As we all know, the DS ‘Phat’ came first, then the DS Lite, followed by the DSi and now in Japan, the DSi LL/XL. An interesting new Iwata Asks has now revealed that the development of a large DS went as far back as before the DSi. It turns out that in 2007, Nintendo developed a large screen version of the DS Lite.

The unit, above right, had a 3.8 inch screen, lower than the DSi XL/LL’s 4.2 inch screen. Furthermore, cost restraints at the time meant that screen’s viewing angle did not meet Nintendo requirements. Even so, Nintendo had gotten to a point where the model was ready for mass production; however, due to the unparalleled demand of the DS Lite, the unit stepped back into the shadows and was never seen again, until today.

Nintendo’s hardware team then moved on to develop the DSi. CEO Satoru Iwata indicated that he wanted both the regular and large versions of the DSi to be developed and released simultaneously, but the hardware team deemed it impossible.

The DSi XL/LL went through a few builds before looking like it does today. Below right is the original model.

It was now time to give the new system a name. Some peculiar ideas considered included ‘DSi Comfort’, ‘DSi Executive’, ‘DSi Premium’ and ‘DSi Living’. Shigeru Miyamoto seemed adamant upon naming it the ‘DSi Deka’ – ‘deka’ being Japanese for ‘large’. Eventually, it was settled on LL and XL.

So why is it called LL in Japan and XL elsewhere? Because in Japan, the next size up from L is not XL, but LL.

Source: Andriasang