The DS series was the peak handheld generation for me. I like that the console’s design encouraged creative game mechanics, and it has some of my favourite games of all time. I have a DS Lite, a 3DS and a new 3DS, though I think the original DS line had the better game library compared to the 3DS. The camera and 3D effect were rather gimmicky and didn’t add much value for me.

I think the game that best encapsulates what I love about the DS is The World Ends With You, a JRPG set in modern Tokyo that used both screens at once in its action combat system - to control two different characters. The character on the bottom screen would have you use touch gestures to trigger attacks, while you needed to do button combos to control the character on the top. It was insanely fun!

Other games I liked from the early DS era are Hotel Dusk, a detective game that is played in “vertical mode” so you hold the console like a book - and Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, the original Japanese version of Elite Beat Angels, a rhythm game.

I also played all romance/otome games that were available in English for the DS, my favourite was Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side.

The DS figured out touch-based interactions way better than smartphones which are like the main touch-based “handheld” nowadays. That is because you could dedicate the entire touchscreen to gameplay input, since you still had the top screen to show relevant game information. Smartphones on the other hand need to utilize the entire screen both for input and displaying stuff, which just doesn’t work as well imo.

Early in the lifetime of the DS, before the 3ds had even been mentioned, a ton of JRPGs released for the platform seemingly in a bid to become the next earthbound or chrono trigger. Most of them were very mediocre, but to this day Contact (published by atlus) and The World Ends With You (square enix) stand out as stellar titles to me. They represent opposite ends of the jrpg spectrum; contact is a grinding game with a very floaty story, whereas TWEWY has an intricate story and a penalty-free swappable easy difficulty setting to help new players cope with the (initially) awkward combat system. Both of them are stand-out in their own ways, with memorable settings and characters supporting the mechanical depth they offer.

Both of them are games that take advantage of the DS’s unique features, not the microphone but the touchscreen. While Contact is pretty easy on the gimmicks, only requiring you to occasionally peel a sticker or something simple like that, TWEWY’s combat flow has you use buttons to control the top screen while simultaneously doing multiple touch screen gestures, making the game difficult to master on the actual DS and unbelievably hard on an emulator.

TWEWY has since had a remaster and a sequel, but contact is seldom mentioned anywhere when I see the DS talked about. Worth a look!

Completely unique and very difficult to experience with alternative hardware nowadays (compared to the PSP which can be played on nearly everything). The games library is incredibly unique because small budget games still had a big chance to succeed.

The most memorable games of the DS era to me were Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky and Dragon Quest IX as well as Bravely Default and Fantasy Life for 3DS. Mystery Dungeons story almost brought me to tears at the end of the main story and I just love the gameplay. DQ IX felt like I could play with friends/family because you create your party how you want it from scratch instead of picking up story relevant characters. In addition I really like the flexibility of the class system. This resulted in a bow wielding paladin that can obviously protect them, but also restore the mana of others and regain it for himself with bow skills and a priest that could give party wide elemental buffs from the ranger type class. Bravely Default because of the same class shenanigans as Dragon Quest. Here I remember making a vampire priest because the vampire gets the ability to potentially revive at the the end of a turn and the priest is the one responsible for reviving everyone else, so he should not stay dead. Fantasy Life was just a cozy grinding game.

I still miss the community gimmicks of the DS/3DS - Miis being shared wirelessly, pictochat, etc etc.

We need more of that

My family had about 5 of these between us by the time we started getting into lites and 3d versions. I had the original chunky boy and a 3ds. We took them on holiday and played the brain training multiplayer games. Great fun, my parents even got into them for a bit and they said off video games a long time beforehand.

My first DS was the DS Lite. I bought it when the game “Contact” came out. Played various JRPGs on it, as I’m wont to do with handhelds. IIRC, the DS Lite was backwards compatible with GBA carts, which was great. I loved the look, feel, and size of it. Honestly, DS Lite is probably my favorite Nintendo handheld, with the Switch a close second.

After that, I think the next DS that I had was the 3DS. Which I still have; I even booted it up earlier this year to try to play “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice.” I didn’t end up playing it on the 3DS, since I have that anthology on Steam, but I wanted to see where I was.

Games or series that I played a lot on the DS line were practically all of the mainline Ace Attorney games, and even some of the spin offs like the Professor Layton crossover and AA:Investigations. Fire Emblem was another. I think I played Awakening, Fates, and Echoes. I played at least one Pokemon game, too.

I have an n3ds xl

Its retired but it was the best handheld (besides the awful cstick Its a beautiful machine,

2DS was a solid brick. It was genius for little kids.

I loved my DS Lite. It was so smooth and compact and could play GBA games. I also still play my 3ds.

E3 2004! The HYPEST

We met Reggie, who’s about kicking ass and taking names.

And the DS is revealed…and it COMES OUT THAT YEAR?! Whaaaaaa

I was so hyped. I started saving my pennies right away.

The multiplayer experience was unbelievable. No cables, no square box thing to play more than 2 players. And you didn’t even need multiple copies of the game! Just all play Mario Kart!

The thumb strap was a neat idea, but not the easiest in practice. Though I did find it great for aiming in the Metroid FPS game, much better than the stylus.

And OF COURSE it was backwards compatible!

Loved it. Beautiful machine. I still have 2 DS Lites that work.

My favorite DS game by far was Lock’s Quest. It was the first game that got me genuinely emotional, I had tears in my eyes during the ending. I remember initially being disappointed, as kid me wanted a strategy game, not something where I still had to run around and repair stuff in real time. But my god, my opinion changed quickly and both the gameplay and the story captured my fully. The music was just the icing on the cake.

My most played game by far was Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades. Shredding Can’t Stop by the Red Hot Chili Peppers while sitting in a restaurant with my parents is one of my favorite memories of that time (with headphones of course). I believe this game single-handedly formed most of my music interests for my teenage years.

Finally, I have to mention Bionicle Heroes. I am a massive Bionicle fan (and currently rediscovering it through finally reading the books). This game is by no means a masterpiece, but it is a surprisingly fun first person shooter with great controls and decent graphics for the time. I adored it because my parents were very strict and didn’t let me play realistic shooters, but this way I could get my fps fix and play in the world of Bionicle at the same time!

My device was a Nintendo DS Lite, White with flame stickers that came with the Guitar Hero game. I loved that machine to bits.

I still play my 3DS on bus trips all the time, and trying to find people IRL who recognise it. There aren’t many here.

By far my favourite console ever, if DS and GBA libraries (and ease of modding) are included. I didn’t even get through the most recommended games, let alone the obscure ones (like an Atelier-like game made by the Etrian Odyssey devs, Nora and the Time Studio I think, it was weird but interesting if somebody wants to try)

Don’t actually care for the 3D effect by now, but I’m happy it’s there, if only for showing off to people. Fire Emblem feels made for dual screens, and EO was literally so - I’m hoping they’ll manage without them. Besides that, mostly just good game library.