The original Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL are about to become endangered species in Japan.
Nintendo announced (via a translated post on its support site) that it will no longer be accepting repairs for either console in Japan on March 31, 2021, due to difficulties securing the necessary parts.
The company warned it may also refuse to accept repairs before that deadline “if the parts required are out of stock.”
The news comes a few months after the 3DS family of consoles was discontinued by Nintendo, and just over a decade after the original Nintendo 3DS was launched in Japan.
Nintendo will, however, continue to offer repairs for the ‘New Nintendo 3DS’ range of consoles, which launched from 2014 onwards and feature a more powerful CPU, improved camera, additional buttons, and other changes.