The Nintendo 3DS Is The Anti-Game Boy

The Game Boy was initially priced at US$99.99, but gradually became cheaper over time as production costs lowered. In comparison, Sega’s Game Gear cost $149.99, putting it in the realm of a home gaming console. When the console was released, Sega played up the machine’s technical features, while poking fun at Nintendo’s low-tech approach to handheld gaming. It didn’t matter, the Game Boy destroyed the Game Gear.

But where does the Nintendo 3DS fit in? Unlike the Game Boy, the Nintendo 3DS is outfitted with all sorts of bells and whistles — far more than what the Nintendo DS originally offered. The 3DS boasts a plethora of features beyond simple gaming. It can do augmented reality, it has a 3D camera, it can trade data with other 3DS owners players pass on the street. The bells and whistles on the 3DS are actually the most un-Nintendo thing about the product. This is a company who did not put a DVD player in the Wii, because it thought people should only play video games on it. Yet, the 3DS lets gamers view streaming television and movies, all in 3D.

Nintendo still seems to believe that the focus with the 3DS is fun, but at $249.99 and with its 3D tech (that’s making some ill, apparently), the 3DS is certainly not in the same spirit as the Game Boy. No doubt, Nintendo is hard at work on enjoyable and compelling titles, but the 3DS certainly isn’t this generation’s Game Boy. It costs more, and the battery life is apparently no where near the Game Boy’s 30 hour battery life.

The Game Boy was an every man’s portable. The 3DS is definitely trying to be that, what with its optional 3D effects. But that’s the thing, there will be gamers who shell out $249.99 and use the 3D effects, which are presumably causing higher production costs for the machine, and then never use them again. The original Game Boy was so barebones that players paid for what they got and pretty much used it all.