My Favorite Handheld: Nintendo DS (2004) Review and Retrospective

Growing up I was kind of one of those people who were always a generation late with every new console release. I remember my brother having an Xbox 360 during the late 2000’s through the early 2010’s, but outside of that, my family wasn’t too well off in the 2000’s up to the early 2010’s or so and therefore it wasn’t usual for me to have the latest consoles as they released. I had a GameBoy Advance SP through the DS era, I didn’t get the Wii until a year before the Wii U released, and that isn’t to mention the retro consoles I got during the early 2010’s. Hell this hasn’t even necessarily gone away - I actually just got an Xbox One X this year right as the Series S and X plus the PlayStation 5 are about to release.

And the DS wasn’t an exception. I had my GameBoy Advance growing up and I was happy with it, but as I started growing more interest in more Nintendo games and whatnot in 2011, I kind of figured now was the time to finally upgrade - I mean, the 3DS had come out in March and the DSi had been out for a couple years at that point, so for my birthday that year I asked for a DS Lite. You may be wondering why I asked for a DS Lite specifically if the DSi was out and that was for a couple reasons - for one, it was cheaper, and on the other hand, it was backwards compatible with all my Game Boy Advance games and therefore the transition would be smooth and I wouldn’t have to give up on my GBA library just yet.

I was turning 10 on the 24th of April in 2011, the big 1-0, but oddly enough my birthday was the same day as Easter that year (and it was the only time that was going to happen until 2095 so hopefully I live to be 94 years old), and seeing as how I wanted to go out to eat on my birthday, my parents took me the night before to Culver’s. They handed me a gift bag, and of course, inside was the blue and cobalt themed DS Lite.


The Nintendo DS began development in mid-2002, as an idea for a “dual screen” handheld, and a new handheld was announced by Nintendo in 2003, with the statement that it wouldn’t succeed the Game Boy Advance or GameCube. That was a complete lie (at least in the case of the former), but obviously this new system was shaping up to be an ambitious risk, so Nintendo didn’t want to put all their eggs in one basket. In early 2004, the DS’s name was announced as - guess what - “DS” and the system’s prototype was shown at E3 that year. And in November of that year, the Nintendo DS was released in the United States.

But despite being such a risk, the Nintendo DS turned out to be an incredibly successful system. Not only did it turn out to be the best selling handheld of all time with over 154 million units sold, but also the second best selling console of all time, just behind Sony’s PlayStation 2. This would, of course, lead to the DS being succeeded in 2011 by the 3DS, and the system was discontinued in 2013, but in it’s 9 year lifespan, it’s safe to say the DS managed to be a massive success.

The DS introduced some major new features and hardware improvements over the Game Boy Advance. The most noteworthy feature was pretty much the namesake of the system, Dual Screens. It seemed to have been designed based off the multi-screen Game and Watch releases for games like Donkey Kong. The bottom screen was a touch screen and the system came with a stylus, although you could also buy third party stylus...es that also worked with the console. And of course there were games that utilized this. But in addition to dual screens another major feature was Wi-Fi connectivity, which could be used to play games through a Wi-Fi connection. Even if you didn’t have a Wi-Fi connection though, the DS could connect with other nearby DS systems for further multiplayer experiences. DS Download Play allowed for others with a DS system to play games, even ones they didn’t have themselves, wirelessly and allowed for multiplayer. In this lite, the DS was one step ahead of the Game Boy Advance which required a link cable for multiplayer games.

The DS was also more powerful than the Game Boy Advance, having two 32-bit ARM processors, one for gameplay and video rendering and one for the system’s Wi-Fi capabilities, sound output, and in the case of the first two models, the ability to play Game Boy Advance games.

And in it’s lifespan, there were four different models of the DS that came out. First being the chunky original model, second the more lightweight and streamlined “Lite” model, third being the DSi with a number of new features including built-in cameras and a number of different DSi-exclusive apps that could be accessed through the “DSi Shop” - the one I remember most being Flipnote Hatena. Then the DSi XL which was… basically the same thing but bigger.

Like I said, I personally had the DS Lite, and I was happy with it considering it did allow for GameBoy Advance backwards compatibility. Although my cousin had a DSi and I do remember watching flipnotes with her on that when I went over there for summer vacation.

But anyway, like I mentioned in the title, the DS is my personal favorite handheld. Although to be honest that’s only… partially the truth. To be honest I generally separate the Switch from Nintendo’s other handhelds, since while it is technically a handheld, it is pretty much intended as more of a hybrid system than anything, and if that were counted, well… I mentioned the Switch was my favorite console of all time in the past and going by that the Switch would pretty much be my favorite handheld by default. But just talking about “core” handhelds and not counting the Switch, yeah, the DS is my favorite. But… why?

I kind of went over my story of getting the DS, but as far as my experiences with the system go, it was pretty much my “main” handheld up until I got my 2DS in 2014. And I remember just building up a library of the system in those years. I didn’t have a “huge” library for the console - again, my family wasn’t particularly well off, and on top of that I was also going through a “retro” phase and buying a few older systems, but I will say that I got my share of enjoyment from pretty much every DS game I got. And in my time spent with the DS, I can safely say it brought some of my favorite gaming memories of all time. Admittedly that “favorite” label is influenced by my nostalgia for the system, but the DS still brought me some great memories and introduced me to some of my favorite games of all time.

Unlike the Game Boy Advance, the DS actually got a “core” Mario game. Just one though, New Super Mario Bros, but this turned out to be the best selling game on the system. Although I do remember it being Nintendogs for a little while but I guess New Super Mario Bros just sort of overtook it towards the end of the DS’ lifespan.

These days, a lot of people don’t necessarily look fondly at New Super Mario Bros, or specifically the sequels to the game. After the original turned out to be a success, Nintendo made other sequels that just felt uninspired and bland in comparison - just sort of rehashing the same sort of thing the original did. They weren’t bad games by any means, but especially in the cases of New Super Mario Bros 2 and U it’s safe to say that the style of New Super Mario Bros was getting pretty overdone with very little changes to the formula.

But, at the same time, I would argue that the original New Super Mario Bros game on the DS was a really good release. Say what you want about the game’s sequels, but this was the first 2D Mario game in over a decade up to that point, and this game most likely brought 2D Mario to a completely new audience and generation of gamers. And the game itself was pretty fun. I remember getting this game about a month or two after I got my DS and I played through the entire game in a couple weeks and I enjoyed it. It’s not a Mario game I really go back to very often but for what it is, it is a fun, enjoyable Mario game that really just accomplished what it set out to do.

But, there were other Mario games on the system, and to be honest New Super Mario Bros wasn’t even my favorite Mario game for the handheld.

Super Mario 64 got a remake on the DS, sort of serving as the successor of the “Super Mario Advance” games, under the name of, well, Super Mario 64 DS. This remake not only updated all the character models to look more modern and similar to the actual Mario renders, but in addition it got a plethora of new content - 30 extra stars to get, three new characters to play as (those being Yoshi, Luigi and Wario) and a multiplayer mode to go along with the DS’ multiplayer functionality. This was actually a launch game for the system, and overall I think it was a good remake that really showcased the DS’ greater power over Nintendo’s previous handhelds. One common criticism for the game is that due to the DS not having an analog stick, Super Mario 64 DS is basically stuck to a D-pad, and considering that Super Mario 64 was originally built around the analog stick in mind it does make the game a bit more awkward to play. I can definitely understand this criticism, but honestly that didn’t really stop me from enjoying this game growing up and honestly with all the new added content I would definitely consider Super Mario 64 DS to be the definitive version of the game overall. I do wish that Nintendo would re-release it with actual analog control though (ngl I felt there was kind of a missed opportunity to do so with Super Mario 3D All-Stars).

Super Mario 64 DS was actually my first time playing through Super Mario 64 and frankly I loved it as a kid. My grandma actually bought it for me about halfway into my summer vacation and I remember just spending the next few months playing the hell out of it, trying to beat it and going through every world the game had to offer. Even looking up Youtube tutorials on how to get certain stars and to unlock Luigi and Wario. I never got around to “completing” the game - in fact to be honest I still haven’t completed Super Mario 64 but DS still offered me a good time.

And then there was Mario Kart DS. Obviously Mario Kart had to get some sort of representation on Nintendo’s new handheld, and I gotta say the DS entry has always been one of my favorites in the series. Admittedly I don’t go back to it very often (to be honest I don’t really find myself going back to older Mario Kart titles other than the newest game - in this case Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - very often), but I gotta say that this was easily one of my favorite games to play with my cousin when I was over there and my multiplayer experiences were just outright great. I feel like with other Mario Kart games in general a common factor in other people’s favorites is generally the multiplayer experiences they had growing up, and to be honest… that’s honestly how I feel with this game. I will say that I feel like I played Mario Kart 7’s single player more than this game after getting the 2DS along with said game but the multiplayer experiences I had with DS were just great and easily some of my favorite gaming memories.

The Mario and Luigi games also returned on the DS after being introduced on the GameBoy Advance with Superstar Saga. In 2005 Partners in Time released and four years later came Bowser’s Inside Story. Partners in Time I remember playing and enjoying although admittedly I never actually got around to beating it, but Bowser’s Inside Story has to be my favorite game on the system, without a doubt. I kind of stumbled on this game by complete accident - at one point my grandmother offered to buy me a DS game after I arrived at her house over the summer (before she got me 64 DS later that same summer) and although I had wanted Super Mario 64 DS, this was the only Mario DS game the story had in stock other than Mario vs Donkey Kong, so I went with this game without much expectation, and it turned out in the long run to be hands down one of my favorite RPGs and potentially my favorite Mario spinoff aside for maybe the Super Mario Maker games. Mario and Luigi in general turned out to be my favorite Mario spinoff series and one of my favorite game series of all time.

And then the last out of the Mario games I had on the DS was Mario Party DS. I can’t deny that like Mario Kart DS I do remember having some really good multiplayer experiences with my aunt but I remember trying to play through the singleplayer mode a few times and just coming to the conclusion that I… really didn’t care for this series outside of the multiplayer minigame experiences.

And since the DS was also after Sega’s switch to third party, my other favorite game franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog, got some representation on the DS as well. The Sonic game I played most though wasn’t one of the “Rush” titles or Colors DS which are definitely more synonymous with Sonic’s appearances on the system, but Sonic Classic Collection. This was actually my first time playing through the other classic Sonic games after playing the first game through the shitty GameBoy Advance port, and honestly this collection pretty much made me fall in love with the franchise. I remember Sonic 2 in particular being among my favorite games growing up, for the longest time I considered it my second favorite game just behind Super Mario World, and with this collection I began to explore the franchise more and get more involved with the actual Sonic community. This pretty much inspired me to buy and play other Sonic games on different systems, including games like Colors Wii, Sonic 4: Episode 1 and Sonic CD, and well… it’s pretty much the reason why I’m a Sonic fan today. The shitty GBA port of Sonic 1 introduced me to the franchise, but Classic Collection is what got me “into” the franchise.

As for the other Sonic games, I remember wanting Rush growing up but never actually got it until last year. Playing through the game for the first time, I gotta admit it wasn’t my favorite - I didn’t quite like the approach to level design the game was going for, but it was still a thoroughly solid, fun Sonic game.

I did have the game’s sequel though, Sonic Rush Adventure, which I got for Christmas in 2012. I’m pretty sure I had the original game on my Christmas list and my parents saw this one and thought it was what I was asking for, but regardless, I do remember getting enjoyment out of this game out of what I played of it but never got really far in it. I guess I was just sort of turned off by the “sailing” aspect of the game growing up although I have been meaning to give this game another chance, which I’ll probably get to eventually since I’m doing a replay and retrospective on the Sonic series.

And Sonic Colors DS is kind of an interesting case for me. Despite sharing the same name this isn’t the same as the Wii version which makes sense considering the DS wasn’t as powerful as the Wii and in a lot of ways this feels a lot closer to the “Rush” games than the Wii version of the game. I didn’t have this game growing up either - I was sort of tempted to get it but honestly I didn’t want to explain to my parents that the DS and Wii versions were different games, but I do remember playing the demo for this game on the Nintendo Channel after getting my Wii and playing that a number of times before I got the Wii game. I did get the DS version after Christmas in 2018 though and from what I played I enjoyed it. Again, I didn’t get too far into it and I probably won’t get to beating it until I do my review on it in my Sonic retrospective series but I mean, it’s fun.

But those were the DS games I’d say I had the most experience with, but there are far more DS games than that. The Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series was introduced to American audiences through the DS after only being released in Japan. I haven’t played much of any of the games or this series, but I think just considering that these games have such a cult following, they are definitely worth mentioning here.

There’s also a couple original Zelda titles - Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, although I feel like I haven’t heard as much praise for these compared to other games, but hey, if you are a Zelda fan, these should do nicely.

And of course, what is a Nintendo handheld without Pokemon. The DS is home to both the fourth and fifth generations of Pokemon games, consisting of Diamond and Pearl, Platinum, Black and White and Black and White 2, plus remakes of the second generation games in the form of HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Other DS games worth mentioning include of the Brain Age games, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Kirby: Canvas Curse, Kirby Super Star Ultra, Kirby Squeak Squad and Mass Attack, Scribblenauts, Elite Beat Agents, the system’s port of Chrono Trigger, Diddy Kong Racing DS, WarioWare Touched, WarioWare D.I.Y and Metroid Prime Hunters. There’s probably others I’m forgetting too, I mean the DS has a pretty vast library so there’s definitely more than these, but these games are the ones that I feel come to my mind the most out of anything else.

Oh yeah and I should mention the first game I ever got for the DS was Phineas and Ferb: Ride Again.

Yeah.

But… let’s conclude. I will admit my opinion is very much influenced by nostalgia, but I gotta say, the DS has remained not only my favorite handheld but one of my favorite consoles of all time. The memories I had with the system were just great. Playing wireless multiplayer with my cousin was always a great time back in the day, and the singleplayer games I had for the DS were very much fun. I will say that the 3DS had more great first party games, but at the same time I feel like the DS’ best games just stood out to me more than the 3DS’ best games, and it’s a library I could see myself getting more invested in over time.

After getting my 2DS for Christmas in 2014, I decided to give my brother my original DS Lite. He didn’t have his own DS at the time and since I had his GameBoy Advance SP to play GBA games and a 3DS that could play original DS games along with 3DS games, I decided to just pass over the system to him. But as time has gone on, I’ve only felt more… nostalgic for the system. I got it towards the end of my fifth grade year, and now I’m working towards a degree in college.

And the DS, well, it represents some of the best gaming memories I’ve ever had. Times when I was happier, when I wasn’t worried about what was going on in the world or other serious issues. I was just a 10 year old happy with playing my DS Lite. And I think that’s what makes the DS so special to me. It’s kind of odd, the 2DS technically was my main handheld longer than the DS was - I got my DS Lite for my birthday in 2011 and upgraded to the 2DS on Christmas 2014, but I didn’t hop from the 2DS to the Switch until 2019. Yet… I still feel like my best memories with the DS stick out to me more than my best memories with the 2DS and the 3DS library in general. Not to say I didn’t have fun with the 2DS, but I feel like I just got the DS Lite at a better time in my life - before I was really going through puberty and developing anxiety issues. The DS kind of just feels like the last handheld system I had in my childhood - I got it when I was about 10, and by the time I moved onto any variant of the 3DS I was 13 and a half, so I guess in a way, the DS is sort of the end of an era. But also… one of the highlights of my preteen years between 2011 and 2013.

Last year me and my brother found my original DS and I decided to exchange it for his GameBoy Advance SP. And to be honest, I’m happy that I did. I do still have good memories from the GameBoy Advance, after all I mentioned it was the first system I really had much experience with plus was part of the reason I got so interested in Nintendo’s systems, but between my DS Lite still having backwards compatibility with GBA games and the memories I have with that system… I really just don’t think any other system lives up to the nostalgia I have for my DS. And for all the great gaming experiences I’ve had over the past few years, and all the great gaming experiences I’ll probably have down the road.... I don’t think I’ll ever have an experience like I did with my DS Lite ever again.