It's that time of year when video game anniversary enthusiasts can enjoy the birthday of a significant game or console nearly every day of the week. It's the turn of Pokémon X & Y which turns 10 today (look out for a feature on that coming up a little later), but it's also a decade since one of Nintendo's lowest-key console launches.
Yes, October 12th, 2013 marked the release of the original 2DS — the 'slate' one. Announced in August of that year with a budget price tag of $129.99 / £109.99, its utilitarian design sacrificed pocket-ability for sturdiness. For Nintendo fans over the age of 10 who already owned a 3DS (or two), this revision may have felt like a retrograde step, one signalling that, perhaps, Nintendo regretted making the autostereoscopic gimmick such a central marketing aspect of the original console.
Honestly, we don't quite buy that — Nintendo needed to differentiate 3DS from the original DS line, and spotlighting the admittedly gimmicky (yet undeniably cool) 3D feature helped do that. It's certainly accurate to say that the glasses-free 3D feature went underused in general, though. Removing it from the equation left a phenomenal library of software that, due to the optional nature of the autostereoscopy, lost practically nothing in translation.
From the very beginning, it was obvious from its no-nonsense form factor that this slate-like 2DS was explicitly meant for children. With no clamshell to protect them in transit, the screens (which were, in fact, just one screen) might get scuffed up, but there was no hinge to snap and no thin upper flap to crack if you accidentally sat on it or the console slid down the back of a car seat. This was a rugged little slab of plastic that could survive being frisbee-ed across the room or knocked off a bedside table.
Nintendo has always made its portables practical; robust enough to handle the rough-and-tumble of typical daily use and more, as evidenced by the infamous 'Gulf War Game Boy' that was only recently removed from display in Nintendo's New York store. Removing the 3DS' hinge and namesake feature — one which naturally caused parents concern for their children's developing eyesight — produced an unattractive but decidedly 'safe' system, ideal for young gamers.
Of course, exposing the buttons and screens to the elements meant that knocks and scrapes would quickly accumulate, and a spotless specimen is a rare sight these days. More commonly, you'll find the analogue nubs worse-for-wear, with detritus from sweaty hands residing in the joints, around the buttons, and on the screens. However, the console will almost certainly still run just fine when you fire it up.
A quick show of hands around the Nintendo Life office reveals that, predictably, few of us ever bothered with the original 2DS. Several of us had already chalked up an upgrade to a 3DS XL which launched the prior year and, especially given the target demographic, we never bothered with the doorstop 2DS. Zion recently picked up the lovely Sea Green variant seen in the images throughout this article, and Alana used to have one, though she wasn't enamoured with it. "It's uncomfortable to hold if you have long hands like me, and the smaller screen meant no one else in my household could get on with it. But we're also not the target audience, and I know a lot of people love this weird little machine."
Still, for those of us living the Nintendo life, there's always something fascinating about the company's hardware, whether it's incredibly sexy or painfully practical. Hitting eBay these days, you'll find that 3DS and New 2DS prices are sky-high, though these little babies are a little more affordable. Perhaps it's time to add one to our personal collection before it's too late...
Is this really Nintendo's ugliest console? Are we crazy, or should we consider picking up an OG 2DS while we can? In fact, we always fancied grabbing 10 of them and walking around like Moses with the Ten Commandments. Just us?...
Let us know your memories and opinions on this near-indestructible slab of Nintendo console below.