How GameStop is handling New Nintendo 3DS Trade-Ins

If you plan on trading-in your current Nintendo 3DS for a New Nintendo 3DS from GameStop, be prepared to follow a somewhat lengthy process in order to transfer all your data to the new system.

An article by Polygon highlighted the process several GameStops reported customers will have to go through in Ohio. Calls to GameStop stores in Washington confirmed the process consumers must go through in order to trade-in their current 3DS for a New 3DS and keep their data:

• Go to GameStop and purchase your New Nintendo 3DS for $200
• Take the New Nintendo 3DS home and transfer the data from your old Nintendo 3DS’s to the New Nintendo 3DS (this process includes transferring the data from the old console’s SD card to a PC, then transferring the data from the PC to the Micro SD card for the New Nintendo 3DS)
• Take both your old Nintendo handheld and the new one back to GameStop
• Sell the New Nintendo 3DS back to GameStop for a full $200 refund
• Trade-in your current Nintendo 3DS for $100 of in-store credit toward the purchase of a New Nintendo 3DS
• Repurchase the New Nintendo 3DS using your in-store credit to reduce the cost of the new system

To be fair, this process has less to do with GameStop’s policies and more to do with Nintendo’s design of the 3DS itself. This whole process could probably be worked around if Nintendo allowed players to back up their data online and download it digitally.

Technically, a PC is not required to facilitate the transfer of data from one SD card to another, but the alternative method, a wireless transfer, can take several hours.

Does this change your plans to purchase a New Nintendo 3DS? Have you already figured out how you’re going to transfer your data from the old system to the new one? Do you refuse to give up your current Nintendo 3DS? Let us know and tell us your stories in the comments below!

Source: Polygon