Nintendo Shuts the Lid On 3DS

Nearly a decade after it first arrived, Nintendo has discontinued its 3DS handheld gaming device.

During its nine and a half years on the market, it sold a staggering 76 million units.

But now a notice on its Japanese website said “manufacturing of the Nintendo 3DS family of systems has ended.”

End of the road

Nintendo had showed the 3DS device to the world back in June 2010, at the E3 video game convention.

However it only released the handset the following year.

The Nintendo 3DS came with a 3.53-inch top screen and a 3.02-inch bottom touch screen and had three cameras – one inner and two outer – to deliver the 3D effect and take 3D pictures.

This allowed the device to trick the human eye into seeing 3D images, yet without the need for special glasses.

The Nintendo 3DS also included a motion sensor, a gyro sensor and a Slide Pad that allowed 360-degree analogue input.

Initially sales of the device were said to be disappointing due to its £200 plus retail price and unappealing games.

However sales soon picked up after a hefty price cut just a few months after its release down to between £100 to £150.

In 2016 Nintendo launched a bug bounty programme on the vulnerability coordination website HackerOne, focused on the Nintendo 3DS handheld console.