DS - Timeline
Monday22nd May 2017
News Nintendo's Response To Blind Rhythm Heaven Fan Will Warm Even The Coldest Of Hearts
"I will always support you, Nintendo"
Japanese boy Hibiki Sakai was diagnosed with retinoblastoma in both eyes at the age of one and a half, and following the surgical procedures necessary to save his life has been completely blind since the age of two. That hasn't stopped him indulging in many passions; he's a talented drummer and, like many...
Friday19th May 2017
Retrospective The Awkward Birth of the DS, Nintendo's Most Successful System
How a third pillar became a golden goose
With 154.02 million consoles sold to date, the Nintendo DS is the company's most successful hardware platform, the world's best-selling dedicated handheld games console and the second most popular video games system of all time. Not a bad set of achievements for a handheld which, prior to launch, was debated,...
Tuesday21st Mar 2017
News Atlus Launches a Teaser Site Hinting at a New Radiant Historia
Yes, please
Relatively late in the life of the Nintendo DS, Atlus released a fascinating RPG called Radiant Historia which was quite well received. Borrowing heavily from Chrono Trigger, Radiant Historia similarly revolved around time travel, with the main draw being that you could travel along the timeline and cause different effects which resulted...
Friday23rd Dec 2016
Retro Check Out These Early Prototype Pictures of the Nintendo DS
The start of a new era
The Nintendo DS represented a bold new direction for Nintendo, kicking off an extremely lucrative period for the company's handheld line; this "third pillar" to Nintendo's strategy wasn't originally supposed to replace the Game Boy line, but it ended up doing so anyway. The original "Phat" model was rather hideous in...
Thursday15th Sep 2016
News EA Had Plans To Create Its Own Pokémon Competitor
PokEAmon?
Even long before Pokémon GO, rival games companies looked on enviously at the Pokémon franchise and wanted to get a slice of the action for themselves. Who can forget Invizimals on the Sony PSP? OK, bad example! Australian indie developer Nic Watt, from Nnooo which has published multiple Nintendo eShop titles, recently revealed on the...
Wednesday24th Aug 2016
News Super Mario 64 DS Heading to the North American Wii U Virtual Console This Week
Wahoo!
As is now the norm, Nintendo has updated its official website with one of the games that's coming in the North American Download Update - this time around it's Super Mario 64 DS on the Wii U Virtual Console. Regular NL tipster Ryan Millar got in touch earlier today to highlight an ESRB rating for this title, and sure enough its game page now...
Thursday21st Jul 2016
Review Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs (Wii U eShop / DS)
New features and more circle-capture adventures
The Oblivia region has tidy beaches, clear seas and lots of sunshine; it's a pleasant place to be whether a human or one of the many free-roaming Pokémon. Things have changed recently, however, with many Pokémon abducted by a villainous gang known as the Pokémon Pinchers (no, really) and it's up to...
Monday20th Jun 2016
News Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Treble Heading to the North American eShop This Week
GBA and DS goodness
Nintendo of America has confirmed that there's plenty of Pokémon goodness on the way in this week's Download Update on 23rd June; three releases are coming to the Wii U Virtual Console. The three games due will give Pokémon spin-off fans plenty to do, with a mix of GBA and DS gaming on the home console: Pokémon Mystery...
Monday13th Jun 2016
Review Mario Hoops 3 on 3 (Wii U eShop / DS)
Going for a slam dunk
From his first venture into Karting through to competing in the Olympics, Mario has been spending plenty of time taking part in activities other than Princess saving. In 2007 (European release) Mario and his mates tried their hands at shooting a few hoops on Nintendo DS in Mario Slam Basketball (aka Mario Hoops 3-on-3 in the...
Monday30th May 2016
News The CEO of Level-5 Had a Hand in Dragon Quest IX Appearing on the DS
Who would've thought?
The Professor Layton series made its grand entrance on the Nintendo DS and quickly made a name for itself as one of the great franchises on the portable. Of course, the widespread sales success of the DS likely had a hand in propelling the series to popularity, so there was something of a mutually beneficial relationship...
Monday16th May 2016
Anniversary New Super Mario Bros. is Now a Decade Old
Forever 'New' thanks to clever (or not) branding
When you put 'New' in the name of something, it's inevitable that around a decade later someone will smarmily say "it's not new any more", and you just have to accept that putting an adjective like that in a name isn't a long term solution. Yet, when New Super Mario Bros. was released on DS it was...
Sunday17th Apr 2016
Video See If This Tale of the Cancelled Dirty Harry Game Makes Your Day
The developers weren't feeling lucky
Dirty Harry, to many younger readers (heck, including this writer), may seem like a rather old movie series in which a youthful Clint Eastwood mutters iconic lines. It's not too long ago, however, that Warner Bros. (and Eastwood's own company) had grand plans to revive the franchise with licensed games. The...
Thursday14th Apr 2016
Poll The Utterly Charming Animal Crossing Series Is 15 Today, But Which Is Your Favourite?
Turning a new leaf or heading to the city? Let us know
The Animal Crossing series turns 15 today, and to celebrate this occasion Nintendo has released a special video. The first game in the franchise launched in Japan on the Nintendo 64 15 years ago, and since then we've seen entries on the GameCube, DS, Wii, 3DS and Wii U. The GameCube version was...
Monday4th Apr 2016
News Nintendo Is Ending DS Phat Repairs In Japan
Spare parts running out, says NCL
It's the end of an era. Not only have we recently had the news that DSiWare is shutting down and Nintendo is bringing DS cart production to a close, but we've now heard that NCL is stopping Nintendo DS console repairs in its homeland. Repair support for all colours of the very first DS (model number NTR-001, also...
Rumour Nintendo has Discontinued Production of Nintendo DS Cartridges Around the World
Better get 'em before they're gone
Last week, we reported on the news that Nintendo would be entering the process of sunsetting its DSiWare service, reflecting the end of the official sale of digital games on DS consoles. This news didn't come as a huge shock given the age of the service and with a new console just on the horizon, but it nonetheless...
Sunday27th Mar 2016
News Natsume May Bring Some of its DS Games to Virtual Console Soon
Keep your eyes peeled
Though it maybe doesn't get updated nearly as often as many would like, the DS library on the Virtual Console continues to grow at a fairly steady pace. Naturally, there are plenty of holes in the lineup thus far, but the process for making games available on the service is supposedly much more difficult than it seems on the...
Wednesday16th Mar 2016
News Akira Tago Passes Away at Age 90
The Professor Layton series' "Puzzle Master"
The Professor Layton games form a popular portable series that's spanned across the DS and 3DS, famous for their puzzle-based gameplay. Though fans still await the coming of the mysterious 'Layton 7', the series recently lost a great contributor on its development side. It was recently reported that...
Monday29th Feb 2016
Review Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (Wii U eShop / DS)
Pokécrawler: Blue
Many Pokémon are finding themselves in trouble and it's up to you and your rescue team to go and save them in this dungeon crawling spin-off from Chunsoft. Released for the DS in 2006, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team sees you fighting ill-tempered Pokémon as you search a randomly generated floor for the staircase that...
Sunday28th Feb 2016
Feature Why We're Still Playing… Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver
The winners of your community vote on favourite Pokémon games
This is a series of features that focuses on games that we keep playing again and again, either over an unhealthy number of hours or those that keep getting return visits long after they first graced our systems. In this entry Mitch talks about his favourite Pokémon games, which also...
Friday12th Feb 2016
News Square Enix Store for the Americas Offers Plenty of Discounts in Anniversary Celebrations
Deus Ex! Final Fantasy! Kingdom Hearts! More!
Apparently the official Square Enix store for the Americas is one year old, and as a result there are a whole load of discounts being offered. We previously shared the store's Black Friday discounts last year, and though this promotion is smaller it still offers a chance to pick up some excellent...
Tuesday2nd Feb 2016
Review Super Mario 64 DS (Wii U eShop / DS)
D-Pad D-Bate
Super Mario 64 is undeniably one of the most influential games in the industry's history, so it's only natural that Nintendo would attempt to capitalise on its success with a re-release. What nobody expected at the time was for it to not only arrive on a portable console, but also feature Yoshi as the initial protagonist. Super Mario 64...
Monday18th Jan 2016
Review The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Wii U eShop / DS)
Choo-choo-choose the original format
No doubt partly driven by necessity as much as strategy, Nintendo's Virtual Console efforts on Wii U have been notable for including not only Game Boy Advance titles, but also various releases from the DS library. With the latter only possible courtesy of the Wii U GamePad questions of practicality are fairly...
Wednesday6th Jan 2016
News 'Brain Training' Games Aren't All They're Cracked Up to be
Brain training website pays $2 million to FTC for false advertising
No doubt many of you remember Nintendo's popular Brain Age series on the Nintendo DS, technically the first in its 'Touch! Generations' line of games. The title sold itself on the concept of doing simple cognitive tasks and games in order to slow mental decline and keep cognitive...
Thursday17th Dec 2015
Review Animal Crossing: Wild World (Wii U eShop / DS)
Why this world?
The very idea of a portable version of Animal Crossing filled this reviewer with glee when he first read about it back in the days of magazines and routers without wi-fi as standard. Animal Crossing: Wild World has always been a very special game to fans as it expanded upon the original GameCube title (for this region at least) but...
Wednesday9th Dec 2015
Review Kirby: Power Paintbrush (Wii U eShop / DS)
Time has passed
Kirby: Power Paintbrush – also known as Canvas Curse in North America – was originally released on the Nintendo DS in 2005. Following the trend of many other franchises during this new generation of handheld gaming, the HAL Laboratory-developed title moved away from traditional platform game conventions by utilising the defining...
Wednesday2nd Dec 2015
Review The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Wii U eShop / DS)
An epic sail
When thinking about the best games from the Legend of Zelda series, many automatically jump straight in at the deep end with the big, home console releases; games such as Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker always seem to make it to the top of peoples' lists. Games often overlooked are those that have appeared on Nintendo's portable...
Friday13th Nov 2015
They just appear, as if an apparition...
The Nintendo Direct broadcasts had a few surprises included, and in a segment dedicated to The Legend of Zelda Nintendo of Europe had an extra treat in store; this is in the form of a couple of DS releases for the Wii U Virtual Console. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit...
Monday9th Nov 2015
News Mitsuru Hirata Expresses Interest in Pursuing a Radiant Historia Sequel
"Someday a new Radiant Historia!"
As some of you may remember, Atlus released a JRPG on the DS a few years back called Radiant Historia. The game took a page from the book of Chrono Trigger and was heavily centered around a time travel mechanic wherein the protagonist had to devise the best possible path to take in order to avoid the apocalypse...
Thursday22nd Oct 2015
Video Remember the Good Old Days With These Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Animations
The nostalgia may overpower you
Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon is coming to the 3DS in North America pretty soon - early 2016 in Europe - and The Pokémon Company wants to build a little hype for the latest entry in the spin-off series. To do that it has revisited past entries of the series, or their accompanying animations, in any case. The...
Thursday8th Oct 2015
Review Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (Wii U eShop / DS)
A toy story
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis is the Nintendo DS sequel to the original GBA classic and a new recruit to the ever-growing Wii U Virtual Console library. Rather than being more of the same platforming puzzle action, Nintendo chose to focus this entire game around what is but a small percentage of the previous game - the...
