New Nintendo 2DS XL Release Date, Price & Features

The New Nintendo 2DS XL isn’t an all-new system with new games and new accessories. Instead, it builds on the features and design of the existing handheld consoles that Nintendo already offers. The coming handheld slides neatly between the very affordable Nintendo 2DS and the high-end Nintendo 3DS XL.

The Nintendo Switch is new and exciting, but the Nintendo 2DS XL has some things about it that every gamer will find appealing. Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming mobile console.

Read: Nintendo Switch Review: Fun and Flawed

When a company releases a new video game console, they usually stop focusing so much on the old one. Add this to the growing list of things Nintendo does differently. The Nintendo Switch, the company’s replacement for the Wii U, is a portable and living room gaming console. Yet, Nintendo wants to make sure gamers that love its older titles now get new hardware.

 

New Nintendo 2DS XL Features

The Nintendo 2DS XL is a mashup of two Nintendo handhelds that exist already, the Nintendo 2DS and the Nintendo 3DS XL. The Nintendo 2DS was introduced as a low-cost way to get the games that were available for the Nintendo 3DS. If you wanted all the best features, you purchased the more expensive handheld. Those that just wanted access to the games purchased the Nintendo 2DS.

Nintendo 2DS XL’s most important features come from the Nintendo 3DS XL. The handheld borrows the clamshell design of the more expensive console. Buyers can fold it in half to make the system more compact before stuffing it in a bag. The hinged display also allows the user to adjust the screen to get just the right viewing angle. Nintendo says that the updated design makes the Nintendo 2DS XL more comfortable to hold than the Nintendo 2DS. Handheld gaming console lovers spend hours with the system in their hand. Any extra comfort that this new device can offer will go a long way.

All the buttons required to play games sit to the left and right of the touchscreen on the bottom half of the New Nintendo 2DS XL. Nintendo says that the C-Stick allows for more “intuitive camera control.” Most of the updated internals of the New Nintendo 3DS XL are inside this handheld too. There’s extra RAM for games and extra buttons for 3DS XL titles that support them. As the name implies, the New Nintendo 2DS XL does not support 3D visuals like the more expensive 3DS XL.

There are two screens, one on top that acts as your display for what’s going on in your game. The second display is for developers to do what they want. Some games use it to manage player items and let them know where they are on a larger map, for example. Both screens are 82% larger than the displays on the existing Nintendo 2DS.

The New Nintendo 2DS XL supports Amiibo without extra accessories. Amiibo are the figures that unlock add-on content across Nintendo’s games.

There’s a microSD card slot to add storage to the New Nintendo 2DS XL. A front-facing and 2 rear-facing cameras are built-in too. New parental control options are available. Unlike the Nintendo Switch, New Nintendo 2DS XL buyers don’t have to wait for Netflix. Hulu Plus, YouTube, and Netflix already have apps on the console.

Read: Netflix Coming to Nintendo Switch, but when?

New Nintendo 2DS XL Release Date & Price

Of course, all those new features don’t matter if the console’s price isn’t between the handhelds that Nintendo already sells. The company says that the New Nintendo 2DS XL price tag will be $149.99 when it arrives on store shelves this coming summer.

For reference, that’s $50 less than the $199.99 the New Nintendo 3DS XL costs today. The current Nintendo 2DS comes has a copy of Mario Kart 7 for $79.99.

The New Nintendo 2DS XL release date is July 28th. That’s the same day that Hey! PIKMIN and Miitopia arrive on store shelves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lxNHhgMuTg

New Nintendo 2DS XL Games

Hey Pikmin! and Miitopia are launching on the same day as the New Nintendo 2DS XL, but neither will come packaged with the system. In fact, Nintendo isn’t including a free game with the console at all. Instead, it’s hoping that users will pick up those two games or the hundreds more that are compatible with the console. The New Nintendo 2DS XL is compatible with the same games that the Nintendo 3DS and older Nintendo 2DS are. Some games from the older Nintendo DS work too.

New Nintendo 2DS XL Pre-Orders

Ahead of the New Nintendo 2DS XL release date, some outlets are already taking pre-orders for the system.

There are still units available for reservation on GameStop.com. Target.com has pre-orders available as well. BestBuy.com will let you place a pre-order online and pick them up in stores on release day. Strangely, Amazon is not taking New Nintendo 2DS XL pre-orders.

Nintendo has a terrible reputation for not making enough new hardware for release. If the New Nintendo 2DS XL is something that you’re thinking about picking up, it’s best to place a pre-order as soon as possible.

Good luck getting your hands on this New Nintendo 2DS XL system. At least, for now, there’s still some life left in Nintendo’s dedicated mobile gaming family.