Nintendo’s long-awaited Switch 2 drops in just a few hours, but with all this hype around the shiny new hardware, it’s easy to forget just how long the brand’s been around. Nintendo introduced North American players to their first home console — the now-classic Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) — back in 1985. In the nearly 42 years since the NES’s debut, Nintendo has released countless consoles to stateside audiences.

While all Nintendo hardware has been revolutionary in its own right, sales and reception for these releases ranged from “critical darling” to “critical mistake.” It seems only fitting to usher in the all-new Switch 2 by breaking down the best and worst of Nintendo’s past offerings.

NOTE: This list will only include major hardware released in North America; some Nintendo consoles, like the flagship Color TV-Game series, DS predecessor Game & Watch, and the ultra-niche Panasonic Q, never saw extensive North American releases. This list will also forgo the inclusion of iterative consoles (think 2DS XL, DS Lite, Game Boy Pocket, and so on) to focus on more substantial releases.

Virtual Boy (1995)

The Virtual Boy should’ve used its binocular eyepiece to peep its own colossal failure on the horizon.

First sold in 1995 — to like, dozens of people — the wearable hardware looks remarkably like the brand’s robo-buddy R.O.B., but with added user discomfort. The Virtual Boy flopped and subsequently faded into obscurity, but headache-suffering buyers would’ve likely said its disappearance didn’t come quick enough.

Nintendo Wii U (2012)

Save for the Virtual Boy, no other Nintendo console failed quite so miserably as the Wii U. Released as a gimmicky follow-up to the OG Wii, the hardware left many wondering what, aside from the temperamental touchscreen display, this hardware offered that its predecessor didn’t. All in all, swing and a substantial miss.

Despite its subpar performance, the tablet-like device’s cooler characteristics beget what we now know as the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo 3DS (2011)

In 2011, Nintendo finally asked the pressing question, “What if DS, but headaches?”

Larger games library and more impressive specs aside, the Nintendo 3DS’s inflated price, safety concerns, and suboptimal joystick performance led to mixed reviews from critics as well as fans.

As an OG DS loyalist, I can recall how few 3DS players actually used the toggleable 3D feature, which, frankly, was the primary selling point. After most fan interest in the 3D gimmick fizzled, Nintendo introduced offshoots like the Nintendo 2DS and the 2DS XL, which were effectively the 3DS without the 3D. I do miss StreetPass, though…

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Game Boy Color (1998)

A true product of its time. I marveled at the handheld from the backseat of my parents’ Plymouth Voyager, but I do not miss having to rely on peripherals for gameplay after dusk. The tiny screen was not illuminated, and squinting players had to beef up their devices with less-than-helpful worm lights and clunky display magnifiers. The console was supposed to offer a portable experience, but when players have to curate their environment for adequate visibility, it’s not really portable.

The hardware is little more than a paperweight when compared to modern releases’ cutting-edge specs and hyperrealistic graphics, but the Game Boy Advance’s lingering influence on handhelds as a whole? Truly timeless.

Game Boy (1989)

One of the brand’s best blocky rectangles. No, this display wasn’t lit, either, but that tech was some ways away.

In the late 80s and early 90s, however, this cumbersome fella was the MOMENT. All you needed was 4 AA batteries, a well-lit space, and an empty schedule. If you had the AC adapter, you were a step ahead.

Despite the pixelated, grayscale visuals, the Game Boy was a certified hit. The Game & Watch walked so the Game Boy could run. And run, it did. Literally. Tetris was now portable, and that was enough to sell more casual players on the device. Super Mario Land and early-gen Pokémon games also drove sales.

Ultimately, the Game Boy outperformed brand expectations (by several million units), and with that, the handheld revolution was born.

Game Boy Advance (2001)

I can’t count the number of times I had my translucent purple Game Boy Advance confiscated by (rightfully frustrated) teachers. But here I am, more than 20 years later, waxing poetic about one of my favorite handhelds of all time.

Oh, that sweet, sweet backlight! Seems wild to consider what’s now an unquestionably essential element as “revolutionary,” but it was. The Advance kept the colorful, minimal aesthetics, but finally gave fans an illuminated screen. No booklight, no tilting your display toward the lamp on your end table, no hoping for a street light to brighten the backseat of your family’s minivan. Thankfully, the Game Boy SP righted those wrongs, but frustrated consumers were left to foot the bill and shell out for yet another all-new device.

The days of Pokémon transfers via wired connections are over, but handhelds are now.

Nintendo DS (2004)

Game & Watch walked (albeit not very smoothly) so the Nintendo DS could run. The snazzy handheld’s backwards compatability, practical touchscreen, impressive launch-day lineup, and reasonable price positioned it as the rightful cultural successor to the Game Boy.

The Nintendo DS is the global video game brand’s best handheld, second only to the Switch. With the Switch 2 hitting retailers on June 5, however, the DS may soon face more competition.

Nintendo Wii (2006)

Despite the Wii Fit’s role in negative body image issues (did it really have to “OOF” in pain when stepped on?), the Wii is a permanent zeitgeist fixture. Gotta pour one out for the shattered televisions and knocked-out front teeth around the globe, though.

The console’s impressive library offered diverse, wide-ranging fun for the entire family. Aesthetically, the all-white hardware played on the late-aughts love affair with sterile, sleek devices, giving it a futuristic flair. Add in the gyroscopic elements, and you felt like a regular Jetson.

Nintendo Switch (2017)

If you asked me where the Switch would fall on the list in 2017, I would’ve put it near the top. Today, however, my answer’s a little different.

Handhelds are having a big moment, a movement ignited by Valve’s powerful Steam Deck. Other heavy-hitters, like the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go, make the Switch feel almost claustrophobic, the hardware’s ultra-limited capabilities keeping players in narrow, Nintendo-branded boxes.

The Switch 2 drops tomorrow, and many remain optimistic (me included). However, mounting costs associated with the console are souring some consumers. From tariff-related price hikes and monthly subscriptions to all-new “Upgrade Packs,” limited physical releases, expensive digital downloads, and miscellaneous sus business practices may push loyalists from the successor and toward competitors.

Nintendo Entertainment System/NES (1983)

First released in Japan, the Family Computer, or Famicom, was remarketed stateside as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros., Kirby’s Adventure, Dr. Mario, Dragon Quest III, and, frankly, too many more 10/10 bangers to count.

Nintendo put all their eggs in the NES basket, but thankfully, its widespread success cemented the brand’s stateside cultural influence and dragged the near-lifeless corpse of 1980s Nintendo out of obscurity. Inventive and downright weird peripherals, addictive gameplay, multiplayer capabilities that didn’t require quarters, and revolutionary visuals? Come on. No contest.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System/SNES (1991)

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES; Super Famicom) was home to a colossal collection of games, many of which became massively successful IPs in the nearly 35 years since: Mario Kart, F-Zero, Fire Emblem, Chrono Trigger, and so many others. The SNES compounded upon what made the NES truly special by improving the fundamentals: visuals, hardware (cough cough, controllers), and audio.

The Wii U sought to fix what wasn’t broken; the SNES told customers, “We hear you.”

Nintendo 64 (1996)

The Nintendo 64, the brand’s fifth-generation console, hit shelves in 1996. The system sought to divert interest from competing consoles like the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation.

The fifth-gen hardware was mighty, but cartridge complications (“did you blow in it?”) and mixed reception regarding the convoluted controller were chief among reasons the N64 couldn’t quite keep up with the PS1 in terms of sales, but that’s not to say the console isn’t equally groundbreaking. The console boasts one of the brand’s best libraries, and it’s not close. Third- or first-party bangers included GoldenEye 007, Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Donkey Kong 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Conker’s Bad Fur Day… (wistful sigh)

Nintendo GameCube (2001)

The new millennium was a great era for gaming. Nintendo’s GameCube, the brand’s sixth-gen release, directly competed with Sony’s PlayStation 2, Sega’s Dreamcast, and Microsoft’s Xbox. These petite geometric cuties had a stacked library and an ergonomic controller that put the Xbox’s comparatively clunky ones to shame.

The Nintendo GameCube was discontinued shortly after the introduction of the Wii, but the popularity of the console and its respective controller lives on. Nintendo revealed the Switch 2 will offer Nintendo Online subscribers access to GameCube titles. The brand is also releasing a modernized GameCube controller exclusively for the Switch 2.

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