Honestly it's kind of wild that a device as capable as Ayn Thor, being on par with Switch 2 probably, is so small.
Steam Deck helped me to start getting through my backlog, Thor took it to a whole another level.
After I replace the second part of the shell, fix the hinge and replace the screen glass, I will be satisfied.
...and accidentally bricked my n3ds while trying to repair the hinge 🥲
Well, not bricked, I think the ribbon cable on the opposite side got stuck somewhere and it can't load now. I think some additional repairs are in order, but I'm a bit too tired from messing with it.
I am not sure I want to do every color as well 😭
But in fairness, getting colors is somewhat easier, I've got a lot of them pretty much by accident while grinding the rare breeds
Finally got all 80 flowers in StreetPass Flower Town
Introducing Demonic Stats Hub: Now Fully in Demon Language!
www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comm...
Reconstructed language structure, fully translated over 1600 strings, including hero and item names.
and they used gifts system to bypass Trade Protection.
TL;DR: a person at our community LAN event compromised multiple accounts by spoofing session files. One account is lost completely. From mine they just stole some rare/expensive items, collected over the years.
Wrote a big post on reddit about the situation and the assumptions about how it happened.
reddit.com/r/DotA2/comm...
This stuff might also be interested to other community LAN event hosts like Crimson Witnesses community
Reposts are greatly appreciated
Now at our place there are 2DS, New 3DS XL, an original 3DS, a random chinese retro console, RG DS, Ayn Thor, Steam Deck, Switch OLED and Switch 2.
How did that happen
Actually that 2DS was my very first game console. Well, not counting a chinese NES knockoff we had at our house when I was like 2-3 years old.
And since then I didn't exactly have any other game consoles or similar devices. I just didn't understand the point of having them.
There is so much cool stuff to do with it, the orignal 3DS design is awesome, and there were different limited editions 3DSes. Today I almost feel stupid for buying 2DS instead of Zelda 3DS XL. And for not using it as much all these years.
Eventually I've got myself a 2DS on a whim, played A Link Between Worlds and loved it. Then bought Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and never touched my 2DS for like 7 years and then a couple more years after that.
I sort of regret it now, in a way.
Way back in the day a friend of mine introduced me to Nintendo stuff with Wii U and 3DS. And while I liked the concept of Zelda games, I didn't actually play any of them and didn't really understand the point of 3DS.
at least playing old DS stuff on it felt very nice so no regrets there
Is it cheap? Yes, and very underpowered. But it's also very clearly trying to be a "DS in 2026" and it works great for that. And there is also some nice tinkering potential too
>>>
- Didn't test other systems much, but wanted to give a shot to 3DS. I was able to make Zelda ALBW working at a decent framerate and playable enough, same with New SMB 2. Something more lightweight will work fine.
>>>
- the sticks feel a bit awkward to use, but that's forgivable considering it's not a part of the intended usecase
- and speaking of indended usecase -- it's definitely not a powerhouse, but it works great for DS games. Can't handle anything more than that, but can't be mad for this price
>>>
>>>
- I heard a lot about the stiff hinge and how it's hard to open with one hand, etc -- and it's true, but also I kind of like it?
- heard people complaining about the Dpad, face and shoulder buttons, but I found them very similar to 3DS systems, and I like it
>>>
>>>
- but it i also CHONKY, I expected it to be around the DS Lite or original 3DS size, not about the same size as 3DS XL
- the back plate feels a bit too plasticky for my taste, but it's generally not too bad
- the screens feel very nice for this sort of device
>>>
And speaking of retro handhelds: recently saw Anbernic RG DS for $60 and heard that the device became quite decent with the updates (and also with the custom firmware), so decided to give it a shot
Some thoughts
- It looks very nice actually. Reminds me of the early 3DS editions
>>>
Not sure if I just don't have the time to play the games on them or if I enjoy the tinkering and setting things up way more than actually playing. Or maybe even the sheer fact of being able to play things is more than enough.
With all these retro consoles it feels like I'm compensating for not having any home or handheld consoles, or even a mobile phone for a very long time.
Now, being an adult, I can just buy all the funny little retro handhelds in the worlds, even repair some of them.
All that to never actually play.
As a distraction from work was fooling around with setting up Anubis on my server and gotta say, that went way smoother, especially considering what I was going for.
I streetpassed someone at TI10 on my 2DS and to this day I'm wondering, who that person was.
This, along with Cocoon launcher, made it the go-to gaming device for me. Spent some time this weekend playing Sonic Racing Crossworlds on the couch and polished it with some Sonic Rush experience. 10/10 would recommend.
And DAMN, in many ways it just replaced Steam Deck to me at this point because of how portable and convenient it is.
But it's not just that. It was already possible to play Steam games on Thor via GameNative. It was lacking in some aspects before, but it was still a decent option.
Now the compatibility is MUCH better and it supports achievements.
I connected my old 2DS to Azahar emulator to sync the hardware, backed up all the games I had and StreesPass saves, and now I legit think that in most cases it's just a better experience, to play all these games on a newer device with double OLEDs and more juice
Gotta say, I was nostalgic about 3DS and its vibes a lot recently, even got myself a New 3DS XL a year ago (as I only had a 2DS from way back). And in November I bought Ayn Thor.
And DAMN that's a very good and versatile device.