Nintendo games, like Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon Legends, are essentially household names. Their hardware innovations, from the Nintendo Entertainment System to the Switch 2, highlight their capabilities.

However, even the gaming juggernaut has made a few mistakes over the years.

Virtual Boy

The Virtual Boy provided players a taste of what 3D gaming could look like. However, it was released in 1995 and had its limitations. To begin with, the console was incredibly difficult to use.

Players had to look through the goggles and use the controller to use it right. This was often uncomfortable. Furthermore, the Virtual Boy only produced red colours, making games rather difficult to look at.

It also wasn't a true 3D device, and though ahead of its time, it did not perform well in the market.

The Nintendo 64 DD

The Nintendo 64 was a fairly popular console back in its time. The N64 DD, on the other hand, did not perform as well. The latter was essentially a disk drive meant to read games.

However, it also had some programming capabilities, making it a developer's tool. Unfortunately, it sold quite poorly when it was released, leading to it being scrapped completely.

Nintendo was simply unable to reach the right audience for the N64 DD.

Nintendo E-Reader

The Nintendo E-Reader was a peripheral meant to scan cards. After being plugged into the Game Boy Advance, the e-Reader could read special cards to unlock retro games, characters, and more.

However, cards were generally sold in packs, and getting what you wanted became a game of luck to a certain extent.

This did not sit well with many, and the e-Reader was quickly discontinued in the U.S. and Australia.

Wii Online Play

Wii Online Play was an online service that didn't last forever. The service was released when giants like Microsoft were taking games to the realm of the internet.

It had potential, but it did not work as intended. Games would crash and log players out; they would get buggy, stutter, and more. If that wasn't enough, it didn't even have enough games supporting it.

Naturally, player interest slowly faded, and Wii Online Play was shut down in 2014.

Wii U

Another victim of poor marketing, the Wii U didn't start great when it was released in 2012. It was a console that lacked proper direction when it came to communication.

Nintendo was not able to express what the Wii U was, what it did, or the qualities that made it special. All this led to it selling 13.5 million units globally.

While that may not look like a failure on the surface, it was poor for a flagship console. In fact, the Nintendo Switch beat the Wii U, hitting 14.86 million devices just 10 months after launch on March 3, 2017.

3DS Launch

The 3DS was supposed to be Nintendo's proprietary 3D console. Though it is one of the most popular consoles in the world today, its launch was shaky to say the least.

When it was released in 2011, it did not have enough original games. The company had included third-party games on the device instead, but it did not do enough to pull in customers.

Furthermore, the 3DS was priced at $250, which was enough to buy a Wii. Players had no real incentive to buy the console.

Eventually, Nintendo fixed all its problems, but it couldn't save the launch.

The Nintendo and Sony partnership

At one point, Sony and Nintendo were working together. Nintendo partnered with Sony to develop the add-on CD-ROM for the Super Nintendo (SNES).

However, the day after Sony announced the "PlayStation" collaboration at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Nintendo held a surprise press conference.

The company announced that it would instead partner with Philips for the project. However, Sony didn't just walk away. They founded Sony Computer Entertainment and created the now legendary PlayStation.

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Written by

Prit Chauhan

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi