Today is


"...Featuring two screens, one touch sensitive, a laptop like clamshell design, a built in microphone, N64 quality graphics and internet capabilities, the Nintendo DS brings new life to video games....."

Touching the Nintendo DS




GameBoy Grows Up?
    [March 25, 2005]

Despite Nintendo’s attempts to attract older gamers to the handheld scene, Game Boys have always been more common in elementary school grounds than anywhere else... but that could all change with the growing popularity of the Nintendo DS.

When the original Game Boy was released in 1989, though the creators at Nintendo didn’t know it at first, it had more adult appeal than their more powerful home based Nintendo Entertainment System. Games that appealed to older gamers were released frequently for the Game Boy, as well as many first party titles advertised to children and adults alike. However, as the years went on, home consoles improved drastically. Better graphics and more gameplay possibilities attracted older audiences. Said to be more sophisticated, systems like the Sega Genesis, and later the Sony Playstation took most older gamers’ time - and money. In 1998 Nintendo released the Game Boy Colour, but it wasn’t enough to draw in cash from the 14 and up crowd. Though it had a colour screen, the GBC was still almost exactly the same as the original Game Boy. It had the same body design, graphic capacity, cartridge form and perhaps more games targeted at younger audiences. 

Since the GBC was said to be the reason for the entire industry’s 1 billion dollar rise in the US in 1999 however, Nintendo wasn’t complaining. While Mary Kate and Ashley and similar games rose to the top of the sales charts, portable versions of games specifically rated for those 13 and up (by the ESRB in North America and similar organizations elsewhere), games like Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil, didn’t. Many older gamers continued to actively purchase software for the GB and GBC, but the large percentage of active GBC consumers were younger. It wasn’t until 2001 that Nintendo finally released a completely new handheld. The Game Boy Advance, as the title suggested, advanced far beyond previous offerings. With the GBA, Nintendo made a conscious attempt to appeal to a whole new audience: everyone.

Featuring 32 bit graphics compared to that of the 8 bit GB and GBC graphics, the GBA had whole new potential. Gamers were blown away by early titles like GT Advance, a racing title many critics called a portable Gran Turismo. Racing titles were no longer top down vertical side scrollers, but looked almost exactly like that of early 3D racers on the Playstation. New genres appeared on the Game Boy scene, like first person shooters, that encouraged older audiences to buy the system. To a degree, Nintendo’s plan to attract older gamers worked. Series like Castlevania sold extremely well on Nintendo’s new platform, much to the surprise of publishers Konami. To this day, the GBA still appeals to older audiences, probably more than any past Game Boy. 

Since the release of the GBA, Game Boy has seen its first M rated titles, and for every multi-platform home based hit, there is also a portable alternative for GBA. Having said this, the GBA audience is still mainly younger. Games inspired by kids’ cartoons, as well as Barbie titles (yes, the plastic beauty queen) and Pokemon rips like Digimon still sell incredibly well to youngsters everywhere. Not only is the GBA still fairly simple, colourful and generally child friendly, but the hardware and software are also more affordable for kids. A new GBA game might cost anywhere from $20.00 to $30.00, while a new XBox game will, on average, cost you $50.00 easy.

Less than two months prior to writing this article, Nintendo didn’t just update the handheld scene, they completely reinvented it. Some might say that they completely reinvented videogames entirely. Their new creation promises to appeal to all gamers, young and old alike. Nintendo hopes that their new hardware will attract home console gamers who have never even played a portable system in their life. Enter - the Nintendo DS.

Featuring two screens, one touch sensitive, a laptop like clamshell design, a built in microphone, N64 quality graphics and internet capabilities, the Nintendo DS brings new life to video games. Those who said that it would be the next Virtual Boy in terms of success, referring to Nintendo’s failed three dimensional game system of the mid nineties have already been proven wrong: 90% of the units available sold within a week of the system’s Nov. 21st ‘04 launch. Approximately 500,000 units sold in seven days. Nintendo expects to sell around 5 million units by March. The DS is sold with a demo of Metroid Prime: Hunters packed in the box, a FPS not yet rated, but expected to be rated for 14+ audiences only. Other games intended for older audiences like Feel The Magic and Sprung were available at launch or soon after. Many promised N64 and PSX ports, and games of similar qualities are scheduled for the system for 2005 - games that sold best among teenagers and those older. Many of the system’s features are new to all gamers, and everyone wants to experience them as soon as possible. 

It’s these features and these games that make the DS so much more attractive to teenagers and adults. It’s thanks to these features and these games that those who showed up at any store that carried Nintendo’s new system (pretty much any store that sold video games) on launch day saw people of all ages lined up to pick up their new handhelds. With the DS, Nintendo has finally broken the ice for those too embarrassed to buy a colorful new Game Boy, or for those who figured the GB had nothing to offer. So DS owners who are also Game Boy fans can prepare for a whole new kind of game library. Since 1989, Nintendo’s handheld line has grown up tremendously. The DS is not a Game Boy, but a Game Man. The DS is not only an evolution from the Game Boy, it’s a completely new system and a turning point in the way gamers think about portable hardware. Prepare for the revolution of handheld gaming.