DS Daily: Did you ever doubt the DS?
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Nov 18th 2007 at 10:29AM }
When Nintendo first unveiled our portable friend back in the uncertain days of January 2004, the internet reaction bordered on hysterical -- flabbers everywhere were well and truly gasted. Two screens, one a touchscreen? On a handheld? Had Nintendo finally gone ever so slightly mad?
Well, no, they hadn't. Turns out, we needn't have worried. Yesterday, we learned that the twenty millionth DS had just sold in Japan, while it continues to mercilessly stomp all over the competition everywhere else. But that happy news got us thinking, back to that first announcement.
But what about you? Honestly now: did you ever think Nintendo had dreamt up a great big, steaming pile of fail when it unveiled the DS? You can tell us. We're all friends here.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
elsng @ Nov 18th 2007 10:40AM
Nope. Never doubted it. Which is why I'm still a Phat user. :)
Apollo @ Nov 18th 2007 10:51AM
I doubted it. I thought the thing was ugly as hell, when wasn't sure when quality games would ever come out for it. I remember the first game I bought for the system was Star Wars Episode III and I was very disappointed with that.
raindog @ Nov 18th 2007 10:51AM
Now, understand that I say these things not as a longtime fan of Nintendo, but as someone who still loves the Game Gear and didn't buy a Game Boy product until this century (when I finally caved because of its homebrew scene and retro releases.)
I was one of the few people who actually expected the touch screen (see http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=99371&cid=8480052 ) and I thought it was a brilliant idea. I thought the hardware itself was ugly and shortly after buying it and completing Mario 64 DS, I really wondered if Nintendo had misstepped. The other games available at the time were mostly shallow, awkward experiences like Yoshi's Touch'n'Go and Pac-Pix (but Warioware was brilliant.) It made me wonder if the PSP would succeed where the Game Gear had failed at beating Nintendo on pure specs.
Then Nintendogs came out, and I knew they really had something special. Then Animal Crossing came out and I decided the PSP was toast. The DS Lite was really what did it, but to me it was like a formality.
MrTyzik @ Nov 18th 2007 10:51AM
I confess that I had little moments of doubt late at night while the game library was taking its sweet time to build. However, that is not what I told anyone else. I was a Phat owner and evangelist from the start.
Trogdor @ Nov 18th 2007 10:55AM
*Sigh* Well, truth be told, when it came out I was going "WTF?" I had been dissapointed by the Gamecube, (still am, btw)so I wasn't trusting Nintendo back then. But, I decided to buy it, and yeah, I was delightfully proven wrong! Sure, the Wii's got more games coming out right now, but I'm still looking forwards to Contra 4 and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin right now. All I can say is that it's good to be a Nintendo Fan!
Tyler @ Nov 18th 2007 10:55AM
I admit, it seemed to be a big project to start. I mean, having two screens would mean more money to spend, therefore Sony wins?(I was a Sony loyalist at the time.) However, now that I've seen the incredible capabilities of both the Wii and DS, I know that going back to anything else would make me ill. I'd never been able to get a GBA because of said Sony fanboyism, so now that I can finally play GBA AND DS games, I'm a happier person overall.
nintendolover @ Nov 18th 2007 11:14AM
First, my sister got a phat DS. I thought it was too confusing, so I declared that I would never buy a DS. Later, in 2006, something struck me about the beautiful, white DS Lite, so I bought it in August '06. It stood up pretty well, but then I saw the Crimson Red and Onyx Black DS Lite a year later. I traded in my white DS Lite for the Black and Red one. I went from a DS opposer to a DS lover!
ethan42404 @ Nov 18th 2007 11:16AM
I have no problem admitting that I thought having a touch screen on a handheld device was a gimick, and that Nintendo was slowing losing it's mind (after the fiascos of the N64 and Gamecube - which may have had stellar 1st party games, but never made much of a dent with 3rd party games). The two screens didn't phase me though - I had seen that on Game and Watch years before.
And this from someone who has owned an original Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Gameboy Advance. The PSP looked like the killer handheld, while the DS seemed like Nintendo's last grasp...
Boy was I wrong. The PSP was overpriced (still is) and loaded with ports of PS2 games. The DS on the other hand is loaded with original games, games that aren't afraid to take chances and go in new directions. From someone who has owned a host of handhelds (including Game Gear) the DS is my favorite hands down.
ELIJAH the ChaosDragon @ Nov 18th 2007 11:54AM
I never doubted the ds, but was dissappointed when they changed the design from the prototype which was more like the lite. I am pretty sure its not nintendo's fault if there are weak 3rd parties.If they are afraid that their games are going to be neglected for good games, book around good games. Why does my L button always break and I never use it?
sockatume @ Nov 18th 2007 12:16PM
After the complete flop of GBA-to-GameCube link-up (even Nintendo hardly supported it) I figured that designing a console around an extra screen was insane. I brightened up a bit when word of the touch-screen and mic got out, but I still figured that a console based around novelty input devices was going to be a complete disaster - developers just wouldn't know what to do with it, as with the GBA-GC cable.
Well, they certainly showed me, and it made me far more positive about the Wii when it was finally revealed.
JB @ Nov 18th 2007 12:27PM
I got the sucker the week it came out. With that hardware combination the possibilities seemed very new ad very exciting. However, I quickly became frustrated; it seemed like it took 10 years for any games that interested me to finally get a release date. Consequently the DS saw the shelf for a year or two, and my GBA saw a lot of action with Advance Wars 1&2 among others. But now their are plenty of games I am back to the point from which I started. I am a 100% DS Fan boy.
ehaleen @ Nov 18th 2007 12:28PM
back in the days of the genesis/SNES wars i was a strict nintendo fan boy. i had the NES. i loved my game boy with the black and green screen even though game gear had full color, and it was only SNES for me. i think i was in 6th grade. i got a genesis for christmas that year and i promptly returned it to the store the next day and got a bunch of SNES games instead.
to put it litely, i was a nintendo manic.
then things started to change, MK1 was released and was a AWSOME port (well not arcade good but better than genesis) but it had no blood. this is where nintendo started going down hill. Strike 1
next came virtual boy, yes i bought one. saved my money for the entire summer. Strike 2
after that came the nintendo ultra 64 which was delayed over a year and renamed simply nintendo 64. by this time the one game that hyped the n64, killer instinct had already been ported to SNES even though nintendo said like 10000000 times that doing so was impossible. "the SNES is not powerful enough they said" all the waiting for the n64 only to find out the system had terrible graphics and the games were still carts led me to say screw nintendo. this was strike 3.
i never bought a game boy color, GBA, or gamecube
instead i bought ps1 and ps2 and dreamcast. yes, sega the company i was so against convinced me to spend my money on a dreamcast (they only died due to pirates, folks)
when the DS phat came out, i laughed. the thing was ulgy. i hated it because it was too heavy, was a brick and the buttons were arranged strange. oh yeah the games stunk. the only "good" things was like nintendogs. wft would i want that for?
then randomly my friend lets me play his DS lite. i was inlove. nintendo had redeemed them selfs.
the lite wins everywhere the phat looses and now there is an awesome game library .
so yeah i did doubt the ds but only cuz nintendo had rubed me the wrong way for years. i mean i paid money for a virtual boy. i think thats understandable.
Daniel Mehrkar @ Nov 18th 2007 12:53PM
i didnt have doubts at all. i preordered it and picked it up the day it came out. i had my phat right up until the lite came out. such a great system with alot of really great titles still coming out
ssuk @ Nov 18th 2007 12:57PM
Doubt the DS? Never, never-ever-ever-ever. I am a Britfag who imported a Version 1 Japanese Nintendo DS fat and Super Mario 64 DS (J). May sound a bit better if I didn't know Japanese, but hey. I'm a hardcore DS fan. =P
Zis @ Dec 7th 2007 7:37AM
I never doubted it.
My first Gameboy was the original version, and although the Game Gear was way cooler and the Gameboy craze was already over I really loved it because of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Super Mario Land 1-3, King of Fighters and the Wario Land games. Those were so great.
Then the Gameboy Pocket came out, which I couldn't afford, but I didn't mind, because I still could play the newest games.
When the Gameboy Color came out I really needed to have it. We never had much money, so the Gameboy was my only chance to play video games at all. So I told my mum about the Color months before it arrived on the German market (i said, "but mum, it's smaller, the display is way better than my old one and it's in COLOR!!!") and then I got it for X-Mas. I was the happiest child ever. :-D
When the Gameboy Advance arrived in our stores I couldn't afford that, neither, and I was a little too old to run to my Mom and ask her to get it for me, so I waited for the next one.
I was very tempted when Nintendo came up with the SP, but I still was waiting for something I really, really, really had to buy.
Then I heard about the DS and I was absolutely convinced. I started to run around like a little child an told everyone about it. "Omg, it's so cool, it has two screens, and one of them is a touch screen, isn't that just great, imagine what you can do with it!!" My boyfriend and my friend got one for my birthday, and yes, most of the games weren't too cool, but we imported Electroplancton from Japan (I still love that game) and bought Wario Ware Touched, and then I bought all the old Advance games I was craving for and played those until all the good DS games came out.
I was telling everyone about the DS and I still do whenever I meet someone who doesn't know about it. Five people bought one, too, after I had shown them this beautiful little thingy we all love.
I loved it from the start and I still do. :-)
Blue_Falcon @ Nov 18th 2007 1:08PM
My only real times of doubt were during the pre-Kirby/Meteos drought of '05.
KobraKO @ Nov 20th 2007 1:49PM
The second I saw it in a nintendo power article, I knew that it was the next step in gaming. My dad warned me not to be an "early adopter" to wait and see if they support it. Against his advice I got one the christmas it came out. Played it non-stop, loved it, and later bought a DS light and have been enjoying it ever since.
Fullmetal Salchemist @ Nov 18th 2007 1:23PM
My doubts lasted until Mario Kart came out. Then I read how great the game was, and had some extra cash, so I bought a DS and Mario Kart. Then I went back and picked up a few more games (Phoenix Wright, Kirby, and Meteos) and then was hooked.
Damian G. @ Nov 18th 2007 1:30PM
Mega dittos, Blue Falcon. By Christmas 2005, my fears were assuaged.
Garst @ Nov 18th 2007 1:35PM
I didn't have any doubt; that's why I had mine on pre-order. I was ready for a new why of playing games.
Joshua @ Nov 18th 2007 1:46PM
Never doubted it, nor did I ever know there was any doubt until after it was released. Why doubt it? It's a Nintendo system.
Big George @ Nov 18th 2007 3:12PM
Yup. I thought the dual screen thing was gimmicky. Still do to an extent. And you've got to admit, there's been a LOT of shovelware on the DS to date. (Hello Spanish For Everyone.) But, once Mario Kart DS came out, things started to change. Nintendo brought over their big franchises and things took off. Granted, most games not by Nintendo still stink. But there are so many at this point that everyone will find a couple of games worth playing.
Paul S. @ Nov 18th 2007 3:39PM
While I don't remember doubting the DS, I wasn't very excited about it.
In fact, my brother, who almost never plays games, got way more excited about it than I did, and asked for it for Christmas the year it was released.
He later sold it though, and bought a PSP. Which he also ended up selling.
I ended up buying my first DS in July 2005, right after the Electric Blue DS was released. The free Super Mario 64 DS promotion was going on, and Mario Kart DS had been announced 2 months earlier, so I had to get one!
Then I won a Crimson/Black DS Lite signed by Eiji Aonuma last month at the Nintendo World Store's Phantom Hourglass launch event!
Brello @ Nov 18th 2007 4:48PM
I completely doubted it. I won't lie. I owned every other game boy model(pocket excluded) and still doubted it. I thought the touchscreen would be a gimmick that would ruin all my favorite franchises. I wasn't even crazy about the design (the Phat). It looked bulky, had sharp edges and overall just didn't impress me like the design of the SP did. Then the Lite came. The lite improved on the original in nearly every aspect imaginable. I now own both the DS and the PSP, and they're still my most-often-played systems. Favorite game happens to be the touch screen based Meteos. Oh the irony. My favorite games are when developers are limited by the hardware, and have to make the best product possible on said hardware. So many games these days try to be a full course meal, when all I want is a little dessert. A stupid analogy, I know, but the PSP and DS are pretty much the last bastion of quality, classic style games with replay value--and I'm a sucker for sidescrollers.
Bluebreaker @ Nov 18th 2007 5:31PM
None. If it was good enough for casinos and ATM's then we can have a portable that plays games with the same technology. The DS lite I wasn't sure at first but since everyone treated it like the second coming my doubts were pacified.
Xian B. @ Nov 18th 2007 6:30PM
I was late to the party when I bought a GBA SP only a few months before the original DS was released, so naturally I felt like Nintendo was moving on too soon! I wasn't ready!
So I really loved my SP and poo-poo'd the DS as a minor upgrade to GBA, though I can't tell you whether that was genuine doubt or just sour grapes.
But the more I read about it, the more excited I became, and finally somebody bought me a Lite. It's one of those systems, you just can't be sure until you play it. Nintendo's whole strategy with the DS and Wii has been "Playing is believing." And it's true. Now I trust them to know what they're doing; they've grown up a lot since the days of Virtual Boy. If they told me their next system was a mallet to the balls, I'd just say, "Bring it on, baby!"
(But I'm still not buying a DS Micro.)
McWeen @ Nov 18th 2007 8:41PM
I never doubted it but I was worried about the launch window games, which sucked in my opinion.
Sam406 @ Nov 18th 2007 9:13PM
I sure did,
What makes the DS great is it's library, but back before it came out it oviouly had no games and as such, I thought the PSP was gonna walk all over it.
I mean come on! it looked sleeker, the screen was better and could play music and movies.
Since I never got around to getting a handheld, until the DS got the facelift and Mario Kart.
However, it was only when I played Elit Beat Agents that I knew my handheld choice was spot on.
B1gC72 @ Nov 18th 2007 9:50PM
i did doubt the DS. i got it on launch day since it came out a week before my birthday. i played Super Mario 64 (never had an N64, went with a PS1), Madden 05 and The Urbz: Sims in the City. after i played them my DS just collected dust and i was pissed for a long time. then i got Mario Kart DS, Animal Crossing, M&L Superstar Saga, Metroid Prime Hunters, New Super Mario Bros., and all was good. i admittedly havent bought a new DS game since New Super Mario Bros. though. i may pick up Phantom Hourglass during the holidays.
JBGUY2K @ Nov 18th 2007 10:16PM
Hahahaha, are you kidding me? I bought mine the first day it came out, got there about 2 hours before the store even opened. It was me and my friend, we both got it at the same time, and I kicked his ass on the metroid prime demo. It took a little getting used to, but for the better.
No way in hell I ever doubted the DS, as a matter of a fact, I was freakishly overprotective of my DS.
Though... there still are a few things I doubt'll ever happen on the DS, perhaps on the next one.
There really is no doubt on the machine, it's up to developers to overcome those doubts... ya know, pick up those doubts, snap em in half, and feed em to the dogs... I need sleep..
Jezreel @ Nov 23rd 2007 6:37PM
Oh, I completely doubted the DS' viability! I, in no uncertain terms, told my friends that it was a novelty act that was too big, too ugly, and too dim to be anything more than a followup failure to the Virtual Boy. To be fair, my assessment was of the original DS and the Lite revision answered my complaints. But I was so blinded by those flaws that I couldn't even grasp the system's potential for creative, innovative gaming experiences. I bought a DS Lite in January --thanks to Gamestop's GBA SP $50 trade-in promo-- and I've been pleased as punch playing Phantom Hourglass, an especially wonderful revelation given the fact that I had declared at The Last E3 Ever (as a non-DS owner) that it was unlikely to make any positive contributions to the Zelda series and the DS' reputation. Boy, was I wrong!