Gosh, the passage of time is a nasty one, eh? There we are just trying to enjoy our day, when all of a sudden, BOOM, we’re reminded that today is the 15th anniversary of the 3DS.
Yes, the 3DS, that console which, in our minds, is still a relatively young whippersnapper, was released on this day (26th February) fifteen years ago in 2011.
It’s a system that many of us here at Nintendo Life still hold dearly in our hearts, and one that we return to with a surprising frequency, even though we’ve got two newer consoles from the House of Mario at our disposal. But there’s something about the software lineup that we just can’t knock. Tomodachi Life? A Link Between Worlds? Animal Crossing: New Leaf? Talk about bangers.
But we’re not here to discuss the software this time (we’ve got our list of the 50 Best 3DS Games Of All Time for that), we want to talk about the system itself. More specifically, we want to talk about its weird and wonderful family.
Because yes, while the 3DS is a system in its own right, it spawned a whole family of models to choose between. These were released every couple of years between 2011 and 2017, and included everything from bigger screens to additional control stick ‘nubs’.
As the OG system celebrates a decade and a half since launch, we thought it’d be only right to remind you about each model’s quirks before we pit them head-to-head in a poll to decide, conclusively, which one is the best (or which one is your favourite, at the very least).
So, here they all are, in release order.
3DS
First released: 26th February 2011
The first model really was a beauty, wasn’t it? The big selling point was that autostereoscopic 3D screen, of course, but let’s not forget the internal and external cameras for all of those free AR games, a particularly slippery circle pad, and the trio of Select / Home / Start buttons that never really felt like buttons. Magical.
3DS XL
First released: 28th July 2012
Do it again… but bigger. Just a year and a half after the 3DS first appeared on the market, Nintendo launched the XL model. It had all the same features as its predecessor, but with a 124mm screen, compared to the old model’s 90mm.
2DS
First released: 12th October 2013
Another year, another 3DS. Only, this one wasn’t 3D. Aside from being the ugliest-looking handheld Nintendo had released in a hot minute, the 2DS removed the family’s trademark gimmick (and its internal stereo speakers) for a cheaper, non-autostereoscopic model.
A lot of people didn’t get on with the 3D, so its removal is fair enough. The removal of the clamshell design, however, is a little harder to overlook.
