Nintendo has a long and proud history of innovation in the portable gaming arena. The Game & Watch range virtually created the handheld market we know today, while the groundbreaking Game Boy revolutionised the way in which people game on the go.

More recently there’s been the touchscreen brilliance of the DS, a console so attuned to the wants and needs of your average player than it’s sold in excess of 125 million units worldwide, making it one of the most successful gaming platforms of all time.

That’s a tough act to follow, and with the 3DS Nintendo stepping onto ground that has proven to be quite shaky for the firm in the past (Virtual Boy, anyone?), a repeat victory is by no means assured.

However, it only takes a few moments in the company of this appealing little machine to realise that it has all of the power and potential to eclipse the commercial performance of its predecessor, and then some.

As this is such a mammoth launch, with a mammoth review to match, we've decided to break it up. Let us know what you think of the new format.

Onwards.