likely launch price, I'm tempted to wait until the inevitable second model.

  • Malek86 #2 2 years ago

    What's happaned to "the battery life will be comparable to the DS"?

    Though really, by now I should have learned not to trust anything Reggie says.

  • Notez #3 2 years ago

    Would be handy if you could get a USB charge cable like on an iPhone.

  • Octoroc #4 2 years ago

    But how shall I both recharge and play simultaneously? This is not good!

  • Whitster #5 2 years ago

    @Notez

    You can get a USB charger for the current DS so it wouldn't surprise me if Datel or somebody have one out for this pretty soon after launch.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #6 2 years ago

    @Malek86

    It is comparable, its worse, Comparison over!

  • Toothball #7 2 years ago

    A bundled cradle is fairly decent. I got one for my PSP Go and it quickly became a habit to leave it charging when I got home. Now the only time it runs out of power is when I forget to switch it off when I leave it in my bag at work.

    @Octoroc

    It'll likely also come with a regular charger. The cradle will probably have the same power input that it passes through to the 3DS, so you can leave it on your desk, or plug it into the device itself.

  • SG #8 2 years ago

    That was my thnking,like the cradle for my Nokia phone.

    Also, some games you could play in cradle if they're stylus only. For instance, I've quite happily played Phantom Hourglass on a table top.

    They will inevitably bring out many more versoins though. I was going to get a DSi XL until the 3DS showed it's head.

  • Brodie #9 2 years ago

    "This is why we're going to include the cradle, which is a dedicated battery charger"

    Whereas all the battery chargers that came with previous DS consoles, they lacked dedication. Could never really be bothered when it came down to it.

  • Rack #10 2 years ago

    After the amazing start on E3 the 3DS is looking less and less like a first day purchase. Okay, some amazing ports there but with a crippling price, weak battery couple with the inability to play while charging I'm pretty much certain to wait for the 3DS lyfe or whatevefr they call it.

  • MoGamer2006 #11 2 years ago

    Bloody hell, it doesn't take much for you bunch of hissy-fitters to get your knickers in a bunch, does it? You'd have to be an idiot to expect the 3DS to have the same or greater battery life than the standard DS. Can you at least wait for, you know, some actual timings before you start predicting "3DiSasterLOL!!"

  • Golgo #12 2 years ago

    @MoGamer2006: why would you "have to be an idiot to expect 3DS to have same or greater battery life than DS"? This is what was stated outright by Nintendo back around E3. Not too unreasonable for people to expect it, then.

  • Phishfood #13 2 years ago

    You only need to charge it more often if you leave it in the standby-wifi mode and that's only if you're going out expecting to come across other 3DS owners doing the same thing.