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"The year 2018 is going to be the year where

March 12, 2019 by James Ashley

"The year 2018 is going to be the year where we truly think that we are ready to support the Nintendo 3DS," he said.

A number of Nintendo 3DS owners have already made a formal attempt to convince others to buy their portable gaming system instead of buying other portable systems. As Nintendo's latest Super Smash Bros. game, for instance, has proven to be a hit, the company has been pushing for 3DS gaming for quite some time. In June, Nintendo officially announced the company's plans for the Switch, saying that it would support 3DS titles and that 3DS owners wanted to play the game on their Switch. The company's press release also stated that "the Switch is the only portable gaming system available with a built-in 3DS gamepad and is powered by two high-definition GameCube controllers."

This move is perhaps surprising given how quickly the Switch market has transitioned from being a niche, low-cost, limited-capacity, $199 phone game console to a widespread, mainstream, and high-end portable gaming machine. While the Switch is already a staple of home entertainment systems in a variety of ways, it's not a completely new device.

"In fact, we have made this transition with the Switch," said Yoshiaki Harada, a sales representative for Nintendo of Japan. "We have worked to make our Switch available to the masses for free and we are now supporting some of the most popular titles and brands on the market for the Switch."

When it comes to Nintendo Switch hardware availability, Harada said that "it seems that for the first time we have a system that we can support on a console that many people have not even heard of."

In addition to the Switch, a number of Nintendo 3DS owners are already shipping Switch owners their Switch 2 consoles, with a number of other console makers including Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Japan adding their own consoles to support the Switch. For those who do receive their Switch 3DS in-box, Harada said, "It will be available in stores in North America starting in June. It will retail for ¥11,200. It will be available in Europe for €1,500. We will launch the game Switch in Canada at launch in the next few months, and we will announce the launch date to our customers in Japan by the end of the month."

With 3DS hardware still a relatively niche product, Nintendo has been aggressively expanding the Switch's market share. In the past few years, the Switch has been the most popular