15 Years of the Nintendo DS

On 2nd December 2019, it was 15 years since the Nintendo DS was launched in Japan. By 11th March 2020, it’d have been 15 years since the UK was introduced to arguably the greatest console produced by Nintendo, and a favorite for all time.

It’ll always be, in my heart, the best console Nintendo ever made. Obviously, you can’t forget those that came before, (Game Boy Color, the GameCube or the Game Boy Advance and SP), but neither can you argue the brilliance of the DS, and of its importance to a generation of gamers.

This is going to sound a little like a love letter to the DS, but I think for every nostalgic memory and the many years of fun it gave me, it deserves a little something back.

As a piece of hardware, its genius was at the time, unlike anything else. The system’s compatibility with both DS and Game Boy Advance titles made it highly practical if, for instance, your Game Boy’s battery had gone flat, or if you still kept the games but no longer had a Game Boy.

It has to be one of its most unique selling points and one of the reasons why I simply refused to ever part with it, paired with its dual-screen function and stylus. I took full advantage of the DS/Game Boy compatibility. Most of the time, it was simply convenient to play GB titles on my DS.

The DS also gave us Pictochat. It was a great feature in the console I had almost forgotten about. It enabled you to connect and communicate through the pre-installed application with up to 16 friends in a chat room at any one time. Furthermore, this was a child-friendly application before the days of WhatsApp and Facebook.

I remember the case for the Nintendo DS titles. Inside was a slot for your Game Boy titles. Simple and genius. Nintendo considered their old consoles going forward into the new with this. It may seem like a small thing, but I found this very helpful after losing the cases for my Game Boy titles.

Until 2016, the Game Boy and the Nintendo DS were the only consoles I owned. I always saw the DS as the perfect successor to the Game Boy, for the simple fact that it did more, and to that end, it did it all better.

On a side note, I also own the DS Lite, released in March 2006. Sleeker and smaller in design, it retained everything that made its predecessor so great. Truthfully, the Lite just looks so much better than the original and this is the only real negative aspect of the first DS.

Disney Pixar’s Cars and Pokémon Diamond Version are my two particular favorites. In 2006, Cars had just been released, and I lost myself in the merchandise that followed it. First came Cars on Game Boy, followed by the DS edition. The DS version was a major upgrade from the Game Boy. With sharper graphics and marginally better sound design, it certainly felt to me like it offered more.

At around 11, I was obsessed with the film, impatiently waiting for its release on DVD, because Cars at the time had an effect on me that meant I’d have played its DS game without regard to its quality or variety in content.

In the time I spent playing Pokémon Diamond Version, I’d captured at least half a dozen Pokémon and won twice as many battles. Diamond Version was a lot of fun to play. My only regret comes from not playing more in the series. 

I’ll finish it on this note. As a piece of hardware, the DS is intelligent, for it’s both practical and pocket-friendly in its design. For the two-game port set up, it was a joy for both Game Boy and DS enthusiasts, and 15 years on, the console has aged very well. I think at the time of its conception, the Nintendo DS was way ahead of its time.

I will never part with my DS, that’s the impact it’s had on my life. It’s likely to be a statement gamers all around the world would agree with.