Nintendo has had many ups and downs as a company, from its early 20th century console market to the 2017 launch of the Nintendo Switch (which some of you might have heard of). It doesn’t seem like we wrote sad news on the Wii U a long time ago or remembered the 3DS now that Nintendo has stopped making the little ones.
Now, we can see the last 31 years of Nintendo console sales at a glance, thanks to Visual Capitalist (click here for the full resolution image). It may not include sales of the showy Virtual Boy, but it covers a substantial number of Nintendo’s plastic joys, from the Game Boy to the present day.
2009 was a very tough year for Ninty, as both the DS and Wii hit record sales, and it looks like the Switch may one day reach its heights. With 154 million DS sales in its ten-year lifespan and 101 million Wii sales, the Switch has a long way to go, but nearly four years after its existence it has already sold more than 68 million of units, with 45 million more in 2020 alone (thank you, No animals!).
What year was your favorite when it comes to Nintendo consoles? We’re partial to a bit of GameCube. Comment on your favorite vintages in the comments below.