page_title: Handheld game console
section_title: Nintendo 3DS
hierarchical_section_title: Handheld game console / History / 2010s / Nintendo 3DS
caption_attribution_description: English: A Nintendo 3DS in Aqua Blue, photo taken during the 3DS launch event in NYC.
context_page_description: A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the console, screen, speakers, and controls in one unit, allowing people to carry them and play them at any time or place.
  In 1976, Mattel introduced the first handheld electronic game with the release of Auto Race. Later, several companies—including Coleco and Milton Bradley—made their own single-game, lightweight table-top or handheld electronic game devices. The first handheld game console with interchangeable cartridges is the Milton Bradley Microvision in 1979. The first commercial successful handheld console was Merlin from 1978 which sold more than 5 million units. The first internet-enabled handheld console and the first with a touchscreen was the Game.com released by Tiger Electronics in 1997.
  Nintendo is credited with popularizing the handheld console concept with the release of the Game Boy in 1989 and continues to dominate the handheld console market.
context_section_description: The Nintendo 3DS is the successor to Nintendo's DS handheld. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic three-dimensional effects without requirement of active shutter or passive polarized glasses, which are required by most current 3D televisions to display the 3D effect. The 3DS was released in Japan on February 26, 2011; in Europe on March 25, 2011; in North America on March 27, 2011, and in Australia on March 31, 2011.  The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software. It also features an online service called the Nintendo eShop, launched on June 6, 2011, in North America and June 7, 2011, in Europe and Japan, which allows owners to download games, demos, applications and information on upcoming film and game releases. On November 24, 2011, a limited edition Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary 3DS was released that contained a unique Cosmo Black unit decorated with gold Legend of Zelda related imagery, along with a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.
  There are also other models including the Nintendo 2DS and the New Nintendo 3DS, the latter with a larger (XL/LL) variant, like the original Nintendo 3DS. The 2DS also has a successor, called the New Nintendo 2DS XL.
caption: The original light blue Nintendo 3DS
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