With Nintendo’s history of products, it seems the answer to that question is a resounding, yes.

Remember the good ol’ days of the Game Boy Advance? When the original DS was first released back in 2004, the Kyoto-based company said that it wasn’t designed to replace the previous handheld. The DS was supposed to be a different hardware that targeted gamers who wanted something different – offering touchscreen functionality. However, when the DS became a global phenomenon, the GBA was shelved, and never spoken of again. No new games came out for it. Sure, the DS had a neat backward-compatibility feature by having a slot for GBA cartridges but it was made to be some sort of a transitional tactic for older gamers to adapt to the newer handheld console.

The NX is said to be a console/mobile in one that could either be used as a standalone machine at home, or a handheld unit on the go. Analysts say this is a good move for Nintendo as neither Sony nor Microsoft has a product that can currently compete with it. If Nintendo NX will really allow gamers to play an RPG at home and let them continue while traveling on a train or bus, then Nintendo’s competitors are facing some serious problems. Nintendo is currently dominating the handheld market, meaning it is already on the right track with the NX. Mobile, after all, is where most of the demand is when it comes to gaming.

The massive shift of game development from traditional consoles to mobile devices can be attributed to the fact that almost everyone owns a smartphone or tablet today. When games get released to mobile devices, companies automatically have more people to sell their products to. Even games based on sports and gambling, which used to be only available on PC platforms, have switched focus to mobile. Intergameonline reports that Gala Coral, proprietor of several gaming brands including Coral Sports and Gala Bingo, says that the 70{3a19833c997fa52158a43c449fe089ff048ac0506a335cac10721cfa396ff282} of the company’s gaming stakes are now placed via mobile. Handhelds are the future of hardcore gaming so it’s not really hard to see why Nintendo wants to bring both worlds, console gaming and mobile, to one awesome piece of handheld device.

Right now, it seems that the NX will indeed become the company’s “next big thing.” It promises to have “industry-leading chips,” meaning that it will have the capacity to surpass both Microsoft and Nintendo’s consoles. With that idea in mind, and given Nintendo’s track record of focusing on newer consoles over the older ones, it seems that the company will be replacing the 3Ds soon.