Last updated on 2012-08-20, by Tony

13 Year Evolution of Nintendo 3DS

In recent days, the gaming tycoon Nintendo had released New Super Mario Bros. 2, the latest Mario game exclusively designed for Nintendo 3DS. As a 3D Mario game, New Super Mario Bro.2 bears the mission to help revitalize Nintendo. Though over 19 million units of Nintendo 3DS had been sold by July 2012, Nintendo still saw itself walking downhill.

Released in 2011, Nintendo 3DS was initially designed to compete with Sony PSV, the latest product of Sony PSP. With Nintendo 3DS, users can not only enjoy glasses-free 3D games but also shot 3D pictures. To watch 3D movies, 3DS users need to operate the whole process with micro SD card after converting videos to AVI files for Nintendo 3DS with a free 2D to 3D converter.

After going through major ups and downs, five generation of PSP are available in the market now. After 13-year evolution, Nintendo finally changes its 2D game console to 3D game console. The evolution of Nintendo had witnessed the major ups and downs of Nintendo in 13 years. Therefore, this post will present a general view of the 13-year evolution of Nintendo 3DS.

1. Success of The Game Boy

As a handheld console released by Nintendo in 1989, the Game Boy soon gained tremendous success in the market. The great advantage of the Game Boy lied in its compatibility to all NES game and part of other popular games like KOF. It was equipped with four buttons naming “Start“, “Select“, “A” and “B” respectively and a directional pad. Moreover, it enabled one user to connect to another Game Boy system with the help of a link cable once they are playing the same game.

2. Failure of the Virtual Boy

In the evolution process of Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo had made several effortless attempts to develop 3D game console. Released in 1995, the Virtual Boy was designed as a table top video game console which could provide 3D graphics out of a box. When playing games with the Virtual Boy, user needed to look into an eyepiece in the front of the machine while operating with a joystick. Consequently, the Virtual Boy not only provided poor 3D quality but also uncomfortable gaming experience.   

3. Return of the Game Boy

The lesson learnt from Boy Virtual made Nintendo put more focus on the development of its favored product, the Game Boy. Later various versions of the Game Boy were released which earned good reputations in the market. Available in a lower price, the Game Boy Pocket was small in size but high in resolution. The Game Boy Color provided users much better gaming experience via a color screen.  

4. The evolution of NDS

Released in 2004, Nintendo DS was a portable game console designed to compete with Sony PSP. NDS was equipped with two separate LCD screens, a build-in microphone and Wi-Fi support. The lower screen was a touch screen so as to allow users to operate with fingers. Moreover, the beautiful outlooks and simple games had brought users various potential customers including children and working females.    

5. The release of Nintendo 3DS

In 2011, Nintendo 3DS was released which brought the evolution of Nintendo 3DS to an end. As a portable game console that can project glasses-free stereoscopic 3D effects, Nintendo 3DS also features backward compatibility. With 2GB internal Flash memory and 128 MB RAM, Nintendo 3DS can provide users extraordinary gaming experience. Moreover, the release of various 3DS Mario games including Super Mario 3D Land, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and New Super Mario Bros. 2 help Nintendo 3DS to earn good reputations.

All in all, in the 13-year evolution of Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo had produced various successful game consoles including the Game Boy and Nintendo DS as well as disastrous game devices like the Virtual Boy. This post just presents you a panoramic view of those popular devices that influenced the evolution of Nintendo 3DS.