Whatever Happened to the Purple and Gold 3DS?

I think I’ve personally reported on nearly all of Nintendo’s recent 3DS color model announcements over the past few months. I’ve noticed that no matter what, there will always be at least one commentor who mentions a purple 3DS. For awhile, I figured this was just hopeful thinking, especially since it was usually suggested that a purple model be released with Majora’s Mask 3DS (if it is ever actually put into production).

However, more than one reader has mentioned it. After a quick Google search, I discovered that a purple 3DS does exist; I had forgotten all about it; is it possible Nintendo has too?

Back at E3 2010, the year Nintendo announced the 3DS, the Nintendo booth had a handful of different colored 3DS models on display. Besides the obvious Cosmo Black and Aqua Blue, there was a purple, red, and gold model.

The red model, officially dubbed Flame Red, was released last month, but there has been no announcements for the purple and gold models. However, several models, which were not at E3 2010, have been announced. These include the Misty Pink and Ice White models. There is also a rumored Leafy Green model.

The gold and purple models haven’t seen the light of day since 2010, but colored models, which weren’t even featured at E3, have been announced. Does this mean that only the red model made the final cut, and the white and pink models are considered more profitable than purple and gold?

I think it’s a bit of yes and a bit of no.

First of all, if Nintendo is going to release a gold anything, they’re going to bundle it with a Zelda game. They didn’t do so with the Ocarina of Time remake because they’re probably planning on doing so with an original Zelda 3DS title.

As for purple, they could still be planning on releasing it, but they might not be. So far the only released or announced colors have been black, blue, red, pink, and white, all of which have been used before for DS models.

Black and white are the generic colors; they’re staples for video game hardware. Blue is pretty unisex; it let Nintendo launch the 3DS with a more colorful option than black to appeal to both girls and boys. Pink is their girl model (they heavily market it towards females), and it has done well. Red is very Nintendo (i.e. Mario, their logo color), and it makes sense that they would release it earlier than some of the other colors, especially since there were some recent red Wii hardware items. A lot of people also felt that the blue 3DS was a ‘girl color’ (not that I or many of you agree with this), so the red model gave an option for the male audience who wanted something more interesting than black.

Purple is a color that used to frequent Nintendo hardware. However, it hasn’t been used for a long time, and Nintendo isn’t sure how it will do. The launch of the 3DS was a risk. There was no reason to make it riskier by choosing launch colors that didn’t have recent sales statistics attached to them. Right now, the 3DS is doing well, but it’s still in a recovery period. They’re still playing it safe, as seen by the recent Misty Pink and Ice White announcements. The last real purple piece of hardware was the Gamecube a decade ago. Before that there was also a purple N64 model, Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy Color (I still have my purple Game Boy Color). Purple the color of Nintendo during the 90s, not the 2000s.

But Nintendo still made a mock-up for the purple 3DS, so they are thinking about bringing it back for whatever-you-call-this-decade. They’re probably just waiting to be on more solid ground, which they will be after the holiday season.

If Nintendo does end up officially announcing a purple (‘Majora Purple’) model, they’ll probably do so during the first half of next year, not too long after the time they would have to announce the Leafy Green model (if that is in fact a thing, and if it will be released alongside the launch of Luigi’s Mansion 2).

Readers, what do you think? Purple, yay or nay? I say yay; I miss purple.