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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - The success of the 3DS has vindicated Gunpei Yokoi and the Virtual Boy

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SegataSanshiro on 12 January 2018

Wonderswan redeemed him. It was an awesome system and fairly successful in Japan. It got all the Final Fantasy ports when Square hated Nintendo.



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PortisheadBiscuit on 12 January 2018
Mandalore76 said:

A fair amount of the 153 million people who bought a DS prefer those "limited" games that can be found in the mobile market.  Unless the Nintendo Switch sells over 150 million units, the mobile market did take that chunk of people away from handheld, and they aren't coming back.

Excellent point! The Brain Age, Nintendogs, and Cooking Mama type games are what catapulted the DS to that insanely high lifetime sales figure. Sure the Pokemons, Marios, etc; assisted in that but a huge chunk of DS core demo moved on to Angry Birds, Candy Crush, Pet Rescue, Bakery Story etc; 

Which is why I always feel it's a little unfair to compare the DS and 3DS sales figures. 3DS sales figures arent too far off GBA and hasn't had the luxury of more than a decade on the market with a phenomenon (Pokemon) occur deep into its life cycle to help catapult sales like the GB. 



AlfredoTurkey on 14 January 2018
Mandalore76 said:
AlfredoTurkey said:

Agreed. It can fester down there together with waggle and motion controls.

Without that, we wouldn't have immersive VR today.

Yeah.. that only 2% of PS4 owners even own....



Lucas-Rio on 14 January 2018
PortisheadBiscuit said:
Mandalore76 said:

A fair amount of the 153 million people who bought a DS prefer those "limited" games that can be found in the mobile market.  Unless the Nintendo Switch sells over 150 million units, the mobile market did take that chunk of people away from handheld, and they aren't coming back.

Excellent point! The Brain Age, Nintendogs, and Cooking Mama type games are what catapulted the DS to that insanely high lifetime sales figure. Sure the Pokemons, Marios, etc; assisted in that but a huge chunk of DS core demo moved on to Angry Birds, Candy Crush, Pet Rescue, Bakery Story etc; 

Which is why I always feel it's a little unfair to compare the DS and 3DS sales figures. 3DS sales figures arent too far off GBA and hasn't had the luxury of more than a decade on the market with a phenomenon (Pokemon) occur deep into its life cycle to help catapult sales like the GB. 

The DS was once in a lifetime console for Nintendo I believe. It was ahead of his time, popularized touch screen gaming had a lot of innovative and simple games that are now on  mobile.3DS is going to end with a honourable score , competing with smartphone and much better but much more expansive games. I do hope Nintendo continue to support the 3DS 1 or 2 more years until they release a successor. There are still a market for pur handheld.

The 3D did not help the 3DS, let's be honest. And Gunpei Yokoi did not leave because of the Virtual boy failure.



farlaff on 14 January 2018
Mandalore76 said:
killeryoshis said:
Who wrote this? AThe 3DS did so badly Nintendo had to take losses so it wouldn't fail. The 3DS is a disappointment sales wise. It should be at 100+ million. Nintendo focusing so hard on 3D is what caused such a big drop. If anything it shows that 3D will never be a big seller. It shows that even the mighty DS could not make it successful. Hopefully the idea stays in a radioactive dump where it belongs.

A. I wrote this.

B.  Yes, Nintendo took a loss on hardware after launch, but returned to profitability with software and declining costs of the hardware down the road.  Addressed in OP.

C.  It would be difficult for any dedicated handheld only device to reach 100+ million in a market/climate that is already shrinking.  To claim that the "3D" is what shrunk the market is ignorant of the impact that mobile phones have had on it.  Addressed in OP.

Fantastic read! Loved it. Don't bother the naysayers, your point is just great



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burninmylight on 14 January 2018
Mandalore76 said:

A. I wrote this.

Keep up the good work!



GhaudePhaede010 on 14 January 2018

DS and Wii had already vindicated Gunpei but the use of 3D in the 3DS was most definitely a closure of sorts on the final open chapter from Gunpei's living days.



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VideoGameAccountant on 14 January 2018
Mandalore76 said:
killeryoshis said:
Who wrote this? AThe 3DS did so badly Nintendo had to take losses so it wouldn't fail. The 3DS is a disappointment sales wise. It should be at 100+ million. Nintendo focusing so hard on 3D is what caused such a big drop. If anything it shows that 3D will never be a big seller. It shows that even the mighty DS could not make it successful. Hopefully the idea stays in a radioactive dump where it belongs.

A. I wrote this.

B.  Yes, Nintendo took a loss on hardware after launch, but returned to profitability with software and declining costs of the hardware down the road.  Addressed in OP.

C.  It would be difficult for any dedicated handheld only device to reach 100+ million in a market/climate that is already shrinking.  To claim that the "3D" is what shrunk the market is ignorant of the impact that mobile phones have had on it.  Addressed in OP.

Nintendo didn't return to profitability until the Nintendo Switch. With the exception of FY 2014, Nintendo lost money from 2011 to 2016. This is probabloy the longest the company had gone with consecutive net losses. The 3DS was an adjunct failure and was the cause of Nintendo's financial difficulty. It's also Nintendo's worst selling handheld. So Nintendo focusing on 3D lead to Nintendo becoming unprofitable and trashing the company's handheld line. 



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KilleyMc on 14 January 2018
farlaff said:
Mandalore76 said:

A. I wrote this.

B.  Yes, Nintendo took a loss on hardware after launch, but returned to profitability with software and declining costs of the hardware down the road.  Addressed in OP.

C.  It would be difficult for any dedicated handheld only device to reach 100+ million in a market/climate that is already shrinking.  To claim that the "3D" is what shrunk the market is ignorant of the impact that mobile phones have had on it.  Addressed in OP.

Fantastic read! Loved it. Don't bother the naysayers, your point is just great

I share this sentiment, anyone that thinks that the 3DS sold 70+ millions "in spite" of its 3D has no idea what  he's talking about.



zorg1000 on 14 January 2018

Like Rol said, very few people bought a 3DS because of 3D, they bought it because it was the only portable device to play new games in franchises like Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Mario, Monster Hunter, Smash bros, Yokai Watch, Dragon Quest, etc.

Very few people care about 3D hence why its no longer being pushed by movies & TVs, PS4 doesnt support it while PS3 did, Nintendo keeps releasing non-3D versions of 3DS and Switch doesnt use it.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.