Nintendo DS - On this day

Nintendo had a strong impact on the home console market with its NES and Super NES systems but achieved its greatest result with the portable Game Boy console. She ruled through various models in the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, and then came a successor who did the unthinkable - surpassing Game Boy sales.

The Nintendo DS was a foldable and portable console that appeared on the European market exactly 17 years ago. It was a device with which Nintendo planned to expand the gamer population through the intuitiveness of the touch screen. This technology was a novelty at the time and Nintendo reckoned that gamers would be interested in having games respond to their touch. The slogan used to promote the console in the US market was: "Touching is good".

The console itself had two TFT LCD screens (256 × 192 resolution) that worked in tandem. The lower screen was touch-sensitive with a finger or Stylus pen that came with the console. The hardware power of the DS was not great during that time, but the console delivered unique games that were interesting to a wide range of players. Among the highlights were certainly Scribblenauts, Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright, and Nintendo hit such as Super Metroid Hunters, Animal Crossing Wild World, Mario Kart DS, and Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

Already in 2006, a thinner and smaller version of the console called DS Lite was launched. Two years later, the Nintendo DSi followed with slightly better hardware. Production of the DS was discontinued in 2013, and then the concept of a two-screen folding console was continued by a successor - the Nintendo 3DS. The Nintendo DS eventually sold 154.02 million copies making it the best-selling portable console in history, the best-selling Nintendo console, and the second best-selling console ever. He still holds that record today.