Product: Leapster2
Price: $69.99 (games MSRP $19.99 each)
Rating: One thumb up, on thumb sideways; 85/100; B; * * * 1/2
Pros: Rugged construction, easy to use, PC connectivity and backwards compatibility.
Cons: Some lag and touchscreen issues during motion graphics, stylus cord a bit short and system a bit fat.
Overall: A great buy for parents who want to make sure their kids are playing educational games on a system that will stand up to the occasional (even if accidental) beating.
When it comes to parenting in this well-connected and tech-savvy age, it’s dern impossible to keep kids away from technology. It can be quite a task for a gamer parent to make sure all of the wireless controllers and portable game systems are safely out of a little gamer’s reach.
One way to help satiate your kid’s electronics curiosities is to give them their own, kid-friendly handheld game system. A Nintendo DS is a nice choice but, face it, it’s a little too expensive and not sturdy enough to just give a 3-year-old to play with (well, maybe it’s OK for some kids). And those little brightly colored toys with buttons that make noises are too simplistic.
That’s where the Leapster2 game system comes in, offering kid-targeted educational games that can be played using a stylus and a touchscreen, game controller style buttons and super study construction. While the Leapster has been around a while, LeapFrog recently released its upgraded system the Leapster 2, which also includes a USB port, computer (Windows and Mac) connectivity and online status reports.
Design – The Leapster2 I was sent features a pink design with lighter pink plastic center area and back and a darker pink rubber sides. The system weighs 14.4 oz. (405 g) including batteries and stylus. The system measures 6.75 in. wide at its widest point, 4 1/8 in. tall at its widest (not including the stylus which adds 1/4 in. when inserted in the stylus slot) and 1 3/4 in. thick (including the back battery panel).
The stylus, which is blue, is 3 1/2 in. long and the string that attached it to the system is 7 3/4 in. long. Carts, which look a lot like old, wide GameBoy cartridges, are inserted into a slot in the top of the system. The screen measures 2 1/8in. wide and 2 in. tall (approx. 2 7/8 diagonal) and offers a limited but decent array of colors.
The Leapster2 system ships with a white, 40 in. USB cable, a fold-out manual (aka “Parent Guide’ with 6 panels on each side) and CD with the LeapFrog Connect software, which is also available as a download from the Leapster site.
Game cartridges, sold separately, are plastic and weigh 0.6 oz (15 g) each and measure 2 3/16 in. wide, 1 1/2 in. tall and 3/16 in. wide.
The SD card card slot is inside the battery compartment, which requires four AA batteries. The cover can be removed with a single penny (or any other coin) which fits into a spring-loaded screw. It only requires a 1/2 turn to unscrew or screw and requires a bit of pressure to accomplish (rescrewing also requires downward pressure to get the screw into the slotted hole).
On the top side of the system is the game cart slot, the power button and a USB port. On the face of the system, to the left of the screen is a small blue plastic Home button, Help button and a Pause button with a 4-direction pad under those. To the right of the screen is a larger “A” button” and, above and to the right of that, a smaller “B” button. On the bottom side of the system is a power supply port (power supply not included), a lower contrast button, a higher contract button, a brightness button, a standard headphone port, a decrease volume button, an increase volume button and the tiny slot with metal peg where the stylus string is attached.
Features – Much like the Nintendo DS, the Leapster2 has a touchscreen (although only one screen), stylus slot and plastic pen stylus, internal software, some internal memory and plays games loaded from small plastic carts. It’s intended to be played by small children so the system’s bulk is more for internal protection than ergonomics of small hands.
The system, intended for children 4- to 8-years-old, offers plenty of easy-to-access buttons for system control, making the need for a Home menu and restarts to make small adjustments - including volume and brightness - unnecessary. Those buttons are well placed and either recessed or flush to the system shell so accidental power presses or volume increases are pretty much impossible.
The system does come loaded with one game, Dragon Kingdom, and a Dragon Kingdom art application (the second “game") where little gamers can digitally scribble, paint and place animated “stamps” onto various cartoon scenes (or a blank screen). These can also be saved and transferred to the a computer (Windows or Mac) via LeapFrog Connect software to be printed or incorporated into an online progress page that can be accessed online with the proper login.
Dragon Kingdom, the game, is a top-to-bottom scroller where you use the control pad to move a flying dragon around to catch target letters or numbers (sometimes to complete math problems or spells words, depending on the difficulty) and collect coins.
The online interface (see the many screen shots in the Photo Gallery) allows you to check the progress and “Learning Path” of each profile on the system. This also works with other LeapFrog devices so you need to make sure you select the correct device. After some initial setup, and figuring out exactly where to go to check the paths, it’s only a few clicks away from the home page.
Game data can also be saved to an SD card (also not included) which, strangely, the manual suggests a card with 256 MB or less. So far there are not any downloadable games but LeapFrog does suggest some will eventually be available and offers a section for them on the web site.
Performance – After a couple animated loading screens and a menu selection screen, games load pretty quickly. Of course, there is an animated sequence with dialog for pretty much every step. They are meant to be information and can often be skipped by pressing the A button.
The system is rather comfortable for me to hold in terms of thumb position but I assume a kid with smaller, non-adult sized man hands might have a bit more of a struggle keeping this in had for very long. My 1 1/2-year-old son, who is rather adept at the DS, took to the Leapster2 right away and was able to turn it on, get to the art application and start scribbling, although he had to set it down or place it in his lap to play.
As for durability, I had my son play with the system on his own for about a week. He did a fair amount of banging on the screen with the stylus for the Dragon Kingdom “coloring” app and would occasionally roll the system off the couch and drag it around the house by the string-attached stylus. With a week of that abuse, the system didn’t show one scuff or scratch on the case or screen and the stylus has remained attached via the provided string.
As for playing, response time is decent but highly depended on the action happening on screen. the more action, the less accurate the response time. That means you might click non the screen, cause a small explosion and then have to wait a second before being able to press again. For the Dragon Kingdom game, which is a top-to-bottom scroller, the response time was a small issue since the control-pad actions and on-screen animations were fairly simple. For the game Star Wars: Jedi Math, however, there were many points with response voids due to (small and large) on-screen explosions and a lot of subtle animations.
The screen’s relatively low resolution works very well for most of the applications, including coloring and animated cutscenes. Letters and numbers are usually clear with a few exceptions in Jedi Math where a 5 might be mistaken for a 6 or a 3 when in a small textured coin.
Overall – Obviously not in the 5-8-year-old range, I had to keep telling myself, “This is not a DS.” Likewise, my baby gamer expected immediate response, quick load times and a less tethered stylus that he’s become accustomed to playing the DS. The touch screen, which performs quite accurately , and other controls are sometimes at the mercy of each game’s complexity and animations. Otherwise, the system does work very well and is certainly a hit with my baby gamer. Younger gamers seem to be pretty tolerant when it comes to small response lag although a more adept gamer might get a bit frustrated (or, better, learn to work around it).
The computer connectivity and online tracking are a nice features but I’m not certain how well maintained they will be in a busy household. Maybe a tech-savvy 5-year-old can update it his/herself to collect the rewards and convince mom or ad to print their latest Jedi math certificate. The main problem there is that the Leapster2’ does forget game data after a while, so some regular uploads are necessary.
I do have a few suggestions for LeapFrog’s next system. First, include a power cable. I understand that a power cable for a kid’s handheld game system seems a bit silly (as a tangling, shocking, choking and knocking-stuff-over hazard) but batteries do run out at the most inopportune times. On that note, think like Nintendo and incorporate an internal, rechargeable battery. Then the power cable would really be for charging and would be two less expenses for parents. Third, lengthen the stylus string a couple inches to allow small hand the ability to lift the stylus to admire their work. Also, put a flip cover on the cart slot. Stuff accumulates in craziest places. Finally, if possible, make the system a little less fat and shift the controls down a little to accommodate little hands. Again, it was comfortable for my large man hands and proved quite rugged and lap-playable for my little gamer.
This is a great little portable handheld system for kids too young to properly handle a Nintendo DS. The games do seem to be quite educational, usually offering three difficulty levels and reasonably priced at $20 each. LeapFrog did well to include a game and art application preloaded in the system. Also, the backwards compatibility with original Leapster games means you can quickly increase your kids’ edugaming library by visiting a few sale bins and garage sales or gathering hand-me-downs from friends.
Oh, and note that the Leapster2 game carts do come in a white DVD-sized box, so make sure you are not confusing them with Wii games
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