During his GDC session, Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis Division development head Hideki Konno revealed that the suggestion to add stereoscopic 3d to the 3DS's feature list was met with strong resistance at Nintendo.
Konno revealed that the first 3DS prototypes didn't have stereoscopic 3D support and that when he (and his team) proposed it they were reminded of the infamous failure of the Virtual Boy, Nintendo's first stereoscopic 3D console which depended on a head mounted display (pictured above).
"When we said to them, how about 3D, they didn't believe in the potential right away. Most of the people we spoke with took a defensive stance," Konno recalled.
To convince their coworkers, Konno created a series of technology demos, including a version of Mario Kart Wii running in 3D. "I believe we were able to instantly capture the emotions of everyone," he said. "When we heard, 'We will be able to bring this to market' and 'The time for 3D has arrived,' we were extremely happy."
