Dual-screen gaming could and should return in the Switch 2 era.
Nintendo doesn’t normally let fans in on its hardware plans, but if you’re the type of person to spot trends, it’s clear the Switch 2 will become the Mario maker’s everything console. Nintendo has started offering more hardware specifically tailored for playing its old, defunct consoles. The inevitable next step is for the company to let us return to its most popular handheld ever, the Nintendo DS.
Today, Nintendo decided it was time to bring back what is likely its least popular gaming hardware it ever released. The $100 Virtual Boy for Switch 2 revives Nintendo’s first use of stereoscopic visuals and the odd bipod-mounted headset for playing them. That modernized system is a relic—a blast from the past—that makes use of the Switch handheld hardware as the screen. While Nintendo has been releasing new controllers routinely for its Nintendo Classics list from the NES all the way up to the latest revitalized GameCube controller, this is the first instance of a specific device to feel authentic—as if you’re thrown back to 1995 and playing the weird 3D console for the first time.The DS was Nintendo’s best-selling device
While the Virtual Boy was Nintendo’s worst-selling console ever—only managing to move 770,000 units in its lifetime—the company’s top-selling device is still MIA from the Nintendo Classics list. The Nintendo DS first launched in 2004 but hit its stride with the DS Lite in 2006.
