The handheld Nintendo DS, released in Japan on December 2, 2004, is one of the most successful game consoles of all time. Only the PlayStation 2 sold even better, which makes the Nintendo DS and its variants DS Lite, DSi and DSi XL the best-selling portable game consoles in history.
Table of contents
- 1 C: B_retro Nintendo_DS
- The portable record console
- C: B_retro Nintendo_DS Im_Detail
- The story
- The hardware
- The games
- C: B_retro Nintendo_DS Umfrage
- C:B_retroFeedback
- Feedback is always welcome
- C: B_retro Review
- An overview of the last fifteen issues
C: B_retro Nintendo_DS
The record-breaking portable console
With more than 154 million units sold, it is still the second most sold game console in video game history and by far the most successful handheld of all time the Nintendo DS was a real milestone and, like its rich portfolio of games, is still very popular today.
C: B_retro Nintendo_DS Im_Detail
The story
When Nintendo presented the Nintendo DS in May 2004 at the E3 in Los Angeles for the first time presented to the world public, the abbreviation “DS”, based on the two displays of the game console, still stood for “dual screen”. Later Nintendo also spoke of a “developer system”, since the games for the handheld can be programmed comparatively easily and quickly.
The portable game console, which was codenamed “Nitro” internally, was developed in 2001 as the unofficial successor to the also very popular Game Boy Advance a pure ARM7 chip no longer serves as the main processor and, in addition to a second display, also provides input and control via touch. The Nintendo DS had a difficult legacy, in the end with overwhelming success.
The original idea for a mobile dual-screen game console came from former Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi, who headed the company for over 50 years from 1949 to 2002.
The hardware
Unlike its predecessor, the Game Boy Advance, which relied on a main processor with 33 MHz based on ARM7, the Nintendo DS was based on an ARM9 chip with 67 MHz and an ARM7 co-processor with 33 MHz clock frequency. Support was provided by the 4 MB PSRAM. The official specifications of the handheld are as follows:
- Two ARM processors
- ARM9- Processor with 67 MHz as main processor
- ARM7 processor with 33 MHz co-processor
- 4 MB PSRAM
- 2 × 3 inch (62 mm × 46 mm) large LC displays
- 256 × 192 pixels in 4: 3 mode per LC display
- 18-bit RGB color depth with 262,144 colors
- Mitsumi MM3205B sound processor
- 16-bit stereo PCM/ADPCM
- 148.7 × 84.7 × 28.9 mm (W × H × D)
- 275 grams
- 850 mAh
In addition, the Nintendo DS was able to go online via Wi-Fi, IEEE 802.11 and the Nintendo DS browser via WEP encryption and compete against players from all over the world via the in-house online service Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
The Nintendo DS was presented in Japan on December 2, 2004 at a price of 15,000 yen and was also available in this country from March 2005 at a non-binding price of 149.99 euros. The interest in the innovative handheld was great, which is why the Nintendo DS has been selling well for years even after the furious sales start.
The additional offshoots and evolutionary stages of the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL, which were introduced little by little until 2010 and are still sold today, also ensured the sustained high sales figures. p>
Nintendo DS Lite ( Image: Nintendo) 
Nintendo DSi (Image: Nintendo) 
Nintendo DSi XL (Image: Nintendo) The DSi and DSi XL models also received more powerful hardware in the form of an ARM9 with 133 MHz and 16 MB RAM and, for the first time, 256 MB flash memory. In addition, the two displays grew to 8.3 and 10.7 cm respectively and a new browser, the revised DSi browser, and current web standards were introduced.
Another noticeable innovation was the two new cameras with 0.3 megapixels, with which players could later upload their screenshots and photos from firmware 1.4 to Facebook, and the slot for SD cards with a capacity of up to 32 GB.
The DSi Shop, from which games and software for the Nintendo DSi and DSi XL, the so-called DSiWare, could be obtained, also became the forerunner of today's Nintendo eShop introduced and established.
The games
As is so often the case with Nintendo, the most popular games for the Nintendo DS and its derivatives were in-house productions. The 3D platformer Super Mario 64 DS, a remake of the Nintendo 64 title Super Mario 64, the arcade racing game Mario Kart DS and the sociable Mario Party DS were among the best-known and most successful publications for the handheld.
Super Mario 64 DS (Image: Nintendo) 
Mario Kart DS (Image: Nintendo) 
Mario Party DS (Image: Nintendo) The most commercially successful title for the Nintendo DS was New Super Mario Bros., released on May 15, 2006, that should sell over 30 million times worldwide.
New Super Mario Bros. (Image: Nintendo) In addition to the traditionally popular Mario series The Wario, Yoshi and Donkey Kong series also found numerous fans on the Nintendo DS and with The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass presented on June 23, 2007, an offshoot of the Zelda franchise appeared on a handheld for the second time .
The best-rated game for the Nintendo DS with an average of 93 points on Metacritic, on the other hand, is Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, which was released in 2009, followed by the role-playing game Chrono Trigger, which scores an average of 92 points.
The YouTube channel” Nintendo Life “, which specializes in Nintendo and its game consoles, has selected what it considers to be the 21 best games for the Nintendo DS and presents them in a detailed video.
Once again the Pokémon franchise is represented and counts with the games Pokémon Black and White Edition and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Edition of the most successful series on the Nintendo DS. In addition, Dr. Kawashima's brain jogging and its successor extremely successful and very popular.
The Nintendo DS and many of the games published for handhelds are still very popular today, but which handheld does the ComputerBase community prefer?
C: B_retro Nintendo_DS Survey
Which handheld do you think is the best portable game console in history?
Which handheld is the best portable game console of all time?
- Atari Lynx
- Sega Nomade
- Sega Game Gear
- Nintendo DS/DSi
- Nintendo 2DS/3DS
- Nintendo Game Boy
- Nintendo Game Boy Color
- Nintendo Game Boy Advance
- Nintendo Switch/Switch Lite/OLED
- Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP)
- Sony PlayStation Portable Go
- Sony PlayStation Vita
- Neo Geo Pocket
- Nokia N-Gage
- Abstain (show result)
Please log in to vote!
C: B_retro Feedback
Feedback is always available welcome
The editors are happy to receive constructive criticism, praise, but also suggestions, in order to be able to align the series even more closely to the wishes of the readership in the future. The editors wish you a relaxing Sunday with this reading material in your luggage.
C: B_retro Review
The last fifteen issues in the overview
The last 15 topics of the previous issues of C: B_retro :
- C: B_retro Issue_90 : The ideal gaming PC has been advising gamers for over 15 years
- C: B_retro Issue_89 : Your best games of all time are certain
- C: B_retro Edition_88 : What are the best video games of all time?
- C: B_retro Edition_87 : The first IBM PC in the world defined standards
- C: B_retro Issue_86 : Microsoft Windows 96
- C: B_retro Issue_85 : AMD Phenom and Opteron (“K10”)
- C: B_retro Issue_84 : FIFA Soccer and other football pioneers
- C: B_retro Issue_83 : Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 with PowerVR Kyro II
- C: B_retro Issue_82 : ComputerBase builds the perfect Voodoo -2-Retro-PC
- C: B_retro Ausgabe_81 : The first graphics cards of the ComputerBase community
- C: B_retro Ausgabe_80 : The early history of the graphics card
- C: B_retro Issue_79 : Nokia Communicator
- C: B_retro Issue_78 : The first Microsoft Xbox
- C: B_retro Issue_77 : The Sinclair ZX81
- C: B_retro Edition_76 : The perfect gaming PC for 1999
- C: B_retro Edition_75 : The first MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo
Even more content of this kind and many more reports and anecdotes can be found in the retro corner of the ComputerBase forum and in the subject areas C: B_retro u nd retro.