Besides the addition of a C-stick, one of the biggest improvements Nintendo announced for its New Nintendo 3DS model is the device's increase in processing power. Now, we can see just how much of a difference that increase can make.
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Over at IGN, an informal speed test looked at how long it took the New Nintendo 3DS, out now in Japan, to load up the new Smash Bros. game while doing the same on the current model of the 3DS XL. Smash Bros. is a tough game to run, and it shows on the 3DS XL, which takes about half a minute to load up the game from cartridge. The New Nintendo 3DS, on the other hand, is able to get to the game's title screen within about 10 seconds.
You can watch the entire video of the test either below or over at IGN.
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Closing out of the game tells a similar story. The New Nintendo 3DS gets safely back onto the user's home screen quickly while the 3DS XL drags its feet with quite a bit of time spent on a black screen. As another interesting test, the same experiment is then run by having both systems load the game from the SD card instead of the cartridge. Here, too, the New Nintendo 3DS was the undisputed winner of the loading speed race.
In the comments, other 3DS XL owners debated whether or not every system is as abysmally slow to load Smash Bros. as the model in the video, but few were arguing that the New Nintendo 3DS wasn't offering a smoother game experience than they were used to on old technology.
The New Nintendo 3DS should be coming Stateside in 2015.