Yesterday it was announced that Nintendo is reducing the price of its 2DS system–the scrappy little brother of the 3DS line and a device that impressed me even at the original $130 price point–to just under $100 American.
While this doesn’t officially go into effect until August 30th, major retailers like Wal-Mart and Amazon already appear to be adjusting to this new price point. This makes the 2DS, already the perfect introductory system for young gamers (or older gamers looking to get back into the handheld marketplace), an even more attractive bargain.
Nintendo is wasting no time in using this price drop announcement to remind us that the release of additional family-friendly fare like Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer and the long-awaited Western debut of Japanese sensation YO-KAI WATCH are also shortly forthcoming. The same press release even touts today’s newest arrival, Little Battlers eXperience.
I’ve only spent a few hours with LBX myself, but I can already say it’s tailor-made for the 10-year-old tech geek inside us all. Set in a world where the hottest toy around is a customizable, palm-sized robot and the only thing hotter is battling these tiny droids for sport, it’s a truly engaging action RPG from the always amazing team at LEVEL-5. Featuring more than 4,000 in-game parts that allow for over 30,000 different Little Battler configurations, it’s Pokémon meets BattleBots with anime-style cut scenes that only LEVEL-5 could pull off.
All this combined with an already stellar back catalog make the 2DS the perfect system to include in this year’s holiday shopping spree. Whether this is an isolated price adjustment or just the opening salvo leading to reductions across the product line, I can assure you that you simply won’t find a better gaming value.
