Ever since I was a kid and got my first Gameboy Pocket, I've been a big fan of handheld game systems. In particular, the most successful brand in handheld game systems - Nintendo.

I've owned a Nintendo handheld from each line since the Gameboy Pocket - the Gameboy Color, the Gameboy Advance, the Nintendo DS, and the Nintendo 3DS. With the DS and 3DS, I've owned more than one model of the system at different points in time.

When the 3DS was announced, I was filled with a familiar sense of excitement over its impending release. Whether or not the 3D was a gimmick, I looked forward to seeing where Nintendo went after the immense popularity of the DS line. And so I got the system at launch.

The 3DS released in early 2011. Roughly 4 years ago, as hard as that is to believe. Unfortunately, it suffered a game drought for much of its first year, during which time I owned it. I was already fed up with the price of the system dropping by a decent amount a few months after its launch, but it was more annoying than anything how games were announced well before its launch date and were in development for a year or more after that.

Ocarina of Time was probably the best game I owned for the system then, but I wanted something new. I ended up selling the system by year's end, in need of fast cash.

I didn't own a 3DS in 2012 or much of 2013, but in Christmas 2013 I got the new model of the 3DS, the 3DS XL. The new model had a larger top screen, and the system in general was much bigger. It also had a power button that was harder to hit by accident.

The 3DS XL didn't come as a huge surprise, mainly because Nintendo had released similar kinds of premium versions of their handhelds in the past. While it annoyed me that the system didn't add many useful things along with the revision, such as a right circle pad and online accounts linked to your downloadable purchases, it was a decent addition to the 3DS line. I did wonder, however, why it didn't include a charging bay like the original 3DS did...

I didn't own my 3DS XL for even as long as the original 3DS, but I did use the system a lot and took better advantage of its streetpass features.

While I owned the 3DS XL, another 3DS model was also released...

The 2DS, which I never owned, came about really unexpectedly. It launched as a response to research that showed children under the age of 7 years may develop problems from viewing 3D games on the 3DS. I guess it was good that Nintendo took action and did something to counter that issue and keep itself relevant to its children gamers. But I never understood why the system was made as one solid, unfolding, gaudy piece of ugly hardware. I guess to lower the cost?

Nintendo still isn't done revising, the 3DS, however. Recently they released the new Nintendo 3DS. If casual consumers weren't already confused by the three different models of the same system currently out on the market, they should be now. The new Nintendo 3DS is also available both in its classic size, and XL size. Bringing the total number of different 3DS models to 5.

The problem here, aside from the fact that there are now more 3DS models than there are years the system has been around for, is that the new 3DS includes that second circle pad, as well as a better processor. This means that new games are coming out which play only on the new 3DS and new 3DS XL. Which means that the other 3 3DS models are now pretty much obsolete. If you want to play Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, or any of the other new games that take advantage of the new hardware and tech, you need this new 3DS.

With the exception maybe of the 2DS, the 3DS brand has essentially become as bad as the iPhone. Nintendo is getting as bad as Apple, turning their handheld game systems into throw-away experiments, in which the following year a superior successor is sure to follow, with new features and tech.

It is possible that next year, or the following year, there will be yet another version of the 3DS. Maybe the 3DS micro, or 3DS Phone for all I know. And it will sell well, despite the fact that Nintendo should have been forward-thinking and just included things like this from the start. They should have offered two model sizes from day one, they should have had two circle pads from day one. (And we ALL know they will improve that second circle pad to be as good as the first one eventually.) It probably should have had a faster processor and better hardware out of the gate - after all, the PS Vita managed to.

But the big point is, people will go out and buy the latest version of the 3DS, and in a few years Nintendo will probably make a much better handheld... And start this same cycle all over again...