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DS

Why the DS is Dominating the Portable Market

by Nick DiMola - October 1, 2008, 12:21 pm EDT
Total comments: 58

Since purchasing my PSP early this (now past) summer I have noticed something about nearly all of the games I own. Most of them are simply console experiences shrunk to fit on a PSP screen. The play style, save structure, and overall experience is exactly what you might find on your PS2. While this sounds fantastic, it is quite clearly the biggest failure of the PSP.

Arguably the most important role of any portable game system is providing a portable game experience. This may sound obvious, but it is pretty clear Sony wasn't considering this when they developed the PSP. The games they promote and encourage, such as God of War: Chains of Olympus which came as a pack-in with my PSP is by no means a portable game. It doesn't allow for quick and easy saves and doesn't give me the ability to play it in short bursts and pick it up and play it again later. This problem can even be extrapolated to describe the PSP hardware itself.

The PSP hardware is disc-based thus effectively ruining any sort of battery life the system might have and only allowing for somewhere around four hours of continuous play. Furthermore, just getting the system started and into an actual game takes entirely too long. After two (or more) minutes the game is finally available for play.

The DS suffers from none of these issues. Most games are designed to be highly portable, cartridges ensure little-to-no loading time, and battery life is phenomenal. Just these factors alone ensure that if you want to have a game system with you to play outside of your home, the DS is the one you are choosing.

PSPs are technologically fantastic machines that do some really great stuff, especially when paired with the PS3, hell even a lot of the games on the system are quite good, but it utterly fails at doing what it is supposed to do; be a portable gaming machine.

Talkback

I never bought a PSP because it was too expensive (though not really anymore) and because of the problems you mentioned with battery life and load times.  Sony should get some credit for trying to do something different and go for a different piece of the market, but I think the UMD drive was a huge mistake.  Developers also deserve a lot of blame for the PSP's struggles, because they got so excited about using the system's beastly power that they didn't consider how to properly design games that fit the system.  The result is that PSP games feel largely redundant with console games.

I agree.  The PSP is essentially a shrunken-down console, so there's not enough of a differentiator there for it to gain critical mass.  It has some great games, but they aren't must-haves because they simply aren't much different than their console big brothers.  If you have God of War 1 & 2 on PS2, God of War: Chains of Olympus on PSP seems a little redundant.

I also think that it's a platform without an audience to a certain degree.  Is it for kids?  No, not really.  Is it for adults?  Yeah, but most adults aren't interested in portable gaming.  Is it for those on a budget?  Nope.  Is it for the big spenders?  Sorta, but most people would probably rather sink $200 into a console and stretch their dollar a bit more.  The PSP's positioning is all messed up.

ShyGuyOctober 02, 2008

That picture is the best thing I've ever seen on an NWR blog.

Agreed, perhaps I will use Paint from now on in my own blogs.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that picture, that's freakin' awesome.

Yeah, that picture is actually the single most professional thing on our site. &P

KDR_11kOctober 02, 2008

You know, this whole thing could have consisted of only one link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ocean_Strategy

The DS uses cards...not cartridges. Aside from that, yeah, I pretty much agree with everything you've said.

Of course, there are still DS games that provide a console experience....well, ports of and new games comparable to those from a few generations ago. But that isn't the system's focus, unlike the PSP.

And actually, KDR, there's more to what Nick said than just the Blue Ocean Strategy. Yes, that's part of why Nintendo has been successful. But even if Nintendo had not tapped a new market of gamers (and they really didn't for the first year of the system's life), it would still have been a more successful handheld than the PSP. Like the Game Boys before it*, the DS has good battery life, is more affordable, and its games are designed with portability in mind.

*Many early Game Boy games tried to replicate a console experience without really considering portability. Super Mario Land and Alleyway are not examples of good portable game design. Nor are the Sonic Game Gear titles. Wario Land 2, Link's Awakening, and Sonic Advance are: you can play just a little, or a whole lot. Developers refined their portable game design approaches over time. Battery saves also helped.

Nick DiMolaNick DiMola, Staff AlumnusOctober 02, 2008

That picture is possibly my proudest achievement at NWR. I finished it up and came to the conclusion that from now on every single blog post I make requires an accompanying Paint masterpiece.

KDR_11kOctober 02, 2008

Yeah, that pictures makes the post.

I love my PSP, but I'm not ashamed to say I barely ever play it. I have maybe half as many PSP games as DS games, and while I enjoy them all, it's true that exactly none of them are made to be portable. They all use a save system akin to a PS2 game, although there are a few games with background saving, like Ratchet & Clank.

I think the load time issue is largely the fault of the developer. I have quite a few games that don't have any (noticable) load times including Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, God of War, and both Mega Man games. Sure, there's a little bit of load time between the menu screen and the start of the game, but while you're actually playing the game, loading isn't really an issue. This is not to say every game is like that. Silent Hill and Castlevania have too many load points, although both are supremely enjoyable.

It's tempting to simply put the PSP to sleep between sessions on the road, but doing so actually eats up battery life, which sucks. And now that I can play my PSP on the teevee, I rarely play it by itself now unless I'm stuck doing one of my medical treatments, at which point I generally bust out the DS because of its quick start-up time.

yoshi1001October 02, 2008

Part of the problem is that the things disc-based media helps deliver (such as video) aren't really that important in a portable system (especially one you have to hold up to watch, unlike the clamshell DS).

GoldenPhoenixOctober 03, 2008

Great topic. I personally think the DS has been a huge hit for various reasons:

1. Touch Screen: Nothing has opened up the market more for the DS than the touch screen which allows for mainstream favorites like Suduku, Crosswords, and various other pick up and play games to not only be portable but also extremely easy to interact with. Even Club House games provided a tremendous variety of games that if done elsewhere would have been almost tedious to control and get into.

2. Variety: DS has maybe, the biggest variety of genres that I've ever seen. It has something for everyone with varying gameplay complexities.

3. Portability: As Mr. Jack said, the DS is extremely portable with a long batter life and durable, but high storage "carts' (or SD cards). PSP feels like you will break it if you use it much on your trips, not to mention fear of UMDs getting dirty

4. Price: Even now the DS seems like a great deal, it has a great library, decent hardware and some good alternate functionality.

5. Unique gameplay experiences: The DS may have taken a bit to get there but it now offers gameplay experiences via the touch screen and the dual screens that no other portable (or even console) can match. It has opened the doors to multitasking like no other system. Whether it is utilizing a map while the main action occurs on the top screen or creating new gameplay mechanics where a battle can take on a unique form via the two screens (The World Ends with You is one along with some of the battles is Zelda: PH)

Really that is all I can think of now but the biggest factor is the amazing variety and depth the system has for gamers of all kinds.

RABicleOctober 03, 2008

I've been saying this about the PSP since launch.

I remebere when they came out, I actually said flat out to the Harvey Norman sales guy "These are just shittier versions of games I haven't even bothered playing on my PS2" he's liek "aww you can't say that without playing them" "Well I just did"

ShyGuyOctober 04, 2008

I like how RABicle comes across as drunk and angry most of the time. It's like reading a post from Lee Marvin! At this point, there's not much reason for a PSP2.

Quote from: GoldenPhoenix

Really that is all I can think of now but the biggest factor is the amazing variety and depth the system has for gamers of all kinds.

Totally agree.

Want an RPG?  Final Fantasy III, IV, Dragon Quest IV, Sonic Chronicles, The World Ends with You, Chrono Trigger is coming soon, Dragon Quest V is coming soon, and the almighty Dragon Quest IX is lurking on the horizon...

Want puzzle games?  Meteos, Planet Puzzle League, Tetris DS, Picross, Professor Layton, Puzzle Quest, CrossworDS...

Want Nintendo franchises?  Mario Kart DS, Pokemon Diamond Pearl, New Super Mario Bros., Kirby Canvas Curse, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Yoshi's Island DS, Super Mario 64 DS, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass...

Want hardcore shooters?  Contra 4, Bangai-O Spirits, Nanostray 1 & 2...

I could literally go on and on.  In terms of game quantity and quality, the Nintendo DS has the best software library of any handheld, ever.

Bill AurionOctober 04, 2008

Quote from: Silks

In terms of game quantity and quality, the Nintendo DS has the best software library of any handheld, ever.

Honestly, I think "handheld" should be changed to "system" at this point...

GoldenPhoenixOctober 04, 2008

Quote from: Bill

Quote from: Silks

In terms of game quantity and quality, the Nintendo DS has the best software library of any handheld, ever.

Honestly, I think "handheld" should be changed to "system" at this point...

You know, I would have to agree with you. It is still stunning to me that DS has hardly any games ranked above 90% in review scores. That is really odd and seems to show a bit of a bias.

I think the DS Lite is Nintendo's best-designed piece of hardware.  For what it is, it's virtually flawless.

Infernal MonkeyOctober 05, 2008

As a (proud?) owner of the Atari Lynx, Normad and N-Gage, the PSP is easily the most unfriendly portable system ever. I've had some great sexy times with my PSP (Crush, Exit, After Burner, Ikuze! Gen-San, Parodius Portable, Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins etc.) but they've all been at home.

It's too damn fragile (DS can easily just be chucked in my bag when I'm heading out, while the PSP gets scratched up and explodes the instant it's exposed to sunlight), it still has a huge lack of true 'instant action' gaming and forget about playing a new release game you just bought for it on the train trip home, nope, gotta install constant firmware updates that require it to be plugged into the wall first.

KDR_11kOctober 05, 2008

Quote from: GoldenPhoenix

Quote from: Bill

Quote from: Silks

In terms of game quantity and quality, the Nintendo DS has the best software library of any handheld, ever.

Honestly, I think "handheld" should be changed to "system" at this point...

You know, I would have to agree with you. It is still stunning to me that DS has hardly any games ranked above 90% in review scores. That is really odd and seems to show a bit of a bias.

I think many reviewers give automatic (possibly subconscious) deductions to handheld games because they don't look the same as console games.

GoldenPhoenixOctober 05, 2008

Quote from: KDR_11k

Quote from: GoldenPhoenix

Quote from: Bill

Quote from: Silks

In terms of game quantity and quality, the Nintendo DS has the best software library of any handheld, ever.

Honestly, I think "handheld" should be changed to "system" at this point...

You know, I would have to agree with you. It is still stunning to me that DS has hardly any games ranked above 90% in review scores. That is really odd and seems to show a bit of a bias.

I think many reviewers give automatic (possibly subconscious) deductions to handheld games because they don't look the same as console games.

Yeah you are probably right but it seems very wrong to me. Shouldn't a game on ANY console be rated compared to other games on its level? In a way this is why I tend to discount most Wii reviews because I believe the same bias permeates it as well. Not that it matters unless you allow reviewers to spoil the fun you have with a game!

Quote from: GoldenPhoenix

Quote from: KDR_11k

Quote from: GoldenPhoenix

Quote from: Bill

Quote from: Silks

In terms of game quantity and quality, the Nintendo DS has the best software library of any handheld, ever.

Honestly, I think "handheld" should be changed to "system" at this point...

You know, I would have to agree with you. It is still stunning to me that DS has hardly any games ranked above 90% in review scores. That is really odd and seems to show a bit of a bias.

I think many reviewers give automatic (possibly subconscious) deductions to handheld games because they don't look the same as console games.

Yeah you are probably right but it seems very wrong to me. Shouldn't a game on ANY console be rated compared to other games on its level? In a way this is why I tend to discount most Wii reviews because I believe the same bias permeates it as well. Not that it matters unless you allow reviewers to spoil the fun you have with a game!

I'm inclined to think there's a review bias as well. *sigh* Well, we're still a new medium. We'll figure out a way to compare games to each other in some sensible manner in a couple of decades I'm sure.

IceColdOctober 05, 2008

Aww, a DS love-fest! Count me in!

Someone should make a retrospective bump of threads when the PSP was announced.

Bill AurionOctober 06, 2008

Quote from: Kairon

I'm inclined to think there's a review bias as well. *sigh* Well, we're still a new medium. We'll figure out a way to compare games to each other in some sensible manner in a couple of decades I'm sure.

That's assuming that it's an objective bias, which it isn't...

King of TwitchOctober 06, 2008

PSP is great



for me to poop on

Infernal MonkeyOctober 06, 2008

Quote from: IceCold

Aww, a DS love-fest! Count me in!

Someone should make a retrospective bump of threads when the PSP was announced.

Those are always fun to look back on. The launch was even better! Forums, gaming journalists (I still remember one of the big sites, 1UP maybe, rating Trace Memory down because its graphics weren't as good as Ridge Racer on PSP), everyone turned into rampaging trolls upon the PSP's launch. Precious hilarious memories. <3

KDR_11kOctober 06, 2008

Meh, 1up is always retarded, no surprise there.

Ian SaneOctober 06, 2008

I have no idea if this contributes to why the DS sells better than the PSP but this a big reason why I own Nintendo portables but have no interest in any others.  I don't like portable gaming.  I don't like hunching over a tiny screen.  I can never find a consistently comfortable position to play in for any length of time.  Plus I tend to move controllers a bit when I play and when moving the controller involves moving the screen that's not exactly pleasant.  And multiplayer requires multiple systems or they don't bother to include it at all.  Meanwhile the big "grab" with handhelds, the feature that makes all that annoying crap I just mentioned acceptable, is the portability.  But the problem is I don't NEED portable gaming.  I don't spend tons of times on airplanes or riding the bus.  My life has little "on-the-go" downtime.  It just isn't something I have any need for.  My DS is a home system and I ceased using my GBA once the GB Player came out.

So why do I have a DS?  Because of the games.  The games are good enough that I need to own the system that plays them.  Historically portable games are usually sh!tty versions of console games.  Why get a PSP for GTA: Vice City Stories when the REAL Vice City is available on the PS2?  Without the need for portability there's no point in buying watered down console games.  I never owned an original Gameboy.  Part of that is because I was a kid and my Mom thought games were evil.  But I didn't really want one at the time either.  Tetris?  It's on the NES.  Super Mario Land?  Well that's like a scaled down Super Mario Bros.  However over time Nintendo would make Gameboy games that were good enough that they could have been made for a console.  Metroid II and Link's Awakening are REAL Metroid and Zelda games!  And of course there's Pokemon.  Those are major games on any platform, not just compromised portable Contra (aka Operation C).

The DS and GBA are pretty much 2D consoles existing in a world where 3D consoles are the norm.  So the DS has a purpose beyond portability.  Mario & Luigi 3 was just annouced.  If there wasn't a stigma about 2D console games that would be a Wii game.  And years ago it would be on the SNES and would be a GOTY candidate.  And it isn't like Mario & Luigi: Better Version is on the Wii.  If any company but Nintendo made the DS it would be getting scaled down junk like Super Mario Planet or Twilight Princess Gaiden.  Not that scaled down stuff isn't on the DS.  There isn't much difference between portable or console Mario Kart games and Ubisoft and EA pretty much just make scaled down junk.  But in genres where 2D gaming provides a different experience than 3D the DS has a real purpose beyond portability.

Though probably the easiest explanation for the DS dominance is "PSP is expensive and the DS is made by the established handheld market leader who has not f*cked up enough to lose their spot."  It isn't exactly odd that Nintendo has the top selling portable.  That's the status quo.

Hostile CreationOctober 13, 2008

That picture actually makes me feel a little bit sorry for the PSP.

DeguelloJeff Shirley, Staff AlumnusOctober 17, 2008

Quote from: Infernal

Quote from: IceCold

Aww, a DS love-fest! Count me in!

Someone should make a retrospective bump of threads when the PSP was announced.

Those are always fun to look back on. The launch was even better! Forums, gaming journalists (I still remember one of the big sites, 1UP maybe, rating Trace Memory down because its graphics weren't as good as Ridge Racer on PSP), everyone turned into rampaging trolls upon the PSP's launch. Precious hilarious memories. <3

Yeah it's pretty amazing to see the DS earn its spot as #1, despite having no support from any media sources (not even Nintendo fansites ).  It's even sold more and is on track to best the PS2 by the end of it, and this is with two years of constant berating by the major sites, harping on certain games, talking about how Nintendo targeted "non-gamers," how graphics were still important, how PSP owners had a higher tie-ratio than DS owners (ha!), the general down-rating of DS games in hopes or quashing it or making it "feel bad," some huffy gamers threatening to never buy another Nintendo product and their absence of revenue being "Nintendo's loss."

It's all so very familiar.  I feel as if this might happen again.

The DS got slammed because it had one good game at launch, and no games for a year afterwards.  Compared to PSP, which had a good launch lineup and much prettier games, it looked like PSP should blow it away.  It was only after developers had a year to play around did the DS start gaining momentum.   

GoldenPhoenixOctober 17, 2008

Quote from: Silks

The DS got slammed because it had one good game at launch, and no games for a year afterwards.  Compared to PSP, which had a good launch lineup and much prettier games, it looked like PSP should blow it away.  It was only after developers had a year to play around did the DS start gaining momentum.   

I don't recall the PSP having many good games at launch besides Twiisted Metal and some MGS card battle game. The rest were basically straight ports. All I know is that during that period I thought the bashers of DS were full of crap and that it was going to be competitive.

Ian SaneOctober 17, 2008

The PSP launched with more games than the DS had accumulated in total at that time.  To assume the DS was going to get creamed was a very logical conclusion at that time.  Had the trend continued it probably would have been creamed but it was like a game-a-month pace at the time.  It was really bad, embarassingly so.  I waited a year to get a DS and I don't regret it.  I know some people will crap on me for noting this, and they'll be the same people that back then crapped on me, but at that point the DS SUCKED.  It was an absolute joke of a system.  It has really turned itself around since then.

GoldenPhoenixOctober 17, 2008

Quote from: Ian

The PSP launched with more games than the DS had accumulated in total at that time.  To assume the DS was going to get creamed was a very logical conclusion at that time.  Had the trend continued it probably would have been creamed but it was like a game-a-month pace at the time.  It was really bad, embarassingly so.  I waited a year to get a DS and I don't regret it.  I know some people will crap on me for noting this, and they'll be the same people that back then crapped on me, but at that point the DS SUCKED.  It was an absolute joke of a system.  It has really turned itself around since then.

Ian we are so used to you hating things it is tough to determine what should be listened to. So you can't blame us. All I know I was a staunch defender of the DS and seen its potential long before the elitist gaming media turned around.

The DS was a joke when all you had to choose from was Ping Pals and a bunch of other garbage.  Super Mario 64 was its best game for the longest time, and even worse, nothing was being released.  But then it started getting a TON of amazing games, and from that point on it was a juggernaut.

MarioOctober 18, 2008

Fuck off. Feel The Magic remains one of the best games this generation.

DeguelloJeff Shirley, Staff AlumnusOctober 18, 2008

Quote:

The DS was a joke when all you had to choose from was Ping Pals and a bunch of other garbage.

Good Lord how did the PS2 or PS1 ever survive their initial years of nothingness?

DasmosOctober 18, 2008

Ahaha, Silks is like Ian's little brother.

Enjoy your revisionist history, guys.  Believe me, I'm one of the DS' biggest fans and had one day one.  But I'm not going to sugar-coat the fact that it sat on my shelf until Christmas 2005.  After that, it was amazing and continues to be amongst my all-time favorite systems.

GoldenPhoenixOctober 18, 2008

Quote from: Silks

Enjoy your revisionist history, guys.  Believe me, I'm one of the DS' biggest fans and had one day one.  But I'm not going to sugar-coat the fact that it sat on my shelf until Christmas 2005.  After that, it was amazing and continues to be amongst my all-time favorite systems.

It is funny I was the opposite, DS was my most played system that year!

What games did you like?

I was going to point out that there were several good games for it in early and mid 2005, but then I realized you probably just boycotted it until Christmas. Like GP I didn't play much besides the DS in 2005, but that was more because the GameCube was dead.

GoldenPhoenixOctober 18, 2008

Well I did enjoy WarioWare Touched, SM64 DS kept me busy for quite awhile, Pac Attack (or whatever it was where you drew the pac man was lots of fun), Advance Wars DS, Nintendogs, Kirby Canvas curse (I think that was out during that period), Trace Memory and I know I'm forgetting a couple.

To put it into perspective, when I got a PSP at launch I played Twisted Metal (wasn't interested in a card game version of MGS) and when I was dcne with the game I sold it on ebay. The PSP had such a blah lineup of ports that there wasn't much else out there for it.

Yup, looking back through the archives, things really began to pick up in late-August 2005 when Nintendo released Advance Wars: Dual Strike and Nintendogs.  Up until that point you had Meteos and Kirby Canvas Curse in June 2005, but things were pretty intermittent.  So for about the first seven months there was a pretty big drought of top-shelf titles (in terms of a Nintendo handheld).  Then in Q4 2005 things went bananas.

UrkelOctober 18, 2008

The people that complained the lineup was lacking during the first year never bothered me. It was the ones that wrote the system off completely and calling the touchscreen a "gimmick" that got under my skin. Rick Powers. Never forget.

And it's not like the PSP lineup at that time was anything to write home about. Many games were ports, and I distinctly remember software releases drying up a mere two or three months after PSP launch, where UMDs started to outnumber game releases and everything went downhill fast.

The PSP lineup only looked "better" because of the dearth of DS releases.

I absolutely loved Yoshi Touch & Go, though if it were coming out now it would be a DSware game.

GoldenPhoenixOctober 18, 2008

I think PSP's problem has always been that it was basically an extension of the PS2, there really was never anything that innovative besides a few select titles and even then you wondered "Why can't I play this on PS2 instead?". I think PSP is an example of why Nintendo was good to avoid a GC based handheld.

What's funny about the PSP is that Sony's goal was to replicate the console experience on a handheld.  While that sounds good in theory, in practice it makes no sense because the handheld games don't offer anything different from the console games.  In other words, instead of PSP games being regarded as a neat handheld interpretation of a console game, they instead come across as a slightly inferior version of the console game.

Sony was always thinking "How can we make PSP games more like PS2 games?", but they instead should have been thinking "How can we make PSP games different and unique from PS2 games?"

YoshidiousGreg Leahy, Staff AlumnusOctober 18, 2008

Count me among the Yoshi Touch & Go lovers, and not just because it starred my favourite little dino. It became compulsive playing for me after a while, reawakening my love of high score challenge games which paid off in the future with Metroid Prime Pinball and Geometry Wars Galaxies, amongst others. I fully appreciate why it was regarded as very insubstantial, even little more than a tech demo (and I didn't end up paying full price for it, for the record), but with all the hours of enjoyment I ended up getting out of advancing my high scores, it would have been worth me paying above full price for it to be honest.

I still believe that the last 7 months of 2005 for the DS is the best stretch of any software line-up that I've ever seen. We had Kirby Canvas Curse, Meteos, Advance Wars DS, Nintendogs, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Metroid Prime Pinball, Sonic Rush, Mario + Luigi: Partners in Time, and probably quite a few other notable games that I didn't have the time/money to play at that time. Truly a stellar list that even the DS itself has been unable to match in the years hence.

GoldenPhoenixOctober 18, 2008

Quote from: Silks

What's funny about the PSP is that Sony's goal was to replicate the console experience on a handheld.  While that sounds good in theory, in practice it makes no sense because the handheld games don't offer anything different from the console games.  In other words, instead of PSP games being regarded as a neat handheld interpretation of a console game, they instead come across as a slightly inferior version of the console game.

Sony was always thinking "How can we make PSP games more like PS2 games?", but they instead should have been thinking "How can we make PSP games different and unique from PS2 games?"

I think this is a very fair analysis, and I ::gasp:: agree. Back when GB came out the novelty of having a portable system was enough to justify it, but now it needs a bit more in gaming to get people to think "This is a great addition to my gaming library", especially since handheld systems and consoles in general are no longer prodomently played by kids.

Ian SaneOctober 18, 2008

Quote:

Good Lord how did the PS2 or PS1 ever survive their initial years of nothingness?

Where did this myth come from?  YEARS?  The PS2 I'll admit struggled for the first six, seven months (I was making fun of it at the time).  But by the time the console was a year old Gran Turismo 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, Devil May Cry, ICO and, oh yeah, GRAND THEFT AUTO 3 all came out and in time to compete with the launching Xbox and Gamecube.  To be fair they had more time to get a good lineup rolling by the time the competition launched than Nintendo did with the DS.

But the PS1?  Tekken, Ridge Racer and Twisted Metal were launch games and though they were later overshadowed by their sequels those were big games.  And then Resident Evil came out six months later.

In comparison the big DS game for like 8 months was a port of an N64 game like EVERYONE already had but now with worse controls.  I agree with everyone who says that the DS didn't start rolling until Advance Wars DS.  Meanwhile the GBA had Castlevania: Circle of the Moon at launch plus F-Zero, Super Dodge Ball, Fire Pro Wrestling (personal favourite I'll admit) with Advance Wars and Mario Kart on the doorstep.  Nintendo themselves had done way better and I think it was fair to expect something comparable.  The GBA probably LAUNCHED with more titles than the DS had when the PSP came out.

In retrospect I figure they had a later target date in mind but rushed to beat the PSP to the market.  Everything worked in the end so I guess it was a good gamble.  Would Nintendo intentionally launch with a port as their one only launch title?

They would if they were as incompetent as you keep insisting they are.

GoldenPhoenixOctober 19, 2008

That Nintendo sure knows how to gamble, they must have a magic lucky rabbits foot to give them all this luck on systems that should have been disastors.

DeguelloJeff Shirley, Staff AlumnusOctober 20, 2008

Quote:

Where did this myth come from?  YEARS?  The PS2 I'll admit struggled for the first six, seven months (I was making fun of it at the time).

The unfortunate tragedy for your post, Ian, was I meant "inital years" of both the PS1 and PS2.  As in, the first years of both, 1994 and 2000.  I certainly didn't mean initial "Years," plural for either.  The PS1 had a pretty rotten launch lineup.  Go look it up.  Seriously, you'll cringe.  And the first year was basically meh.  PS2 was even worse, with games that looked worse and played worse than the already more formidable Dreamcast.  IT wasn't until GTA III that anybody gave two craps about the PS2.

And the DS actually had a very great first year.  SM64 was the only decent launch game, yeah (thanks, third parties) but the system had a very competent lineup from November 21, 2004 to November 21, 2005:

Super Mario 64
Daigasso Band Brothers
Kirby Canvas Curse
WarioWare Touched
Advance Wars: DS
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (lol This DS meme)
Trauma Center
Sonic Rush
Meteos (a godly puzzler)
Lost in Blue (I like it, at least)

and the harbingers of Nintendo's repeated success:
Nintendogs and Mario Kart DS

As well as Nintendo's effortless little money mill from Japan:
Brain Age

Yeah January through April might have been a little rough, but the system certainly wasn't a "joke" to own for an entire year.  I didn't really wanna play listwarz but this myth, which is a common trope (you know, "Zomg nothing for first year!"), basically dies when light is shined upon it.

and now that I saw Yoshidious post the same thing I feel a little sheepish, so I'll talk about why the big game media and fansite's berating of the DS in the early years is important.  Lindy said that Sony should have focused on games that were different from PS2.  But that's not what most people said in 2004.  they said the PSP should easily coast to victory because of Gran Turismo 4 Mobile, some FFVII spinoff, and Metal Gear, and actually wanted them to make as many games like the PS2 as possible.  No wonder the PSP's flagship game in it's first year was GTA: LCS, which is almost a straight port of GTA III.

It didn't matter that the PSP basically ruined the very strict physical rules of what a portable console should be:

1. Quick (loading times are out)
2. Functional (remember that Square button fiasco, where the misaligned the square buttons connector just to be more "stylish")
3. Game-focused (Just the IDEA that there were more UMDs than games at one time should be repulsive to any gamer)
4. Durable (clamshell design is standard)
5. Relatively inexpensive ($250 was just too much, and $40-$50 a game was just a bad idea.  No wonder the $150 DS and the $20-$30-$40 range of games is the reason the DS has a healthy tie ratio and the PSP's is in the pits)

The PSP thumbed it's nose at all of this, and most of the websites applauded them as they did it.  So why would they want to change when they thought their victory was "assured?"  They thought they won already.

Meanwhile, the DS was called "gimmicky" and "The next Virtual Boy" and Nintendogs was a "non-game for girls" and all that crap.  This is the real revisionist history.

KDR_11kOctober 20, 2008

Was LCS actually a flagship title? I recall it being a hope title (a game that people cling to while chanting "this game will surely save our console!") but it seemed to disappear after release. The PS3's hope titles seem to fare similarily. It's always "wait until game X, surely then the unenlightened heathens will see our way!".

IceColdOctober 21, 2008

Quote from: Silks

Enjoy your revisionist history, guys.  Believe me, I'm one of the DS' biggest fans and had one day one.  But I'm not going to sugar-coat the fact that it sat on my shelf until Christmas 2005.  After that, it was amazing and continues to be amongst my all-time favorite systems.

Christmas 2005? Let's see what I bought that year before Christmas rolled around.

WarioWare Touched
Kirby Canvas Curse
Meteos
Advanced Wars: Dual Strike
Trace Memory
Trauma Centre
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

I'd qualify Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, Mario&Luigi, Metroid Pinball and Sonic Rush as Christmas releases. The rest were all pre-October. And all of them are incredible games.


EDIT: Beaten by a number of people.

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