There's a common complaint from would-be 3DS or 3DS XL owners - "The system looks great, the games look great, but where are the colors?"

Considering the vast (and seemingly increasing) inequality between Japanese and North American 3DS color options (a difference that approaches a ratio of 3-to-1), I've repeatedly asked Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime when we might see more. In the past he's deferred to upcoming possibilities while also deflecting by saying all-white portables don't sell very well. This time, however, with 3DS sales surging (the system was the leader in hardware sales in May according to NPD) , I wondered if Nintendo might be more willing to push more product to retailers. A bit to my surprise, that wasn't quite the case."It really comes down to the nuts and bolts of how we manage our SKUs at retail, and how we do it in a way that’s effective for us and effective for our business partners," Fils-Aime explained to me. "You’ve visited retail in Japan. One of the key differences in Japan is that the hardware is that it’s behind the counter. It’s not out and about. So in that type of construct, you can have a lot of inventory behind the counter. It’s a lot easier to support multiple colors. In our [North American] market, it’s all out there on the shelf. When you visit our retail, if I had to try to have 25 different SKUs out there, Wal-Mart would kill me. So what that means is that we have to be more selective and more knowledgeable in how we handle different SKUs."However, not all hope was lost, as Fils-Aime pointed to a strategy that it has started rolling out this year, starting with the introduction of the limited edition Fire Emblem bundle several months ago."We are taking a page out of the Japanese playbook with these very limited-edition unique hardware options," Fils-Aime said. "We started with Fire Emblem. We did Pikachu. Now, obviously, Animal Crossing. What we’re seeing is that if we do this right, we can have a more limited quantity, have it sell through in a fairly short period of time, and use that as a way to satisfy the consumer’s desires to have a range of different SKUs and some special hardware."So there you go - it's not exactly a promise of anything specific, but an encouraging sign that shows Nintendo is trying to bring some of the 3DS hardware excitement and diversity to other territories, despite distinct market differences. Plus it's always nice to understand there's a method to what sometimes seems like Nintendo's madness.And I repeated my interest in an all-white or all-black system. Because I need one or the other.

Rich is an Executive Editor at IGN , and watches over news, features, Assassin's Creed, WWE, Resident Evil and Nintendo content. So many things. So many! Chat with Rich about any of those things - or anything else - on Twitter @RichIGN