It’s just over two years ago that Nintendo launched the 3DS, it’s clamshell handheld games console that promised a new era of glasses-free 3D gaming. It’s also been around two years since the height of the 3D craze. We had 3D mobile phones, 3D TVs, and rumours about 3D everything. Aah, the good old days.
Now, Nintendo gives us the 2DS. The company says that it’s a cheaper more affordable version of its popular 3DS handheld, made so by dropping a few bits of tech. Goodbye, 3D screen. Cheerio clamshell design. And hello, less-than-pocketable newcomer. We’ve been playing with the 2DS for around three weeks, now, and it’s time to see how it stacks up.
Design and ergonomics
Imagine a modern smartphone with an area on either side of the display for buttons – that’s sort of what the 2DS is like. And it’s not a bad thing. The 3DS, with its flip-up display, forced the placement of the D-pad and face buttons to be on the lower section. Anybody with regular-sized hands soon found their grubby mitts cramping up during extended gameplay sessions, because it was just that cramped down there.
With the 2DS, the controls are moved further up, lining up with the bottom of the top display. They fall to hand perfectly – even the lesser-used shoulder buttons, which have a new, curvy redesign – and even in large hands it’s very comfortable for long gaming sessions. Nintendo’s also moved the Start and Select buttons away from the bottom of the display – though, curiously, the home button remains there. The other two are now smaller buttons along the right-hand side of the bottom display.
Everything is encased in wedge-shaped plastic body. Things don’t feel as nice and premium as they do with the original 3DS or the larger 3DS XL, but there’s a reassuring solidity to the materials used in the 2DS. It’ll take a few tumbles and not break – critical traits for the market its aimed at.
Hardware
Most of the internals in the 2DS are what we saw in the 3DS. It’ll play the same games, they’ll look the same, and perform the same – so best to focus on what’s missing or different.
Building to a budget meant that certain bits had to go. The most obvious is the hinge that let the 3DS fold. It’s not just any old hinge, either, because it houses electronic cables that let the second display continue working as well as giving the speakers power. Ah, the speakers – or speaker, in the 2DS. That’s right, Nintendo saved a little cash by giving the cheaper console a mono loudspeaker, rather than a stereo pair. No biggie, because it’ll hardly matter in the real scheme of things – and at least the headphone jack is still stereo.
Part of the clamshell also let the console go into standby when the lid was closed. To get around that, Nintendo’s given the 2DS a physical standby button. It’s super sturdy, so you won’t be bumping it by accident.
Finally, the top display is no longer 3D, hence the name. Nintendo actually used a single display – the “two” displays are only realised by the plastic case masking off the unused bits of the big panel used here. And does the lack of 3D matter? Not one bit. Except… if you want to view 3D photos. See, the rear of the 2DS still features two cameras and they can be used to take 3D photos. Bizarre.
The only upgrade? A 4GB SD card included in the bundle. The 3DS had a 2GB card.
Performance and battery life
The 3DS never set any battery life records, and most of us in the htxt.africa team resorted to bypassing the battery-draining standby mode to eke out a few more minutes of gameplay. Sadly, the 2DS doesn’t improve hugely on that. Over two weeks, battery life ranged between 3 and 4 hours, depending on use. Playing with the displays set to the maximum brightness (there are five settings) does the most damage, but at the same time it’s almost impossible to play on the three lower brightness settings. Disabling wireless also helps – just as it did with the old DS.
Other than that, it’s the same experience as the 3DS. Games still play and look the same. The multitasking is still kinda pointless, letting you only suspend a game, but not use the browser or other apps when you do so. And Mii Plaza will still be a bizarre addiction.
Conclusion
Locally, Nintendo’s priced the 2DS at just R1 499. That’s R500 cheaper than the 3DS (and R800 cheaper than the 3DS XL). That price difference means people can buy games (which start at R79) for the console if their budget is just R2 000 – and suddenly having 3D doesn’t matter that much. That’s exactly the market Nintendo’s aiming for in South Africa: the middle class that aspires to these toys, but also wants the best value for money.
The old DS Lite is still on sale for R999 – though that’s hardly in the same league. The games on the 2DS are better, and it would be naive to assume that somebody – even if they are on a budget – won’t tell the difference in performance and graphics.
Score
Design: 8
Performance: 7
Battery life: 6
Value for money: 8
Display: 7
Handling: 8
Interface: 7
