Nintendo doesn’t usually let fans in on its hardware plans, but if you’re the kind of person who notices trends, it’s clear that the Switch 2 is going to be Mario Maker’s All-in-One console. Nintendo has started to offer more hardware specifically designed for playing games on its old, defunct consoles. The inevitable next step is for the company to let us revisit its most popular handheld ever, the Nintendo DS.
Today, Nintendo decided it was time to bring back what is arguably the least popular piece of gaming hardware it has ever released. The $100 Virtual Boy for Switch 2 revives Nintendo’s first use of stereoscopic visuals and the odd bipod-mounted headset for playing them. This modernized system is a relic — a blast from the past — that uses the Switch’s handheld hardware as a screen. While Nintendo has released new controllers for its roster of Nintendo classics, from the NES to the more recent revived Gamecube controller, this is the first instance of the device feeling authentic — like you’ve stepped back into 1995 and are playing the strange 3D console for the first time.
View Nintendo Switch 2 on Amazon
View Nintendo Switch 2 at Walmart
The DS was Nintendo’s best-selling device
While the Virtual Boy was Nintendo’s worst-selling console—only managing 770,000 units during its lifetime—the company’s best-selling device is still MIA from the Nintendo Classics list. The Nintendo DS first launched in 2004, but hit its stride in 2006 with the DS Lite. Nintendo has sold 154 million units. The company’s next best-selling device—the original Switch—has sold 153.10 million.
In 2023, Nintendo filed a patent with the US Patent Office that gave us a glimpse of how the supposed large-screen device could be attached to the wrist. Last month, Mike Odyssey on X spotted that Nintendo had updated the patent for 2025. The attached screen would be positioned “at an angle,” according to the patent, and doesn’t describe a hinge system for the top screen to fold onto the wrist, so that mount would have to be removed and carried separately if you were taking the Switch 2 on the road.
The patents don’t indicate that the company will actually make a product, just that they’re exploring ideas and want to protect them. Even if Nintendo is working on a dual-screen addition for the Switch 2, that doesn’t necessarily mean the finished product will look anything like this proposed design. Now that Nintendo has gone back 30 years to its most bizarre console, it opens up the possibility of stopping the clock on every instance of its previous hardware. The one missing piece, behind the Wii and Wii U (at least Super Mario Galaxy is getting another remaster), is the Nintendo DS and the less popular 3DS.
Nintendo needs to beat emulators
The Switch 2 has more capacity for these peripherals, thanks to its top and bottom USB-C ports. Moving on to more retro peripherals for the Switch 2 makes more sense when you understand why Nintendo continues to release its classic library for Switch owners. Retro emulators that recreate older consoles as software are increasingly popular with a generation of gamers who grew up with Nintendo’s older consoles. Nintendo is also one of the few companies that has taken a hard line against participating in its own crusade to combat piracy and protect its intellectual property. Nintendo has removed several Switch emulators, including Ryujinx, Citra, and, most notably, Yuzu. Nintendo has blocked GameCube emulator Dolphin from being fully released on Steam. The company is offering its own emulation via its Nintendo Classics list as an alternative for the legion of gamers jumping on the burgeoning retro handheld scene.
And it couldn’t come soon enough. While gamers have plenty of options for Game Boy-like devices, the DS and 3DS are still new territory. In the past few months, Ayaneo showed off its Pocket DS, a dual-screen Android handheld made for playing DS games. Fellow handheld maker Ayn announced its Tor, a dual-screen device as well. Meanwhile, Retroid created its $69 Dual Screen add-on for the horizontally oriented handheld to play dual-screen games. It’s going to take some time for Nintendo to release more hardware. The company is rolling out its own games over time, so those looking to return to the glory days of the DS will have to wait for something official.
View Nintendo Switch 2 on Amazon
View Nintendo Switch 2 at Walmart
