The Nintendo 3DS

The 3DS was the next major upgrade to the DS line of handhelds. In a lot of ways, it is accurate to describe it as an upgraded DSi, but it added a lot of features – most notably the ability to view games in 3D with no additional hardware necessary. It used an autostereoscopic lenticular display that sends a slightly different picture to each eye, but only when viewed from the proper distance and angle. The top half of the 3DS included a slider to adjust the depth of the 3D effect or turn it off entirely. The viewable area of the upper screen is also slightly wider than the bottom screen.

There were several changes from DSi to 3DS, and several changes back to older designs. The microphone was moved back to its original position below the touch screen, and a switch for the Wi-Fi was added where the power button was on a DS Lite. The volume control was changed back to a slider, and the stylus holder was reverted to the back of the system and changed to a telescoping stylus to give the 3DS motherboard a little more room. It uses the same power jack as the DSi, and the headphone jack was moved to the center of the front of the system. The internal camera was moved from the hinge to above the upper screen, and the external camera had a second one added to enable 3D pictures.

Besides the D-pad, the 3DS featured a circle pad that allowed the same kind of control from an analogue stick from a console, but was slim enough to fit inside a handheld. Some games let the user choose the manner of control, while others used the circle pad as the main input and the D-pad as additional buttons (like the GameCube controller).

New features on the 3DS included things like a notification LED that blinked green for a Streetpass Tag, blue for something from the internet (aka SpotPass), red for low power, and orange for friend related content. It also has a pedometer to count steps taken by the owner while in sleep mode to motivate players to take the 3DS with them wherever they go. For every 100 steps taken, the player is rewarded with 3DS Play Coins that can be used to play certain games or unlock content. Besides getting play coins, the other incentive to carry the unit around is to get Streetpass tags from other 3DS owners.

Like the Wii, the 3DS has a Home button to exit to a home menu screen. While it can only run one game at a time, there are several applications that can be used while a game is temporarily paused in the background. These include some of the home screen settings (like screen brightness), checking on friends, using the internet browser, writing game notes, reading notifications, and later the MiiVerse.

The notifications let the user know how many Streetpass tags there are for each game, updates, and announcements from Nintendo. Game Notes lets players keep little digital notes during game play. Each 3DS is given a unique friend code that can be exchanged so that friends can see when and what each other are playing or play online together. The later addition of the Miiverse was basically a Nintendo-sanctioned version of Twitter.

Unlike the DSi menu, the 3DS menu can be arranged in a single line or an array. A system update further gave the user the ability to create folders to organize games and applications. Later system updates would allow background themes, badges for decoration, and additional free applications like Nintendo Video, SwapNote, and Netflix.

Like the DSi, the 3DS comes pre-loaded with a Camera app and a Sound/Music app. However, the pictures are taken in 3D and the Sound app can play MP3s. When a 3DS takes a 3D picture, it actually just takes 2 pictures simultaneously. It stores one as a regular jpeg, but saves the other as a proprietary format not readable by computers. So 3D pictures can be seen in 3D, but only on the actual 3DS itself. The sound application lets the user record sounds but they are now saved to the SD card and are now transferrable to a computer. Users can also load the SD card with MP3s and use the 3DS as an MP3 player. Both applications let the user temporarily alter the media – such as adding color filters to pictures or speeding up and changing the pitch of music playing.

The 3DS does have some internal memory, but it is mostly used for legacy DSi applications. Any 3DS software downloaded is usually stored on the SD card, which can be easily upgraded to a bigger card (up to 32 GB).

Also included in the default applications are Download Play (for both DS and 3DS games), an app that keeps a record of playing time and frequency of use, a dedicated health/safety information app, a Mii Maker (like the Wii), and of course, settings/options. Besides some apps, the 3DS comes with a couple of pre-loaded games. One is Face Raiders, an AR (Augmented Reality) game that uses pictures of friends’ faces as in-game enemies imposed on a real background obtained from the cameras. Another was the AR Card games, which use the AR cards included with the system to interact uniquely with the real environment.

One major game/app that the 3DS’s connectivity was built around is the Streetpass Mii Plaza. When a 3DS StreetPasses (or tags) another 3DS, a copy of each 3DS’s Mii is traded along with a greeting and some pleasantries-type info. The Mii Plaza has Streetpass sub games (Find Mii and Puzzle Swap) that use the various Miis to enable play in these games. Later the plaza would get an upgrade to include more games and features. Rewards from these games were hats and costumes to decorate and accessorize Miis.

It is backwards compatible with all DS game cards and DSi Ware. The eShop is a much upgraded version of the DSi Store that includes not only 3DS games, but DSi Ware and Virtual Console games for the NES, Sega Game Gear, Game Boy, and Game Boy Color. When running a DS game, the system uses a separate "DS-on-a-chip" processor, so some of the 3DS system features aren’t available. 3DS games were white in color (instead of black) and had an additional tab on them preventing them from being inserted into an older DS system.

After the system had been out for a while and not selling as well as Nintendo had hoped, they dropped the price by about $80. Many early adopters were a little miffed about paying a higher price for their system, so Nintendo compensated them by letting them have 20 free Virtual Console games. The systems that were bought before the price drop were known as Ambassador systems.

Later the 3DS XL would debut. Like the DSi XL, it was only really a size upgrade with a few slight cosmetic changes. The next version would be called a 2DS, and was meant as a more kid-friendly system. The hinge had always been the weak point of the DS/SP family, so it was removed and turned into a flat system, and the 3D function removed. 

Because it couldn’t be closed, the sleep function was replaced with a slider button. Also, the wireless slider button was removed and the option to turn the Wi-Fi on or off was added to the home menu screen. While it was more durable without the hinge, it sacrificed the convenience of size and keeping the screens from being scratched.

The “New” Nintendo 3DS (NN3DS) was a slightly upgraded version of the 3DS. It had 2 additional buttons (ZL and ZR) as well as a little nub that acted as a second stick for the right thumb. The internal camera used facial tracking software to adjust the angle of the 3D effect so that it was always displayed at the correct perspective. It also had a slightly upgraded processor (making SNES VC games possible) and a better internet browser. Some hardware changes included getting rid of the Wi-Fi slider switch in favor of controlling it from the menu (like the 2DS does), and the location of the game card slot was moved to the front. But one big addition is the NFC sensor for amiibo. As before, it came in both regular and XL sizes, but the XL is far, far more common. It also uses only MicroSD cards, and the slot for these were moved to the center of the back panel, making taking the back off to access it a requirement, which in turn makes changing it out far less convenient.

The last addition to the 3DS family was the "New" Nintendo 2DS XL (NN2DSXL), which is basically a NN3DSXL that can’t do 3D display, but retains everything else about the NN3DSXL. It's an interesting move, in that it reverted to the hinged design, as the additional durability and low cost was the selling point of the system, and these changes seemed to undermine those concerns. 

My Experience with the Wii

I wasn’t exactly planning on getting the Wii on launch day for a few reasons. There wasn’t a “killer app” that I really needed or wanted, and I felt like I hadn’t put as much time into the GameCube, but it was mainly because funds were low. I was in college and we were surviving on my student loans and my wife’s paper-route wages, and slowly adding debt to a credit card but then paying it off every year with our tax return. My friend Michael emailed me about how excited he was for the new system (back when it was going to be called The Revolution). Launch day came and went and I wasn’t too concerned about it. I was more focused on my take-home math final that was going to be rather difficult (thanks, Dr. Ghoreishi).

But we went to visit my parents for Thanksgiving, and I decided it would be fun to wait with my brother at GameStop for Black Friday (roughly 5 days after the official launch). The word on the street was that they’d have a few to sell. We were numbers 3 and 4 in line, and it was frickin’ freezing. I tried to work on my math but it was too cold to write or for the batteries in my calculator to work properly. My high school friend and former roommate Edgar showed up a few hours later and was number 6 in line. At some point, I just decided to get one despite telling Anne that I wasn’t going to. I figured if we decided we couldn’t afford it or didn’t really want it after playing Brady’s, I’d sell it for a little profit. When the store finally opened, the guy told us he had 5 Wiis in stock. Brady and I each bought one. Edgar was out of luck, unfortunately; but I told him that if we decided not to keep ours I’d sell him the one I bought. We both also bought Twilight Princess, which was the real reason I wanted a Wii.

We took it home and I kept mine in the car. Brady hooked his up to the upstairs TV and we started trying out Wii Sports. After a few hours, Anne asked if I liked it and wanted to get one. I answered in the affirmative, and she gave me permission, thinking that Wiis would be sold out for the next couple of months. I nonchalantly went out to the car and got mine and brought it in to show her how I’d outsmarted her. But I only really opened it for the Wii Remote and Nunchuk so Brady and I could try out 2-player boxing.

The Wii kinda became a minor cultural phenomenon, and several prominent videos showing people losing grip on the Wiimote and shattering TVs or light fixtures caused a little concern. Nintendo responded by making rubber jackets available (for free) which cushion the front of the Wiimote and add grip to it. I ordered 4 of them anticipating having 4 Wiimotes in the near future.

(the one I had was slightly different)

I really wanted to hook up the Wii to the internet. We didn’t have a wireless router at the time, so I was looking for some cheaper alternatives (see aforementioned poor, starving college student sob story). We ended up trying the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection USB dongle. It required the computer to be on, dongle plugged in, and the stars to be in the correct alignment. The reliability of it was bad, and the probability of it working the first time each use was pretty low. Whenever I wanted to use some kind of connectivity it was usually at least 10 minutes before I could be up and running. Eventually we just bought a regular router that also had wireless capability because I was going to hook up 2 computers to each other. Since then there have been very few problems with it or other systems being online.

For the next couple of months, I scoured the local stores for a second Wiimote, and was having serious flashbacks of what happened with the N64’s initial controller shortage. I could find the plastic controller attachments everywhere (that made them feel like a racquet or bat), but not the Wiimotes themselves. Eventually I got wind of ShopKo getting a small shipment and secured one. A while later I was able to buy its accompanying Nunchuk. We didn’t have any games that were more than 2 player at the time, so this was fine. Later I would buy Wii Play in order to get more small games that Avery and Aurora could easily play (sorta like what Wii Sports was) but mostly to get another Wiimote, bringing the total to 3.

At nights when Anne and the kids were in bed, I would play around with the Wii’s settings, menus, and channels to see how everything worked. I would browse the News Channel and really liked the global way it showed the stories. The Weather Channel wasn’t as interesting, but I mostly liked it for the quick forecast it would give on the home screen. Once the Check Mii Out channel was released, I used it mainly to make a lot of celebrity Miis by copying what everyone else had already done. I messed around with some of the other channels (Internet, YouTube, Everybody Votes, Nintendo) but ultimately the only ones I really used were the Disc Channel (to play games) and the shopping channel (not that I bought a ton of stuff from it – I just liked to browse).

We ended up getting a few games for the Virtual Console, including Zelda 1, Zelda 2, Metroid, and Mario Kart 64. In order to play 4 player Mario Kart, we bought some white 3rd-party GameCube controllers from Family Dollar for cheap. We also got some demos and a few other things like Metroid Prime 3 previews.

I loved watching Avery and Aurora play the boxing game in Wii Sports. Avery would try to block and time his punches, but Aurora would just thrash the controllers around and usually win. I was even able to get my grandma to play the baseball game with Avery a year or so before she died.

At some point later, we bought a third Nunchuk. We eventually also got Wii Play Motion, which came with a Motion Plus extension and a longer jacket. We also bought a separate Motion Plus attachment so we had 2 that could do that. Finally we got a fourth Wiimote with Wii Sports Resort, but this one was black and it had the Motion Plus built into it. I used a RC Willey gift card to get Avery’s birthday present (Zelda: OoT3D and used the remaining bit to get a black Nunchuk to go with it. At last we had 4 complete sets and could do 4 player things (unless it required Motion Plus). Later when I got a second Wii for hacking purposes, I made one of the older Wiimotes (which didn’t work as well) the main controller for the second Wii, and replaced it with another black Wiimote with built in Motion Plus.

For some reason, the Wii started being loud when in use. From the internet I got some suggestions of what to do, so I took it apart and tightened some screws to fix it. That seemed to solve the issue for a while, but later it stopped reading discs altogether. We sent it in for repairs, but they just replaced it so we lost all the save data (including my perfect game of bowling, grrr). I should have learned to just fix it myself. 

We got Link’s Crossbow Training for Christmas a year later, which was a Zelda-themed on-rails arcade style shooter that came with an attachment to make the Wiimote feel like a real crossbow. And, of course, when it came out in November of the next year, we got The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, but I had to wait until Christmas to play it. Anne wouldn't even let me rip the music CD that came with it to mp3 beforehand. 

After playing Guitar Hero at my friend James’ house, I really wanted it so we got Guitar Hero 3. All of us played it and loved it. Later we would get Guitar Hero Aerosmith (at midnight on launch no less to take advantage of a discount) so we could do 2 players as well as have more songs. Later we would buy a used disc of Guitar Hero 4 for more songs (even though we didn't have the drums or microphone). 

We had some friends/neighbors down the street that had boys the same age as Avery, and so we hung out occasionally. We played couples Mario Party 8, as well as Guitar Hero 3 with them. 

Another peripheral we got was the Wii Fit Board – a pressure sensitive board to assist with games that dealt with fitness, balance, and yoga. 

Some neighbor kids Anne was watching brought over New Super Mario Bros Wii and played it with our kids, and afterwards they just HAD to have it, so my kids spent their money they had saved up to get it. Unfortunately, Logan ended up breaking our copy of the game. He was being careless and stepped on it (I think), so we had to use his money to buy a used replacement copy.

Some of the other games we got over the years were several of the Lego games (Batman, Indiana Jones, and Harry Potter), a Ben 10 game for Avery (who was into the cartoon, but the game was less than mediocre), Super Mario Galaxy, and Goldeneye 007 - a modern remake of the classic N64 game but with pointer controls, though I didn't play it very much. We got some other games used from Gamestop that were just discs (no cases) that we still haven't played, but they were only a buck or two. 

Once Nintendo announced that they were no longer updating the Wii’s firmware, I felt ok about doing a little hacking. With the help of Brady, I installed the HomeBrew Channel and then I had access to pretty much any NES, GB, GBC, GBA, SNES, and N64 game from a menu. To facilitate playing the older games I bought a used white Classic Controller from a used gaming store called Gamer’s Asylum in town.

The HomeBrew Channel was so cool that I ended up buying a second Wii from eBay that did not read discs (purposefully as that would make it cheaper). I again hacked it and now have it hooked up to our secondary TV. We also got a Classic Controller Pro to go with it so that playing all these games felt more like the original. I also did the same for my brother Mitch for a birthday present for him. On a trip to Oregon I also hacked my brother Matt’s Wii for his family, and then Chad also bought one to be hacked, so we all have hacked Wiis that are used for playing older games.

Once the Wii U came around, a lot of people upgraded and transferred their Wii stuff to the Wii U. I didn’t, as I planned on keeping both systems. But since both used Wiimotes, I originally designated that the black ones be used for the Wii U (since mine was black) and the white ones be left for the Wii. But we have to pair them back and forth because the kids will play 3- and 4-player games on both still. 

The Wii

In the years leading up to 2006, Nintendo had been trying to maintain a balance between being kid/family friendly while appealing to more serious gamers with the GameCube, and the strategy hadn’t been working so well. So when the next round of consoles came around, Nintendo had a little trick up their sleeve. Instead of merely beefing up the number of polygons, the frame rate, and sound quality, they decided instead to change the way games are played.

Originally code-named The Revolution, the new innovation was the motion controller that resembled a TV remote more than a traditional game controller. The console would be renamed Wii, as a way of implying that it was meant for multiple players. Other than using standard sized DVDs as game media, the Wii wasn’t a huge upgrade over the previous Nintendo console in terms of graphics and sound. Overall, it was about 1.5 times as powerful as the GameCube, which seemed paltry compared to the other Seventh Generation consoles that boasted 7 or 8 times the power of their predecessors. Like other consoles of the era, it came with a stand to put it upright, but could also be placed horizontally if preferred. Its size was about the same size as 3 standard plastic DVD cases stacked together. 

The console had 3 buttons on the front face. One for power (though it's far easier to turn it off and on with the Wii Remote), one to eject a disc, and one to reset the system. A small flap near the disc slot concealed an SD card slot as well as a red button to sync a Wii Remote to the system.

The top (when standing upright) had 2 panels that hid GameCube parts. The larger panel has 4 GameCube controller ports, while the smaller panel has 2 slots for GameCube memory cards. The rear of the console featured the standard A/V cord port (though the connector is different from the previous three consoles), a power cable port, and 2 USB ports for future accessory use, which can be used to connect an external hard drive to store additional games. 

But the real story was the controller, called the Wii Remote (or as many call it, the Wiimote). Compared to most controllers, it featured fewer buttons but included both motion controls and point/click functionality. When held normally, the A button is easily accessed by the thumb and the B button on the bottom can be pressed by the index finger (similar to the Z button on an N64 controller). With a little reach, the thumb can get to the D-Pad, the +, Home, and – buttons, and with a bigger reach, the 1 and 2 buttons on the bottom. But the layout prevents pressing more than one button at a time with the thumb, usually. The other button is the power button, so the console can be turned off and on easily. The Wiimote communicates with the console via BlueTooth radio frequencies so it is completely wireless.

Besides the AV and power cables, the Wii comes with a wired sensor bar that is placed either above or below the TV. It functions as a simple IR signal for the Wiimote’s sensor to read to make pointing possible. Interestingly, while most people think the sensor bar is tracking the Wiimote, it’s actually the other way around. Early adopters experimented with the Wii and found that 2 ordinary wax candles (under the right lighting conditions) can replace the sensor bar. The point and click aspect of the Wii made navigating menus very easy, and enabled games that used to have a Light Gun feature (like arcade on-rail shooters or Duck Hunt) to work, but with much greater precision.

The Wiimote also had built-in rumble features as well as a speaker, allowing for some additional audio features. Lights at the bottom of the Wiimote would indicate which Player 1, 2, 3, or 4. Any Wiimote could be paired with any console by a simple push of a pairing button on the console and a similar button near the batteries of the Wiimote.

At the bottom of the controller is a port where an extension can be plugged in. Included with the Wiimote is the Nunchuk extension – a wired secondary controller for the left hand that added 2 more buttons (C and Z) as well as a control stick. The Nunchuk could also detect some motion as well. The Wiimote can also be held sideways and it effectively becomes an NES controller, with the + and – buttons replacing the Start and Select buttons. Several games used this configuration as the default.

Sold separately was the Wii Classic Controller, a controller that was similar to a SNES controller but with 2 control sticks (à la the PS2 controller) and 2 additional buttons (ZL and ZR). It connected to the end of the Wiimote with a cord just like the Nunchuk. Later the Wii Classic Controller Pro was released – basically the same idea but it had GameCube-style grips on the side for easier handling.

One new feature for a Nintendo console was the Home Button, which was similar to the “Back” button on an iPhone. It allowed players to instantly pause any game and access online instruction manuals, check battery power, or close the software to access the Wii Menu. While the GameCube had a built-in menu (which could be accessed by either starting the system with no game or by holding Z), beyond the initial set up it was rarely needed or used. However, the Wii had a home menu array with various “channels” that could be arranged in any order (except for the Disc channel).

The Disc Channel was for whatever game was inserted currently (and shows an animated disc being inserted). Included were the (Weather) Forecast Channel and the News Channel, where players could access weather and news updates by clicking around a globe (provided the Wii was connected via Wi-Fi). The Mii Channel is used to create a Mii, a personalized Avatar for use in some games, and the Photo Channel is used to display photos on the SD card, effectively making it a photo slideshow program (the photos would have had to have been transferred to the SD card via PC before use, or some games allowed screenshots to be saved to the SD card). The Shopping Channel allowed players to buy Virtual Console games – NES, SNES, and N64 games that were emulated by the Wii, and even some demos or preview videos. Another kind of game software, WiiWare, are games specifically designed for the Wii (including many by indie developers) was available and was similar to the DSiWare games. Additional channels were made available in subsequent updates, like the Everybody Votes channel where users voted on preferences, the Check Mii Out Channel where popular Miis of celebrities are displayed, or the Internet Channel which featured a version of the Opera web browser. Later additional features such as Netflix and other channels were added.

The system featured internal memory for game saves and software updates, making buying memory cards unnecessary for storing regular game save files or smaller sized downloaded content. It also had an SD card slot to expand additional memory (if needed) or to transfer data saves between systems. If the SD card happened to have photos taken by a digital camera or transferred via PC, they could also be displayed on the screen for audiences in the Photo Channel.

This was the first Nintendo console to feature Parental Controls, as well as a daily record keeping function of which games were played and for how long.  It was also the first Nintendo home console to feature online connectivity via Wi-Fi. As Wi-Fi was somewhat new, Nintendo offered a USB dongle (purchased separately) to give those without standard Wi-Fi routers online capabilities for both the Wii and the DS with minimal hook-up hassle. The online features weren’t as robust as other consoles on purpose to curb unethical/immoral involving kids, who were the primary audience.

Around the disc port was a blue LED that indicated that some new message had been received, there was an update to a game, or some other system notification needed to be addressed. The Wii also had a friend system to allow "Wii-Mail" messages to be sent between each other or send screenshots. In-game accomplishments were also saved and displayed using this Wii-Mail feature. Each Wii had a unique 20-character code that needed to be exchanged and entered by both parties for it to work - something Nintendo did to prevent online predators from gaining access to kids, though this didn't prevent people from exchanging them over the internet. 

Bundled with the system was Wii Sports (at least in North America), which was more of a tech demo really, but still very fun and included simple versions of Golf, Baseball, Tennis, Bowling, and Boxing. There were a few other games available at launch, but the biggest one was The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

The Wii featured GameCube backwards compatibility and had 4 GC controller ports and 2 memory card slots hidden under panels on the top of the console (assuming it’s in the upright position). Because it was essentially running as a separate console inside of the Wii, the Wii Menu features and use of Wiimotes weren’t available when playing a GC title. Later versions of the Wii omitted these features to save on cost and size.

After a few weeks of people losing grip on the Wiimote and smashing their TV or light fixtures, Nintendo released a new rubber jacket and thicker wrist strap to protect both the Wiimote and household furnishings. They were given away for free via Nintendo’s Website. 

Additional Wiimote accessories could be purchased, such as the Sports Pack – plastic shells that made the Wiimote feel more like a tennis racket, baseball bat, or golf club. Others were the Mario Kart steering wheel or the Link’s Crossbow Training Crossbow. While these weren’t necessary, it added to the charm of the Wiimote.

Along with Wii Sports, the “Wii” series included Wii Sports Resort (a deeper and more robust version of the original), Wii Music, Wii Play & Wii Play Motion (both came with either an additional Wiimote or the Motion Plus adapter), and Wii Fit. Wii Fit came with a balance board and was designed as a light work-out and Yoga tutor game to help keep people in shape. For the first time, games were being used to get people active instead of on the couch without buying extra equipment (like a DDR pad, for example).

Later Nintendo would release an update to the hardware – the Wii Motion Plus. It allowed for greater precision in controlling things. Not pictured is the extended rubber jacket that it comes with. Originally it was a small add-on to the bottom of the Wiimote, extending its length a little (it included a pass-through port for a Nunchuck so it didn’t lose the external controller functionality). It locked in the back to prevent it from falling off. Soon all Wiimotes were manufactured in normal size with this additional feature built-in.

The Wii was a hit and quickly became something of a cultural phenomenon. It was the best selling console of its generation because it was more modestly priced than the others, but mostly because it captured the casual gamer market better. For example, grandparents and other traditionally non-gamers could pick up a Wiimote and play tennis without having to learn complicated button schemes. In response to the success of the Wii, Microsoft released the Kinect, while Sony released the Playstation Move Motion, neither of which really captured the market the way the Wii did. While it was a "normal" gaming console that could play regular games like Call of Duty and Guitar Hero and had all the other functions of a console, many of the older generation only used it to play Wii Sports and probably didn't realize that it did more than that. Hardcore gamers look back on the Wii as a toy with gimmicky motion controls, but Nintendo’s dedication to innovative ways to play games has lived on in various formats through the Wii U, the Switch, and even in some motion control features in controllers for other consoles. 

Some years after the original release, two different revisions of the Wii were made. The first was called the Wii Family Edition, which was intended to lay horizontally and had the GameCube ports and functionality removed with a lowered price. Two years later it was made smaller with the Wii Mini, which had a flip-top lid similar to the GameCube as a bargain for people who hadn't had a Wii during its seven year lifespan. It is noteworthy that this came out a year after the debut of the Wii U. 

Adam Koralik's thoughts on the Wii.


Adam Koralik's thoughts on the 7th Generation of video games.

My Experience with the DS, DS Lite, and DSi

This is probably going to be the shortest post of this blog. My experience with the DS, DS Lite, and DSi has been extremely limited, and chronologically this post is out of place since I didn't really get one until after I already had a 3DS. But since I'm doing these articles in the order of system release date, I'm putting it here, along with the pictures that wouldn't fit in the post about the systems. 


I remember on launch day an acquaintance of mine from Weber State got one along with Super Mario 64 DS, and he showed it to me. As mentioned elsewhere, during this period funds were very limited, and I didn’t have much inclination towards portable gaming at the time. I saw people with DSs and DS Lites occasionally, and a couple of times I read up on them on the internet. Mostly I just wanted to try out the two Zelda games I was missing (Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks).


On two or three occasions, I got a chance to hold one for a few seconds, but nothing of any consequence. Here and there I would get to see someone playing something over their shoulder. My brother had a DS, and then he later upgraded to a DSi the same year my niece also got a DSi (Black Friday sale). 


But it wouldn’t be until almost a year after I got a 3DS that I would own a DS Lite. Avery and I both had a 3DS, and for Christmas we got Aurora a used DS Lite (with a Petshop game) and Logan a GBA SP. It was a red DS Lite with a Mario “M” on it, but the hinge had a crack in it that prevented it from staying open. Our solution was to buy a clear plastic case to put around it to add some friction to the hinge. It didn’t work super well, but helped a little. She had hoped to be able to communicate with her cousin from Idaho who had a DSi with it, but I couldn’t find any avenue for that to occur. 


A few weeks later, Aurora elected to upgrade her gift to a 3DS and pay the difference. The main thing that motivated her to upgrade was the prospect of having her own Netflix player, and perhaps the ability to send SwapNotes to her cousin in the future. Unfortunately, we had bought the DS from eBay, and the serial number had come off (a problem for these systems as the serial number was just a sticker on the bottom of the unit). So I decided to take it myself and pay her what she would have gotten for the trade-in. 

Mostly, I used it to play GBA games with a lit screen now and then, and occasionally a DS game. To help with the broken hinge problem, I put a red rubber band around the hinge, and it more or less fixed the problem; now it will stay open, but it won’t close the whole way. All it takes is to put something else on the DS to weigh it down in order to make it close. 

Because I had grown accustomed to the 3DS style menu and always leaving it in sleep mode when not in use, it was hard to get used to how often the DS needs to be turned off and on to change games or mess with the settings. 

The DS Lite was unofficially “Anne’s” for a while, as the rest of us in the family have a 3DS, so this way it can be said that everyone has some flavor of DS in our family. But the reason the quotes are around her name is because she didn’t really play it much (until I convinced her to play Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks). She has since inherited my old 3DS and plays that a lot more often these days. But with regards to the DS Lite, usually it’s just me playing it whenever I use it as a GBA. While the DS and DS Lite are basically the same thing with a different shell design, the DSi is different and I haven’t really played with one extensively to document all the differences and intricacies. We own several DS games, but I’ll be talking about them more on the 3DS section for obvious reasons. 

 

 

The DS, DS Lite, and DSi

The Nintendo DS was the next handheld produced, and it dramatically changed the look, feel, and controls of handheld games. The DS stood for Dual Screen, as it had a regular display screen and a second touch screen. The design was inspired by the GBA SP’s clamshell design and the old Game and Watch games produced by Nintendo in early 1980’s. It was also the first handheld to drop the name, “Game Boy,” and many saw this as way to look more “grown up” and less kiddy in the public’s eyes. Despite this, it took a while for people to stop using the term “Game Boy” and replace it with “DS” as a generic word for a portable game system. As was the case with previous systems, it was available in multiple colors.

One unique feature was that it had 2 different game slots – one in front and one in back. The back one was called Slot 1 and was used for DS games, which were called Game Cards instead of cartridges. The game cards were similar to an SD card in size and functionality. Like most SD card slots, Slot 1 was spring loaded to allow the player to easily swap cards. Slot 2 was in the front of the system and was used to insert GBA games. Unfortunately, it was not backwards compatible to GBC or GB games. 

The top half of the clamshell was slightly smaller than the bottom half, and housed the upper screen and both speakers. The lower half featured the touch screen and basically the same main buttons/layout as a SNES controller, with the exception that the Start and Select buttons were located above the XYAB buttons, while the power button was above the D-pad on the lower half. The volume control and the headphone jack were on the front of the unit on either side of the GBA slot. 

Included for the example of the remote.

Next to the headphone jack was a small port designed to be a jack for a headphone/microphone combo that was sold as an accessory. Many Japanese electronic devices had these jacks for things like CD/MD/MP3 players so that someone could adjust volume or change tracks on a remote without clicking the buttons on the actual device. The back had the power jack (which was the same as the GBA SP jack) and the slot in which the stylus was kept when not in use on either side of the game card slot. 

The DS had several features to make the playing experience more interactive. The main one was a touch screen that allowed a different kind of input. Besides tapping menu selections, it allowed players to do things such as sign their name or answer a fill-in-the-blank question by writing a number. Other examples of creative use of the touch screen were letting players write notes on a map or keep time with a beat. Players can use their finger/thumb or the included stylus to use the touch screen, as well as the thumb stylus that was on the wrist strap. 

The other feature to add interactivity is the microphone, hailing back to the days of the original Famicon (the 2nd player controller famously had a microphone instead of Start and Select buttons). Some games used this in conjunction with primitive voice recognition software to let players say their answers aloud instead of pressing a button (e.g., BrainAge or Phoenix Wright), or simulate blowing out a candle (Zelda: Phantom Hourglass). 

Like the GBA, it had two LEDs that indicated the system being powered on (green for power, red for low battery) and the system being charged/plugged in (orange). The LEDs and the microphone were near the bottom of the lower screen. 

When the system was turned on, it booted with the health/safety warning about playing too long (just Nintendo doing a little CYA for legal reasons) along with a distinct startup sound. The menu had the current time, calendar, and battery life on the top screen. The bottom screen featured the options for settings, brightness, alarm clock, and then 4 game choices – DS game, GBA game, Picto-chat, and DS Download Play. The options screen let the player input a name and birthday to the DS, set the language, change the color of the menu, calibrate the touch screen, change date/time, and choose on which screen the GBA games would display. There was also an option to automatically load any DS game and bypass the menu. 

It was interesting how different games used the two different screens. Some used the regular buttons, some were focused on the touch screen, some used combinations, etc. Some games used the bottom screen as the main play screen while the top screen served as a map or HUD, while other games reversed this.

Closing the system put the DS into sleep mode for most games and was the easiest way to pause a game when needed. While the GBA SP could also close, putting it into sleep mode usually meant having to go through the pause menu, and bringing it out of sleep required a 3 button combination. But the DS and its games were designed to immediately pause/sleep when it was closed (with one notable exception) and awaken when opened so it was significantly quicker and easier to do. 

The DS also had a Wi-Fi connection that some games used. The setup for the Wi-Fi connection was handled inside of individual games rather than the main DS menu. This allowed players to play games with others online natively for the first time without the need of an extra modem accessory. The servers for these games were shut down in 2014, so it’s no longer possible to play in this manner. Games with multiplayer features could also be played using local wireless, so link cables were now a thing of the past. Some games required each player to own a copy of the game, while others let multiple players download specific portions of the game to play together. 

Pictochat was a built-in application that let users send messages and hand drawn pictures to each other over local wireless within a certain range. 

Some DS games were able to detect certain games from the same series in the GBA slot and unlock features, like how the GC/GBA cable unlocked content when certain games were put together. So for example, having a certain DS Pokémon game playing while also having a previous Pokémon game in the GBA slot would unlock special content in the DS game. 

Several accessories were made for it, most notably being a browser that was programmed into a DS card but required a RAM upgrade that was inserted into the GBA slot. There were other things like cameras and an add-on to play games like Guitar Hero or a Rumble Pak to add in rumble features (like the N64). 

About a year and a half later, the DS Lite was released. It was a redesign of the physical hardware that fortunately didn’t change gameplay or user experience. The top and bottom halves were the same size, and compared to the original DS, it was slimmer and lighter. It had a repositioned power button (a slider button on the right side) and fewer “speaker holes” in the top half. Some of the other changes included being more brightly lit, changing the AC adapter jack to a new shape and style, moving the LEDs to the right shoulder, moving the stylus to the right side, moving the microphone to the hinge, and the Start/Select buttons were moved to the front of the unit. Because of the new size, GBA games now stuck out of the front of the DS Lite a bit. It also came with a “filler” cartridge to keep out dust when a GBA game wasn’t inserted. 

Nearly 3 years after the DS Lite came out, the DS got another upgrade in the form of the DSi. Unlike the jump from DS to DS Lite, the DSi was a much bigger upgrade. The mild physical changes included a slightly larger screen, moving the power button to near the touch screen under the D-pad, moving the LEDs to the left shoulder and adding one to indicate Wi-Fi connectivity, replacing the volume slider with a rocker button, changing the design of the shoulder buttons, and yet another change in the power jack. But there were some other new upgrades that made the DSi more desirable. 

First was the inclusion of two cameras – one on the hinge and one on the back of the top half. The hinge camera was next to the microphone, and served to take “internal” pics for games and applications that needed a “selfie,” while the outer camera could take pictures of other things. The cameras weren’t great, even by the standards of the time, but they weren’t horrible either. 

Second was the addition of an SD card slot. The SD card is where any pictures taken would be stored so they could be easily transferred to a computer. But the SD card slot came at the cost of the GBA port, so no more retro games. 

The menu was completely redesigned and upgraded to resemble the Wii’s “channel” based menu, but only appeared as a single row instead of an array. Along with the standard PictoChat and DS Download play there are little apps for the camera functions and a music player. The music player requires that the user transfers music files (in a particular format - not MP3) onto the SD card using a computer. It can also do voice recordings that can not be transferred to a computer. The camera app allowed the user to enhance pictures taken by drawing on them, warping them, or adding things like sparkles. There was also an included internet browser that didn’t require a separate game card like the DS did. Like the Wii menu, the icons could be rearranged by the user. 

Another big change was the DSi store – an online shop where users could download games developed exclusively for the DSi called DSi Ware. This was patterned after the Shopping Channel from the Wii, which also featured Wii Ware. The games were saved onto internal memory and each one added its own icon to the menu. Along with adding new software, it also had the ability to upgrade its firmware. 

The final iteration of this handheld was the DSi XL, a larger version of the DSi that had a screen that was nearly 50 percent larger, but featured no other significant differences.