Could Nintendo continue its business on the handheld market alone?

The common trend that follows Nintendo’s history is they always perform better in the handheld space while their home consoles drag behind. The main reason for this seems to be third party support is easier to garner for portables then their homebound counterparts, the key example is Square Enix, when they jumped back on board the Nintendo train after the Final Fantasy VII debacle (then rubbing our face in it with the magazine ads), Square Enix created the lackluster crystal chronicles for Gamecube while the Game Boy Advance received enhanced ports of Final Fantasy IV, V, VI and Tactics Advance as well as Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

Nintendo handhelds do have an advantage due to the amount of iterations they have (this is how DS sold over 150 million units thanks to the original model, DS Lite and DSi), while home consoles only have two versions although I think Nintendo is overdoing it with the number of 3DS XL special editions!

Could Nintendo do away with the home systems and keep their relevence or does Nintendo need to keep their home console heritage alive?

Colin Crompton is an avid Nintendo fan since playing ocarina of time and Loves Nintendo handhelds since the GBA. He currently enjoys his 3DS XL. NNID Col1990