If there’s something that I like, it’s handheld consoles. Rising up, we didn’t have an NES or an SNES in the home; these had been designated for Grandma’s home. What we did have had been our Recreation Boys, and I can’t let you know what number of hours I wiled away taking part in video games like Tremendous Mario Land 2, Kirby’s Dream Land, and others. As Nintendo continued to innovate within the cell area, it was with each curiosity and even just a little trepidation that I took the information of the corporate’s upcoming, so-called third-pillar console. Nintendo DS was a handheld not in contrast to Recreation Boy Advance, but it surely was bigger, bulkier, contained two screens, and one in all them was even touch-capacitive.
Nintendo DS was additionally dealing with some stiff competitors in Sony’s PlayStation Moveable. That firm’s first stab at handheld gaming was concurrently sleeker, extra highly effective, and albeit, sexier than DS in just about each manner. But, regardless of these seeming disadvantages, what DS lacked in relative energy and aesthetics, it greater than made up for with innovation. The twin screens and the inclusion of touch-based gameplay opened the door for all types of latest sport experiences, making DS a powerhouse in a manner that PSP by no means might hope to match. Video games like Cooking Mama, Mind Age, Kirby Canvas Curse, Trauma Middle, The World Ends With You… the checklist goes on and on. And what’s extra, moreover the outside-of-the-box video games that DS pioneered, it additionally did properly with extra conventional honest, too. DS went from being a third-pillar to second in brief order.
The Nintendo DS launched in North America 20 years in the past as we speak! What had been a few of your favourite Nintendo DS video games? pic.twitter.com/TAH5tBRDdT
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) November 21, 2024
For me, it was like being a child in a sweet store. Every new kind of sport captured my creativeness greater than the final, and I regularly discovered myself in awe of all the brand new issues I used to be experiencing from video video games. It performed a extremely highly effective position in shaping who I’m as a online game participant, and as I found new kinds of video games on DS, it made me search for different new kinds of video games on different consoles, as properly. Look, some folks experiment with medicine and alcohol after they go to school; for me, it was all about discovering new video games. And on the forefront of these explorations I had my belief Nintendo DS in hand.
I can’t imagine that DS is 20 years previous, however then, I can’t imagine a variety of issues in my life can now be counted in a long time and never simply years. Whereas Nintendo’s handheld enterprise has all the time been sturdy, DS took issues to a brand new degree. Promoting in extra of 120 million models, the console was a mainstay of the trade and did the type of gross sales numbers that many {hardware} makers can solely dream of. The library of unbelievable video games that decision Nintendo DS dwelling can also be equally enviable, however extra importantly, was a supply of extremely pleasure and inspiration for therefore many gamers world wide.
So completely happy birthday, Nintendo DS. You’ll all the time be my favourite.
