Topic: Nintendo DS 10th Anniversary

[NWR_insanolord]

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Nintendo DS, which became the highest selling game system of all time via some sort of deal with Satan or some such thing, selling over 170 million. As great as the software library was, that kind of success makes less and less sense the more you think of it. I was wondering what kind of thoughts people had about it on this occasion.

[UncleBob]

170 million.
And I only own 5 of them.

[NWR_insanolord]

You're slipping, man, even I bought five of them. And they all broke. In five separate ways.

[UncleBob]

Mine aren't broke because I take care of mah stuff.

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

I loved the DS, got it day one or whenever it was Super Mario 64 DS came out not 100% sure, it was before Christmas I know that. I miss it, everytime I go to the used gamestore I try to talk myself into getting another one but I never do because I can't decide do I get a regular DS, a DS Lite, a DSi, a 3DS, a 2DS or wait for the New 3DS. Game wise I know I am missing out and of all my past game consoles it is the one I regret selling the most, especially what I sold it to buy, a stupid 500GB usb hard drive so I could download a bunch of movies I no longer have.

[Ceric]

I'm surprised its only been 10 years now that I think of it.  Feels vastly longer.

[Ian Sane]

I'm blown away that it's been 10 years.  The DS and Wii felt like the start of a different Nintendo from before and I still think of that Nintendo as the "new" Nintendo.  Actually New Nintendo fits quite well considering they came up with New Super Mario Bros. and New 3DS.  To me this era has been a low point and I'd like to think of it as a temporary blip but at 10 years running this could be considered the new routine.

I liked the GBA, I like the 3DS, but I never had any real fondness for the DS.  Frankly I regret ever buying one as I never really enjoyed it much.  Part of it I think is that I'm not a handheld gamer at heart.  With the GBA I really fell in love with it with the GB Player.  With the 3DS I have the XL and the bigger screen makes a noticeable difference for me.  I only had an original DS so I only got to experience it with a tiny screen.

The DS was the first Nintendo system that was I utterly and completely disinterested in when it launched.  The GBA's life was getting cut pretty damn short to begin with and its replacement (I called "third pillar" on being nonsense at the time like probably 80% of us did) was launching with a port of an N64 game as the sole first party title available at launch.  That has to be the worst launch lineup for a successful product ever.  The DS launched before the PSP and yet the PSP launched with more games than the DS had had released up to that point.  For the first year the DS was looking like a massive dud.  It didn't help that the initial implementation of the touchscreen was pretty damn poor and forced as well.  My distrust of new control methods from Nintendo started with the DS.  It started the trend of gimmicky control schemes where they would throw the functionality in without any real plans for it and hope that innovation would follow.

The DS being the highest selling videogame system ever just seems nuts.  How did THIS thing sell so well?  It's not a terrible product but I can't think of anything exceptional to say about it other than that it sold well.  We know why it sold well - it had Brain Age and Nintendogs during this brief window in videogame history where non-gamers were interested in casual videogames but there was not yet mainstream consumer electronics that delivered this type of content to that audience so they bought dedicated videogame systems like the DS and Wii.  Without that factor the DS would probably have done as well as the 3DS has so far just as I figure the Wii would have done as well as the Wii U.

The DS started Nintendo's infatuation with casual gamers and gimmicky control schemes and even the NSMB series and all its blandness so... **** it.  Its launch was the death of the "real" Nintendo.  In 20 years retro gamers that weren't there at the time will scratch their heads wondering why it was so successful.

[Mop it up]

The DS being the highest selling videogame system ever just seems nuts. How did THIS thing sell so well?  It's not a terrible product but I can't think of anything exceptional to say about it other than that it sold well.

It sold so well for the same reason why the PS2 (another system with nothing exceptional about it) sold so well: it has a massive library of quality games that appeals to all ages and groups. It really isn't difficult at all to understand it with biases removed. While it may have had a rocky start, it wasn't long before the system built up an extensive library of games and that's when sales really started to pick up. Currently, only the PS2 rivals such a vast selection of games.

If you like your 3DS XL then I'd recommend trying out some more DS games too, you might be surprised what you find.

Or, you can continue with this old man rhetoric, lacking any real, full perspective of things, complaining about the things you don't like instead of focusing on what you do like. That'd be your loss.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm kind of with Ian that I prefer the GBA library, as well as the 3DS library to this point, to the DS, despite the DS being around about twice as long as either of them. The DS was incredibly strong in terms of RPGs, but that's never been one of my favorite genres. I like them, but not as much as, say, platformers, which the DS wasn't so great at.

[Mop it up]

I can see why someone would prefer the 3DS over DS, but the GBA? That system was mostly just a port machine with few notable original titles. I guess if someone never played all the original versions and/or really values portability then it would be a much better system. But for me, the GBA was really lame.

[Khushrenada]

He's just feeling GBA nostalgic suddenly because of all the Wii U virtual console re-releases. It looks great right now but Nintendo has nearly released all the great GBA created games already so that library will soon be drying up.

[NWR_insanolord]

I can see why someone would prefer the 3DS over DS, but the GBA? That system was mostly just a port machine with few notable original titles. I guess if someone never played all the original versions and/or really values portability then it would be a much better system. But for me, the GBA was really lame.

I think most franchises that appeared on both were better on GBA, and the GBA had two fantastic Metroid games to the DS's none.

[Mop it up]

The DS has two Metroid games, Prime Hunters and Prime Pinball. I have not played them though so I have no idea what they are like. They aren't 2D though, and those GBA ones certainly are good.

I actually am curious what else people like on GBA though, I think some of the good games probably got overshadowed by the port/remake perception. I'm willing to give more GBA games a shot, just not too sure what else is out there.

[NWR_insanolord]

The DS Metroid games aren't traditional Metroid games. Hunters is basically Quake with a Metroid skin and Pinball is pinball.

I'd say the Advance Wars, Fire Emblem and Kirby games on GBA were better than the ones on DS, and the WarioWare games were certainly better. DS had an original Mario game, which GBA didn't, but I'm really not a fan of it

[Ian Sane]

The DS has no REAL Metroid games.  And its Zeldas both has forced touchscreen controls while the GBA Zelda does not.  Considering those are my two favourite Nintendo series that's a big plus for the GBA.

Mario is a wash though.  Nintendo just released Mario ports on the GBA while the DS got new Mario games (probably because they ran out of ports to make).  Now NSMB is probably the dullest Mario platformer in the series but at least it was a new game.  Though I think that also adds to how odd it is that the DS was so successful.  NSMB was a massive hit for the system and yet it is totally unremarkable.  I'm pretty down on the unoriginal nature of the NSMB series to begin with but I really enjoyed NSMB Wii but found the original to be outright dull.  The cliché of the blandest lamest stuff becoming the most popular is fulfilled on the DS.  Ten years from now if you went back and played all the old Mario platformers you would never assume NSMB was one of the most successful ones.

There is a bit of a nostalgia going also in that when the GBA came out 2D sprite games with that level of graphics were not being made anywhere else.  So just having another game that played a lot like Super Metroid or A Link to the Past was a huge deal.  I hadn't played games like that in years and devoured them.  Now such games are a dime a dozen as indie titles.  So the GBA had games I couldn't put down and the DS never had a title that grabbed me the same way.  Isn't that really what determines your opinion of a console?  Did it have games that really clicked with you or not?

Though I have a feeling that if the DS didn't fall into my break from Pokémon (ironically because the GBA version wasn't so hot) that I would have enjoyed it more.

[Mop it up]

I'd say the Advance Wars, Fire Emblem and Kirby games on GBA were better than the ones on DS, and the WarioWare games were certainly better. DS had an original Mario game, which GBA didn't, but I'm really not a fan of it.

Advance Wars 2 probably is my fave in the series, though I haven't played Days of Ruin yet. It's pretty close between 2 and Dual Strike however as there is a lot to like about DS. The original is good but being the first, there just isn't that much to it.

Fire Emblem isn't a series I'm familiar with as I haven't really played the games outside of a demo for Awakening and five minutes of Sacred Stones from the GBA game via Ambassador Program. I don't think I'll be getting the original GBA Fire Emblem however since it is too expensive.

I haven't yet tried the Kirby games on DS, but I've played Amazing Mirror on 3DS through the Ambassador Program and that game is just plain awful. Maybe there would be some fun there if I could do multiplayer though. The only other GBA Kirby game I know of is the Adventure remake, which I'm not really interested in since it doesn't seem to change much. The DS Kirby games look better than these two, but I'll have to see for myself.

I also played the original WarioWare game through 3DS Ambassador, it's pretty good but I'd already played Smooth Moves which is better so it didn't seem so novel to me. I have not yet tried the DS ones.

I guess I'm getting off topic though, since this is supposed to be about the DS. Perhaps I should find some other topic in which to discuss the GBA.

The cliché of the blandest lamest stuff becoming the most popular is fulfilled on the DS.

This is also fulfilled on every successful system ever.

[NWR_insanolord]

Advance Wars 2 probably is my fave in the series, though I haven't played Days of Ruin yet. It's pretty close between 2 and Dual Strike however as there is a lot to like about DS. The original is good but being the first, there just isn't that much to it.

The issue with Dual Strike is the CO abilities were just ridiculously overpowered. Apart from that it's good, but no better than the GBA ones. Days of Ruin is an interesting premise, and a nice break from the formula, but I wasn't a huge fan of how it was executed. Those two sets of games aren't as far apart as some of the other examples.

I don't think there was actually an original Fire Emblem for DS, or at least not one that came to the west. With Kirby, I've literally never heard anything good about Squeak Squad. And not only is the first WarioWare on GBA good, but Twisted, though I've never actually played it myself, is something everyone who's played it raves about.

[Mop it up]

The issue with Dual Strike is the CO abilities were just ridiculously overpowered. Apart from that it's good, but no better than the GBA ones.

Yeah, I agree about that problem, too much of the game is managing the CO power meters and preparing for the dual strikes. There's still a lot to like about it though, I like the auxiliary modes that it offers, and I like some of the new features like the new units and the equippable skills. With the CO powers toned down I think I would call it my fave in the series.

Yeah, I haven't really heard people liking Kirby Squeak Squad, but many people seem to like Canvas Curse and Mass Attack. And in terms of Kirby remakes, people seem to like Super Star Ultra over Nightmare in Dream Land. But, having not played any of these games (yet...), I have no opinion of my own.

[Mop it up]

Getting back to the DS, in 2004, I remember considering getting a DS that year for Christmas. I was looking into GBA SP, and since the DS could play GBA games then I considered if that would be the better route to take. But with a remake of Super Mario 64 as its only notable launch title and not much else in the pipeline, I settled for the GBA SP since it was nearly half the price. I also didn't really like the look of the original model and figured that there'd be something better later on.

It wasn't until Christmas of 2008 that I would get my DS, which was the last metallic rose Lite that the store had in stock. I also got NSMB, SM64DS, and Mario Hoops, as Mario games were the main reason I was interested in this system. I still hadn't expanded my gaming tastes as much as they are now, so I wasn't that into RPGs, although some of the system's best games weren't released yet like Dragon Quest IX. When I was looking into the few other games I wanted like Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time, they seemed pretty expensive for handheld games. After finishing the Mario games I had, I ended up selling the system and games in March 2009. Since the stuff was still like new, I got most of my money back and don't regret selling it. I basically view it as paying a little bit for a rental.

However, as more and more games were released and prices fell, and as my gaming desires expanded more and more, I decided I wanted to give DS another shot. With a similar situation as back in 2004, I looked into getting the newly-released 3DS, since it could play both DS and 3DS games in one. In June of 2011, I saw a deal to get a $25 Amazon gift card with purchase of the 3DS, which helped make its hefty price tag a tad easier to swallow. With the announcement of games like Luigi's Mansion 2, I knew I would want one eventually. Unfortunately, it was a bit of an impulse buy in seeing the deal, and I wish I'd done more research to see that the system wasn't selling well. One month later, the price drop was announced, and I felt duped. I sure learned my lesson that day, and have become a much more savvy shopper since. To add insult to injury, the DS Lite was only $100 at this point, $20 more than the drastic price cut. I coulda gotten both systems for $20 more than just a 3DS if I waited a month.

In any case, as I wait for more worthwhile 3DS games to come out and to go down in prices, I've been amassing a collection of the DS's greats in the past few years. I now have over 80 DS games and play them way more than 3DS ones, finally appreciating its library. And it really is quite an extensive variety of quality titles, it isn't much surprise this system was so popular. I feel like this is the first handheld where companies truly put their best efforts forward and created games that can stand toe-to-toe with console offerings in terms of content and enjoyment. I feel the 3DS hasn't quite lived up to the legacy of the DS, even just comparing the first three or so years of each. But, the DS is a tough act to follow, so it may not be the fairest comparison and the 3DS is a good system in its own right.

Anyways, I've probably talked too much, but there's my story.

[Kwolf]

Wow, until I read this thread I forgot about how it really has been over ten years now.   I remember the year leading up to the DS.   I had made a deal with a nephew of mine who was slightly troubled.   If he could keep his grades all A's and B's and not get into any major trouble, that me and my mother would each pay for half of a DS for him.   

I want to say it was around Christmas and he had kept the first half of the school year very good.  So we got him the DS along with the Mario 64 re release.   I had also gotten that when the system launched.  Sometimes now I wonder if doing little things like that for him, helped him at all with lot of this troubled childhood.  I remember that we would play the mini games multiplayer that came with the Mario 64 re release.

It's kinda interesting to look back, I think honestly I remember that the most about the entire DS lifespan.  Perhaps trying to get Animal Crossing to work with a long distance friend of mine.   I remember us talking on Teamspeak or Skype trying and finally getting it to work.  How crazy it seemed to be using the Original DS for some form of online multiplayer and trading fruit with each other.