[the 3ds shopping] oddly, the only New 3DSs Amazon seems to list are imports, special editions, and/or XL, and I'm not sure I want one of the latter two (and I definitely don't want an import).

the XL ones are really nice, though

They are.

If you can find a refurbished one, they tend to be much cheaper too.

IIRC, they have only done the regular-size 3DS in special editions

As the NN3DS XL has been the 'primary' for the US market

that's a strange decision

Seems like it to me too, yes

yeah, they actually didn't even release the regular size version in the US at first. which a lot of people were upset about.