With the Nintendo Switch acting as both a fully portable system and a TV-based console, you might think that the hardware is intended to serve as a replacement for both the Wii U and the 3DS. But while the Wii U has already been discontinued , Nintendo insists that the 3DS will continue to be supported well into the Switch's lifespan.

"In our view, the Nintendo 3DS and the Nintendo Switch are going to live side-by-side," Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime told Wired in a recent interview. "They’re going to coexist just fine. We’ve done this before, managing two different systems."

While it's definitely true that Nintendo has managed two (or more) systems at the same time in the past, the company does not usually maintain two portable systems concurrently for very long. Back in 2004, for instance, Nintendo revealed the Nintendo DS as a "third pillar" in its hardware line up, alongside the existing Game Boy Advance and GameCube platforms.

While Nintendo would technically support the Game Boy Advance by printing new games through 2008 and producing hardware through 2010, internal and external attention for the system dried up quickly as the DS quickly put an end to the long-running Game Boy line.

This time, however, Fils-Aime told Wired that "3DS has a long life in front of it," and that Nintendo sees the Switch as "at its heart, it’s a home console that you can take with you on the go." That suggests the 3DS will continue to be the place Nintendo funnels games designed to be played portably, while the Switch gets games more tailored to the TV experience.

As if to drive that point home, Nintendo has also announced that the Switch won't support StreetPass, the 3DS feature that lets players passively share data wirelessly when they pass in the real world (the Miiverse social network, which works across 3DS and Wii U, is also not coming to the Switch).

Some other Nintendo Switch tidbits that have come out in interviews and statements since Nintendo's weekend Switch announcement and hands-on time last week: