All nintendo consoles list. All Nintendo Consoles in release order

Ranking the Nintendo Consoles

Now that the Nintendo Switch is five years old, where does it rank in a list of the best Nintendo consoles?

It was in 1985 that Nintendo launched the Nintendo Entertainment System on North American shores and forever changed the video gaming industry; decades later, the company is seeing great success with the newest member in their console library, the Nintendo Switch. Now that we’re in the midst of another generation of great gaming, Goomba Stomp has decided to update our ranking of every console Nintendo has released over the years. We believe that each console on the list has had a major influence on both the industry and gaming culture, and whether for better (Super NES) or worse (Virtual Boy), the industry as a whole is indebted to Nintendo.

Quick Note: We first published this article back in 2015 when we launched our website, but while we had more (and different) writers participate in the voting process this time around, the order surprisingly hasn’t changed much. In fact, the only difference is that we’ve added the Switch to the list.

Also worth noting: Prior to 1985, Nintendo already had insane success with the Famicom and Game Watch in Japan. However, we’ve decided to rank the consoles dating back to the Nintendo Entertainment System, since most of our writers reside in North America and Europe, and didn’t grow up playing any of the Japanese exclusives. With that out of the way, here is our list ranking all the Nintendo consoles over the years.

Best Nintendo Consoles #13: Virtual Boy

The Virtual Boy proved to be a dismal failure for Nintendo. It was an absolute, bonafide disaster, and supposedly forced the retirement of creator Gunpei Yokoi, the brilliant mind behind the once-successful Game Watch (not to mention legendary producer of such games as Metroid, Donkey Kong, and Mario Bros.). It didn’t take long before Nintendo realized their mistake, and just months after its release, they decided to pull the plug.

The 32-bit system (powered by six AA batteries) was marketed as the first portable video game console capable of displaying “true 3D graphics.” Designed as a set of red-coloured VR goggles mounted on a tripod with a controller wired in, the Virtual Boy demanded users hunch over and cramp their back in order to play. It was weird, and perhaps too weird for its own good. In many ways, however, it was also ahead of its time.

The console featured sharp, high-resolution graphics, and was capable of some extraordinary gameplay. Unfortunately, the system was largely overshadowed by its controversial LED (Light Emitting Display) technology, which rendered the visuals in monochromatic red on black. Even worse, the system was not intended for use by children under the age of seven, and displayed warnings on the box and in the manual that cautioned users about long-term side effects, including permanent damage to the eyes. Those who did purchase the console complained about sickness, flashbacks, and painful migraines. Although the system was a huge failure, diehard fans still defend it to this day, praising the quality of games and the well-designed controller featuring asymmetrical button configuration, dual control pads, and comfortable handles. (Ricky D)

Best Nintendo Consoles #12: Game Boy Color

While mostly retaining the same hardware as the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color’s primary competitors were the much more advanced Neo Geo and the WonderSwan by Bandai (released in Japan only). Though the Game Boy Color crushed the competition in sales, it had a very short lifespan. Nintendo chopped shipments in 2001, effectively making the era of GBC only three years long. While it features a pair of secondary Zelda games as well as a pair of Pokemon titles, there really isn’t a true classic to be found in the system’s entire repertoire. Games made specifically to take advantage of the system’s hardware were few and far between, and while the addition of color was a welcome change, Nintendo and gamers were getting ready to move on.

Best Nintendo Consoles #11: Game Boy

The iconic 8-bit handheld video game device was created by Gunpei Yokoi and Nintendo Research Development 1 — the same staff who had designed the Game Watch series nearly a decade earlier. Redesigned versions were released in the form of Game Boy and Game Boy Light (Japan only), but for the most part, each version contains the same hardware as the original. The Game Boy was the very first internationally successful handheld gaming system, and upon its release in the United States, it sold its entire shipment of one million units within a few weeks. It was a phenomenon, and the start of the popular handheld gaming trend.

On the design side of things, the Game Boy was made simple and devoid of any true styling. The plastic is light gray in color, and has a slight texture, but that’s about it. But where the Game Boy does stand out is in build quality. It might just be the toughest gaming console ever made, sturdy enough to survive a bomb, and it’s the first video game system to travel to space.

However, the big problem with the original Game Boy is the screen. It features four levels of gray to augment the lack of back-lighting, and while players could adjust the screen’s contrast with the slider on the device’s left side, the display quality isn’t very impressive, remaining extremely grainy and difficult to see in most lighting conditions. And of course, the original Game Boy didn’t display any bright, shiny colors; instead, we got a horrid green and grey screen — a decision Nintendo made in order to save on battery life (four AA batteries last for up to thirty hours of gaming on the system).

The library of Game Boy games includes deep entries into the Super Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and Final Fantasy series, and in total there were 716 games released worldwide. These games also include classics like Mario Tennis, Shantae, Kid Dracula, Metal Gear Solid, and Mortal Kombat, to name a few. And lest we forget, the Game Boy is responsible for unleashing two of gaming’s greatest phenomenons: Tetris took the world by storm, and Pokemon Red and Blue launched an international craze. The games are classic — and more importantly, they are fun, which is what truly makes any console special. Unfortunately, it isn’t the pinnacle of handheld gaming, as some would like to claim. That system comes later in this list.

Best Nintendo Consoles #10: Game Boy Advance

The Game Boy Advance was not as revolutionary as the Game Boy Color, but it proved very profitable, selling a whopping 81.51 million units worldwide. The handheld featured a 32-bit RISC processor and a sharp, colorful, reflective LCD screen. In other words, we’re talking about a portable system that performs at roughly the same level as a Super Nintendo. With hardware comparable to the home console, the Game Boy Advance also helped further advanced sprite-based technology. In terms of battery life, GBA did fairly well. You could play 14.5 hours using only two AA batteries. In addition, it was designed for maximum comfort, and was released with a dozen accessories, including a wireless Adapter, a link cable, an e-Reader, a cleaning cartridge, and so much more.

The major downside was the lack of original games. Being able to play your favourite SNES games on the go was a major selling point, but when it came to original content, there wasn’t much to be found. Instead, the library of Game Boy Advance games is comprised mostly of remakes and re-releases, many of which were sub-par to the original games. In fact, the GBA is the only major Nintendo console to not have its own original Super Mario title. That’s not to say it wasn’t worth the 70 — two great 2D Metroid titles and the first Fire Emblem game to hit stateside was reason enough to own one. Along with a fresh, updated entry in the Castlevania series, a few critically acclaimed entries in the Mario Kart and Zelda franchises, and backward compatibility, the Game Boy Advance was a worthy successor to the original Game Boy. (Ricky D)

Best Nintendo Consoles #9: Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS came at the perfect time, long before mobile games such as Angry Birds and Candy Crush sold millions to just about anyone who carried a cell phone. From 2004 to 2011, the Nintendo DS dominated mobile gaming by introducing distinct new features, including two LCD screens working in tandem (the bottom one featuring a touchscreen), a built-in microphone, and support for wireless connectivity. It was the also the first device of any kind to effectively introduce touch controls, something we now take it for granted. The DS is capable of displaying 260,000 colors, and both the screens are backlit — making them easy to see outside and indoors, something the Game Boy Color couldn’t get right. To date, it’s the second-best-selling platform on this list; in fact, all Nintendo DS models combined have sold 154.01 million units, making it the second-best-selling video game console of all time period (beaten out by the Playstation 2, which sold 155 million units).

With the DS, Nintendo began to market to demographics beyond typical young-adult males. The DS featured a strong library, introduced online play, and catered to both the hardcore and casual gamers alike, giving them theProfessor Layton franchise, WarioWare, a new Animal Crossing game, a brand-new 2D Super Mario title, and even a Grand Theft Auto game. Add on three excellent Castlevania titles, Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time, as well as a ton of Pokemon games, and you’ve got a library that justified the cheap 150 price tag.

So why does it rank so low on our list? The DS era was sort of an experimental phase for Nintendo that would eventually bring us the much-improved 3DS. In truth, many DS games have not aged well, and although the system introduced some excellent new features, we simply prefer other consoles over this. (Ricky D)

Best Nintendo Consoles #8: Wii U

Nintendo’s Wii U console has somewhat of a bad reputation, and with reason, since it is perhaps Nintendo’s greatest commercial failure.

That said, a console should never be judged by the number of units in sales. The Dreamcast is without a doubt one of the greatest consoles ever produced, and yet sales did not meet Sega’s expectations. Despite several price cuts, the Dreamcast sold only 10.6 million units worldwide. Of course, we all know what happened next: Sega discontinued the Dreamcast, and respectively withdrew from the console business. However, Nintendo isn’t Sega, and the company was never in any danger of closing shop. In fact, despite the low number of sales, Nintendo at least made back its money on the WiiU — and more importantly, one can argue that the Wii U’s gamepad served as inspiration for the Nintendo Switch.

In terms of computing power, the Wii U lags behind the field. It has practically no AAA 3rd party support, and its primary feature — the gamepad — has proven integral to only a handful of games. That said, despite the Switch poaching, the Wii U has a great library of exclusive games, such as Super Mario 3D World and Pikmin 3, that still has us going back to play it every so often. The Wii U is also home to amazing HD remakes like The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and DuckTales, as well as surprise hits such as Hyrule Warriors and Captain Toad, not to mention the critically acclaimed Bayonetta 2.

And let’s not forget that Nintendo released an exciting new IP in Splatoon, a third-person shooter which went on to sell one million copies in less than a month, and Super Mario Maker, the company’s first robust level editor, with the option to download and play levels created by members of the online Wii U community. Furthermore, the Wii U library includes Yoshi’s Woolly World, Star Fox Zero, Xenoblade Chronicles X,and dozens of indie darlings like Shovel Knight, Adventures of Pip, and Guacamelee! The WiiU is also compatible with most Wii games, and includes an online virtual store where you can download titles from previous Nintendo systems, including the NES, Super NES, N64, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance and more.

As someone who’s owned every Nintendo console, I’m not interested in Nintendo having the most powerful system. Once again, it all comes down to games, and the Wii U has all the above and more. (Ricky D)

Best Nintendo Consoles #7: 3DS | New 3DS XL

The surest way to make a system’s greatness apparent isn’t hardware specs or a sleek, smooth design; it’s games, plain and simple. I bought the Wii U and 3DS at the same time, around the time the former released. Yet for all the dazzling HD tech behind the latest home console, it was the little portable that would take up all my gaming attention for a good long while, for one reason and one reason only: games. Nintendo’s 3DS may have had a slow start, but after a couple of sizeable hits, suddenly the dam burst.

The 3DS’ library wound down its life not only full of a vast multitude of titles, but a wallet-scaring number of absolutely fantastic ones. Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Resident Evil: Revelations, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Pokemon X/Y, Bravely Default, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Kid Icarus: Uprising and oh-my-god so many more. That’s not even counting the remakes of Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask and Star Fox 64, or all the incredibly addicting eShop downloadables, Virtual Console hits, and the obsession-inducing StreetPass diversions.

Sure, it doesn’t have the power of Sony’s Vita (except in sales comparisons), a second analog stick would’ve been great (the New 3DS’ nub doesn’t quite do the trick), and the 3D is more of an interesting technology gimmick than a gameplay enhancer, but neither these nor any other niggling issues have mattered to me in the slightest. Nintendo’s 3DS quickly shot up my personal list of favourite consoles because of the sheer number of amazing experiences I’ve had, and with an amazingly massive back catalog, it looks to stay that way for quite a while. (Patrick Murphy)

Best Nintendo Consoles #6: Wii

Released November 19th, 2006, the Wii was Nintendo’s seventh generation console. Competing against the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, the Wii held the lead in the “console wars,” selling more than 101 million units in the first quarter of 2012. With the Wii, Nintendo revolutionized the way we play video games, focusing on innovation and gameplay over fancy graphics and multimedia. And with it came the Wii remote, a handheld controller that made us play games using movement. The Wii also focused on a broad target demographic, with an array of first-party and third-party games for everyone. It offered classic mainstays of Mario, Zelda, and Metroid titles, (most notably Super Mario Galaxy), but also introduced us to grittier and darker games like Madworld, No Heroes, Silent Hills: Shattered Memory and Manhunt 2.

The Wii was also excellent for being fully backward compatible, with the ability to still play your GameCube games, as well as use the old controller as well. The Wii Virtual Console even had an extensive library of classic titles, where players were able to purchase games from the NES, Sega Genesis, N64, and even the Neo-Geo. The Wii maintained its dominance for several years, but slowly started to fade out as most customers transferred into high-definition televisions, and the Wii graphics started to pale next to the 360 and the PS3. However, the Wii still stands as one the great consoles today despite its lack of technological advancements in the console races. Innovative gameplay and design are what really made this model shine. (Aaron Santos)

Best Nintendo Consoles #5: Nintendo Entertainment System

The Japanese video game giant Nintendo emerged as a global leader in the video game industry when it unveiled the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. The NES went on to become the best-selling gaming console of its time, and thirty years later, the NES still plays a major influence on the entire industry. Now, I’ve heard the argument that the admiration toward the NES is largely due to nostalgia, but one can make that very same argument towards anything we hold dear, including any one of the consoles appearing on this list. However, the Nintendo Entertainment System stands the test of time, proven by the simple fact that gamers still purchase and/or play NES titles to this day. And even though Nintendo stopped production of software for the NES, the aftermarket library keeps growing, with countless new titles made by many diehard game designers who’ve studied the nuts and bolts of the Ricoh 6502 processor and put their practice to good use. Some even go the extra mile and produce cartridges, boxes, and manuals, and sell their creations online.

This console helped revitalize the US video game industry following the video game crash of 1983; it introduced a plethora of now iconic video game characters, a ton of accessories and it forever changed the relationship of console manufacturers and third-party software developers. The NES was the first true must-have video game console, and if you couldn’t afford one, Nintendo also changed the rental market by allowing video stores to rent their systems and games. But put aside how it saved and changed the industry — what makes the console great is the library of games.

The NES boasts a grand total of 826 titles to choose from (713 licensed and 113 unlicensed games), including a number of groundbreaking hits. Super Mario Bros. pioneered side-scrollers, while The Legend of Zelda helped popularize battery-backed save functionality. Metroid was lauded for being one of the first video games to feature a female protagonist, and Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! is still regarded as one of the greatest sports games ever made. Has there been any other console that released hit after hit at the rate Nintendo did during the NES days? Along with these titles, there is also Castlevania, Mega Man, Metal Gear, Mother, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Contra, Kid Icarus, Ninja Gaiden, Kirby’s Adventure, DuckTales, and the many sequels that outdid their predecessors. Take for instance Super Mario Bros. 3, which was leaps and bounds beyond any other game released back in the day, not to mention the five Mega Man sequels, which are still considered the very best in the franchise.

Here’s a console that changed the industry as a whole, and continues to inspire and entertain to this day. For all these reasons and more, the NES is, in my opinion, the greatest video game console ever made — Nintendo or otherwise. (Ricky D)

Best Nintendo Consoles #4: N64

The Nintendo 64 is probably Nintendo’s most polarizing console released to date. Ask someone about it, and they’ll most likely rank it either among the best consoles ever released, or way down at the bottom of the list with the likes of the Virtual Boy and the N-Gage. Some simply couldn’t get past its weirdly shaped controller, and many criticized Nintendo’s choice of sticking with cartridges when CD-ROM was already the norm, but no one can deny the console’s impact on the industry, in terms of both hardware and software.

Nintendo consoles have always been at the forefront of innovation, and the N64 was no exception. With a growing trend towards multiplayer games, the N64 was the first console to launch with four controller ports. The controllers, which plugged into said ports featured the first digital thumb-stick, allowed the player 360-degree control over their in-game avatar — and best of all, the stick could be controlled using just a thumb, unlike those huge analog joysticks from past consoles. Those three-pronged controllers were also the first on a home console to have a rumble feature, thanks to the Rumble Pak which debuted alongside Star Fox 64, and it also pioneered the use of trigger-style buttons with its Z-Trigger. Yes, the Nintendo 64 was behind on the times when it came to the use of CD-ROM technology, but it changed the industry none the less. Four controller ports, thumb-sticks, trigger buttons and the rumble feature all became industry standard moving forward.

Cool hardware innovations are always welcome, but consoles are remembered for their greatest games, and the Nintendo 64 had no shortage of industry-changing titles. GoldenEye 007 took the beloved genre of first-person shooters, which had previously only found true success on the PC platform, and made it viable on consoles. With its atmospheric single-player campaign and its wide array of competitive multiplayer options, GoldenEye paved the way for the Halos and Call of Duty games to come. Super Mario 64 was the first game to feature a camera that could be moved freely and independently of the character, giving the player freedom and control in a 3D space like never before, and changing 3D game development forever. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, to this day, is seen by many as the greatest video game of all time. And the list goes on: Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Banjo-Kazooie, Super Smash Bros, Star Fox 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Perfect Dark, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, and on and on. Almost every console released to date has some great games and a handful of true masterpieces to their credit, but the Nintendo 64 has dozens of genre-defining and awe-inspiring classics.

While the N64’s collection of games is its greatest strength, the lack of depth in its library is a glaring weak point to many. The mass majority of great N64 titles, including all those mentioned above, were developed by Nintendo or Rareware. There were great games from other developers (WWF No Mercy, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, and Resident Evil 2 to name some), but they were few are far between. Due to the limitations of the cartridge format, and the difficulty of developing games for the N64 compared to the PS1, many 3rd party developers opted to simply ignore the console, which resulted in the N64’s game library topping out at about 500 games, whereas the Playstation has over 3000 titles in its arsenal.

It’s very easy to draw parallels between the Nintendo 64 and the the Wii U; both systems launched with hardware that was not up to par when compared to their contemporaries, which resulted in them having a severe lack of 3rd-party support, and thus underwhelming game libraries. The difference is that while the Wii U has a handful of amazing first party games, the N64 has dozens. For those who look at sheer numbers, yes, the Playstation undoubtedly has the larger library, but at the end of the day, it comes down to quality versus quantity, and I’d always take the former over the latter. It may not have been the technological marvel of its time, and it certainly didn’t get the 3rd-party love that Nintendo would have hoped for, but the Nintendo 64’s elite game library gives it just enough to stand tall amongst the greatest consoles ever made. (Matt De Azevedo)

Best Nintendo Consoles #3: GameCube

Charm can go a long way. Just ask the average-looking person dating someone out of their league, or the not-so-Smart guy at work who somehow got the promotion you know you’d be more qualified for. Nintendo’s GameCube may have lacked some of the more obvious desirable video game console traits, but it more than made up for it with quirky appeal and some of the most offbeat and memorable risks of Nintendo’s long history. Right off the bat, you couldn’t help notice that this adorable little box was purple, with a handle on the end that made it seem more like a portable toy than a high-powered gaming machine. There was a choice immediately to be made, and you either walked away, or (like myself), not only rolled with it but cracked a big smile.

The GameCube may be the most “Nintendo” console the company has ever made, and those who stuck around were treated to the kind of fun magic not to be found anywhere else. Experimentation like a cel-shaded Zelda, Marios’s FLUDD, and the very idea of a 3D Metroid game not only working but blowing people away, cemented Nintendo’s desire to innovate. The mood was contagious, with companies like Capcom pushing the limits of weirdness with titles like Viewtiful Joe and Killer 7, and Resident Evil 4 took the series in an awesome direction that would shape the franchise for years to come. The Gamecube may not have had the packed library of its competitors, but what it did have were destined to become classics. Even the controller has garnered its share of fierce loyalty, with many Smash Bros. players (loads of whom still put Melee at the top of their list) preferring its eccentricities to a more standard device.

The GameCube didn’t try to be cool; it was comfortable with what it was, and from the moment the iconic startup screen sounds its familiar tones (unless you found one of several Easter eggs), one can’t help but be endeared all over again. (Patrick Murphy)

Best Nintendo Consoles #2: Super Nintendo

For many gamers in my generation, the first console that they learned to love was the NES. Not so for myself. Though I did enjoy that ugly flip-lidded machine for a year or so from kindergarten onward, it was the SNES that gave me my first real taste of what would become a life-long hobby. When my brother and I opened the SNES on Christmas morning all those years ago, it was pretty much an instant addiction. We started with Super Mario World and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time, but it wasn’t long before we were moving on to the bevy of exciting titles that were constantly being released on the 16-bit juggernaut. While my brother started to drift away from video games, preferring more casual fare as the years went on, I only sunk deeper. Titles like Super Metroid, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy VI only further cemented my hardcore devotion to gaming in each of its facets and iterations.

A stellar step forward for consoles and arguably the finest machine Nintendo has ever produced, the SNES defined and refined what gaming could be for generations to come, all while launching a dozen franchises that continue even to this day. Unfortunately, a series of missteps from Nintendo over the years — from a failed collaboration with Sony, whose Playstation would eventually topple Nintendo from the top of the heap, to the gimmicky consoles and handhelds which have defined the company of late — has caused the storied legend of the SNES and its insanely impressive line-up of genre-defining titles to be largely been relegated to the hope of glory days past rather than the expectations one might attach to a promising future. Nevertheless, I’ve owned a dozen consoles and handhelds since I first encountered this tiny box of joy, yet none have ever filled me with the charming warmth that this nostalgic contraption still holds.

Long live the SNES! (Mike Worby)

Best Nintendo Consoles #1: Switch

Nintendo’s latest addition to its illustrious history of gaming consoles can be considered one of its finest. From its portability to its ever-growing collection of wonderful games, the Nintendo Switch offers an experience for everybody, something not many consoles can boast.

The secret to the Nintendo Switch’s success lies in the DNA of every past Nintendo console. Every time the Switch vibrates, it’s a reminder of the Nintendo 64’s rumble pack; every time the motion controls are activated, it’s a reminder of the Wii remote; every time the switch is removed from the dock and taken on a journey, it’s a reminder of every handheld console Nintendo has produced. Every piece that makes the Nintendo Switch is a nostalgic adventure back into the past.

But while that might sound rigidly static in its approach, it’s surprisingly innovative. The Nintendo Switch has a melody for every audience. There’s not a time nor a place where the Switch can’t be played, whether it’s on the train to work or laying on the couch after a tiring day. It has appeal to both the hardcore and the casual gamer allows it to sit in several different markets and create enjoyment for entirely different reasons. Its flexibility is perhaps the feature that the Nintendo Switch will inevitably be remembered for. All that and the incredible library of games! (James Baker)

All Nintendo Consoles in release order

Nintendo is a global household name, even to people who don’t really play games. Currently functioning as a Japanese multinational video game company that was originally founded in 1889, what was known as Nintendo Karuta back then started out by producing handmade hanafuda playing cards.

It was only nearly a century later when Nintendo began distributing its first ever video game console—and the rest was history.

If you’re guessing that their first console was the NES, then you’d be wrong. Continue reading below if you’re curious about every single Nintendo game console the company produced, from the mega-successes to the ultra-niche failures.

All Nintendo consoles from oldest to newest

Color TV-Game (1977-1980)

Color TV-Game is a series of five dedicated home consoles released over the span of four years, only in Japan. Each console contained a small number of games and a built-in controller. The consoles cumulatively sold three million units, approximately.

The Color TV-Game console series consists of:

• Color TV-Game 6 (June 1, 1997) with six variations of Pong.
• Color TV-Game 15 (June 8, 1978) with 15 variations of Pong.
• Color TV-Game Racing 112 (June 8, 1978) with a racing game.
• Color TV-Game Block Breaker (April 23, 1979) with a game based on Breakout.
• Computer TV-Game (1980) with Computer Othello.

Game and Watch (1980)

The Game and Watch changed the scene for the early years of gaming when it was released, popularizing the idea of taking your games wherever you went. The console wasn’t incredibly popular, but it had a hassle-free wireless design and compact body, a model that is being followed by Nintendo for their newer consoles to date.

The Game and Watch series sold 43.4 million units worldwide.

Family Computer/Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) (1983)

The Nintendo Entertainment System was the company’s first home video game console released outside Japan and was consequently when Nintendo became a global name in the video game industry. Launch titles of the legendary console include Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, and Pinball.

The NES was marketed as the Family Computer—abbreviated as Famicom—in Japan, with the console selling 61.96 million units worldwide and helping revitalize the video game industry following the video game crash of 1983.

Game Boy (1989)

The Game Boy was the first handheld game console sold by Nintendo that possessed interchangeable ROM cartridges for each game. The Game Boy was the first console in the Game Boy family and had a bunch of various reiterations and upgrades, such as the Game Boy Light and the Game Boy

The Game Boy is one of the best-selling game consoles around the globe, selling more than 100 million units worldwide.

Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) (1990)

Even with intense competition from the Sega Genesis that was released around the same time, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was a smash hit. Officially abbreviated as the SNES, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System is known for upgrading Nintendo’s stacked game library, adding invaluable sequels into the company’s most famous franchises, which in turn made the games even more critically acclaimed. Some of these games were Super Mario World, Final Fantasy VI, Super Metroid, and Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Even though the console got off to a late start, the SNES turned out to be the best-selling console of the 16-bit era, selling 49.1 million systems worldwide.

Virtual Boy (1995)

What was basically a 90s attempt at virtual reality, the Virtual Boy had players lean into a visor mounted on an elevated surface to indulge in true 3D graphics through an effect known as parallax. Unfortunately for Nintendo, the reviews were sour as users felt more queasy than in awe after experiencing games through their new console.

While you could say that the Virtual Boy was ahead of its time, the players of its era certainly did not appreciate it, causing it to become Nintendo’s least-sold standalone console at less than one million units sold worldwide. The Virtual Boy was consequently shelved months after its release.

Nintendo 64 (1996)

The N64 is a noteworthy name in Nintendo’s history of consoles, getting its name from the 64-bit CPU it used, with the N64 being Nintendo’s last home console that required cartridges.

While the console was successful initially, it did have to compete with the Sega Saturn and Sony’s Playstation, leading it to undersell the SNES at 32.93 million systems worldwide.

Game Boy Color (1998)

Acting as the successor to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color featured an 8-bit processor and a custom Zilog Z80 central processing, made to compete with the WonderSwan Color and the Neo Geo Nintendo also made the console backwards compatible, leading the Game Boy Color to skyrocket in popularity as it saved users money by letting them have extensive game libraries on a single system.

The Game Boy Color sold a whopping 118.69 million units worldwide, making it the fourth-best-selling system of all time.

Game Boy Advance (2001)

The Game Boy Advance was the first major technological upgrade in the Game Boy line, with better graphics and a wider range of colors available to developers. Nintendo then released two revised versions of the GBA, the Game Boy Advance SP and the Game Boy Micro in 2003 and 2005, respectively.

The three Game Boy Advance models went on to sell 81.51 million units worldwide.

GameCube (2001)

The Nintendo GameCube was the company’s sixth generation console, the same gen as Sony’s Playstation 2, Microsoft’s Xbox, and Sega’s Dreamcast, which meant that it had tons of competition to deal with. The GameCube was Nintendo’s first console to use optical discs instead of cartridges.

The Nintendo GameCube sold a cumulative 21.74 million units worldwide.

Pokémon Mini (2001)

The Pokémon Mini was a portable console themed around the Pokémon franchise while also being Nintendo’s cheapest console ever sold at 40 per unit. Additionally, each of the games sold cost a mere 15 each, with titles such as Pokémon Party Mini, Pokémon Breeder Mini, and Togepi’s Great Adventure.

Sales of the Pokémon Mini were incredibly poor, and there are no reliable records of how many units were sold.

Nintendo DS (2004)

Nintendo completely overhauled its handheld console design with the release of the Nintendo DS, a device that introduced a creative new dual-screen setup. The bottom display featured a touchscreen that could be used to interact with games, while the top screen acted as a regular LCD screen.

The Nintendo DS’ main rival was the Sony PSP, but since the console boasted backwards compatibility with GBA games along with a couple of revised models with improved performance and features, the DS line cumulatively sold 154.02 million units, making it the best-selling Nintendo system and the best-selling handheld game console to date.

Wii (2006)

The Wii was Nintendo’s seventh-generation home console. The system was designed to appeal to a wider audience than those of its main competitors, the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 by specifically marketing towards casual players and audiences that were new to video games. This aim was emphasized by the Wii Remote accessory, a user-friendly handheld motion controller.

The Wii was a huge success for Nintendo, selling 101.63 million consoles worldwide and leading the Wall Street Journal to declare that Nintendo had become “the company to beat in the video games business.”

Nintendo 3DS (2011)

While the look is nearly identical, the Nintendo 3DS is the successor to the DS and a new console at the time. The 3DS notably showed off three cameras, one internal and two on the outside.

In 2012, the 3DS CL was released, with larger screens and design changes. Following this, the Nintendo 2DS was released, a variant designed to be more affordable without the clamshell design or 3D capabilities.

The Nintendo 3DS family of systems combined has sold 75.94 million units.

Wii U (2012)

The Wii U was released as a direct successor to the Wii, and the first entry in the eighth generation of home video game consoles. The Wii U features more-extensive online functionality than the Wii, supporting online multiplayer and downloading and purchasing new games and apps, while also supporting video chat. Unlike the Wii, the Wii U is capable of high-definition graphics.

The Wii U reportedly went on to sell just 13.56 million units worldwide.

Nintendo Switch (2017)

The Nintendo Switch was Nintendo’s second entry in the eighth generation of home video game consoles, acting as a hybrid device that can be used as a home console inserted into the Nintendo Switch Dock attached to a television, stood up on a table with the kickstand, or as a portable console.

The console features two detachable wireless controllers called Joy-Con that can be used on their own or attached to a grip. The Nintendo Switch Pro Controller is a traditional style controller similar to the one of the GameCube.

As of March 2023, all Nintendo Switch models have sold more than 125 million units worldwide, making it Nintendo’s best-selling home console and the third-best-selling game console of all time, right behind Sony’s Playstation 2 and the Nintendo DS.

Nintendo Switch Lite (2019)

The Nintendo Switch Lite borrowed all the elements that made the Switch a success while taking away the option to plug the console into a television. With a simple user interface along with internet connectivity, the system became popular with even the most casual, non-gaming crowd.

Even though the Switch Lite cost less than the Switch, it did not compromise on the array of the games that could be played on the console, with almost all Switch games available on both systems. The Nintendo Switch Lite went on to sell 20.40 million units worldwide as of December 31, 2022.

Yash Nair

Yash is a freelance writer based in the tropical state of Goa, India. With a FOCUS on competitive Pokémon, he also writes general guides on your favorite video games. Yash has written for sites like Dot Esports and TouchTapPlay, and has a distinct love for indie video game titles.

Every Nintendo Console, Ranked Best To Worst

Ever since the first Nintendo hit the shelves in 1985, Nintendo has been synonymous with making great games. Known for constantly ideating and developing innovative ways to game, Nintendo is truly a one-of-a-kind developer, and while some systems have become classics, others, well, not so much. That’s why we’re looking back at all the Nintendo consoles released over the years, including all the handheld ones.

Remember when Nintendo decided to try their hand at virtual reality in the mid-90s? It didn’t pan out so well. Still, the ill-fated Virtual Boy helped pave the way for systems like the 3DS, and it introduced a handful of new Nintendo franchises, including Mario Tennis.

When ranking these consoles, it’s important to factor in the games and legacy they created. While newer systems naturally have better graphics and, arguably, more robust games, the older generations are still classic in their own right. Can the Wii hold a candle to the SNES? And is the GameCube better than the N64? You tell us. From the NES to the Switch (and even the Virtual Boy), we’ve listed all 13 major Nintendo consoles throughout the years.

Vote up all your favorite Nintendo systems, and vote down all the do-dum duds.

SNES

Photo : Evan-Amos / Wikimedia Commons

Release : 1991 Worldwide units sold : 49.10 million Generation : Fourth While the NES heralded a new era of gaming, the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) solidified Nintendo’s reign as console king. Actively competing with the Sega Genesis, the new 16-bit system sold nearly 50 million copies in its 13-year lifespan (for comparison, the Sega sold roughly 30 million). In addition to a new controller packed with additional controls (and those awesome new top L and R buttons), the Super Nintendo was as flawless of a follow-up as any company could get. Some of the most popular SNES games include Super Mario World. Donkey Kong Country. Super Mario Kart. Street Fighter II.

Nintendo

Release : 1985 Worldwide units sold : 61.91 million Generation : Third Upon its release, the Nintendo Entertainment system instantly transformed the world of gaming. Gone were the clunky joysticks and awkward graphics of the Atari days; with revolutionary 8-bit graphics, gamers could now play their favorite arcade games at home. Before the Nintendo, video games of this caliber could only be had at nearby video arcades. Having to pump quarter after quarter to advance was something of a chore, but with the NES in your living room, you could play for hours on end without ever having to cash a fiver. The NES gave rise to some of gaming’s biggest franchises, including Mario. Metroid. The Legend of Zelda. and Final Fantasy. It’s hard to find fault with a console that’s given us all that (and more).

Nintendo Switch

Release : 2017 Worldwide units sold : 61.44 (and counting) Generation : Eighth After the colossal flop of the Wii U, the Switch’s ultimate success breathed new life into Nintendo’s console market share. Built off the Wii’s universal acclaim, the Switch is designed to be an everyday handheld console. And while it may not be able to sport the same graphics capabilities as the Xbox One S or PlayStation 4 Pro, its innovative functionality more than makes it up any graphical shortcomings. Nintendo exclusives like Mario Kart and Animal Crossing have dominated the console market, not to mention the fact that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is currently one of the highest-rated games of all time.

Game Boy

Release : 1989 Worldwide units sold : 118.69 million Generation : Fourth As the first in the surprisingly large Game Boy family, the original handheld device was blocky, bulky, and utterly beautiful. Sporting then ground-breaking 8-bit graphics (basically the same as the NES without the added colors), the first Game Boy is still the most commercially successful handheld device ever made. While Sega’s Game Gear featured better graphics and audio, the Game Boy was much more durable, and it featured a longer battery life. Plus—and let’s be honest here—the Game Boy also introduced the Pokémon franchise, making it hard for any other handheld console to compete.

GameCube

Photo : Evan-Amos / Wikimedia Commons

Release : 2001 Worldwide units sold : 21.75 million Generation : Sixth Released after the N64, the GameCube included many of the former console’s design choices (namely the four controller slots and joystick controller). As the first Nintendo console to utilize discs, the games were packed in a miniDVD format, although the GameCube could neither play DVDs nor CDs. While its lifespan only lasted for seven years, the GameCube was home to some of Nintendo’s all-time greatest releases, including Super Smash Bros. Melee. The GameCube controller is still the controller of choice for most pro players. Classic games like Resident Evil 4 were originally released on the ‘Cube and have since been ported to a handful of new consoles are still considered classics. Though the sales pale in comparison to the consoles that preceded and followed it, the GameCube still has a dedicated fanbase to this day.

Game Boy Advance

Release : 2001 Worldwide units sold : 81.51 million Generation : Sixth As a 32-bit console, the Game Boy Advance was a big step up from the old Game Boys (though the first run still lacked a backlit screen). Fortunately, it was backwards with compatible with all the Game Boy games of yore, which instantly gave it a mammoth gaming library—even when exclusives fell flat. In addition to featuring better graphics and more controls, the GBA also featured impressive audio speakers (especially when you popped in your headphones). Games like Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow really took advantage of the GBA’s Dual 8-bit DAC stereo sounds to elevate the gaming experience.

Evolution Of Nintendo’s Consoles: Switch OLED, Switch, 3DS, Wii, SNES, And

As one of the most tenured games and entertainment companies, Nintendo has quite a history. It started as a humble playing-card company in the late 1800s but ended up saving the video game industry from a financial crash in the early 1980s. Since then, Nintendo has had an illustrious history and has gone on to become arguably the most important console manufacturer of all time. Below you can find details on the company’s console hardware highlights.

With the announcement of the. Nintendo’s extensive library of consoles and hardware revisions continues to grow. The company has long been known for releasing multiple versions of its hardware platforms, particularly the best-selling ones. Switch has only continued that trend, and the list may even expand further in the near future, as the OLED-equipped Switch could turn out to be separate from rumors of a new, more powerful Switch model. However, Nintendo continues to. instead saying that it’s always developing new hardware.

What’s your favorite Nintendo console? Let us know in the Комментарии и мнения владельцев below. Otherwise, keep scrolling down to see everything there is to know about the evolution of Nintendo’s consoles.

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Color TV-Game

Nintendo’s first video game consoles were actually a series of five systems called Color TV-Game, made in partnership with Mitsubishi. The Color TV-Game was sold exclusively in Japan and mostly had several Pong-inspired minigames built into the system. The first model debuted in 1977 as the Color TV-Game 6, named after the fact that it included six minigames.

Before Nintendo created and patented its D-pad, the Color TV-Game’s unique controller featured turnable dials.

Competed against: Magnavox Odyssey series, Home Pong, Coleco Telstar series

Family Computer

In 1983, Nintendo released its Family Computeror Famicom for shortin Japan for 14,800 Yen. In North America, it would receive a significant redesign and later be known as the Nintendo Entertainment System.

The Famicom was an 8-bit console, and its specs included a Ricoh 2A03 processor coupled with 2KB of RAM. This allowed the system to output a 256×240 resolution display and produce 48 colors along with six gray variations.

On the audio front, the Famicom offered extra sound channels compared to its subsequent Nintendo Entertainment System counterpart. It also supported cartridges with custom sound processors, unlike the NES. Games like Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse had different soundtracks between regions as a result.

The Famicom used a top-loading cartridge design with games that scaled from 8KB to 1MB. The system also supported two controllers and had grooves on both sides that allowed players to store the controllers when they weren’t in use. The rectangular controllers themselves featured a D-pad, two face buttons, along with Start and Select buttons and were inspired by the design of Nintendo’s earlier portable Game Watch handheld systems. The player 2 controller had a built-in microphone that was used in a handful of games, including the original Legend of Zelda.

Competed against: Atari 7800, Sega Master System

Family Computer Disk System

On February 21, 1986, Nintendo released an add-on peripheral for the Famicom called the Family Computer Disk System. It supported proprietary 2.8×3-inch floppy disks Nintendo called Disk Cards. For an add-on, the device was a commercial success and sold 4.44 million units until Nintendo ceased production in 2003.

The Disk System had a RAM adapter that plugged into the Famicom’s cartridge slot. Users then needed to connect its cable into the back of the Disk Drive and plug in the included AC adapter. The Disk System also supported six C-cell batteries as an alternative power source.

The add-on had built-in audio hardware that was capable of FM synthesis, which allowed the system to create more complex waveforms that sounded grittier.

Disks could hold up to 112KB of data, but many games required users to switch the disks over to access the medium’s full storage capacity. Some games also required two disks. The medium allowed users to save game states and rewrite their games at stands in convenient stores for less cost than full-priced cartridges. Disk Card games themselves were also cheaper than their cartridge counterparts.

Twin Famicom

In 1986, Sharp came out with its Twin Famicom system. Licensed by Nintendo, it combined the Famicom and Disk System into one device.

Nintendo Entertainment System

The Famicom ultimately released in the United States as the Nintendo Entertainment System on October 18, 1985, with a starting price of 299.99. It was Nintendo’s first home console to release outside of Japan.

The NES eventually helped pull the North American video game industry out of a two-year crash and was a big success. The system sold more than 61.9 million units, making it the best-selling console of its generation.

The NES used a new chassis that differed from its Japanese counterpart. The latter featured a “zero insertion force” cartridge slot coupled with a flip-up door. The problem was that the pins from the system’s internal connector got bent after repeated use. The slot was also very susceptible to dust. These issues prevented many games from properly booting over time. Many users blew into their cartridges in an attempt to mitigate the problem, but this actually tarnished the copper connectors and worsened the issue.

Aesthetically, the NES used a predominantly two-toned gray-and-black color scheme but featured red accents on the console and controller.

Competed against: Atari 7800, Sega Master System

Notable Games: The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Super Marios Bros. series, Duck Hunt, Mega Man franchise, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Contra

Nintendo Entertainment System (Model NES-101)

Nintendo released a smaller version of the NES in 1993 for 49.99. It used the same Ricoh 2A03 processor as the original console but was less boxy and featured a top-loading cartridge slot, which addressed the insertion issues of the original system.

The Model NES-101 was an RF-only system and removed the original system’s power LED light and RCA composite ports. It also introduced an SNES-inspired controller that used rounder edges.

Super Famicom

Before there was the Super Nintendo, there was the Super Famicom. The console initially launched in Japan on November 21, 1990 for 25,000 Yen. Nintendo kept the same casing when it released the console in Europe and Australia. The Super Famicom featured more rounded corners than its subsequent North American variant and featured dark gray hues.

The system also supported the Satellaview, a satellite modem players could attach to the console to download a limited assortment of games.

Competed against: TurboGrafx-16 and Sega Genesis

Super Nintendo

Nintendo released its Western variant of the Super Famicom in North America on August 23, 1991 and rebranded it the Super Nintendo. The underlying specs were the same, and the SNES launched for 199.99. It didn’t sell quite as well as the NES worldwide, but it gained traction in Europe, where its predecessor wasn’t widely available. Overall, the system became the best-selling console of its generation and moved 49.1 million units.

Aesthetically, the SNES used a predominantly gray, boxy design. Its purple sliding power and reset switches did give it a toy-like flair, however. The console also had a cartridge-eject button.

Underneath the chassis, the system used a Ricoh 5A22 CPU clocked at 3.58MHz. The modest processor was powerful enough to simulate 3D effects with Nintendo’s Mode 7 graphics system, which allowed the background layer of games to be rotated and scaled on a scanline-by-scanline basis. The processor also allowed the system to produce up to 32,768 colors. For audio, Nintendo used an S-SMP audio processing unit, which provided up to eight audio channels. Compared to the NES before it, the SNES used more advanced cartridges that could store up to 120Mb of data.

The SNES traded in the rectangular design of the NES controller for one with rounder edges. It also had X and Y face buttons and a pair of shoulder buttons.

Competed against: TurboGrafx-16 and Sega Genesis

Notable Games: Super Metroid, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy VI, Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World, Star Fox, EarthBound, Mega Man X, Super Mario Kart, Street Fighter II, F-Zero, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Model SNS-101)

Released in North America on October 20, 1997, the revamped SNS-101 version of the Super Nintendo retailed for 99.95. It was designed by Nintendo to be a cheaper, more entry-level gaming system for those who weren’t ready to pay 199.99 for an N64.

The SNS-101 model was lighter and more compact than the original SNES and combined the specs into a singular system-on-a-chip (SOC) design. The Power and Reset buttons were also moved to the left, and Nintendo removed the cartridge-eject button along with S-Video support.

Nintendo 64

The Nintendo 64 console launched in Japan on June 23, 1996. The console debuted in North America for 199.99 that September. Facing stiff competition from Sony and its Playstation console, which had released a year and a half earlier in Japan, the N64 didn’t perform as well as its predecessor and sold 32.93 million units worldwide.

The console debuted in a dark gray chassis, but eventually came out in a wide variety of colors.

As the name implies, the console used a 64-bit processor, specifically NEC’s VR4300 CPU clocked at 93.75MHz. The N64 launched with 4MB of Rambus RDRAM, but the console had an expansion slot that would later allow players to double the memory with an Expansion Pak. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask and Donkey Kong 64 required it. For graphics, the console used SGI’s Reality Co-processor clocked at 62.5MHz. The system was able to support up to 16.8 million colors and resolutions up to 640×480.

With its computing horsepower, the N64 helped pave the way for modern 3D graphics and redefined polygonal 3D games with titles like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

While the N64 was more powerful than the Playstation in many ways, it was ultimately held back by its cartridge format, which couldn’t compete with Sony’s 650MB CD-ROM solution. For reference, the largest N64 cartridge was 64MB, and most of them were between 8-12MB. Nintendo was concerned that piracy would run rampant with CD-ROMs. However, the limited cartridge format pushed away many third-party developersmost notably Squaresoft, which wanted to make large-scale games like Final Fantasy VII that required a lot of storage space to house full-motion video. Nintendo’s cartridges also took a long time to produce and were expensive. As a result, games often retailed for 70 or more. One advantage cartridges had over CDs, however, were near-nonexistent load times.

Nintendo also released a new controller with the N64, which featured a unique three-pronged design. The leftmost prong featured a D-pad, while the middle prong featured Nintendo’s first analog stick. The controller also supported haptic feedback via an optional Rumble Pak add-on, which debuted with Star Fox 64 in 1997. The controller launched in gray but eventually came in a wide variety of colors. The N64 was also one of the first consoles to support four controller ports without the need of a multitap adapter. The system ended up becoming a local multiplayer party machine because of this and produced iconic titles like Super Smash Bros., Mario Party, and GoldenEye: 007, the last of which proved that consoles could produce competent first-person shootersa genre nearly exclusive to the PC up until then.

Competed against: Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn

Notable Games: Super Mario 64, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Donkey Kong 64, GoldenEye: 007, Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo-Kazooie, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Super Smash Bros., Star Fox 64, Mario Party series, Wave Race 64, Perfect Dark, Paper Mario

64DD

In Japan, Nintendo released the 64DD add-on for the Nintendo 64 in 1999. The “DD” stood for “dynamic drive” and aimed to turn the console into a multimedia workstation with Internet capabilities via a service called Randnet. After tepid sales, Nintendo discontinued the device in 2001.

GameCube

Nintendo launched the GameCube in Japan on September 14, 2001. In North America, it released three days after the Xbox on November 18, 2001. This sixth generation of consoles gave Nintendo its stiffest market competition yet. Not only did Sony’s wildly popular Playstation 2 dwarf the GameCube in sales, but it was also bested by Microsoft’s debut console. In total, the GameCube sold 21.7 million units.

Despite the moniker, the system wasn’t actually a true cube, with unequal dimensions that measured 5.9×6.3×4.3 inches. Nintendo eventually released several color variants, but the GameCube debuted in two colors: black and a bold indigo huethe latter gave the console a toyish look. Its built-in handle also added to its kid-centric aesthetic.

Underneath the chassis, the system used IBM’s PowerPC Gekko CPU clocked at 486MHz. It was capable of delivering 1.9 GFLOPS of power. It was based on a simple RISC architecture, which Nintendo implemented in hopes of winning back third-party developers it had lost with the N64. The system also featured 43MB of RAM and used ATI’s Flipper graphics chip clocked at 162MHz. With it, the GameCube was able to output a 640x480p resolution. The GameCube didn’t feature an internal hard drive, which Microsoft’s competing Xbox offered at the time; it instead relied on memory cards.

While the system was Nintendo’s first console to use optical discs without the need of an add-on device, they were a smaller proprietary format made in partnership with Panasonic. These Game Discs stored up to 1.5GB of data, which were dwarfed by DVDs that offered up to 8.5GB. Piracy concerns continued to be one of the main reasons for the proprietary format. While the comparatively limited storage size wasn’t an issue for many developers, many cross-platform ports had to be compressed or remove features to fit on Game Discs.

Nintendo went with a two-pronged controller design with the GameCube. It offered unique bean-shaped face buttons along with a single Z button near the right trigger. The controller also incorporated force feedback without the need for an external add-on. In 2002, Nintendo released its WaveBird controller, which traded in rumble capabilities for wireless functionality.

Competed against: Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation 2, Microsoft Xbox

Notable Games: Super Mario Sunshine, Super Smash Bros. Melee, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Pikmin, Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil 4, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Panasonic Q

One of the criticisms against the GameCube was that it couldn’t play DVDs, so Panasonic, which worked in partnership with Nintendo to create its GameCube Game Discs, released the Panasonic Q in 2001. The system would allow you to play DVD movies in addition to GameCube games. It was only sold in Japan and was a commercial flop; Panasonic discontinued it in 2003.

Competed against: Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation 2, Microsoft Xbox

Wii

Nintendo released its Wii console on November 19, 2006, for 249.99. With it, Nintendo popularized motion controls with its Wii Remote and Nunchuck controllers. The Bluetooth peripherals detected movement in three dimensions using built-in accelerometers coupled with an infrared detection sensor. The Wii Remote offered a D-pad, speaker, and few face buttons, along with a trigger button. The Nunchuck offered a control stick and two analog triggers.

Wii Sports was praised as a great showpiece for Nintendo’s motion controllers, and outside Japan, the game was bundled with the system.

The console was codenamed Revolution, which appropriately signaled a new design philosophy for Nintendo. The company believed that there wasn’t enough room for three consoles vying for top-tier processing power, so Nintendo attempted to cast a wider net and marketed the Wii toward a more casual audience. The new strategy paid off, and the Wii became a colossal sales success. Not only did Nintendo buck its downward console trend, but it sold more than 101 million units worldwide, making it Nintendo’s best-selling console to date.

The Wii featured an illuminated slot-loading optical drive. The system also had an SD card slot and 512MB of internal storage. Compared to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, it was far from a technical powerhouse with its IBM PowerPC Broadway CPU and 88MB of memory. Its ATI Hollywood GPU also wasn’t very powerful and relegated the system to 480p.

It was Nintendo’s first console to support backwards compatibility. It had four controller ports hidden under a plastic door and supported GameCube games, though later Wii revisions removed this feature.

With the system, Nintendo introduced its Virtual Console, which allowed players to download emulated games from past Nintendo consoles. The Wii also featured WiiConnect24, a standby mode that allowed updates over the Internet.

In 2007, Nintendo introduced the Wii Balance Board. Designed with exercise games in mind, the peripheral was a great success and sold 42 million units.

Competed against: Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3

Notable Games: Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii, Super Paper Mario, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Super Mario Galaxy series, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Wii Mini

Shortly after Nintendo released the Wii U, the company released the Wii Mini. Taking a cue from its SNS-101 SNES refresh, the Wii Mini was a redesigned version of the Wii meant to be a more affordable console option to the Wii U. It debuted in Canada on December 7, 2012 for 99.99 and later released in Europe and the United States.

The Wii Mini featured a smaller redesigned chassis that incorporated a top-loading optical drive. It also removed several features, including S-Video, GameCube compatibility, online connectivity, the SD card slot, Wi-Fi support, and a USB port.

Wii U

Piggybacking on top of the Wii’s success, Nintendo launched its Wii U console on November 18, 2012. The name confused many, however, as some people mistakenly took it to be an add-on for the Wii. The console has sold 13.3 million units, which makes it Nintendo’s lowest-selling major console to date.

The white base model of the Wii U launched for 299.99 and came with 8GB of storage, but there was also a Deluxe black version that came with 32GB of storage and included a sensor bar. Like the Wii before it, the Wii U wasn’t a graphical powerhouse, but it was the first Nintendo system to support 1080p.

The system’s specs were co-developed by Nintendo, AMD, IBM, and Renesas. The Wii U featured IBM’s Espresso CPU clocked at 1.24GHz, and it was coupled by 2GB of DDR3 RAM. For graphics, AMD developed its Latte GPU clocked at 550MHz. The console is also backward-compatible with the Wii.

Internal tech specs aside, arguably the most significant feature of the Wii U was its GamePad. The tablet-like controller featured a 6.2-inch resistive touchscreen along with dual analog sticks, a D-pad, and several face buttons. The GamePad also supported motion controls, haptic feedback, and near-field communicationa feature that allowed users to sync Nintendo’s Amiibo figures to the console.

The touchscreen could be used in a number of ways. Developers could use it to supplement action on the TV screen to create asymmetrical gameplay, for example. The system launched with Nintendo Land, which showcased some of these mechanics. The GamePad could also serve as a second screen for multiplayer games. The Wii U also allowed users to stream games from the console to the GamePad, provided they were within range of each other.

While the Wii U was compatible with the Wii’s peripherals, Nintendo also released the Pro Controller alongside the system.

Competed against: Sony Playstation 4, Microsoft Xbox One

Notable Games: Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Splatoon, Super Mario Maker, Super Mario 3D World

Switch

The Nintendo Switch released on March 3, 2017 for 299.99. Like with the Wii before it, the Switch represents a starkly different design path for the company. So far, Nintendo’s gamble has paid off.

The system is equipped with Nvidia’s custom Tegra mobile system-on-a-chip, which is noticeably weaker than the competing Xbox One and Playstation 4, but its hybrid form factor allows players to not only play it on their TVs, but to game with it on the go.

The Switch uses a 6.2 inch 1280x720p touchscreen that offers a modest 236.87 pixel per inch (PPI density). Unlike the Wii U before it, the Switch uses a capacitive panel, which offers a higher contrast ratio and improved gesture support compared to the Wii U’s resistive equivalent.

The 6.7×3.9x.6 inch tablet form factor is coupled with two Joy-Con motion controllers that offer what Nintendo calls HD rumble. With its high-fidelity haptic motors, the controllers are able to accurately simulate virtual marbles rolling inside the Joy-Cons, as is evident in the game 1-2-Switch. The right Joy-Con also supports NFC, which users can use to scan Amiibo.

The system comes with 32GB of internal storage, but also supports expandable memory up to 2TB via Micro SDXC cards. In terms of battery, the Switch is equipped with a 4,310 mAh lithium-ion cell, which offers roughly three hours of consistent play.

While the Wii U was a colossal sales disappointment for Nintendo, the Switch managed to sell over 14.8 million units thus far, beating its predecessor by over a million units in just 10 months. The console was also notoriously hard to find on store shelves in the months after its release. Its sales were bolstered by critically-acclaimed games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and more.

Competes against: Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Playstation 5, Playstation 4

Notable games: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, Super Mario Maker 2

Switch Lite

The Switch Lite released on September 20, 2019. Priced at 199.99, the redesign exclusively focuses on portable play and removes the ability to play on a TV entirely. It’s also a tad smaller than the first Switch, shrinking the screen size down from 6.2 inches to 5.5 inches.

To accommodate for the new size and cheaper price tag, some of the original Switch’s features were removed from the Switch Lite. Aside from not being able to display on a TV, it no longer has detachable Joy-Con controllers. Furthermore, the IR motion sensors and HD Rumble functionality have been removed. Though, you’re still able to connect Joy-Con controllers to the Switch Lite.

The removal of these features means that a few existing games will no longer be compatible with the Switch Lite. For example, both Mario Party and 1-2 Switch are games that require Joy-Cons to be removed to properly play. In addition, Nintendo Labo, which allows users to build peripherals using cardboard, won’t work since the Switch Lite is smaller.

As of writing, it comes in three colors: grey, yellow, turquoise, blue, and coral. A fancier limited edition off-white Pokemon-themed one was also released around the time of Pokemon Sword / Shield’s release.

Switch OLED

The Switch OLED model is the latest version of Nintendo’s hybrid console handheld. Scheduled to release on October 8 at a price point of 349.99, this new model sports a few key differences from previous iterations. As its namesake implies, the upcoming Switch revision has an OLED screen, allowing for a more vivid image. It’s also worth noting that the screen is a bit larger than that of the standard Switch model, measuring at 7 inches instead of the previous model’s 6.2 inches.

Alongside the OLED screen are new speakers that provide enhanced audiothough the exact specs are still unknown. Regardless, we can assume that the enhanced audio is likely to give the Switch a boost to sound clarity and overall audio levels.

The Switch OLED alleviates a few of the major criticisms of the original model’s physical functionality, featuring a wider, adjustable kickstand to give the console more leverage when setting it up on a table. In addition, the console’s updated dock now has a wired LAN port, which is a welcome change from the previous dock’s need for a USB attachment to unlock such functionality.

Aside from the outlined physical changes and an expanded storage capacity of 64 GB, the internal architecture powering the Switch OLED is virtually identical to the current models in the market, so don’t expect any boosts to game performance or battery life. For Nintendo, the Switch OLED model seems to represent a bit of a stopgap between the current model and a potentially more powerful version of the console. Rumors have been circulating for months about the possibility of a beefed-up revision; several of the Switch OLED’s features even align with the proposed improvements being made to the rumored console upgrade. However, time will tell if another Switch model is on the way.

As of this writing, the Switch OLED comes in two color configurations: white Joy-Cons with a white dock and the standard red blue Joy-Cons with a black dock.

RANKED: Every Nintendo console and portable system

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• Since the debut of the original Famicom in 1983, Nintendo has released over a dozen video game consoles and handhelds.
• Each of Nintendo‘s systems has been focused on innovative technology and family fun, though some have been much more successful than others.
• At their best, Nintendo’s consoles have made a cultural impact that has changed the way people around the world view entertainment.
• Naturally, we ranked them all.

Nintendo has been the number-one household name in video games since releasing its first console, the Famicom, in Japan circa 1983. The company helped pioneer the trend towards home video game consoles, pushing back against the arcades that dominated the industry at the time.

Even as other companies worked to match the early success of the Nintendo Entertainment System, the company has shown a dedication to innovation and family fun that has inspired each of their follow-ups. While some of the company’s consoles have certainly been more successful than others, Nintendo’s constant push towards new ways to play games has proven beneficial for companies across the video game industry.

Exploring the legacy of Nintendo’s hardware offers an interesting look at how video games have grown from the earliest days of 8-bit pixels to the high-definition marvel that is the Nintendo Switch. And, naturally, we ranked them all.

These are our favorite Nintendo consoles, ranked from worst to best:

Virtual Boy (1995)

Few would recognize the Virtual Boy as a Nintendo creation, and even fewer actually owned the odd console. The Virtual Boy was designed to use stereoscopic 3D to create an early form of virtual reality gaming, but failed to create a convincing enough experience for there to be much of an audience.

Nintendo was quick to fold on the console, discontinuing the Virtual Boy within a year of its launch in 1995. With only 22 games ever released for the Virtual Boy, there’s really no arguing that this is the least impressive of Nintendo’s video game consoles — ever.

Game Boy Color (1998)

As the name might suggest, the Game Boy Color was Nintendo’s first handheld to feature a color screen. The Game Boy Color arrived nearly a decade after the original, providing a hardware upgrade for the more demanding games of the late ’90s. However, the system mostly served as a stopgap until the release of the next-generation Game Boy Advance in 2001.

The Game Boy Color still saw more than 500 releases in that three-year span, though many of those games were still playable on the original Game Boy. The Color could also play classic Game Boy games, and would give them a basic color scheme to highlight their visuals.

Nintendo Wii U (2012)

Putting aside the huge flop that was the Virtual Boy, the Wii U is Nintendo’s least popular video game console. Confusing branding, combined with technology that was only a half-step up from the massively popular Wii, hurt the Wii U at release. It was quickly outmatched by the Xbox One and Playstation 4 when they launched the following year.

The Wii U’s most innovative feature was the introduction of a large tablet that could be used as a secondary screen during gameplay, or mirror the image of the television. With Nintendo’s emphasis on family-focused gaming, the Wii U tablet was designed to allow children to play on the smaller screen while their families were using the living room TV.

However, the tablet essentially turns into a brick when you walk out of range of the console, making it very limited indeed. The added requirement of developing games with the tablet in mind, and Nintendo’s lackluster online gaming infrastructure, led to a lack of games from third party publishers, as well.

Nintendo 64 (1996)

The Nintendo 64 helped video games take the leap to 3D with a significant upgrade in power compared to its predecessor, the Super Nintendo. Nintendo titles like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time defined a generation of 3D adventure games, while N64-exclusive shooters like Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark were some of the best games in the genre.

The N64 did have its drawbacks though: The console has a much smaller library of memorable games than Nintendo’s other classic consoles, and sadly, the graphics that once looked so impressive on the N64 haven’t aged particularly well. The N64 controller also helped make analog sticks a standard for future consoles, but the physical design of the controller is awkward by any modern standard.

Game Boy Advance (2001)

The Game Boy Advance was a strong follow-up to the Game Boy Color, representing a significant improvement in handheld hardware. The 32-bit Game Boy Advance was strong enough to handle games that were once exclusive to home consoles, letting players take their favorite classics on the road. This also gave game developers a chance to revisit some of the most popular genres of the ’90s for a new audience.

The GBA was fully backwards compatible with prior Game Boy games too, rewarding customers who were loyal to the family of handhelds. There aren’t many negatives to the Game Boy Advance, but when placed beside Nintendo’s other consoles, the handheld didn’t push many boundaries, and some of the best GBA games were ultimately better executed on other platforms.

Nintendo GameCube (2001)

The legacy of the GameCube is defined by its greatest games. Some, like Resident Evil 4 started as exclusives before making their way to future consoles, while others like Mario Kart: Double Dash remain cult favorites to this day. The console itself wasn’t particularly remarkable in terms of technology, but it did well in a competitive console generation that included the Playstation 2 and the Xbox.

The success of Super Smash Bros. Melee as a grassroots eSports game lengthened the life of the GameCube, and its controller is still preferred by high-level Smash Bros. players to this day. Nintendo released a new line of GameCube controllers in 2014 for the launch of Super Smash Bros for Wii U and the same controller can still be used to play the newest game in the series, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo Wii (2006)

The Nintendo Wii had a massive cultural impact that extends beyond video games, inspiring a new level of interactive gameplay with its motion controls. The Wii’s simple pointing and touch controls helped it find a casual audience, and innovative titles like WiiFit showed that the console could be used for fitness and physical therapy.

The Wii remains Nintendo’s best selling home video game console, with more than 100 million units sold worldwide. However, the Wii does not have many memorable games of its own, and tons of lower-quality titles ended up on the Wii in an attempt to capitalize on the casual audience. The console did have the benefit of backwards compatibility though, meaning that some of the better games from the GameCube era still had a home on the Wii.

Nintendo 3DS (2011)

The main hardware innovation on the Nintendo 3DS was its 3D screen, which offers stereoscopic 3D images without special glasses or any extra accessories. However, the 3D features ultimately became one of the more forgettable parts of the console, only used by a handful of games to any meaningful effect.

The 3DS has succeeded as an upgraded version of the original DS, complete with backwards compatibility. The system is the first Nintendo handheld to utilize digital content, with a digital shop that proved more worthwhile than the ones on the Wii or Wii U. The console also made notable improvements to the DS’s online functionality and overall data management system.

With the upgraded hardware of the 3DS developers have been able to make games specifically for the portable platform with few compromises. While the technology of the 3DS was not as groundbreaking as the original DS at release, Nintendo’s repeated revisions of the console have made it one of their most impressive hardware offerings.

Nintendo DS (2004)

The second screen and touch controls of the original Nintendo DS helped bring about a new era in handheld gaming. Games designed for lower touch screen gave the console a great casual appeal while ambitious developers worked to create more engaging games that made use of both screens.

As a result, the DS enjoyed a library of games that were both unique and impressive, offering experiences that couldn’t be matched on a regular home console, or even on the Playstation Portable — which, on paper, was a more powerful console.

The DS was the first handheld Nintendo console with the horsepower to play 3D games, allowing for ports from the N64 and some original 3D titles. The original-model DS was also backwards compatible with the Game Boy Advance, giving the console an extended catalogue with a number of classics dating back to the Super Nintendo.

The DS is actually Nintendo’s best-selling console of all time, with more than 150 million units sold worldwide.

Nintendo Switch (2017)

While the Switch is still a very young console, it has succeeded in blending the best of Nintendo’s handheld and console offerings into a single package.

In portable mode, the Switch functions like a way-more-powerful Game Boy with a touchscreen, but the controls can also be separated from the screen for a two player experience on the go. When at home, a docked Switch functions as a modern TV console.

With the Switch, Nintendo has also managed to correct some of the online infrastructure issues that plagued prior Nintendo consoles. The eShop feels more functional than ever on Switch, and the wide variety of digital titles addresses the problems the Wii and Wii U faced with third party support.

And even though it’s been less than two years since it launched, the Switch has already had it’s fair share of amazing games, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. If the Switch keeps up a healthy pace of growth and developers continue to support it, it could slowly climb this list and become Nintendo’s best console.

Game Boy (1989)

Whereas the NES helped bring video games into homes across the world, the Game Boy made it possible to play games just about anywhere. And like the NES before it, the Game Boy created a baseline for every handheld console that would follow it.

The basic, sturdy design, reliable functionality, and huge library of Game Boy games helped the basic hardware stand on its own for nearly 10 years, despite more technically advanced competition from handhelds like Sega’s Game Gear. For a time Nintendo’s console was literally synonymous with portable gaming, with just about any handheld gaming device being colloquially known as a Game Boy.

And, for a while, it was the best and only way to play Tetris.

While the black and white graphics of the Game Boy may not appeal to the modern gamer, the console helped establish a market for portable gaming that has benefitted the industry as a whole.

Nintendo Entertainment System (first released in Japan as the Famicom in 1983, released in 1985 in North America as the NES)

The impact of the original Nintendo Entertainment System cannot be understated. While arcades help popularize video games as a hobby, the NES was the console that convinced the world that it was possible to bring their games home and start building a library.

Furthermore, with developers no longer limited to building games on a pay-to-play arcade model, NES games were built with more depth and replay value in mind. Some of the most popular franchises in video game history got their start on the NES, from Nintendo’s own Super Mario Bros. and Metroid to third-party series like Castlevania and Final Fantasy.

The Nintendo Entertainment System became the prototype for every gaming console moving forward, and helped make video games as a whole a household commodity.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1990)

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is Nintendo’s definitive console and helped solidify the company at the center of the video game industry. In terms of hardware, the Super Nintendo made meaningful improvement on every aspect of the original NES, from a sleeker controller with more buttons, to game carts with many times more storage space for bigger games.

The games improved too, as many of the basic games that found their roots on the NES arrived on the Super Nintendo with fully polished sequels that made full use of the additional processing power. Despite considerable competition from the Sega Genesis, the Super Nintendo delivered dozens of unforgettable titles that still stand the test of time today.