Description

The DS was not intended as a successor to the Game Boy Advance but rather as a third pillar to the GBA and GameCube, this was likely done so Nintendo could go back on the Game Boy brand if the DS failed. DS stands for duel screen which was the console’s defining feature and the bottom screen was a touch screen with the console having a built in stylise, this made the DS very accessible to people who didn’t normally play games including elderly people. The DS was incredibly successful from the start and this would continue even further with the DS Lite in 2006 which had a more modern and appealing design than the original. The DS had a built in app called Pictochat which would allow people to write or draw and send them to nearby consoles even without internet, the DS was also the first handheld Nintendo console with internet and the first one ever to include Wi-Fi, in Japan an ad was made for Mario Kart DS that featured four people from different countries playing against each other. The DS’s main competition was the PSP and was Nintendo’s first major handheld competitor since the Game Gear and like the Game Gear the PSP was a lot more powerful and had the advantage of UMDs which could play feature length films. The DS managed to sell almost double the PSP and managed to outshine it with big names like Mario and Pokémon as well as casual games like Brain Training unlike Sony who wanted to offer games for a mature audience. The DS became Nintendo’s best selling console until it was overtaken by the Switch.