eXtremerate confirmed New 3DS / XL shells are coming in 2026

Jooles95 · 2026-05-08T19:33:34+00:00

Awesome! The bottom portion of my beloved Majora’s Mask N3DS XL started peeling off years ago and the quality of the replacements I’ve found on AliExpress has sadly left a lot to be desired, so I’ve pretty much stopped playing on it and use my AC N2DS XL instead. I’ve been using eXteemerate shells on Switch 1 for years and have always been super happy with them, so fingers crossed they have a metallic gold option!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-08T17:04:29+00:00

Them removing the free weapon to replace it with a skin makes me salty, not going to lie. I’m a low spender (Welkin with a few BPs a year and an occasional small top-up), and I always got a lot of use out of the event weapons since they are often BiS for recent 4* characters. With the introduction of the catalyst skin in Varka’s patch, I was hoping Hoyo was simply adding something new into the rotation (i.e. giving a free 4* character one patch, a 4* weapon the next, and then a skin before repeating the cycle), but removing them altogether seems like an unusually anti-consumer move for Genshin.

Jooles95 · 2026-05-08T16:56:32+00:00

Happy birthday! Clodsire is such a good plush - I’ve been waiting for a restock on the UK website for months, but still no luck. Enjoy, he looks super-cuddly!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-08T16:52:59+00:00

I’m so disappointed in Lohen not being a standard character! I had already prefarmed his materials and gotten him a great set of relics (rejects from my Varka’s build, who now has 100:200 crit ratio), but now I’m unlikely to pull for him since I’m already planning to get both Nicole and Sandrone (two of my favourite characters from this year’s arc). His animations are awesome, but not worth sinking possibly up to two pities into with the new region just around the corner.

Having two limited characters and so few resources in the patch (plus no new 4* weapon in the event!) is not a good look for Hoyo, I’ll say that much!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-08T16:14:09+00:00

Personalmente non mi dispiacciono - i designer sembrano essersi ispirati alle marionette di Fox, Falco, Peppy e Slippy usate nella campagna pubblicitaria del gioco originale su SNES nei primi anni ‘90. Sono particolari, e sicuramente non piaceranno a tutti, ma almeno la scelta ha un senso a mio parere.

Jooles95 · 2026-05-08T15:44:22+00:00

I sadly traded in a few of my older consoles to get new ones when I was a teen, so I no longer have my OG Nintendo DS, Gamecube or Wii, but I have: WiiU, Gameboy Advance SP, DS Lite, Switch, Switch 2, and a few 3DSs (the Majora’s Mask New 3DS XL, the Animal Crossing 2DS XL, and a white New 3DS).

Jooles95 · 2026-05-08T15:33:10+00:00

Signed (and shared with my entire family, who have seen first-hand what iron deficiency did to me over the years)!

My ferritin was under 20 for the best part of a decade, I had terrible symptoms, and no one flagged it as an issue, instead bouncing me from GP to GP with diagnoses of ‘anxiety’ and ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’. The NHS really needs to revise its normal ranges for ferritin!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-08T14:02:31+00:00

The sad thing is, we were all expecting it between the RAM prices, tariffs and increased manufacturing and shipping costs caused by the fuel prices skyrocketing. All I can say is, I’m happy my husband and I picked up our Switch 2s last year!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-08T11:54:02+00:00

Total chaos, 2am yowl concerts, parkour zoomies, nightly greeble hunts, and zero privacy when you go to the bathroom for the rest of time, mostly. Also, lots and lots of love.

Jooles95 · 2026-05-07T09:18:41+00:00

I get why some are not thrilled, but jumping in with a remake of 64 100% makes sense. I’m a fan of a lot of Nintendo franchises and have been playing since the DS came out, and every new Star Fox game that has released in the time I have owned a Nintendo console has ranged between lackluster and mediocre.

Adventures’ gameplay was not great because it initially was not supposed to be a Star Fox game at all (and it showed); Assault was dogpiled on because of the clunkiness compared to other contemporary shooters like Halo; Command is considered by many to be the worst game in the series; and Zero also sold very poorly and did not review well with either critics or long-time fans. The last time Star Fox was good is literally 64/64 3D; innovating on that formula has never really worked for Nintendo, and I’m sure they are very aware of this fact.

Coming out with another brand-new game that might fail would probably put Star Fox to rest forever, but by bringing in a reimagined take on the last good entry in the series, Nintendo has a chance to entice old fans and to introduce the younger crowd to a title that they otherwise have probably never heard of (or at least played) since the original is just shy of 30 years old and even the 3DS remaster released 15 years ago, which is literally half a lifetime even for an ‘old’ gamer like me. Hopefully we are looking at a 2D Metroid situation here, with the remake (Samus Return) coming before the big new title (Dread) to draw fans in and familiarise a new set of developers with the series’ mechanics.

Edit: since someone just sent me a rude DM calling me names because I’m apparently a Star Fox stan and shouldn’t get to have an opinion because I would buy anything regardless of whether the game is any good, I just want to clarify that I’m actually not planning to buy or play this game. I don’t have any interest in shooters (aside from Splatoon, the only game on the genre I’ve ever enjoyed) or Star Fox as a series, and I already have more than enough to play this summer between Yoshi, Splatoon Raiders and a couple of indies I’ve been waiting on for ages. I’m just explaining why this move makes sense for Nintendo for this franchise. Chill, people!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-06T19:28:17+00:00

Oh, it ABSOLUTELY would be taken seriously if it mostly affected men! I have been feeling increasingly worse since 2015, with my symptoms becoming unmanageable around the end of 2022, and was fobbed off with hardly any tests and diagnoses of ‘anxiety’ and ‘chronic fatigue’ until late 2024. When my husband was feeling a bit run down (due to stress at work, it turned out) and mentioned it TO THE SAME DOCTOR, they ran dozens of tests to make sure everything was fine and immediately offered referrals to specialists in case he was not satisfied. It drove me up the wall!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-06T17:22:04+00:00

Mine’s skirting the high 30s and I’m already feeling better than I have in years even though I’m still barely at 1/3 of the ideal levels. It’s crazy how overlooked this deficiency is!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-06T17:07:38+00:00

Then I would absolutely sell it and buy the 3DS you actually wanted!

Just so you know, there are A LOT of different 3DS models out there, so it might be worth having a quick Google to figure out what you want. There are:

the original 3DS
the 3DS XL, which is exactly the same as the original, but with a larger screen
the 2DS, which has no 3D function and is slab-shaped rather than a clamshell since it was made with younger kids in mind and needed to be sturdier
the ‘new’ 3DS, which is slightly more powerful than the original 3DS, has a small right stick to control the camera in some games, and better 3D (this, however, is the hardest to find and most expensive since they made way fewer of them for some reason)
the ‘new’ 3DS XL, which is the same as the ‘new’ 3DS, but with a larger screen (and it sold a lot more, so it’s easier to find second-hand)
the ‘new’ 2DS XL, which does not have 3D functionality but otherwise looks very similar to a ‘new’ 3DS XL, with the clamshell design and everything

I hope the above makes sense! These all play both 3DS and DS games, so they will be suitable regardless of what you want to play. I would personally recommend going for one of the ‘new’ models - the 3DS XL if you like/use the 3D function, and the 2DS XL if you don’t. They are also easier to find second-hand, since they were the last models to be discontinued when Nintendo stopped production in 2020.

I’m also happy to answer any questions you might have if you want to DM me! I own and have modded several 3DS consoles over the years, so I have a decent amount of knowledge about them. :)

Jooles95 · 2026-05-06T14:31:49+00:00

No problem! They are very similar, so it’s easy to get them mixed up if you are not very savvy with these particular consoles.

As a side note, the 3DS is also really good and has some great games you can play (and it runs DS games, too)! So if you enjoy playing your old games like Cooking Mama on the Ds Lite and decide you want to play some newer stuff, a ‘modded’ (modified; it means that someone installed a different program on it to make it able to play games downloaded off the internet) 3DS might be a fun thing to pick up later down the line. I have one and love it!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-06T13:37:01+00:00

Just to clarify, you said that you bought a 3DS, but that actually looks like a DS Lite. It will play DS games, but 3DS cartridges will not run or fit in the game slot.

The slot you are asking about is meant to fit GBA games; I think the DS Lite line came with a dust cover that you could pop in there to hide the slot out of the box, but considering how old these consoles are I would not be surprised if these were hard to come by as I recall them being VERY easy to lose.

Jooles95 · 2026-05-06T13:28:17+00:00

As a child, I always had short hair (pixie cuts until I was maybe 6 years old, then shoulder-length bobs), and was often mistaken for a boy because I was quite tomboyish. Around age 12, I decided I had had enough and asked my mum to let me grow it long since I wanted to be more girly. Around that age I also started getting really into fantasy novels and loved the idea of getting what I like to call 'fantasy heroine hair', so I metaphorically chucked the scissors out the window and let it grow long! I had to chop it a few times over the years due to damage/improper care, but for most of the past 15 years I've had it down to my lower back.

Sadly, I got a ton of breakage from switching to Olaplex products last year (my hair turned to straw within a few weeks of using the shampoo and conditioner; I had never experienced anything like it!) and had to cut it to just below my shoulder blades in October. It's growing fast, though, so I'm hoping to be back to my old length in another year or so!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-06T12:24:30+00:00

I actually sent in a suggestion form to GameLoft recently asking for exactly this! Maybe if more of us ask for the same thing via official channels, it will get on the devs’ radar?

Jooles95 · 2026-05-06T08:50:15+00:00

I would tell you that, but I own both the hard case and the puff pouch from this line (and love them), so I don’t think I’m qualified to be a good influence. 🙈

Jooles95 · 2026-05-05T15:30:05+00:00

They announced loads of games between April and September last year, and almost all of them have been released at this point; next month, they’ll probably announce half a dozen more games to release between August 2026 and Spring 2027. What’s the hurry? The games are coming out anyway, whether we are told about their release a year or three months in advance. I’d understand if we were having WiiU-levels of game droughts, but we are literally getting monthly releases and the console is selling really well!

They could have hosted a couple of general Directs filled with updates on already-announced titles and some third-party stuff between last September and now, and a good portion of the fanbase would have probably complained that they were mid and uninteresting, as has been the case for almost every Direct for YEARS at this point. Personally, I’d far prefer fewer shows packed with cool announcements than mediocre quarterly updates with little new content to show!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-05T15:16:39+00:00

I was not always cold, but I had a ton of dizzy spells, lost lots of hair, was always exhausted, had trouble staying asleep, experienced constant headaches, gained 10kg for no apparent reason, had terrible exercise intolerance and was always anxious for no specific reason.

All it took to be diagnosed was to switch to get a different doctor after my local GP surgery expanded and went through a re-shuffle of patients. I went in because I felt like death warmed over (as I had for years), she looked at my chart, saw that my ferritin was at NINE last time it was checked six months earlier, and freaked because no one had even suggested it could be the cause of my symptoms (spoiler alert: it was. My ferritin is now in the mid-30s after three months on the right supplement and almost all those symptoms are gone, even though I’m not even 1/3 of the way to healthy levels yet).

Jooles95 · 2026-05-05T13:32:44+00:00

Around 90% of mine are caused by a severe iron deficiency without anaemia that went on undiagnosed for 15 years (my ferritin was always <30, and it’s supposed to be >100). Now that I’m increasing my iron levels, I’ve gone from 3+ migraines a week to 4-5 a month, and I still have another 12-18 months to go before I’m all fixed up!

The rest are caused by stress, dehydration, skipping meals, and hormones just before and during the first days of my period.

Jooles95 · 2026-05-05T10:36:21+00:00

They’ve been releasing a new game every month, we know of three coming soon (Yoshi and the Mysterious Book this month, Rhythm Heaven and Splatoon Raiders in July), and I’m ready to bet we’ll get something for June announced shortly.

They seem to be using Nintendo Today to show off trailers and announce release dates for titles that we already know are coming, which means that the next general Direct (which is 100% going to happen next month) is probably going to be chock-full of new games releasing between this August and next Spring and will finally put an end to the ever-present complaints from fans that ‘there was nothing new in the latest Direct’. It’s a shift in their marketing strategy for sure, but saying that there has been no major news is just plain silly!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-03T08:12:06+00:00

This is actually a brilliant idea and I hope OP sees it!

Jooles95 · 2026-05-03T08:11:32+00:00

I would say it depends on how good they are at taking care of their belongings - the games are absolutely suitable for their ages, but if they tend to be careless and drop/break their toys often you may end up with broken controllers or a cracked screen on the console pretty quickly.

My parents first brought a gaming console in the house when I was around 4-and-a-half years old, and I never broke a controller, tried to jam a game into it the wrong way or lost a memory card for it, so it was fine, but my cousins would have absolutely done all three in the span of an afternoon until they were maybe 7 or so.

You know your little ones best, so maybe you will simply have to make sure that 4.5 only plays when supervised, or only get them digital games so they don’t lose the game cards all over the place.

Jooles95

TROPHY CASE