Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima reiterates previous claims that the Nintendo NX console is not meant to be a successor to the Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS.

Current Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima recently gave an interesting interview with Asahi Shinbun, in which he discussed some of the Big N's future plans. According to Kimishima, those plans include Nintendo entering the film business and the Nintendo NX, Nintendo's next major hardware release. In the interview, Kimishima revealed a bit more about the Nintendo NX, reiterating the fact that Nintendo is not considering the device a successor to the Wii U or 3DS.

Kimishima said that the Nintendo NX "is a new way of playing games." He's also confident that the NX will have a larger impact than the Wii U, which in theory wouldn't be all that hard to accomplish, considering the Wii U's poor sales. Furthermore, even though the NX is the next console from Nintendo, and the company has already largely abandoned the Wii U, Kimishima insists that it is not a "pure replacement" for the system.

It's interesting that Kimishima made it a point to mention that the NX is not a successor to the 3DS either. This seems to indicate that the platform may have functionality that would make it seem as though it is also meant to be the followup to the 3DS. Past rumors have indicated that the Nintendo NX is a console/handheld hybrid, which would explain why Kimishima decided to bring up the 3DS as well.

If the NX is indeed a console/handheld hybrid, it would definitely be a "new way of playing games," as such functionality would be unprecedented in the gaming industry. Having said that, Kimishima's claims that the Nintendo NX isn't supposed to be the successor to the 3DS or Wii U are somewhat difficult to believe.

Nintendo has very little in the pipeline for either the 3DS or Wii U right now, and with The Legend of Zelda set to be the only Nintendo game at E3, it doesn't look like fans will be learning about any secret titles any time soon. It stands to reason that the company has decided to pull back its development of games on 3DS and Wii U in favor of focusing on the NX and its push into the mobile market.

Even if Nintendo itself doesn't consider the NX a successor to the Wii U or 3DS, it still may technically be a successor to both. If the rumors about its handheld/console hybrid functionality turn out to be true, the Nintendo NX could be a game changer. While we won't learn more about the Nintendo NX at E3 2016, still expect the device to be unveiled by the end of the year, and hopefully we will finally learn the truth behind the many NX rumors at that point.

The Nintendo NX will be available in March 2017.

Source: NeoGAF (via IGN)