Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS is a dual-screen portable handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. The name "DS" is short for either Dual Screen or Developer's System, the latter of which referring to the features of the handheld designed to encourage innovative gameplay ideas among developershttp://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/ds/faq.jsp. Its code name was "Project Nitro". The DS has a horizontal clamshell design, similar to some Game & Watch video games, and the Game Boy Advance SP.

Releases

North America and Japan

The system was launched in North America for $149.99 USD on November 21, 2004, in Japan for 15,000 yen ($135) on December 2. Well over three million preorders were taken in North America and Japan; preorders at online stores were launched on November 3, and ended the same day as merchants had already sold their allotment. Initially Nintendo planned to deliver one million units combined at the North American and Japanese launches; when it saw the preorder numbers, it brought another factory online to ramp up production. Nintendo originally slated 300,000 units for the U.S. debut; 550,000 were shipped, and just over 500,000 of those sold through in the first week.

Related Topics:
North America - USD - November 21 - 2004 - Japan - Yen - December 2 - November 3

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Both launches proved to be successful, but it is interesting to note that Nintendo chose to release the DS in North America prior to Japan, a first for a hardware launch from the Kyoto-based company. This choice was made to get the DS out for the largest shopping day of the year in the U.S. ("Black Friday" a.k.a. the day after Thanksgiving). http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/11/12/news_6113031.html Perhaps partly due to the release date, the DS met unexpectedly high demand in the United States, selling 1 million units by December 21, 2004. As of the end of December, the total number shipped worldwide was 2.8 million, about 800,000 more than Nintendo's original forecast. http://www.nintendojo.com/infocus/view_item.php?1105105971 At least 1.2 million of them were sold in the U.S. Some industry reporters are referring to it as "the Tickle Me Elmo of 2004". http://www.sacticket.com/gamers/story/11763629p-12648524c.html In June 2004 Nintendo informed a total of 6.65 million units sold worldwide. (Nintendo report in PDF format)

Related Topics:
Kyoto - Black Friday - December 21 - 2004 - Tickle Me Elmo

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As is normal for electronics, some were reported as having problems with dead pixels (the correct term for this is "fixed pixels", as they "fix" themselves on a single or select group of colors) in either of the two screens. Return policies for LCD displays vary between manufacturers and regions, however in North America, Nintendo has chosen to replace a system with fixed pixels only if the owner claims that it interferes with their gaming experience. There are currently two exchange programs in place for North America. In the first, the owner of the defective DS in question must provide a valid credit card number and, afterwards, Nintendo will ship a new DS system to the owner with shipping supplies to return the defective system. The second is as follows: the owner of the defective DS in question must ship his/her system to Nintendo for inspection. After inspection, Nintendo technicians will either ship a replacement system or fix the defective system. The first option allows the owner to have a new DS in 3?5 business days. Policies followed by Nintendo in Japan are believed to be somewhat stricter.

Related Topics:
Dead pixel - LCD

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North American launch games

The following games were released within the system's launch period (the 30 days starting from November 21, 2004).

Related Topics:
November 21 - 2004

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• Asphalt Urban GT (Ubisoft)
• ' (Sega)
• Madden NFL 2005 (Electronic Arts)
• ' (Namco)
• Ping Pals (THQ)
• Ridge Racer DS (Namco)
• Spider-Man 2 (Activision)
• Sprung (Ubisoft)
• Super Mario 64 DS (Nintendo)
• ' (Electronic Arts)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour (Electronic Arts)

At launch there was one pack-in demo, in addition to the built-in PictoChat program: ' (published by Nintendo and is a demo for Metroid Prime Hunters, a game coming in 2005/2006). At the time of the Electric Blue DS launch, Nintendo bundled the system with Super Mario 64 DS.

Related Topics:
PictoChat - Nintendo

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Japanese launch games

The following games were released at same time as the system's first release (December 2, 2004).

Related Topics:
December 2 - 2004

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• Daigass?! Band Brothers (Jam With The Band) (Nintendo)
• Chokkan Hitofude (Polarium) (Nintendo)
• Cool104 Joker & Setline (Aruze)
• Kimi no Tame Nara Shineru (literally "I Would Die For You"; aka ') (Sega)
• Kensy?i "Dokuta Tendo" (Spike)
• Mahjong Taikai (Koei)
• ' (Namco)
• Pokémon Dash (Nintendo)
• Super Mario 64 DS (Nintendo)
• ' (Electronic Arts)
• ' (Nintendo)
• Zoo Keeper (Success)

In the launch period, the following titles were released.

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• The Prince of Tennis 2005 -Crystal Drive- (Konami)
• Puyo Puyo Fever (Puyo Pop Fever) (Sega)

Europe

The DS was released in Europe on 11 March 2005, for £99.99 in the United Kingdom and ?149 in the rest of Europe. Prior to this, a limited supply of DS units were available in a package with a promotional T-shirt, ', a WarioWare Touched! demo, and a pre-release version of Super Mario 64 DS, through the Nintendo Stars Catalogue; the bundle was priced at £129.99 for the UK and ?189.99 for the rest of Europe, plus 1000 of Nintendo's 'star' loyalty points. As of March 14, the DS had sold 600,000 in Europe, setting a sales record for a handheld.

Related Topics:
11 March - 2005 - WarioWare Touched! - Super Mario 64 DS - Nintendo Stars Catalogue - As of March 14 - Europe

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The European version of the DS, like the US release, is packaged with a ' demo. The UK packaging for the console is noticeably more "aggressive" than that of the US/Japanese release.

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The European game cases are about 1/3rd thicker then their North American counterparts, they are also transparent rather than solid black. Inside the case there is room for one Game Boy Advance game pak and a DS card with the instructions on the left side of the case.

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European launch games

• Asphalt Urban GT (Ubisoft)
• ' (Namco)
• Ping Pals (THQ)
• Pokémon Dash (Nintendo)
• Polarium (Nintendo)
• ' (Sega)
• Rayman DS (Ubisoft)
• Robots (VU Games)
• Spider-Man 2 (Activision)
• Sprung (Ubisoft)
• Super Mario 64 DS (Nintendo)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour (Electronic Arts)
• ' (Electronic Arts)
• WarioWare Touched! (Nintendo)
• Zoo Keeper (Ignition)

Australia/New Zealand

The DS launched in Australia and New Zealand on the 24 February. It retailed in Australia for $199 AUD and in New Zealand for $249 NZD. Like the American launch, it includes the ' demo.

Related Topics:
24 February - AUD - NZD

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The first week of sales for the system broke all current Australian launch sales records for a console. 19,191 units were sold from Thursday 24 February to close of business Sunday 27 February.

Related Topics:
24 February - 27 February

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Australian/New Zealand launch games

• Asphalt Urban GT (Ubisoft)
• Ping Pals (THQ)
• Project Rub (Sega)
• Spider-Man 2 (Activision)
• Sprung (Ubisoft)
• Super Mario 64 DS (Nintendo)
• Rayman DS / Rayman 2 (Ubisoft)
• WarioWare Touched! (Nintendo)
• Zoo Keeper (Ignition)

China

"iQue DS", which is the name of official Chinese Nintendo DS, was released in China on July 23, 2005. The price of iQue DS is 1400 RMB (about $169 USD). The iQue DS is compatible with all of the language versions of every game. This new iQue DS includes updated firmware from Nintendo to block out use of the PassMe device, along with the new Red DS.

Related Topics:
July 23 - 2005 - RMB

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Chinese launch games

• Zhi Gan Yi Bi (Polarium) (Nintendo/iQue)
• Momo Waliou Zhizao (WarioWare Touched!) (Nintendo/iQue)