Switching back over to the world of handhelds, let’s take a look at the Nintendo DS for this week’s ‘Remembering The…‘ article. Similar to the Wii, there’s hardly a person who wouldn’t recognize the DS on sight. It’s the second-highest-selling video game console of all time, after all! This little two-screened device with a clamshell hinge revolutionized the world of handheld gaming by bringing fully 3D experiences onto a pocket-sized device.
Let’s jump into things!
The Console
This is another extremely iconic design by Nintendo, recognizable by almost anyone.
It’s also an ingenious design, and whoever came up with the double-screen concept deserves all the praise possible. The amount of unique game design ideas that this concept creates is practically limitless, and over the DS’ long lifespan we saw just that. Countless developers took advantage of the two screens to great effect, whether it was gameplay on the top screen and map on the bottom, action of the top with touch-controlled mechanics on the bottom, or two-screen-tall giga bosses in certain RPGs. Also, yeah, touch-screen! That’s a thing, and it’s super fun (most of the time).
Power-wise, the DS is roughly equivalent to the N64 (though a bit better), which is why you actually had quite a few fully 3D games release for the system (even if, yes, only having a D-Pad hindered the experience a bit). The DS could also access the internet to explore the web in a browser and watch videos, download new data, and play multiplayer games over the internet, or just local play. You could even use the coolest feature of all, Download Play. For certain games, if just one friend had a copy, the rest of your group could download some data wirelessly from them, and be able to play the game without even needing the cartridge yourself! That’s nuts!
The Controller
Like with the Game Boy, the console and controller are one and the same here.
Still, there’s some fun stuff to talk about, some neat ways in which the spirit of Nintendo’s core philosophy lives on. In terms of holding this thing, it’s not all-too-different from the Game Boy Advance, making it immediately comfortable for those familiar with that device. Either way, it’s pretty light and solid, perfect for long sessions without getting finger cramps. The button layout is familiar and typical of Nintendo products, with the D-Pad, four face buttons, two shoulder buttons, and Start and Select.
The entire bottom screen is a touch screen, and it works exactly as you’d expect thanks to modern cell phones (though, remember, this was super revolutionary at the time). There’s a microphone too, which was more spotty, but still a novel concept. A headphone port was included, as pictured above. Also pictured above is a camera, which only came on the updated DSi model, released a few years later. A cool feature, but one that wouldn’t really be super pertinent until the 3DS later down the line.
Cultural Impact
As I mentioned above, this is the second-highest selling gaming console of all time. To say that it had a big cultural impact would be to grossly undersell this magically little machine. A machine powerful enough to play hundreds of games including some in 3D, could still effortlessly fit in your pocket and be carried around anywhere, and now had built-in internet capabilities to wirelessly play multiplayer with your friends or people around the world? And then you sprinkle in the addicting novelty of two-screen games and the touch screen? It was inevitable this thing would sell great.
It’s actually shocking to me how many people I knew of who owned a DS. For years, I was used to only a few friends having video games, and only half of them having a Nintendo console (growing up, Xbox and PlayStation just felt ‘cooler‘, I guess). But suddenly, with the DS, they were everywhere. Heck, my own sister was the first in our family to get one, and she basically never played video games back then! The DS was huger than huge, and it’s little surprise that Nintendo only marginally rocked the boat with their subsequent handheld console, the 3DS.
Favorite Games
This is around the era where gaming started to transition for me from just being something I did for fun from time-to-time, to something I really cherished, valued, and (finally) was actually good at. I have played a pretty extensive portion of the DS’ library.
Pokémon Black 2
I’ve talked about this game before, of course, as for years it was my favorite Pokémon game of all time (I just have to give that nod to Scarlet, now). It’s a phenomenal and very-content-packed adventure that, despite being a direct sequel (for the first time in the series), feels just as fresh and exciting as its predecessor. The fact that it’s a sequel also leads to some very cool moments, as you get to see how the region itself and the trainers within have changed and developed over the two years between the entries.
If you want to be the very best, like no one ever was, this is the game for you. If you’re a huge fan of the predecessors and want more from this region, this is the game for you. If you want the best and most feature-rich Pokémon experience on the DS, this is the game for you. If you want to star in silly movies, take part in dance competitions and fashion shows, play minigames with your friends, and battle trainers and champions from all previous games in the franchise, this is the game for you. You really can’t go wrong with Pokémon Black 2.
Kirby Super Star Ultra
On the whole, I wouldn’t really consider myself the world’s biggest Kirby fan, but there was definitely a point in time that I rather ravenously devoured his games, and my love all started with this gem here. And to build off of the ‘feature-rich‘ comment I made about Pokémon above, this Kirby game here is one that will really give you your bang-for-your-buck. There’s ten full-sized adventures to go on, six minigames, a built-in soundtrack mode, and even multiplayer with your friends (available in the Download Play feature too).
You can go on a quick and breezy adventure to get your feet wet, tackle the insurmountable challenge of defeating Meta Knight as his Halberd warship, venture through a labyrinthine cave looking for treasures, soar through the cosmos to save the galaxy from a shockingly-distressing evil jester man, and race to gobble up the most food possible against King DeDeDe. This, and so much more! You can play this game for hours and still come back for more!
New Super Mario Bros
It’s hard to think about now, but there was a point in time where we’d gone years and years without a true Mario 2D platformer game, the portly plumber having transitioned exclusively to 3D platformers and sports spinoffs. So in the grand scheme of thing, Mario’s glorious return to 2D platforming is, all things considered, pretty basic. Still super fun, of course! Eight worlds, plenty of levels, fun new powerups (who can forget trampling through baddies with the Mega Mushroom), and a decent level of challenge.
Why this game is really on the list is because of the minigames, accessible from the main menu. They have, in all honesty, nothing to do with the rest of the game, and yet they are easily the best part. You could spend hours playing them all, chasing your high scores, or just gambling with Luigi until your DS runs out of batteries (many kids, myself included, learned how to play a simple variation of poker through this game). It’s not often minigames are the best part of a gaming experience, but they sure are here!
Mario Kart DS
It’s Mario Kart, is there a whole lot else to say? Honestly, with this game, there kind of is. This was the first Mario Kart game, after all, to start leaning into nostalgia. Alongside a selection of fresh new tracks to race on, this game also included a bevy of old tracks from earlier entries in the series. At this point, that wasn’t much, but this did mark the moment where all future Mario Kart games would include throwback tracks to entice fans of the series to reminiscence with each new entry.
This game also had, for the first and only time, a single-player Mission Mode. Collect items, win a race in a certain amount of time, avoid getting your balloons popped…that sort of thing. Oh, right, and also boss fights! Genuine boss fights, in a kart-racing game! It was crazy! On top of this, ROB returned to the spotlight for the first time in decades, and obviously this game’s popularity benefited greatly from online multiplayer. It was hard to not see friends or strangers playing this game every chance they could get!
Gaming Memories
I played a ton of DS games, and still do to this day. Unlike home consoles, handhelds will always have that addicting edge of ‘pick-up-and-play‘. I remember my first-ever Pokémon experience with Pokémon Diamond, accidentally beating the entire game with a single over-leveled ally while neglecting the rest of my team. I remember sending teams of Pokémon to duke it out with one another in the extremely silly tactical SRPG, Pokémon Conquest. I remember re-experiencing my early childhood in a brand new way by jumping around Peach’s Castle in Super Mario 64 DS.
I remember pulling my hair out in frustration trying to defeat the bosses in Mario Party DS, that came at the end of each board (man, Mario spinoffs really had a big thing with bosses on this console, didn’t they). I remember accidentally breaking my sister’s DS when I got angry at a puzzle I couldn’t solve in Mario & Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story (sorry about that, but at least it was insured and instantly replaced). I remember struggling immensely trying to beat my best friend’s favorite game, The World Ends With You, but boy was I jamming along to the soundtrack the entire time! And of course I remember sending friends wireless silly doodles thanks to the Pictochat app!
Conclusion
To sum up, there’s a very good reason that DS took the world by storm and dominated the sales charts. The Game Boy Advance had some amazing games, but for the first time, handheld gaming could do more than just mimic consoles on a byte-sized screen. The DS had gaming experiences that could not, in any way shape or form, be emulated elsewhere. If you wanted two-screen madness, if you wanted touch-controlled shenanigans, and if you wanted effortless multiplayer on-the-go…you could only find it with the DS.
The Contrarian Corner 