3 Steps Forwards, 2 Steps Back - Nintendo Handhelds

When it comes to handheld platforms, Nintendo manages them about the same way that Capcom handles the Street Fighter franchise. About once a year they take what's already available, add a few new features, drop it in a fresh coat of paint, and rerelease it at full price.

However, the reason Capcom gets away with this bullshit is that, in order to continue playing the latest and greatest in Street Fighter, you need to go out and buy a new disc, or pay for more DLC to upgrade your existing package.  In order to play the latest and greatest in Nintendo handheld games, you need only continue doing exactly what you're doing and have absolutely no reason to go and buy a new cocking console.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm talking about the 2DS today, Nintendo's newest iteration of the dual-screened portable. I understand the marketing theory behind it. They're not trying to capture the audience they already have.  They're trying to engage those that haven't thought about the 3DS or haven't pulled the trigger on buying one yet and, frankly speaking, I feel that the 2DS is the closest they've come to actually pulling it off this time.

The 2DS is exactly what it sounds like.  It maintains all the functionality of the 3DS - WiFi, full compatibility with both DS and 3DS games, etc. - but with one key difference.  The console doesn't have a 3D option.  In addition, it also happens to be missing one other major functionality.

No clamshell.  The 2DS is not a folding console, unlike every other iteration of it's generation as well as the DS before it (and all the way back to the GameBoy Advance SP if you want to be technical).  Reggie Fils-Aime (President of Nintendo of America) describes the console as such: "Imagine a standard 3DS laid all the way flat, and with the depth slider all the way down."  Fantastic Reggie, but explain to me something.  Who the hell's pockets do you think this thing will fucking fit into?  One of the key features of a handheld console is portability.  If it doesn't fit in your average mens jeans pocket or ladies purse, then it's too fucking big.  While I'll admit that the PS Vita is pushing it, since the damn thing rears it's glossy-finished head every time I sit down, I do remember a simpler time when I owned a DS Lite and it fit comfortably in my pocket, folding to a size even smaller than previously owned GameBoys.

But it's obvious that they're not trying to market the 2DS to existing 3DS owners.  Of course not.  They've removed functionality, which is never a step towards upgrading.  In fact, Nintendo has a very specific demographic they're looking to market the 3DS to: Children under 7.

"With the Nintendo 3DS, we were clear to parents that, 'hey, we recommend that your children be seven and older to utilize this device.' So clearly that creates an opportunity for five-year-olds, six-year-olds, that first-time handheld gaming consumer," Said Reggie.

So that's their play.  Nintendo is trying to worm their way into the children's market currently dominated by LeapFrog products.  And what better way than to make their new handheld match the absurd size of one?  However, kids aren't the only ones being targeted by the 2DS.  The console launches in North America at $129.99 USD - about $40 cheaper than a brand new 3DS and a whopping $70 below the 3DS XL.  For those hemming and hawing over the price point of Nintendo's most recent portable, those savings could very easily be the difference between a sale won or lost.

So while it stands to reason that the 2DS is ridiculous - ridiculous in concept, ridiculous in size, and ridiculously lacking in features - it would appear that those of us along this line of thinking aren't the ones Nintendo is looking to sell to.  Nintendo is looking to broaden their market and, if they succeed, this can only mean more good things to come from them.

Until they start tanking again and have to pay a visit to the dead horse stables to flog a few more titles out of Shigeru Miyamoto IPs.

Quotes and Images Source: IGN