Nintendo Planned To Release A 'Game Boy Advance 2' Instead Of The DS

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The announcement of the Nintendo DS came as a surprise as it was intended to be a successor to the popular Game Boy line. It was a risky move, but turned out to be a huge success for the company, even though it was not the initial plan.

Initially, the developer planned a successor to the "Game Boy Advance" with just one screen but the decision was changed along the line during development according to the former Nintendo R&D General Manager Satoro Okada.

 He explained that after the SP, they were working on the newest model in this range and the code name for this new Game Boy was IRIS, like the flower. As it was the fifth generation of Game Boy, they decided to choose the symbol of May which is represented by the iris in the Hanafuda playing cards, according to Kopitiam Bot.

Okada said the project was moving forward at a good pace but something unexpected happened during the development. The development plans changed after the late Satoru Iwata, the then President of Nintendo, spoke with his predecessor Hiroshi Yamauchi over the phone.

"President Iwata then came to see me. He was obviously bothered and he said 'l talked to Yamauchi-san over the phone and he thinks your console should have two screens... A bit like the multi-screen Game & Watch, you see?'" He added that although, so many people are aware of this, what they do not know is that everybody hated this idea at that time, even Iwata himself as we thought it did not make any sense.

The development team did not like the idea as they could not see the need for a second screen. Although, the Game and Watch utilized dual screens because of technological limitations, the restrictions did not exist anymore, according to Game Zone.

Back in the Game and Watch days, it was different because a second screen allowed users to double the playing area and also the number of graphic elements on display. But there was no point with the modern screens as we were free to choose the size of our screen, why bother splitting it into two? Especially considering the fact that, it was impossible to look at both screens at the same time. This is why we did not understand his idea, Okada said.

The development team tried to object, but Iwata encouraged them to put in their best efforts and see if they could realize the idea. The development was stressful as Okada and his team will have to start all over again.

Okada said he tried to put the team at ease and also noted that he had some experience working with double screens, he told them to put in their best and wait for the outcome. It became project Nitro released in 2004 as "Nintendo DS".

The "Nintendo DS" gained lots of popularity and sold over 150 million units.