New Nintendo 2DS XL review: Fine 2-ning
The evolution of the Nintendo DS has culminated in the New XL models, with the New Nintendo 2DS XL filling the final number/letter/model gap at last.
Company: Nintendo
Launch Price: $149.99 USD
Release Date: July 28th, 2017
I’ll get this out of the way because it’s the most obvious complaint about anything Nintendo handheld: there are way too many models of the Nintendo DS, and they’re tangled in a messy web of bad naming conventions. In the past thirteen (thirteen!) years, I have upgraded on no fewer than six different occasions not to a drastically different Nintendo handheld, but to a slightly shinier model with a few fancier features, still able to play the games from the 2004 edition. Yet, of every iteration of the Nintendo DS, DS lite, DSi, 3DS, 2DS, New 3DS, XL and so forth, I would pick the New Nintendo 2DS XL as my system of choice in an instant.
The New Nintendo 2DS XL will not surprise you in any way. Everything from the conservative box design to the inexplicable AR cards still packaged within exudes familiarity to anyone who has used a DS or 3DS in the last decade. There are no brand new features, no aesthetic dramatics worth shelling out extra cash for. Rather, the New Nintendo 2DS XL represents the utter refinement and culmination of everything Nintendo has learned over the years from their audience and the system itself.
What’s in the box?
Your New Nintendo 2DS XL comes nicely packaged and wrapped with an instruction manual, a pack of AR cards you’ll never use, and praise Reggie, a charging cable. I don’t know what possessed Nintendo not to include one with the New Nintendo 3DS XL, but it’s definitely worth noting for the simple reason that if you’re trading in for this, you’ll most likely have to trade in a charging cable with whichever other model you’re giving up. If you trade in for a New Nintendo 3DS XL, you’ll be shelling out an additional $15 for a new charger alongside it. Not so with the New Nintendo 2DS XL, effectively giving it an extra, invisible $15 edge over its 3D model.
The system itself remains mostly familiar, albeit with some slight adjustments compared to other models. Unlike the regular Nintendo 2DS, you can actually fold and close the system the same way you can a 3DS, making it far more portable than its weirdly solid cousin. It also features the same extra nub you’ll find on the New 3DS in the same position, though a few other buttons have migrated. The volume is on the bottom left-hand side of the console, no longer mirrored by the 3D slider on the right. The Home button is on the bottom left side of the console next to the touch screen, the outward camera is on the back of the system rather than the lid, and the headphone port and stylus slot share a tiny space on the bottom between the power button and the game card slot.
That’s another small improvement–the game card slot isn’t open anymore, so you can’t accidentally tap your game out of the system and lose progress (yes, that’s a thing I have done more than once). Instead, it lives on the bottom of the system and is covered by a surprisingly springy cover that snaps into place. The microSD card slot is also down there, and houses a 4GB microSD card upon purchase, though it can hold up to 32GB.
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To my delight, the New Nintendo 2DS XL learned some serious lessons from the materials and appearance of its predecessors. Though admittedly there’s a lack of imagination in terms of color and design options (Turquoise. You get turquoise), the borders add a splash of color that the original New Nintendo 3DS XL was lacking. Plus, the main body of both the front and back are in a lovely black matte finish with funny pinstripes atop, banishing the memory of fingerprints and smears at last.
Finally, the whole thing is rounder and much lighter weight than the New Nintendo 3DS XL. It sits nicely in your hands, can be opened and set perfectly flat unlike other models, and is just the tiniest bit smaller overall than the New Nintendo 3DS XL, reducing the weight of cases, purses containing them, and sagging pockets considerably. Hey, the portable device got more portable!
Setting up
There’s little else to say, largely because the actual system is unchanged from the New Nintendo 3DS and all the rest. The changes and adjustments are purely cosmetic, with the exception that there’s no 3D to be found, in keeping with the name. To this, I give a hearty: who cares? My experience with 3D in almost every other Nintendo game (with apologies to Kirby Planet Robobot) was to turn it on, amuse myself with it for about 30 seconds, then turn it back off. This continued to be the case even with the improved facial tracking of the newer models. Nintendo tried to get us to embrace 3D, but at a $50 price reduction, I can honestly do without.
I love the New Nintendo 2DS XL, but I have mixed feelings about recommending its purchase to friends.
I will issue this reminder, though: transferring your data from one account to another is still the biggest pain in the butt imaginable for a company trying to get this “linked accounts” thing under control. Just like before, you’ll either need to transfer data over PC (a convoluted process I won’t get into here) or have access to both your systems at the same time to do it wirelessly, which can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on how much you have downloaded. This process grows twice as exasperating if you take into account the fact that you will likely want to trade in an older system for a new one, forcing you to resort to the PC process instead.
I don’t want to harp on that too much, as it’s a known issue with the system and one that wasn’t going to be fixed. Similarly, my few other concerns with the other 3DS models didn’t change much either. The system still has a brightness setting problem, and it still sits at around 3-5 hours of useful battery life. The latter is less of a problem and more of a slight surprise, though I guess removal of a 3D feature you never used to begin with doesn’t translate to longer battery life.
Verdict
I love the New Nintendo 2DS XL, but I have mixed feelings about recommending its purchase to friends. On the one hand, it’s easily the best version of an amazing handheld system with an enormous library of games spanning back over a decade. The lower price point proves a worthwhile reward for ditching a feature we didn’t care that much about anyway. If you don’t already have a 3DS or 2DS or are ready for an upgrade for any reason, this is the model to get.
That said, if you’re on the fence, what concerns me most overall is the future of the system. Though Nintendo makes ample promises to the contrary, there are indications that the sun may be setting on the 3DS/2DS library. The advent of the Nintendo Switch and the creeping improvements to game design capabilities mean that Nintendo’s signature handheld may soon be outclassed by something bigger and more expensive. Looking at the Switch lineup for the rest of the year, perhaps it already has. If you’re an old hat who has explored the catalog thoroughly, you may want to wait for a major game announcement before trading in.
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Years of experimentation and refinement have finally produced the best DS. The problems mentioned above fall squarely in the department of issues that either won’t be solved until a new “generation” of handhelds debuts, or that are already solved in one way or another on the Nintendo Switch. And even with the console, the New Nintendo 2DS XL remains my favorite handheld to slide into my bag for a long road trip. I just wish this design had hit the market years ago.
A New Nintendo 2DS XL system was provided to App Trigger for the purpose of this review. Click here to learn more about our Review Policy.