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Nintendo Discusses Handheld Successor to 3DS System

Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei's Technology Online website reported on Tuesday that Nintendo is currently developing a successor handheld system to the Nintendo 3DS, with a planned release in 2018 or later.

The report states that the handheld system's specifications will be based on whether or not Nintendo's upcoming Switch hybrid home/handheld system is a success. If the Switch is successful, Nintendo will possibly develop the next handheld as a "Switch Slim" version of the console — a smaller version with a correspondingly smaller screen, designed so that it will not break even if children drop it.

In a separate report by the Kyoto Shimbun paper, Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima said that his company will target different child-focused needs and market from the Switch, and will differentiate a future handheld from the Switch through price and form factor. He added that his company are currently discussing the hypothetical handheld's development.

Nintendo released its Nintendo 3DS dual-screen handheld system in 2011 as a successor to its similarly dual-screen Nintendo DS handheld. The "New Nintendo 3DS" version (pictured right) debuted in 2014.

Nintendo's Switch hybrid home/handheld platform will launch on March 3 in Japan, the United States, Canada, major European countries, Hong Kong, and other territories. The console will be priced at 29,980 yen in Japan, and US$299.99 in North America.

Nintendo said that the Switch is not compatible with Wii U game discs or Nintendo 3DS cards, and added that the Nintendo Switch is not designed to be the successor to either earlier system. However, Nintendo did not confirm or deny the Switch's ability to play earlier systems' games via digital download or emulation.

Source: Nikkei's Technology Online (Tadashi Nezu), Inside For All Gamers via Hachima Kikō, Otakomu