This is the year for the next generation of handheld gaming systems. Nintendo's Gameboy line has had a stranglehold on this market since it launched its first Gameboy system. I have always been a fan of the Gameboy because it's sturdy (which is great for a portable unit), and it has a great library of games. I was one of the lucky ones that got an original Gameboy Christmas of '89 with the five launch titles: Tetris, Baseball, Tennis, Super Mario Land, and Alleyway (I'm not sure if Solar Striker was a launch title or one that came out shortly thereafter). It was a strong launch and all those games, with the exception of Alleyway, racked up hours and batteries on my old Gameboy unit.
Specs
The main processing is on the Nintendo DS is performed by dual ARM9 and ARM7 processors. The resolution is 256x192 and can display 260,000 different colors. The rechargeable lithium ion battery is internal and provides 6-10 hours of battery life. The Nintendo DS communicates wirelessly through an IEEE 802.11 compatible direct connection. The Nintendo DS also weighs approximately 9 ounces. Overall, not much else is known about the specific technical capabilities of the DS. However, games with 3D rendering like the Metroid Prime: Hunters demo and Super Mario 64 DS run incredibly smooth.
Design
The Nintendo DS when closed looks about the same size as the original GBA design. However, like the GBA:SP, it flips up revealing one screen on the top and another on the bottom, both of which are backlit. The bottom screen is the touch screen. While it's very responsive, it cannot support more than one input at a time. Meaning, you cannot use two styluses on one touch screen to simulate two analog devices. On either side of the top screen are two speakers. While they are of better quality than other Gameboy speakers, they still don't stand out that much. The sound still is much better when pumped through a pair of headphones.
The bottom half is where all the action lies. Like the original GBA design, the bottom touch screen is between the dpad and the face buttons on the right. Above the dpad on the left is the power toggle button. This is a precarious position since a slip of the hand can allow a sudden power off. The one bright spot is that the button has to be depressed for a second or two before it actually powers off. The four primary face buttons on the right side are configured in a diamond shape and correspond exactly to the SNES controller configuration. The Start and Select buttons are positioned horizontally above the diamond configuration on the right. Below the left side of the touch screen is a small microphone. The backside of the Nintendo DS is where you have the two shoulder buttons (L and R respectively). Also on the backside of the unit is where there's a port for the stylus, and a port to supply power to it. In the middle is the DS cartridge port. Unlike other many other recent gaming devices that support cartridge media, this one is spring loaded. The cartridges themselves are only the size of a Listerine breath strip package though, and even worse, their connectors are exposed. The front side is where you'll find a different sized port for Gameboy Advance cartridges. Unfortunately, the Nintendo DS doesn't support GBC and old Gameboy games. To the right of the GBA cartridge port is a place to plug in your headphones. To the right is the volume slider. That's right, I said volume slider. This is by far my biggest pet peeve of this whole device. The volume is no longer controlled by a dial, instead it's a slider. The slider doesn't control the volume too smoothly. If you move it just a little bit, the volume becomes way too loud all of a sudden for the external speakers (fortunately, it's better when you're using the headphones). And even then the volume difference at the setting when you first are able to hear something to the maximum setting is very minimal. So think of the external volume as having two settings: mute or loud.
Built-in Software and Accessories
The Nintendo DS has lots of build-in features if you try and start up the machine without a game cartridge. The device has a clock and calendar function. The clock has an alarm function that goes off at a preset time. My DS initially prompted me for my birthday. However when it rolled around a few days ago, nothing special happened nor did it even display on the calendar. I am assuming this might be used for enforcing ESRB ratings or regulating content, but it's not entirely clear. There's also a setup screen where you can change many of the different settings I discussed above.
Finally, there's a built-in chat program called pictochat. It can handle up to 16 users connected to a particular chatroom. The DS also has 4 different chat channels as well. Pictochat allows you to either type in a message using the keyboard function, or manually write in a message using the stylus. The keyboard has many different character sets, which is nice. However using the stylus to write a message is a little cumbersome and using it reminds me of my daughter's magnetic doodle board.
The DS has many of the typical accessories you'd expect to find with a portable system. You have various carrying cases, game cartridge cases, battery packs, screen magnifiers, and extra styluses. These accessories though are manufactured by a third party and not Nintendo. Nintendo itself doesn't have any of its own accessories for the system listed on its website, which is actually a good thing. This means that you have all you need inside your Nintendo DS box.
Some of the Gameboy Advance SP accessories will work with the Nintendo DS, but others will not. For a complete list, I recommend visiting this page:
The Nintendo DS library is still pretty small since the device only debuted a couple months ago. Out of these launch titles:
Asphalt Urban GT
Feel the Magic: XY/XX
Madden NFL 2005
Spiderman 2
Super Mario 64 DS
The Urbz: Sims in the City
Super Mario 64 DS seems to be the clear-cut favorite here. That doesn't say much because these launch titles aren't all that great and it certainly doesn't inspire many people to go out and buy a Nintendo DS right away.
However, there are some exciting titles on the way which could be worth the price of getting a Nintendo DS.
Advance Wars DS
Animal Crossing DS
Castlevania
Final Fantasy III
GoldenEye
Mario Kart DS
Metroid Prime: Hunters
Need for Speed
WarioWare Touched!
Yoshi's Touch & Go
The two titles that really stand out is WarioWare Touched! and Final Fantasy III. The first is just like the other WarioWare games, except all the action is limited to using the touchpad. Final Fantasy III is the most renowned Final Fantasy title that has yet to be formally translated to English and released in North America. While it's not known whether the game will still be sprite based, it is almost certain that the game will take full advantage of the touch pad.
As for the particular genres, it's difficult to know which ones will succeed and which ones will never come to fruition. It looks as if the DS will be a haven to racing fans, and FPSes will certainly look really sharp and control well using the touchpad. I also think that the dual screens and touchpad could spawn a whole new generation of puzzle games. Nintendo has always been known for solid platformers, and I expect no different here. However, I think the golden nugget could be the implementation of strategy games, specifically a real-time strategy game. Starcraft, especially if it can be implemented over Battle.net could not only vault the DS over the PSP, but also vault portable gaming into the forefront of casual gamers. Finally, while the only real serious sports game on the DS is Madden, I could honestly see sports games really evolving on the DS. Using the touch screen to hit a baseball or control individual teammates on the field could prove very innovative. However, sports games were horribly supported on the GBA despite the fact that the 16-bit console era produced some classic titles that are still playable today. The DS is capable of revolutionizing many of the classic genres with its features. The question becomes how much effort are developers going to put into their DS titles?
The real underlying issue with regards to the DS library is how well it will be supported. Will there be enough innovation with the touch pad and dual screens? Will the Nintendo DS be able to play games over the internet and if so, will there be enough games to support it? Will Nintendo lose third party vendors to Sony? Many of those questions will hopefully be answered in the coming year.
Conclusion and Predictions
It is clear that the Nintendo DS has the most innovative hardware in a portable system. Two screens and a touch pad can allow for some very creative titles to be released. However, the sad part is that we now are in an era in video gaming that harbors proven companies looking to make the safe title or remake one or more of their older games. I'm afriad the Nintendo DS might end up being like the rebellious new upstart radio station looking to compete in a world of music dominated by top 40 lists.
That also opens up the issue of how the Nintendo DS will compete against the Sony PSP. Even though Nintendo has reestablished a working relationship with SquareEnix, the Sony PSP will probably get some of the hotter titles like a possible Final Fantasy VII sequel. Sony also has a better chance of securing 3rd party vendors as well. The Sony PSP hardware more advanced than the DS, and that is reflected by its superior textures and polygons. However, from what I've seen with many PSP games, there are some framerate issues, but I have yet to see any with the current DS titles. The PSP's design is follows a very proven standard with their Playstation line, and they have the resources to market this system just as aggressively as Nintendo. This is even more reason to take a wait and see attitude.
Another important issue to discuss is the era this portable generation is about to embark upon. Both the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP are going to have graphics similar to that of the original Sony Playstation and N64. The graphics for many of these games can be on the rough side. It's my feeling that games like Final Fantasy VII and many of the Crash series of games really suffered visually because they used rough polygons instead of sprites. Many people who feel the same way as me will probably be better off staying with their old GBA. From what I've seen, the graphics have undergone some facelifts since the days of Playstation and N64, but I don't expect much from it. Many older Gameboy games really didn't spend a lot of time trying to improve their graphics given the older Gameboys' limited hardware. And I expect that if the portable market fails to catch on as strong as the console market, then we'll probably see more of the same.
Is this the end of Nintendo's dominance in the portable market? It's hard to tell because the success of this device is tied so closely into how creative the library evolves. My advice is not to pick this system up right away. Wait and see what happens with its library of games (I'll be updating this as the DS library grows) and then make your decision. As of this moment the Gameboy Advance SP might still be the portable to own.
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