Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Nintendo 3DS launched in Japan on the 26th of February 2011, followed by Europe on the 25th of March and North America on the 27th of March 2011. The North American launch price was $249.99, the highest Nintendo had ever charged for a handheld console.
Nintendo announced a price cut on the 28th of July 2011, reducing the North American price from $249.99 to $169.99, less than six months after launch. The cut came in response to disappointing sales driven by the high price, a launch lineup without flagship Nintendo titles, concerns about the 3D effect causing eye fatigue, and rising competition from smartphone gaming.
The 3DS Ambassador Program was Nintendo's offer of 20 free classic games to consumers who had purchased the system at its original $249.99 price and accessed the Nintendo eShop before the 21st of August 2011. The 20 titles included ten NES games such as Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, and ten Game Boy Advance games including Mario Kart: Super Circuit and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.
The Nintendo 3DS family of systems shipped 75.94 million units worldwide across all models. Of those, 25.26 million were shipped to Japan, 26.90 million to the Americas, and 23.78 million to other territories. The best-selling game in the library, Mario Kart 7, sold 18.99 million units.
In 2011, former Sony employee Seijiro Tomita sued Nintendo, claiming the 3DS's glasses-free 3D screen infringed his patent. On the 13th of March 2013, a federal jury ordered Nintendo to pay $30.2 million in damages, but Judge Jed Rakoff reduced the award by 50 percent to $15.1 million on the 7th of August 2013, ruling the original figure was unsupported by the evidence.
Nintendo discontinued the 3DS family on the 16th of September 2020. The Nintendo eShop closed on the 27th of March 2023, and Nintendo Network online services including online multiplayer and SpotPass were discontinued on the 8th of April 2024.