by Thomas A. Polymath

Created on: July 05, 2008

The console wars are at their height and Nintendo is pulling out all stops to be at the top of the market. Nintendo to many has become the epitome of Nostalgia and I'm sure that many children will remember years from now when they're grown adults. While the adults of today remember the Game & Watch, the children of today will remember the DS. The Nintendo DS is yet another innovative addition to Nintendo incredibly diverse library of products. The DS was released on November 21, 2004 in North America ironically before Nintendo's 7th generation home console, the Wii. Irony aside heres one man's view on Nintendo's portable Chuck Norris, the DS.

Design

My personal definition of a portable system is "A videogame playing device that fits into an average pocket." The DS fits this description but since the original version was a little bulky Nintendo decided to re-release it into a thiner and brighter version called the "DS lite". I thought this an insipid, resource wasting, unneeded move on Nintendo's part, but the opinions of a lowly peseant internet writer/critic such as myself won't stop any corporation from doing something. The main draw of the DS is the stylus and touch sensetive screen. It works well and most of time movement and stylus functions are fluid and natural.

Marketing

Every Nintendo system has it's own tagline. "Now you're playing with power!", "Born to Play.", and "Get N or Get Out!" are only a few examples. I know that jokes will be made about the DS tageline so I might as well spread the word. The DS taglines are "Touching is Good" and "Touch Me". I need not elaborate further...

Gameplay

The stylus adds a lot more variety and immersion to gameplay. It opens up new demensions and possibilities of gameplay options which can be used to their fullest potential. Whether you're sealing off a demon in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow or petting your Nintendog, the stylus always seems to bring out something new and interesting from each and every game. Nintendo seems to be very proud of their motion sensetive controls and this shows when they adds games soly dedicated to showing them off. We all know these games and what we mostly expect from them is mediocrity but no. Instead we get a "This isn't good but not bad" notion.

Conclusion

The DS is fun, innovative, and for all ages. My favorite game of all time (Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time) is a DS exclusive so I can't recommend it enough.

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