Swapnote/Nintendo Letter Box Was Originally In Development For The Nintendo DSi

According to the latest edition of Iwata Asks the popular Nintendo 3DS messaging system Swapnote, or Nintendo Letter Box, was originally in the works for the Nintendo DSi but due to some technical complications the project was shelved and later brought to Nintendo 3DS. Here’s director Daiji Imai from Nintendo’s Network Business Department take on it:

Even then, it was shaping up quite nicely. But it had a few weaknesses. For example, the Nintendo DSi system itself didn’t have the Friend List 7, so we put that function into the software. But you could only register 18 friends. Another big weakness was that you had to manually access the server all the time to check whether you have received a diary from others or not. It was unavoidable that sometimes you would think, “Did it come in? Argh! It didn’t!”

We tried various kinds of 3D representation and multiple color pens. If you do that, though, the controls get complicated and it turns into software only for those with artistic skills. So I carefully selected what functions to include and placed emphasis on something that anyone could write easily, send right away, and use comfortably. As a result, I feel like it turned out to be something that many people can use.