Im not going to argue with you on the rest because there are literally hundreds of topics in this forum and others arguing this, and you seem set on your opinion so there is no point.
BUT what the f... do you do to your consoles that they are all worn out and unusable?
I have a draw full of gameboys, gba sp, ds/ds lite/dsi all in perfectly good working condition. Even my DMG gameboys are working fine. What is this obsession you have with worn out buttons?
P.S. For the money a ds lite is the best way to play gba games. Boxed sp ? Lol
yeah its not like I explain my opinion at all it's just my gut feeling right?
and i guess not everyone gets multiples of a console or the updated versions to be able to spread out usage. i'm basing all of this on my younger brothers and the consoles they brought down between age 5 and age 17 as well as hundreds of thousands of topics about breaking and repairing these consoles from all across the web.
many consoles of the past were notorious for certain things breaking surprisingly often.
the ds lite was notorious for it's l and r buttons (and consequently, countless topics about 'does this game us the R button?) and i do remember a bunch of dpad issues in the later years too. and the same is true for the lites hinges. first they get lose and wobbly, then they won't click in at all, then one or both sides break off entirely. I still remember people modding these broken hinged systems into dedicated one screen gba machines.
the psp (especially the 1000 one) was notorious for both the dpad and the X and O buttons wearing out early (because the swampy dpad sucked form the beginning and X and O are simply the most used buttons).
the original gba was known for issues with the dpad, specifically left and down on it.
the gba sp was much more sturdy in the button department than all of these (though again, L and R were known troublemakers lateron), but many colors had the paint job messed up within a few short months of pocket carrying. also, the charging port was a well known source of complaint in the later years.
all of these happen even quicker in the hands of a child and since all of these consoles are currently available only used, chances are it's going to have some issue already (like an L button that requires a harder press or a worn out battery barely giving 40 minutes of playtime) or even sooner.
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2DS XL is a bad option for a child, the top screen design is too fragile. Even looking at them wrong and they break.
at least on that, we can agree.