The Master of Handheld Gaming Consoles: Nintendo

With the launch of Nintendo Switch Lite,
Nintendo has come full circle on its handheld consoles pedigree. While the
original Switch launched last July can be considered as a portable console in a
way, it wasn’t exactly worthy of being considered a standalone portable gadget.
Nonetheless, Nintendo is undeniably the leading gaming console manufacturer
when it comes to portable gaming consoles, with successes like Gameboy and
Nintendo 3DS under its name.

Other gaming console manufacturers like
Sony have tried emulating Nintendo’s success and have seen limited success, but
never really caught off. As of 2019, 30 years of handheld gaming consoles has
been quite a turbulent journey.

Before taking a deeper look at the
successes and flops of the handheld gaming consoles, let’s check out what we’ve
got in store with the Nintendo Switch Lite.

One of the major drawbacks of the Switch
Lite is that it will only be able to play those games which are supported in
the original’s handheld mode. While almost all Switch games do support handheld
mode, it’s still worthy of consideration. Moreover, games that do not support
handheld mode can be played by connecting wireless controllers.

As mentioned earlier, the new Switch lite
is much lighter and significantly smaller than the original Switch. This makes
it easier to carry it around or dump it in a bag when not in use. A welcome
change in the new Switch is the redesigned, proper D-pad, and while the screen
size has been reduced, it maintains the same 720p resolution, making games look
just a little bit crisper. Of course, players will still need detachable
controllers for full-motion controls, but the Lite does support motion aiming
for certain games without needing those detachable controllers.

·
Size dimensions at 8.2 x 3.6 x
0.6 inches (The original’s dimensions are 9.4 x 4 x 0.6 inches)

·
Weighs 278 grams (Original
Switch weighs 400 grams)

·
3 initial colour options –
Yellow, Gray and Turquoise

·
3 to 7 hours of battery life
(2.5 to 6.5 hours on the original Switch)

·
Same 720p resolution

·
5.5-inch screen size (6.2 inches
on the original Switch)

Nintendo’s new console is, as expected, an
evolution of the original and holds a striking resemblance to it along with
many useful changes that help make it smaller and easier to handle. Also, since
it’s intended to be a purely portable console, it doesn’t have the original’s
capability of hooking up to a TV. Let’s get the specs out of the way first:

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From what we’ve heard so far about the new
Nintendo Switch Lite, it’s already panning out to be a great success. Nintendo
is unique in the sense that the games designed for its consoles aren’t
graphically heavy, but focus on gameplay more. Many gaming ‘purists’ tend to
merely dismiss the games coming out for Nintendo’s consoles are ‘cartoonish’,
but the fact is that Nintendo is a pioneer of the gaming industry and has been
one of the most popular gaming companies for decades.

The Nintendo Switch Lite isn’t the
company’s first foray into handheld gaming consoles. In fact, Nintendo’s first
portable gaming console game out in 1980, called “Game & Watch”. Game &
Watch wasn’t a one-off console, but a series on consoles that continued till
1991. Each console held a single game that could be played on an LCD screen,
and had a built-in clock and alarm. The line of consoles included games that
have been a Nintendo Staple, like Donkey Kong and Legend of Zelda.

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During the last years of the “Watch &
Game” series, Nintendo launched another line of handheld gaming consoles called
the Gameboy series, arguably the most successful gaming consoles ever. The
original Gameboy was launched in 1989 and came with a 2.6 inch 4-shade LCD screen
and could multiple games via interchangeable game cartridges. It was powered by
4 AA batteries and could also be used via a wall socket. The Gameboy’s success
came about as a result of excellent marketing, affordable price tag and long
battery life.

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Overall, Nintendo released 6 Gameboy
consoles. These were:

·
Gameboy (1989)

·
Gameboy (1996): A smaller and lighter
version of the original with an improved black-and-white screen.

·
Gameboy Colour (1998): Included a colour
screen and significantly more powerful processor. It was also backwards
compatible with all previous Gameboy games.

·
Gameboy Advance (2001): The Gameboy
advance was a major departure in the design department from previous Gameboys,
adopting a more controller like appearance. Gameboy Advance is considered to be
the final form of Gameboy and is the best-selling Nintendo system of all time,
with a total of 81.41 million sales.

·
Gameboy Advance SP (2003): A clamshell
version of the Gameboy Advance with a back-lit screen.

·
Gameboy Micro (2005): Final version of
the Gameboy series. As the name implies, it was a much smaller version of
Gameboy Advance.

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Following the success of Gameboy, Nintendo
released the Nintendo DS. The DS line was a major departure from conventional
handheld gaming consoles and included innovative features like two screens and
a stylus. The DS lines capabilities also went beyond simple games, being
capable of downloading apps and surfing the internet. Overall, Nintendo
released 4 versions of the DS.

·
Nintendo DS (2004)

·
Nintendo DS Lite (2006)

·
Nintendo DSi (2008)

·
Nintendo DSi XL (2009)

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After the DS, Nintendo released the
Nintendo 3DS in 2011. The 3DS featured 3D and could support AR games as well.
Nintendo also released a larger variant of 3DS called the 3DS XL.

Nintendo’s handheld gaming history has been
a successful and vibrant one. There can be no doubt that they are the pioneers
in the portable gaming industry, and if history is anything to buy, they may
just as well continue that success with the Nintendo Switch Lite.

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Updated October 12, 2019

The Master of Handheld Gaming Consoles: Nintendo

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