What Made the Nintendo DS So Successful - A DS Retrospective

The Nintendo DS is the second most successful console out there. A gargantuan library of games that spans a multitude of different genres and styles, multiple revisions of the console that slimmed down the design and improved the screen-- there's a lot to love and a lot to talk about when it comes to this console. Today I'm going to go in detail as to why I love this console as much as I do.

[@Haedox]

babe wake up new ryrule content

[@MattCrossMedia]

The DS makes me shed a tear. A gimmicky looking thing being one of the most practical gaming devices I've ever touched. Some of the most inventive and addictive titles I've ever played. Life changers like The World Ends With You and Rhythm Heaven. The DSi and WarioWare DIY were my gateway drugs to stuff like photography, downloadable apps and game design as a kid. One of my fav systems and libraries ever, and your retrospective hit those feelings of mine, and then some spot on.

[@BitchChill]

Scott The Woz made a gag about how videogame reviewers always talk about how big their hands are when playing with portables, and I've never realized how prominent it is

[@santiagoqrg]

It's criminal that this video has so few views. Great work!

[@zachb4561]

Underrated and underviewed channel, instant subscribe

[@LittleMetallic]

I absolutely ADORE the DS, it had the best Mario Kart (in my opinion), the best Animal Crossing and so many underrated games that don´t get the recognition they deserve. My top 3 are Spectrobes, The Chocobo Tales and The Sims 2, which is genuinely insane

[@tomonemo2992]

You earned my like at the point of: "I just prefer this chunky boi right here..." The DS phat is an amazing device that gets so much hate undeserved...

[@KooriGraywolf]

I've been on a binge of your videos starting with Dark Dawn, and I gotta say, I feel like you deserve way more views, from not just the quality of your content but also the heart of your own personal stories you slip in

[@badtime6096]

Just found this channel and its amazing

[@retrohero2762]

DS is cool. The GBA's library sticks jn my mind more but the DS was a really strong console with a well implemented set of gimmicks

[@hansgretl1787]

Great video! My favorite DS Game is Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, which is an extremely unknown game, but a fantastic one. It's made by Shu Takumi, the person who was mostly responsible for Ace Attorney 1-4 and would later go on to work on the Layton Crossover, as well as the Great Ace Attorney games (which are amazing btw, check them out!) Ghost Trick is a standalone game, and has debatably the best story I've experienced. If you like mystery or visual novel games in general, it's a high recommendation.

[@leeartlee915]

It’s becoming much better known. That’s the thing with youtube; all those “hidden gems” aren’t so hidden anymore. I remember a time when fucking Earthbound was a “hidden gem”. KZbin changed all that about 15 years ago.

[@hammerkirby5243]

The Game Boy Advance sp ags 101 actually came out in September 2005.

[@animatedaquarius]

The GBC and GBA were my first Nintendo consoles and introduced me to the brand and while I like them just fine, the DS was the console that made me into the Nintendo fan I am today and it along with the Wii provided some of my favorite memories in gaming.

[@turboDrowsy]

The DS library actually had quite a few Japanese exclusive games that were published by Nintendo. ASH by Mistwalker. Mecha MG by Sandlot. Soma Bringer by Monolith Soft. Card battle Hero by Intelligent Systems. The two Tingle games. Nintendo surprising did a lot this generation (except for a new FZ game.) I will say I’m surprised you left Fossil Fighters off. (Little less with Glory of Heracles and Puzzle League), but Fossil Fighters had 2 entries on the DS. So I was expecting it to show up.

[@turboDrowsy]

Rip heart

[@flameguy21]

Yo, I remember the first Fossil Fighters. My 12ish year old brain was like "it's Pokemon with dinosaurs. Where has this been all my life?" Story got super weird, too. (In a good way)

[@Alurith]

Look at this dude casually playing Nostalgia, loved that game.

[@taylord5381]

Man... It's been 17 years already...

[@flameguy21]

Get on playing The World Ends With You. I slept on it REAL hard but it was fantastic when I actually sat down and played it. Also has one of the best soundtracks on DS, which is saying something! Been playing Neo practically non stop since it came out. They're so good, man.

[@penti8345]

i think i’m one of the few DS owners who never had a DS lite. i had a fat silver DS and then when the DSi came out i got a pink one of those. for some reason i was the only one amongst my friends who had anything other than the DS lite

[@theotakuguy8957]

Pretty cool video even saw some games I want to try out now

[@SoulfulZane]

Was a fun watch my dude! Tis just too bad I kinda can't stand handheld consoles, never liked the small screens and the systems themselves gave me hand cramps, but it's nice to see someone else view it in a more positive light. Ye get a thumbs up, but only because I have an inflated cameo. I'll be expecting royalties by mail for my image

[@GenmaTheSamurai]

Good video dude. Yeah there's a lot I could talk about too, but I will say at least for me the DS is definitely a mixed bag. It has lots of great gems, but also lots of my favorite series have my least favorite titles on it. Either way this was pretty comprehensive on how popular it was. :)

[@Jojojordonian]

Dragon Quest Heroes Rocket Slime was a blast, I really recommend checking it out when you have the time.

[@viewtifuljoe99]

Another fun english translated Japan exclusive RPG I like is 7th Dragon. Had a lot of Sega/Phantasy Star/Etrian Odyssey alumn working on it and it is a fun class based dungeon crawler.

[@jackchaos100]

i miss the ds and using my r4 good times

[@leeartlee915]

I don’t get why you’d need a GBA flash cart when you already have an R4 card. My R4 card has like 100 GBA game on it…

[@wadedewell]

fantastic video. i love the ds. so many awesome games. i enjoyed some of the etrian odessy games. i loved radiant historia, i liked luminous arc! there are far too many games to count

[@graylyhen9490]

What's the piano song at the beginning?

[@JEANS__]

my fav games on the ds are the three castlevania games. dawn of sorrow is the most dated having tons of touchscreen gimmicks but a romhack can patch that out and makes it great. portrait of ruin of ruin and order of ecclesia especially are both really fun. the gba castlevanias were kinda crappy outside of aria of sorrow but when I got to the ds games when I was visiting the series I was pleased they were all outstanding. Sadly another series that died with the ds though.. but thats what bloodstained is for

[@sparksaturn1731]

you kinda sound like Locktin from the channel gnoggin but with a more clear throat

[@PM-xc8oo]

I think my primary gripe concerning the DS is just that the weird screen format makes emulation and games preservation pretty tricky. Sure, there are emulators but it is just not the same playing it on a single split screen versus the intended dual screen format. All of the gimmicky out of place touch non-sense shoved into games didn't help either. So definitely not my favorite Nintendo device despite how well it sold (and despite owning one and good number of games).

[@zexalsrevenge511]

I’ve always thought the DS launched too soon (should’ve waited a year) and thought it was the cause of the GBA’s early death. I wish that system was supported up until 2009. Why didn’t the 6th Gen last longer?😭 Don’t get me wrong, I really did enjoy the DS and its games. The PS5 and Series X/S should’ve done the same thing.

[@zexalsrevenge511]

But the 3DS was an awesome successor to the DS though. I will always remember the 3DS for its awesome RPGs. The PSP I thought was superior both in terms of power and game library and usually beat out the DS version, Umihara Kawase being the exception. Why is that?

[@joshwillcox7141]

Almost every "controversial" opinion you state I actually agree with. Like love NSMB DS and Sunshine but I do agree that Mario in general especially World, 64 and Galaxy are way overpraised. And I honestly do hate Sonic Colours but I actually don't mind the ds version. I could go on...

[@JEANS__]

meh bonus exp in tellius is kind of broken as shit I wouldnt say its removing a feature more just taking out an uneeded one. support convos also werent in radiant dawn so it wasnt that far-fetched to not have them.

[@metalbrainmextrememetalent6810]

DS had all the Call of Duty games. Enough said.

[@novustalks7525]

Highly disagree. The D pad is much better. Having a circle pad would suck. The circle pad was awkward and annoying on the 3DS

[@nascour5991]

My man's gonna be burned at the stake for these takes lol, also please beat heartgold or SoulSilver and the original black white Jesus Christ

[@Stakodron]

It's a great documentary which is well done but it has a misleading title, I find, because it's more like history about games of that era and how they made the DS so successful

[@vdentertaiment4088]

Lmao Sonic fans never fail at making me laugh. Imagine being so salty that you trash Mario 64 but praise trash like Sonic Adventure.

[@TJOEL20]

This guy likes Sonic and hates Mario 64 🤡🤡

[@Shackkobe]

Nice video, but I do not condone pirating of other people's work. (2:33) Video games are not essential to life so no one has to make them accessible to you. If you don't get to play them, you will certainly continue to live a happy and fruitful life. You want to play video games?, buy what is available to you so the creators can get the profit from their work. You are essentially a thief, plain and simple. You are using access to software as justification for your theft.

[@WhatMusic2600]

You can't buy ds games directly from the developer anymore. The only way to play ds games and older games is to either buy overpriced used copies or to just pirate

[@HollowRick]

​@@WhatMusic2600exactly... this guy.. 🤦‍♂️