The 3ds in Review
So, The 3ds Era is coming to an End.
I mean yea there are a few games still in Development for the 3ds, but None of them are big Game Changers, only Smaller Titles and Remakes Which I suspect will be the only things left in Development for a while.
So I want To Talk about the 3ds, a Little System that went a Long way.
Announcement and History
Nintendo has been experimenting with stereoscopic 3D video game technology Since the 1980s, and they attempted to Incorporate Stereoscopic 3D in some of the consoles, Starting with the Virtual Boy, a system that was Far Too Ahead of it's Time that Ultimately Killed the System.
After the Virtual Boy's Failure Nintendo Tried to Make Stereoscopic 3D work on the Gamecube while it was in Development, and while it Showed promise Nintendo Ultimately Decided Against it as 3D Technology, while was better Then Before, is Still Not there yet
Eventually Nintendo Began Development on the DS Successor in 2009 and Eventually The 3ds was Announced in March 2010 and officially unveiled it at That Year's E3, and was Released in Japan in February 2011, and in Everywhere Else a Month Later
Launch
When the System Launched It had Two Glaring Issues, the Games that Launched with the system were Lacking at best, and Many People Saw the System as Overpriced. So Nintendo Sought to Fix both of these Problems. They cut the Price of the System and People who Bought the 3ds Before the Price Cut were Eligible for the Ambassador Program.
The Ambassador Program Allowed People who Bought the 3ds before the Price cut to Download 10 NES games and 10 GBA games for Free.
While Sales were Boosted, the Existing games were Still Lacking, and the Ambassador Games were not available forever. However it Lasted Long enough for Bigger and Better games to get Released on the System.
Once Large Titles like Mario Kart 7, Mario 3d Land, and Pokemon X and Y Launched on the System the Sales Skyrocketed. At this Point, the 3ds was a Success.
Bigger and Better
In 2012 Nintendo Released Larger Models of the 3ds, or XL Models. While Nintendo Denied the Rumors about the Larger model, they Still Announced it Earlier then Planned.
Eventually in 2014 Nintendo Announced the New Nintendo 3ds or N3ds as I like to call it. This More Powerful Model could Run games Faster, Had a Built in NFC Chip, and Even had Exclusive games, It's the DSi of the 3ds Family. However unlike the DSi, this one Retained the Backwards Compatibility with the Previous Era of Systems. It also Has Exclusive access to the SNES Virtual Console.
Decline
So, Where is the System Now?
The 3ds is Ultimately going to Die like other Systems before it, What Started it was the Announcement of the Switch. Many people Thought Nintendo was going to Abandon the 3ds like with what they did with the Wii-U. But Since the 3ds was so big of a Success Nintendo is going to Milk it as much as they can till the 3ds Eventually Dies off. I don't really Blame them Either.
However the 3ds' Death is coming faster then you think, Game Freak as Stated that 2017's Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were the Last Main Series Pokemon games on the 3ds and all Future Pokemon titles after Detective Pikachu were going to be on Switch. Fire Emblem is already Moving back to Consoles in over 10 Years with the Next upcoming Fire Emblem title going to be on Switch. Finally Animal Crossing, while we don't know what's coming next, is most likely going to be on Switch.
So, that's about it for the 3ds' History.
What do I think about the 3ds? well it's an Awesome System, and it speaks Volumes that this thing Competed with Sony's PSVita, a Technologically Stronger System in every way. and Sold more then Double amount of units then the Vita Worldwide.
This System is Easily Portable, Had some Amazing Games, and was Generally Cheaper then the Competition. So it's a no Brainer that the 3ds outsold the Vita.
The 3ds will go down in Gaming History as the one Thing that Kept Nintendo Alive During the Darkest Part of Nintendo's History.
I am Ultrawing, and I will see you all Later.