My New Nintendo 2DS

I got myself a couple nice gifts. One is this baby, right here.

 

 

Yup. It's a Nintendo 2DS. I didn't get a 3DS because the 2DS is more affordable, and I felt the whole 3D thing was a gimmick that really didn't enhance gameplay. A great game is still a great game, and a bad game is still a bad game, 3D or not.

 

Of course, you can't use a game system without games. I have plenty of DS games, and the 2DS is backwards compatible, but I wanted to get some of the new games I had been hearing good things about.

 

When all else fails, you stick to the classics...



I cannot wait to start playing these games! They look like they will be fantastic!

As for the machine itself, I find it a fascinating thing to look at. It's got two screens. On one side, there's a joystick and a D-Pad, and the other has four buttons. At first, I was concerned that the D-Pad's position related to the buttons would make it difficult to hold, but when I took it into my hands, I found it actually rather comfortable to play. The design seems to guide people's hands into using the joystick over the D-Pad. The joystick itself is smooth and responsive.

The device is topped by a pair of buttons on each side, L and R. They can easily be reached even with the thumbs on the D-Pad, so that's rather convenient.

It also has a bay with a flip-top lid, where one can put in an SD Card for backing up data. They even included a 4GB card, which I thought was awful nice of them. Thanks, Nintendo!

It has all the standard features of a handheld game system: Headphone jack, power button, stylus holder, volume dial, and all that other good stuff. I did notice a "Home" button on it. I'm guessing that's a shortcut button that can be used to get back to the main menu, like on an iPad.

I played a little bit of it, and I found it enjoyable. A little dependent on the stylus for my taste, but it was fun to use, the menus were helpful, and the 2DS Virtual Console has some games on it I cannot wait to buy and play.