Nintendo 2DS for Christmas!

I love it when being a blogger makes me a “cool mom”. With my kids being 10 & 12 I know those days are fast disappearing–so I try to enjoy them. My trip down to Bentonville AR with the Walmart Moms this fall was one of those times. I got to come home with a shiny new Nintendo 2DS to try out.

Buddy thought I was awesome.

Now I’ve never been really big on handheld video games. Not that there is anything wrong with them per se–just like there isn’t anything wrong with TV or video games in general. It’s just that it’s far too easy to let your kids spend far too much time on them. Here at the Frugal Upstate household we have fairly strict limits on TV, computer and game time. So although we have a Wii and an Xbox Kinect I never purchased my kids any kind of hand held games. About a year and a half ago Buddy saved up all his birthday money and allowances and asked if would be allowed to purchase a DS. After a long talk about the type of limits there would be on his playing (despite the fact that he purchased it with his own money) and long and passionate promises that he wouldn’t complain AT ALL when I told him he couldn’t play. . . I allowed him to purchase a used DS Lite and some games.

He loved it. We did have a few tussles about his amount of media time (Pleeeeaaaasssseeee. . . just a few more minutes) but overall he was very good about it and used it appropriately. Then about 9 months ago we LOST the DS. Looked everywhere and couldn’t find it. He was upset (after all it took him a LONG time to save up that much money–even for a used one).

So when I came home with a brand spanky new 2DS just as it was being released to the stores he was over the moon!

So what is a 2DS? For those of you who have little gamers on your hands, you know that the last version that Ninendo came out with was the 3DS–so it seems to be going backwards to have the newest unit called a 2DS. There is a good reason for this.

The 3DS was named because it has a 3D screen. It is your “traditional” flip open style handheld game system. The new 2DS has all it’s graphics in 2D instead of 3D while still being completely backwards compatible with all the games created for the 3DS and earlier systems.

That’s n0t the only difference–It’s also in a single solid piece rather then a fold open console. Why is this important? Because it makes it sturdier! The wires running through the hinges to connect the top screen with the bottom screen are a possible a point of weakness on the flip open models. I know more than one child who was a little rough with their DS, DS Lite and 3DS and wound up breaking those little wires somehow. (this doesn’t seem to happen as often with older kids).

The screens on the 2DS are smaller then those on the 3DS, but Buddy says it doesn’t really matter when he’s playing.

And the biggest selling point for the 2DS? The price! The Nintendo 2DS runs about $130, while the 3DS is $170 and the 3DS XL is $200!! That makes this a more affordable option for the frugal minded folks out there.

As I mentioned, the 2DS is backwards compatible with all former systems–so Buddy is able to play his DS Pokemon games with no problems, and he is also able to play the brand new Animal Crossing game that Nintendo also sent us–which works on both the 3DS and the 2DS. Buddy & Princess have both enjoyed playing this game.