So do you believe it would have sold significantly less if it didnt have 3D?

The real question here is, what in the world makes you think it would have sold more without the 3D? No iterative update Nintendo has ever released sold better than its predecessor. I do not think 3DS would have sold much better without 3D. It was not as good a product as DS with or without 3D. 

I didnt say it would.

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

To me that implies that 3D was a major selling point of 3DS and sales would have been much lower without it hence why i asked him that question.

Not really as the VB is more comparable to the virtual reality devices we see today which seem to have gone quiet rather than the 3DS.

Maybe it actually implies that while 3D clearly wasn't a major selling point for the 3DS, it wasn't actively driving customers away either. Considering that unlike the Wii and U's primary controllers and selling points, it was entirely optional from the get-go. The only manner in which 3D hindered the 3DS' trajectory was the initially high price point at launch, but I have yet to see anyone acknowledge that this had just as much if not more to do with the lack of first party software available as well. The 3DS launched with such memorable titles as Steel Diver and didn't really begin to take off until games like Ocarina of Time 3D and Mario Kart 7 finally launched. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall those games coming after the price cut.

I think the 3DS in its own right was profitable for Nintendo after the first few years, otherwise it wouldn't still be on the market 6-7 years later. Other things IMO were contributing to Nintendo's losses after fy 2014. Having to develop a brand new system so quickly after a failing one (Wii U), Nintendo has never had to do that before. I'd imagine development costs for Switch's 4 juggernaut launch year titles would've drained them as well. 

Though I do think 3DS somehow contributed to Wii U's eventual failure. Nintendo pumped so much money into saving 3DS that they probably weren't willing to do the same all over again for Wii U. They kinda just hung it out to dry it seems. 

That could be what he meant, thats why i asked.

you're kind of doing some leaps in logic and into puddles of unknown. THe majority of people didn't buy the 3DS for it's 3D abilities, that was just a quirky bonus. in the end 80 million is extremely solid, particularly when you look at the fact that its competition will probably not end up with much more than 15 million.

I just think the reality is if ANYTHING the 3DS was held back by its technology. In an age of smartphones and tablets a lot of gamers aren't going to be thrilled by games that are often sometimes like 240p, even if the screens are small enough to make things look better. 

and that's where the Switch comes in perfectly- it's a more appropriate group of specs for today. In the end though in no time Nintendo was making a lot off of 3DS systems and the system did well for its worth.  comparing to the DS as some sort of argument for failure is just silly though, the DS is akin to the PS2 as far as perfect storms are considered. PS2 came at the perfect time with a DVD player, and arguably a huge amount of its success was the fact that it included that in a period of transitioning media. the DS came at a period where smartphones were still in an early stage AND I believe it offered an internet browser with wifi, essentially an early mini tablet of sorts. Again, a perfect storm as far as timing

3DS put up very solid numbers given it's limited graphics and whatnot. I mean the fact that 80 million people potentially bought a handheld at 240p up until 2018 suggests that its a great handheld as far as convenience, game library, etc.

as for the thread quote- kind of a strange thing considering the 3DS and Virtual Boy are nothing alike and 3D is far from why the 3DS was successful. 

3d TV's tho.

It implies that 3D had nothing to do with the problems 3DS faced in its first year, and once that it had the software to sell it and an adequate price point is started selling great. If the hardware is undesirable, no ammount of good software and/or offers could help with that, see Wii U as an example. 

Looking at last week's Media Create numbers, for all its new models and cheaper price, the New 2DS isn't exactly destroying the 3DS sku in sales in Japan.