Nintendo DS

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The **Nintendo DS** (called **DS** or **NDS** for short) is a handheld gaming console developed by Nintendo, it is the first of the DS series of Nintendo handhelds, succeeding the Game Boy Advance and was succeeded by the Nintendo 3DS in early 2011 and was discontinued in late 2014. It competed with the PlayStation Portable throughout its lifetime. It is the best-selling handheld console, best-selling Nintendo console, best-selling console of the seventh generation and the second best-selling console of all time, only behind the PlayStation 2.

## Why It Makes Touching Good

1. The system has two screens which are used simultaneously during gameplay, while it may sound awkward having to track two screens at once, it works very well as most games in the system take good advantage of it.
2. The bottom screen is a touchscreen which offers the possibility of more interactivity in games.
3. It is the first handheld that can consistently do full 3D games. While the Game Boy Advance could do 3D graphics, they’d cause some issues with the framerate, and they would be pretty rare to find.
4. Over 2,000 games to choose from.
5. Lots of good games from Nintendo were made, including:
	* *Super Mario 64 DS*
	* *New Super Mario Bros.*
	* *The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass*
	* *Metroid Prime Hunters*
	* The fourth and fifth generation of the *Pokémon* series.
	* *Mario Kart DS*
	* *Mario Party DS*
	* *Mario Hoops 3-on-3*
	* *The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks*
	* *Yoshi's Island DS*
	* *Clubhouse Games*
	* *Rhythm Heaven*
	* *Kirby Super Star Ultra*
	* *Kirby: Squeak Squad*
	* *Wario: Master of Disguise*
	* *WarioWare: Touched*
	* *WarioWare DIY*
	* *Kirby: Canvas Curse*
	* *Meteos*
	* *Electroplankton*
	* *Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games*
	* *Mario Vs Donkey Kong 2: Mini's March Again*
	* *Mario Vs Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem*
	* *Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time*
	* *Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story*
	* *Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber*
	* *Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol*
6. It was the first handheld to introduce a Wi-Fi service, making it possible to play online.
7. The first two models had backwards compatibility with Game Boy Advance games. Some DS games took advantage of the GBA port for bonus features, such as the first *Pokémon Mystery Dungeon* games.
8. The DSi model had a front facing camera, and was able to connect to the DSi Shop and offered digital games. Most of these games can be transferred to the 3DS as of 2011, with the exception of Flipnote Studio, the Nintendo DSi Browser, and pre-installed games found on the DSi XL.
9. A DS can connect wirelessly to another DS nearby to not only play games, but also temporarily download demos and videos.
10. It has a small microphone used for some games and features.
11. Tons of great third-party games were released, including;
	* *Sonic Rush*
	* *Sonic Rush Adventure*
	* The original *Ace Attorney* trilogy
	* *Naruto: Ninja Council 3*
	* *Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Council 4*
	* *Naruto Shippuden: Naruto vs Sasuke*
	* *Ben 10: Protector of Earth*
	* *Ben 10: Alien Force*
	* *Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks*
	* *Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction*
	* *Ben 10 Galactic Racing*
	* *Ben 10 Omniverse*
	* *Lost Magic*
	* *Touch Detective*
	* *Bangai-O Spirits*
	* *Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Butoden*
	* *Dragon Ball Origins*
	* *Dragon Ball Origins 2*
	* *Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing*
	* *Sonic Colors*
12. Every model has an extremely good battery life compared to its competitor. The Lite model has up to 19 hours of battery life.
13. A major feature called Download Play allowed other DS users to do some multiplayer gaming with only one game card, provided that they were within range.
14. Every Nintendo DSi XL came with several DSiWare for free, which are different depending on your region of residence. This includes all the *Brain Age Express Games* and *Photo Clock* in North America and Japan, *Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training Arts Edition* and *6 in 1 Dictionary* in Europe, and *Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training Arts Edition*, *Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics*, and *Photo Clock* in Oceania.
15. Like the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance, physical DS games are region-free.
16. The NDS contains PictoChat, which is like a local-wireless communication texting feature with drawing capabilities. It was big back in the day, and although everyone's moved on to cell phones, it's still beloved by nostalgic people.

## Bad Qualities

### Overall

1. The touchscreen works ***far better*** with a stylus than without, since it doesn't react well to your fingers and because it uses a resistive touchscreen, unlike with smartphones and tablets, both of which used capacitive multi-touch and later became popular a few years later in the late 2000's decade, or even in 2010s (specifically in 2007 with the first iPhone).
2. The console only has a D-Pad, which makes precise movement in 3D games harder.
3. Like the Wii with its motion controls, the Nintendo DS's focus on the touchscreen and lower hardware specs made it a very easy target for shovelware, especially from Destination Software.
4. The Nintendo DS's Wi-Fi support along with the Wii's was discontinued when GameSpy shut down their servers on May 20, 2014, so the only way to play multiplayer nowadays is either locally or using Wiimmfi.
5. While the original and Lite models are backwards compatible with GBA games, they don't support multiplayer and, like the mh:crappygames:Game Boy Micro, also can't play games made for the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color due to lack of the hardware that these 2 consoles used.
6. The sound quality in games can be pretty annoying to hear as some of the music and sound effects come out heavily compressed and end up being louder than expected. It could also reach the point of even being **ear bleeding** (case in point, the final DS game, *mh:crappygames:Big Hero 6: Battle in the Bay*, where the music quality in this port of the game is so bad it would hurt your ears).
7. You can't insert a GBA cartridge when your DS is on.

### Original

1. The large size of the system makes it rather bulky.
2. The power button is located slightly above the D-Pad, making it easy to accidentally to turn on/off the system if your thumb slips off the D-Pad.
3. The screen has a very low brightness that can make it very hard to see near the light. Although its screen isn't as dark as the original GBA or the AGS-001 version of the SP. The DS Lite and later handhelds have fixed this issue.
4. The stylus is very small. The later models make the size bigger.

### DS Lite

1. It isn't as durable as past Nintendo systems. Similar to the 3DS XL, over time, the hinge will get loose and eventually break.
2. GBA cartridges partially stick out of the slot.

### DSi

1. The L and R buttons give out so often it's actually surprising.
2. It has the same problems as the DSi XL (see below).

### DSi XL

1. It removed the GBA game slot, which was not only used for playing GBA games, but also for some other accessories such as the Rumble Pak and DS games like *Guitar Hero*.
2. Licenses for downloadable games are bought for the system rather than an account, meaning that you would need to buy all the games again if the console broke.
3. Data from the standard-sized model can't be transferred to the XL model, and vice versa.
4. Most of the online services, such as the DSi Shop, have been discontinued since 2017.
5. Some games, like the original Flipnote Studio, and pre-installed games cannot be sent over to the Nintendo 3DS.

## Reception

Selling over 154 million units, the Nintendo DS is the second best-selling game system of all time behind the PlayStation 2. It's also Nintendo's best-selling video game console to date as well as the best-selling handheld. Of the four models, the DS Lite sold the most with over 93 million of the 154 million units.

## Trivia

1. Contrary to popular belief, the Nintendo DS was not the first game console to use a touchscreen with a stylus; the heavily panned mh:crappygames:Game.com was.
2. The reason that it is called the DS is the fact that it uses two screens (**D**ual **S**creen). For developers of the system, it is also sometimes referred to as the **D**evelopers' **S**ystem.
3. A Nintendo DS was taken to Mt. Everest during an expedition. Various electronic equipment, including a Dell laptop, broke down from the intense cold. However, the DS remained fully functional after the trip, showing the system is extremely durable.
4. It is currently one of the only two system (excluding systems prior to the Nintendo 64), along with the Game Boy Advance, to not have a *Smash Bros.* game.