Anyone who owned a DS in the mid-2000s will likely have fond memories of PictoChat. Whether it was a one-off blast on launch day, or endless hours at a sleepover, Nintendo's little messaging service was a fun way to pass the time and show off your doodling skills when DS mania was all the rage. And now, in the year of our lord 2025, PictoChat is back (thanks, Overkill).
At least, it's back on mobile. The fittingly named 'PicoChat for iMessage' is a new iOS app that lets you send little PictoChat-style messages to your pals inside the Apple Messages service. Emphasis on the '-style' there, the PicoChat listing specifies that it is "in no way affiliated with Nintendo".
Created by solo dev Idrees Hassan, the app has all the hallmarks of the classic DS chat room. You can type out little messages to your friends, doodle and scribe notes in the tiny rectangle, heck, there's even a range of minuscule pixel 'emojis' to lend your messages a true 2004 flare.
It's cramped as hell and far from the ideal way to type out long messages (we miss you, DS stylus), but as a neat little throwback, we'd be lying if we said that it wasn't pretty cute.
And yes, we're officially considering the DS a "throwback" now. The original phat handheld celebrated its 20th birthday back in November, meaning it's been a whopping two decades since we first all went hands-on with the likes of PictoChat. The endless passage of time, eh? *gulp*