Gamer's Outpost LLC

by Ben Gilbert

It’s been less than two months since Nintendo released its massively successful Switch game console, a home console/portable console hybrid that serves as the company’s flagship system.

(This is the handheld form factor of the Nintendo Switch. It can also be docked at home and played on your TV.Nintendo)

On Thursday night, Nintendo announced yet another new console: the “New 2DS XL,” the fifth iteration in Nintendo’s 3DS handheld line. It’s essentially identical to the “New 3DS XL,” which launched in 2015. The new handheld costs $149.99 and is planned for launch on July 28.

It even looks the same:

(The camera has been moved from the top to the middle, and the 3D slider isn’t there, but this is otherwise identical to the New 3DS XL.Nintendo)

The main difference between this new console and the New 3DS XL that launched in 2015? Three dimensions!

That is literally the difference — there’s a slider on the side of the upper 3DS screen that enables varying levels of three-dimensionality in games. The 3DS does this by using two screens layered on top of each other, and then the slider moves those screens closer together or further apart. It’s an effect called “parallax” 3D.

In the case of the New 2DS XL, that function doesn’t exist. In every other way, the New 2DS XL is functionally identical to the New 3DS XL.

There’s one other crucial difference: Price! The New 2DS XL arrives on July 28, and it costs $50 less than the 3DS equivalent.

Interested in seeing a bunch of folks excitedly playing with the New 2DS XL? Who isn’t?! Check out Nintendo’s debut trailer for the New 2DS XL right here: