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Nintendo has ditched the door wedge design, but has this much-needed makeover missed the portable party?

£130 / stuff.tv/nintendo2ds Q Nintendo has fixed the glaring design flaw of the wedge-shaped 2DS with this latest iteration: it’s gone back to the trusty flip-down hinge, increased the screen size and also slapped in a faster processor.

Q The edges have been shaved down to make it as pocket-friendly as possible, and even the slot-in SD card has gone micro. Folded up, the New 2DS XL is about the same size as a 5.5in smartphone, only a little chubbier. That belly padding doesn’t ruin its dashing good looks, though.

Q The top screen has the look of an ipod Touch, with chunky (but flat) bezels on either side. Without the protruding plastic of previous devices, this screen looks a lot cleaner – except there’s no room for the speakers. They’ve been pushed round the back, which results in muffled audio.

Q The screens may be bigger but they haven’t been afforded a pixel upgrade to match. With 400x240 resolution, you’ll struggle to ignore the blur when speeding around Rainbow Road. And these aren’t the brightest displays in the 3DS family.

Q Games like Super Smash Bros demand so much of the standard 2DS and 3DS that there’s a painful 40-second wait for loading. The new processor has slashed that time in half, and games also run that little bit smoother. The C-stick is another worthwhile addition, effectively acting as a second analogue stick for select titles.

Tech specs

Displays 4.88in + 4.18in 400x240 LCD touchscreen Storage 4GB microsd card Features Camera, NFC Amiibo support, headphone port Dimensions 163x160x20.3mm, 261g