When someone hears the name Nintendo, they may think of some of their iconic consoles like the GameCube or the Nintendo 64 (N64). Although all these consoles made monumental changes to modern gaming and are undoubtedly popular, looking at the numbers, these were commercial failures. The N64 was only able to sell 32 million units, which was just over half of its predecessor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), while the GameCube sold even less with only 24 million units. However, when comparing the sales of these static consoles to their handheld models, it is clear that Nintendo had more potential in the portable business.
This potential is evident from the success of the Nintendo DS. The DS was released in 2004, three years after the Gameboy Advance and just a year after the Gameboy Advance SP. This was quite a strange decision after seeing the success of the Gameboy Advance line. Nintendo had stated that the DS was no successor to the GBA, but was another pillar for the company, even though it was advertised as being backwards compatible with the GBA, indicating it was in fact the successor.
So, what is a DS, exactly? Simply put, it is a dual screen games consoles designed in a way to be easily carried around due to its small, handheld form factor. It has a clamshell designed to protect the screens when transported. When opened, it has a D-pad on the left and the four ‘A, B, X, Y’ buttons on the right. It also has a pair of shoulder buttons and start and select buttons which change location depending on the version you have. There is a built-in stylus too. The main gimmick is that it has two screens, with the bottom one being a touchscreen. This feature lends the DS its name, the Nintendo Dual-Screen. This meant that games could now have the main gameplay on the top screen and any useful information like settings or health bars being on the bottom screen, leaving the top clutter-free. This clearly clicked with the public as the DS saw huge sale numbers, just over 154 million units to be precise.
The design allowed for more casual games to establish a presence on the system as many games used the stylus and the DS on its side like a book, making it easy to operate for people who did not necessarily play games commonly. Games like Brain Age were among the most popular and utilize the ‘on-the-side’ orientation. The design of console did not alienate more traditional game experiences, the two-screen setup was out of the way and did not cause much inconvenience allowing for more ordinary games like Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Brothers to work well, resulting in greater popularity.
All in all, the Nintendo DS was a major success and became Nintendo’s most successful console to date, with it only having the chance to be surpassed by the Nintendo Switch soon. However, it is often forgotten about when considering Nintendo’s greatest successes and the greatest successes in gaming as a whole, since it has only been outsold by the PS2 by only a few million units. It is not considered as a major best seller, even though it should be.
Authored by guest writer Szymon Pilas.