New AYN Thor stylus lets console embrace its Nintendo DS roots

Android-powered handheld gaming consoles are fantastically varied in their construction, and no matter what form factor you’re looking for, odds are good that there’s someone out there making it. Last year, fans of Nintendo DS-style dual-screen arrangements got a tantalizing new option with the launch of the AYN Thor. And now Thor is finally connecting with its DS ancestors through the launch of AYN’s latest add-on.

Take a quick glance at the AYN Thor, and you’d be forgiven for mistaking it from something out of Nintendo’s DS stable. It’s got the clamshell design, the dual screens, and if it weren’t for that second thumbstick on the right, it would look right at home next to a 3DS XL. But all those Nintendo consoles include something Thor’s been lacking: a stylus. If this is an oversight you’ve been dying to correct, you’ll want to check out AYN’s new Thor self-adhesive stylus.

As you gamers probably remember, Nintendo’s touch screens back in the DS/3DS era were the old-school resistive variety, where tapping would physically bend a membrane overlaying the screen. AYN’s Thor, meanwhile, has regular modern capacitive touchscreens. That means that the stylus you’ll need to interact with it is the round, “squishy” tip variety — not a perfect visual match, granted, but it’ll still get the job done.

Sure, you could use any old capacitive stylus with Thor, but here you get a nice color-matched leather-looking caddy to store the pen in, which makes this official option look like less of an afterthought. It’s also under ten bucks, so if you’re just picking up an AYN Thor now (even after those recent price hikes), completing your purchase with the matching stylus sounds like a no-brainer.