When Nintendo revealed the New Nintendo 3DS , the latest revision in the 3DS family tree, one glaring problem stuck out to me: how the hell are you supposed to play video games with that tiny second analog stick?

“ Nintendo is doubling down on people wanting to play games in 3D.

New 3DS Day 1 12 IMAGES

It was tiny. It was awkwardly placed above the action buttons. It looked like those ugly little red “pointing stick” nubs found in the center of laptop keyboards in the 1990's. As a guy who's bought every single Nintendo hardware revision ever made in its portable line – and I mean every single one since the original Game Boy was released – I feared that this would be the least necessary new model yet.Man, I am so glad I was wrong.Today at the Tokyo Game Show in Japan, not only did I spend 30 minutes going hands on with the New 3DS LL (3DS XL in the west) and its funny-looking little second analog stick, but I didn't want to stop fiddling with it. I found myself controlling the camera in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate with the little C-stick constantly. Not because I had to, mind you, but because it just felt so nice. It's rubbery, soft, and inviting. I kept sliding my thumb above the X button and giving it gentle little nudges and pushes just to see the camera move around. It felt awesome, and I loved using it. I don't know how it would translate to something like a dual-analog, quicker-paced first-person shooter, but that historically hasn't been a genre making a home on the 3DS line, so I doubt it will be a problem.Let's run things down real quick:The 3D effect is better. Way better. That blinding, jittery flicker that current 3DS users are used to seeing every time they move the handheld with the 3D slider up is mostly gone. I guesstimated around a 45 degree tilt in any direction before the 3D effect “broke” for me. That made me want to play with the 3D slider up the entire time, which is a good thing to want, considering Nintendo is doubling down on people wanting to play games in 3D while companies like Sony are abandoning them.The power button, cart, and stylus slots are all tucked in the bottom-front of the unit. I like them there, although it is a little odd that Nintendo seems to move where it wants you reaching for the stylus with nearly every new DS and 3DS revision. Way fewer games rely on the stylus these days than they did during the original DS days, though, so it's less of an issue than it's ever been.The “Home” button feels great. It's also an actual button now, recessed a bit at the bottom of the base of the unit. Pushing it did nothing but pull up an on-screen icon telling me I couldn't push it, meaning I couldn't sneak around the inner workings of the hardware menus. Trust me, I tried. Speaking of which, the start and select buttons are also real buttons now too, and they're clicky and responsive instead of being big flat plastic rectangles like they are on the current 3DS models.And that C-Stick is a wonderful surprise.The New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS LL are out in October in Japan. Nintendo hasn't announced plans to launch the new handheld in the rest of the world yet. But after playing it today, they had better.