Just hear me out. Reading that Polygon article that praised the Switch made me realize something. Nintendo will support 3DS for a while and then there will be no turning back. What's the point of releasing a 'portable like' game when they're no longer bound by technologic shortcomings? Would you buy Hey Pikmin! or Pikmin 4? An traditional Pokémon game or a full fledged MMO experience? I know there's some franchises that have thrived in the handheld environment like Zelda or Metroid and there will always be an audience for that, but I feel like some games only existed because they were portable versions of 'full games'. You could take them on the go and that was the beauty of it but it wasn't the full experience.

Switch gives you the best of both worlds and kinda proves that people wanted the home console experience on the go, just done right (sorry Vita). There's no need to make a game thinking about short gaming sessions like Super Mario 3D Land, and viceversa, Pokémon games on home console was never great because the connectivity and interaction with other players was missing. All these games also needed to be different since there would always be another version.

Nintendo did that, they blurred the line. No need for 'handheld gamig' anymore. Just gaming, period.

Switch mini.

Well, I'd say that there's already been a few generations worth of consoles-worthy games in terms of the quality of the game, but we're now finally reaching the point where the power of the console has caught up.

Somewhat clickbaity, but yes. Technology allows handheld gaming doesn't need to be bounded by the limitations of the past, now it can be practically equal to regular gaming.

I think there is still a market for handheld gaming like the 3DS. This could be a much cheaper device aimed at children who aren't really bothered about a console like experience on the go. Why not have different devices and software to cater for different age groups. Adults and teens buy up the premium device and parents can buy the cheaper more durable devices for the kids.

I don't think the Switch merging the two lines is going to impact handheld games that much. If anything it will give us more experimental games/New IP's since Nintendo won't need to make as many "duplicate" games of certain franchises anymore (Aside from MK because I'm pretty sure we'll get MK9 on the Switch in 2-3 years). The next Zelda will likely be a 2D one seeing as Aonuma seemed interested in making more of them, so we won't lose anything really.

I don't think that's necessarily the case.  On the one hand, developer's won't need to make console and handheld versions of the same game, which is a good thing (especially for Nintendo's development teams), because that time, money and resources can be allocated to other game projects.  On the other hand, you are still going to have developer's creating games with short spurt gaming sessions very much in mind.

The title is accurate. The rest of the post... Not so much.

I was thinking about games like ALBW and Metroid Fusion because they're unique experiences and also terrific games by themselves. But if we ever get a new 2D Zelda it will be because it works, not because they need to play by the handheld gaming rules.

I mean handhelds were going to catch up eventually, and there is doubt that lower budgets titles won't be released on Switch which offer experiences similar to the handhelds of yore.