The Families of Nintendo Consoles

Not counting the Game N’ Watch and the Virtual Boy, Nintendo has released a total of 12 consoles as of this day. Six of them are home consoles, four of them are handhelds, and two of them are hybrids. An interesting fact about Nintendo’s history of consoles is that they switch up the formula every two consoles.

There are four different families of the home consoles, and three different families of the handhelds.

Handheld Families:

• Gameboy Family
  • Gameboy
    • Gameboy
    • Gameboy Pocket
    • Gameboy Light
    • Gameboy Color
  • Gameboy Advance
    • Gameboy Advance
    • Gameboy Advance SP
    • Gameboy Micro
• DS Family
  • Nintendo DS
    • DS
    • DS Lite
    • DSi
    • DSi XL
  • Nintendo 3DS
    • 3DS
    • 3DS XL
    • 2DS
    • new 3DS
    • new 3DS XL
    • new 2DS
• Switch Family
  • Nintendo Switch
    • Switch
    • Switch Lite
    • OLED Switch
  • Nintendo Switch 2

Console Families:

• NES Family
  • Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Super Nintendo Entertainment Sytem
• Prime Family
  • Nintendo 64
  • Nintendo GameCube
• Wii Family
  • Wii
  • Wii U
• Switch Family
  • Nintendo Switch
  • Nintendo Switch 2

Nintendo Handhelds:

The four handheld-only consoles of Nintendo’s were the Gameboy, the Gameboy Advance, the Nintendo DS, and the Nintendo 3DS. The handheld super-era started on April 21^st, 1989, when Nintendo released the Gameboy in Japan. The same era ended on April 8^th, 2024, when the 3DS servers were shut down.

One interesting fact is that for every handheld they had, one of the later models had features that would be used by not just the next handheld, but all future handhelds. In particular:

• The Gameboy started in black and white. They released a smaller version to fit in your pocket, and a backlight to add light to the screen. But the later model was the Gameboy Color, which had the gimmick of displaying images in color. All handheld systems had color afterwards.
• The Gameboy Advance built upon the Gameboy Color, while also adding shoulder buttons. It was capable of playing larger games for the handhelds, but not quite ready to play games as powerful as what the consoles had at the time. The later model was the Gameboy Advance SP, which had a rechargeable battery and a clamshell model, which is what the second half of the handhelds would eventually follow.
• The DS built upon the Gameboy Advance SP, but also became the first handheld to have a touchscreen, wireless connectivity, and home features like chat and options. The DS Lite was a better model than the original DS. The later model was the DSi, which had the gimmick of connecting to the internet, while also having downloadable software and a camera. Guess what happens next.
• The 3DS built upon the DSi, but also added the equivalent of the control stick – the circle pad. It was the most powerful of the handheld-only consoles, as it can play bigger games and 3D games. It also had the 3D gimmick, but that didn’t catch on well. The later model was the new 3DS, which had amiibo connectivity and a few more buttons.

The clamshell model was eventually dropped on the Nintendo Switch, but by then, handhelds have become more powerful, and can play larger games like the consoles can. The Nintendo Switch seems to have continued this trend when they had the OLED Model, which was supposed to be the more advanced version of the Switch.

One thing all four handheld families had in common was that Pokémon games were more dominant. While the console games weren’t without Pokémon games prior to the release of Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu/Let’s Go Eevee, every main series Pokémon game were exclusively made for the handheld systems for the longest time. The Gameboy had the Kanto and Johto generations, the Gameboy Advance had the Hoenn generation, the DS had the Sinnoh and Unova generations, and the 3DS had the Kalos and Alola generations. All of them were within the first 20 years of the franchise’s run. Amusingly enough, the first generation released on each handheld always sold better than the second generation on each handheld. Pokémon Scarlet/Violet was the first to break this trend, except that it was on the Nintendo Switch. Moreover, every Pokémon game released after Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow didn’t sell as well as Red/Blue/Yellow, and every handheld-exclusive Pokémon game released after Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal didn’t sell as well as Gold/Silver/Crystal. As each new generation introduced new gimmicks, the different platforms changed the eras better than others. In particular:

• Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald introduced modernized base stats, natures, abilities, and double battles. These were essential to the Pokémon games going forward. These games were also the first Pokémon games to introduce the concepts of generations.
• Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum not only split moves between physical and special in every type, but also introduces internet-based features, which improved Pokémon forever. Even the remakes of older generations carried these features.
• Pokémon X/Y would essentially be considered the first “modern” Pokémon game. It had a language select screen, character customization, battle gimmicks, the current type-effectiveness chart, and 3D graphics.
• Even Pokémon Sword/Shield did something like this. Sadly, it was the first Pokémon game where not all Pokémon species were available. It was also the first to have 3D gameplay in some form, the first to have DLC, and the first to have experience candies (which allowed me to quickly level up Pokémon en masse.

In the second half of the handheld systems, Animal Crossing would make its way through. While it had games on both the GameCube and Wii, the handheld was deemed better for Animal Crossing. Within the first three games, Wild World (DS) sold the most copies. And New Leaf (3DS) was regarded as the best Animal Crossing game and sold better than Wild World.

Nintendo Consoles:

On the other side, we have the Nintendo Consoles. Unlike the handhelds, the consoles didn’t really release different models of the same kind (except for the Wii). However, both consoles from each family had a couple things in common.

• The NES Family consists of the NES and SNES. Both consoles primarily had pixelated games, synth music and sounds, support for two controllers, and cartridge-based structure. Later SNES games, like Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario RPG had more advanced graphics and advanced sound quality, but they remain to be primitive in comparison to today’s graphics and sound.
• The Prime Family (named after Metroid Prime) consists of the N64 and GCN. Both consoles pioneered 3D gameplay, had support for four controllers, switched from 2D to 3D gameplay, and had additional hardware where you can play Gameboy and Gameboy Advance games. Many new video game franchises (like Animal Crossing) or series (like Paper Mario) started on these two consoles, and the ones that didn’t start on these two consoles have started a new era for the franchise (i.e. Super Mario). Many GameCube games had similar gameplay to the Nintendo 64 games, while they also have their niches that have not been seen for many years.
• The Wii Family consists of the Wii and Wii U. Both consoles primarily focused on motion controls, had internet connectivity, downloadable apps and games, and disc-based structure. One notable difference between both consoles is the polarizing sales. The Wii was Nintendo’s most successful console before the Switch, while the Wii U was Nintendo’s biggest failure besides the Virtual Boy (probably even worse than the Virtual Boy since Nintendo at least jumped off the ship immediately when the Virtual Boy sank, which they didn’t do with the Wii U).

The Switch Family also continued this trend, where both consoles had the same aspects. The Switch and Switch 2 both were handheld/console hybrids, had detachable joy-cons, adjustable stands, and charging docks. It’s also the same family to have a paid subscription service called Nintendo Online.

An interesting fact is that every home console sold worse than the previous one. The one exception was that the Wii, which outsold the NES and was the first Nintendo console to exceed 100 million in units sold. But its sale numbers of 101.63 million units was an outlier. The NES sold 61.91 million units, the SNES sold 49.10 million units, the Nintendo 64 sold 32.93 million units, the GameCube sold 21.74 million units, and the Wii U sold 13.56 million units. If there’s anything that remained consistent, the first console of each era sold better than the other.

One thing all Nintendo consoles had in common, from the Nintendo 64 to the Wii U, was that they had the following:

• A 3D Super Mario game
• A Mario Kart game
• A Mario Tennis game
• A Paper Mario game
• A Mario Party game
• A Donkey Kong platformer
• A 3D Zelda game
• A Smash game
• A Pokémon spin-off
• A new game franchise

They also had their own oddities that you couldn’t find on other consoles. The Nintendo 64 had even more oddities, such as:

• A racing game akin to 3D platformers
• A Pokémon game about taking pictures (no longer unique as of 2021)
• A 3D Donkey Kong game (no longer unique as of 2025)
• A Pokémon game based on the anime
• A game where you can use voice chat to talk to a character
• Translucent console models

And I think that’s all for today.