Since the introduction of the GameBoy platform fifteen years ago, Nintendo’s domination of handheld video gaming has been virtually unassailable. In that time, many other handheld game platforms have come and gone, none of them able to match the GameBoy’s popularity. Now, as the portable gaming market matures, Nintendo is trying to maintain that success with its new system, the DS, in the face of imminent competition from the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP). After months of media hype, the DS is finally here.
Touching Is Good
The DS is, if nothing else, unique. As we all know by now, having been inundated by hype in the gaming media for the last year, the main feature of the DS is that it has two screens, one in the lid and one in the base, and the one in the base (between the controls) is touch-sensitive. The individual screens are comparable in size to the single display on the GameBoy Advance SP, with slightly more resolution.
The most visible difference between the DS and SP displays (besides the fact that the DS has two of them) is the lighting. The DS displays are backlit, making them notably brighter and crisper than the frontlit SP. Despite the lighting difference, the DS displays are viewable with the backlight off, and should be as usable as the SP in the sun.
On the other hand, the touch-sensitive layer on the DS’ lower display is visible as a rough coating over the screen. Although I don’t know for sure, I suspect that Nintendo chose a material that is thicker and less scratch-prone than what is used on other portable devices. (The touch screen of a DS is probably in for a lot of abuse. Even adult gamers probably won’t treat it as gently as they would a PDA.)
The most interesting aspect of the dual displays, of course, is how they will be used by DS software. The Metroid Prime: Hunters demo packed with the DS showcases one of the more unique possibilities: using the touch screen as a real-time mouse-like controller. Like other recent entries in the Metroid series, Hunters is a 3-D first person shooter, a genre which typically requires simultaneous control of movement and view. The touch screen of the DS takes the place of the mouse in a typical control scheme — move with the d-pad, fire with the triggers, and look around by dragging on the touchpad. To make this easier, Nintendo put a rounded plastic nub on the DS’ wrist strap. Cinched up around your thumb, this enables smooth dragging and tapping without leaving oily fingerprints; while it isn’t as precise as a stylus, most games so far seem to be providing large finger-friendly tap areas on their menus.
If you’ve ever used a laptop with a touchpad, this control scheme should come quite naturally. At first, it’s a bit odd to be doing it on a handheld, especially since the touch screen is also being used to display the map, but it adds a dimension to portable action gaming that I think will be a great improvement.
The other controls on the DS are, of course, more conventional. There are now four buttons on the right side, rather than two. Unfortunately, they are smaller than the ones on the SP and quite close together, so it is easy to end up with a cramped thumb despite the DS’ larger (and better for adult hands) width. An analog stick might have been nice, but I think in the long run the lack of one will be adequately compensated by the use of the touch screen.
You’re Not Alone
Another much-hyped feature of the DS is its support for multiplayer wireless. The GameBoy Advance platform has had multiplayer support since the beginning, but until recently linking required a wired connection and was inconvenient or impossible for more than two to four players at a time. On the DS, wireless multiplayer is front and center, and in fact there is no support for wired linking at all. (Unfortunately, this also means there is no link support of any kind when playing GameBoy Advance games on the DS.)
The DS’ wireless is based on the 802.11b standard used by commodity WiFi networks, but it does not actually use those networks yet. The hardware appears to be capable of it, and Internet-linked games (with voice chat, even) should be possible in the future.
Even without a game card, DS users can communicate wirelessly using Pictochat, a built-in multiuser chat application. Pictochat uses the touch screen to good effect, with a tappable keyboard as well as an area to scribble digital ink on. Up to 16 people can use one Pictochat channel (out of four) at a time. I can easily see this getting a lot of use in school lunchrooms, but it might also turn out to be a good way to find other players anywhere there is a crowd.
That, in combination with the DS’ ability to play some multiplayer games with only one cartridge, should make multiplayer much more convenient and fun than it ever was on the GameBoy Advance. Some GBA games did have a similar ability to download to multiple players from one cartridge, but making it work required turning on all the GBAs in a particular order. It’s a lot more convenient on the DS (a button on the boot menu) so hopefully it will see more use.
A Better GameBoy Advance?
One of the reasons I like the DS has nothing to do with its unique new features. Backward compatibility with GameBoy Advance cartridges makes it, in some respects, a better GBA. Nintendo does not, strictly speaking, consider the DS to be a successor to the GBA:SP, and in fact they are reportedly working on the true successor to the GBA even now. But that didn’t stop them from making the DS backward compatible, and depending on your preferences the DS may be a better GBA than the SP.
The most visible improvement is, of course, the display. Compared to the SP, the colors are more vivid, the pixels sharper, the contrast higher — GameBoy Advance software has never looked this good. Although the screen image in GBA mode is actually slightly smaller than on an SP, that is more than made up for by how much better it looks. Audio is likewise improved by the presence of stereo speakers and the availability of an adapter-less headphone jack, at least for those GBA titles that make good use of both channels. (Hint: check the options. Some GBA titles are mono by default, but can be switched to stereo.)
There is a downside to the DS’ backward compatibility, though, and it’s a big one. The DS has no way to link to GameBoy Advance systems — it has no link port, and the built-in wireless is not compatible with the GBA wireless adapter. Fans of trading-oriented games will find this severely limiting, to say the least. It may be technically possible for future GBA titles to support the DS wireless hardware, but that doesn’t help with current games such as the recently released Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green. The lack of a link port also means there is no way to connect the DS to a GameCube.
Other Random Comments
The audio on the DS is nice, for a portable. Stereo speakers on either side of the upper display provide just enough separation to provide the sensation of stereo, if the sound and music of the game is mixed properly. Headphones sound better, of course, since ultimately a 1/2″ speaker can never produce great sound.
DS games are shipped in mini-keepcases, DVD style but about half as tall. The case mold includes a place for a GameBoy Advance cartridge as well as a DS card, so maybe GBA games will start using this packaging too. (It’s about time. Cardboard boxes and lost documentation are so annoying.)
The DS stylus is very short, and easy to lose hold of if you’re trying to cradle it in your fingers while pushing buttons with your thumb. You get two, and I’ve already lost one of them — I have a feeling I will be buying a lot of replacements, or using the thumb nub a lot.
Thoughts and Conclusions
With the DS, Nintendo is pursuing a more mature gamer, offering a feature set that will be popular with serious players along with titles that are closer to the complexity of those on full-sized consoles. The first gaming generation has grown up; to a degree, these adult gamers have not taken the GameBoy platform seriously due to the perception that it is just for kids. Consider, for example, Pokemon: taken as a whole the Pokemon phenomenon is relentlessly child-oriented, to the point that adults and older teenagers might find it somewhat embarrassing. Yet at its core is a series of very playable role-playing games with a well-refined system. This is just one example showing that the GameBoy platform is for children in the marketing sense, but not in the gameplay sense. In fact, one of the reasons the GameBoy has survived this long is that Nintendo and their developers know how to create games that are playable and fun for everyone. The DS, if it is successful, may act as a bridge to bring that quality to a more adult-oriented audience.
All in all, I’m impressed with the DS, and I’m looking forward to trying more of the launch titles. (I can only hope Gamefly picks up DS games soon.) I recommend it, as long as you understand the limitations of backward compatibility if that is an issue.