I remember the launch day of the DS quite vividly. My portable console journey hadn’t started much earlier than that, unfortunately, with the first system I had ever owned being the Game Boy Advanced SP, the true dawn of the Game Boy era. I had heard the news that a new system would be coming at E3 2004, where Nintendo surprised the masses with an announcement that it would be in stores before the end of the year. I had just recently secured a job at an electronics retailer and was hoping to get a sneak peek at the system when it trickled into the warehouse, knowing full well how unlikely that was to happen. When the console arrived employees were basically forbidden to even approach it, but on launch day I managed to convince the powers that be to let me grab a console in the morning before the store opened, since technically it was “on sale” somewhere in the country by that point. I grabbed the DS with Super Mario 64 DS and a friend and spent the entire morning playing through the Metroid Prime: Hunters demo in the parking lot with other employees and a growing crowd of enthusiasts who just had to have it that morning.

That same DS is still sitting on the shelf beside me now alongside my entire DS collection of games. While many of my friends and colleagues have passed me by with newer technology in the DS Lite, I have still stuck by the gray brick as the genesis of the DS generation for me and still “good enough” to play any game that came out in stores. And that has always remained true; the technology didn’t change drastically between the DS and the DS Lite. A brighter, bigger screen, an aesthetic appeal that went beyond the Nintendo enthusiast and a few design tweaks that just made it a more refined iteration of the original console. After the first year of the Lite had passed, I was fully at peace with the fact that I would probably never own one and would simply wait to see what Nintendo had up their sleeve next before I made any mad rush to throw a pile of money their way.

Last year Nintendo announced their next trick in the Nintendo DSi, another iteration on the series that was a stage of evolution rather than revolution, choosing to add some disruptive technology to the hardware as well as the software. The DSi takes another stab at the design changes, making the screen a bit bigger and brighter, shifting buttons and making things a bit thinner, but it also takes away something from the system in order to do so; Game Boy Advanced (GBA) compatibility has been tossed to the cutting room floor. What the DSi adds is two cameras, one on the inside and one out the outer shell, that aren’t going to take any mind blowing photography but can be used in the same vein as your cell phone cam may serve, as well as opening up the functionality to DS games. Both of these changes are pretty disruptive, the first one eliminating the possibility of playing GBA games on the new system, and the second meaning that games could be coming down the road that are incompatible with the DS Lite and original DS. The biggest change that Nintendo has offered up seems to be in the software, however, with the DSi Shop coming out to play. Similar to the Wii Shop Channel on the Nintendo Wii, the DSi Shop is an online store where you can purchase games and applications for fun or functionality on the system, something that the previous DS consoles are incapable of doing.

Needless to say, I had to give this new system a try. Sure, I had tried a DS Lite before in passing, but this would be the first time that I’ve really spent a good amount of time with anything except my well-used original DS. Nintendo were kind enough to send me one of their systems to try out for a while, along with a game or two in order to gauge the full experience. It was a good excuse to break out the old collection, configure my wireless network, and take some time during my commute and lunch hour to become reacquainted with handheld consoles in general. The first thing I noticed when I fired the system up, besides the new legalese and DSi logo, was the fact that instead of a set number of blocks on the main screen that indicated what options were available to you, all of the options were laid out in channels similar to the Wii. Whenever you needed to make a change, use Pictochat or start up a game on the DS you would always have to restart the system, something that didn’t take a lot of time but was always a bit of a break in the play that would often result in me putting the system away. Now, everything moves from application to application seamlessly, and the endless screen of blank spaces where new applications can go is certainly promising and leads me right into the DSi Shop.

Nintendo has done a good thing by providing 1000 DS points right off the start to play around with in the DSi Shop – considering the 200 dollar price tag it does almost feel necessary in order to get people to explore the service – and I was excited at the prospect of picking up one or two interesting titles to play around with. Unfortunately, the launch selection isn’t anything to be proud of, with Nintendo themselves offering up applications that seem basically useless, like an Animal Crossing themed clock that will set you back 200 points (about 2 dollars) and a lot of throwaway titles that barely utilize the DSi’s unique abilities. The one exception to that is WarioWare: Snapped!, one of my favourite portable game series, that will run you 500 points and will actually provide you an experience that is unique to the DSi and quite a lot of fun. The Web Browser, which is free, was also a must download and that pretty much ended my somewhat disappointing romp through the online store.

Using the DSi for games wasn’t a whole lot different to using my old DS, although the quality of picture was noticeable at points. The two iteration leap of brightness and size really made the clarity jump out at me quite a few times, and with some of the newer titles like Rhythm Heaven it did seem to make somewhat a difference for me. The battery life was also considerable longer, something I was thankful for the few times I managed to nearly drain the system in the middle of a New Super Mario Bros. level. The sleep mode pausing was seamless and the mic responded much better than when it used to be near where my thumb rests on the system. The new features, like the sound editor and picture editor, are fun but not phenomenal. It’s a good amount of laughs the first time you mutate your unsuspecting friend’s face, but after the third friend it becomes a bit old, although making your voice sound like some kind of demonic harmony with the DSi Sound application did continue to make me laugh and get a bit frightened throughout my entire experience.

No change comes to me without a healthy scoop of skepticism, and the DSi was certainly subject to my normal weariness of change. It’s a high price to pay, but unlike the DS Lite it does change the way you play the system in some fairly positive ways, with a much more refined and modern feeling operation system and application structure. The big difference for me was I actually felt like I wanted to buy the new system, that my previous DS had somehow aged much quicker than I cared to notice, and the newer technology was truly a strong enough iteration that I could finally justify this. I sent back the DSi on that thought, and I would definitely recommend that anyone who is still pulling out the old faithful DS to perhaps take a look at the new kid in town. It’s not a huge game changer in that you will still be able to play the games, and there is certainly no real deficiency with the older DS models in comparison with the new one. The potential of the DSi Shop is enough for me to give the new iteration a huge thumbs up and it is something to keep an eye on for some quality titles and new applications that will propel the DSi into its own class, enough so to really warrant dropping 200 dollars in order to upgrade your system. If you do not have any DS console, this is an obvious choice and the DSi should be the first one on your list.