Nintendo Iris prototype discovered in working order

For those of you who like to get an up-close-and-personal look at Nintendo’s history, including aspects that never get shown to the public, today’s your lucky day. One collector out there has gotten their hands on a Nintendo Iris prototype, and they’ve put together a video showing it powering up, along with a software demo.

First up, for those unfamiliar, the Nintendo Iris was the codename for the successor to the GBA SP. This would have been a single-screen device with a mostly standard approach, but it was former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi who came up with the idea to include a second screen, akin to what you’d see on a Game & Watch. Then Nintendo president Satoru Iwata shared the idea with their hardware team, who was against the idea at first, but then decided to go in that direction. That led to the eventual creation of the Nintendo DS.

The video above shows off the Nintendo Iris, which you now know to be the early days of the Nintendo DS. This was back when the plan was to create another single-screen portable device, as you can see in the prototype itself. You even get to see an included software demo that showcases squares and cubes being rotated and having their colors changed.

Yet another unique piece of Nintendo history that somehow makes its way into the hands of a collector. You have to wonder how Nintendo feels about situations like this!