Nintendo's line of 3DS handheld consoles are still going strong. The company released the New Nintendo 3DS back in March, following up on the release of the cheaper, non-3D enabled 2DS in 2013.
The house of Mario has now announced that their cheapest 3DS model will now become even cheaper. Starting on Aug. 30, the Nintendo 2DS will drop from $129.99 to $99.99. Aside from smaller screens, the lack of 3D and the inability to fold, the 2DS has all the same capabilities of a standard 3DS
All 2DS systems will be bundled with a digital copy of Mario Kart 7. Not a bad game to get for free with your console. It's also a huge difference in price point from Nintendo's New Nintendo 3DS. Sporting increased processing power, two large sceens and improved 3D functionality, the latest iteration of the 3DS currenlty retails for $199.99. To put that in perspective, for a hundred dollars more a person could buy a Wii U console, which features vastly superior graphics, a tablet controller and the ability to play all of Nintendo's major new releases, like Super Mario Maker.
It's a smart move on Nintendo's part ahead of what is sure to be a busy holiday season. Parents shopping for their kids will look at the $100 price difference between the 2DS and New 3DS and feel like they are getting a good deal picking up the older model.
The only problem is that any 3DS system other than the New Nintendo 3DS won't be able to play some of the latest games. The New Nintendo 3DS is also the only 3DS model that currently supports Nintendo's interactive amiibo figures. An amiibo reader peripheral for older 3DS models is coming later this year.
Still, that is a small price to pay for a console that is $100 cheaper, especially if you are more interested in playing older 3DS or even regular DS titles. Nintendo plans to announce it's next game console, codenamed "NX", in 2016. What that will mean for Nintendo's handheld business is anybody's guess, but expect Nintendo to continue dominating the handheld gaming market.
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