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:

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.

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.

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.

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)

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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