Development Development of the Nintendo DS began around mid-2002, as company president
Hiroshi Yamauchi stepped down and assumed an advisory role. At the time, he proposed that Nintendo explore a system built around two screens.
Satoru Iwata succeeded Yamauchi as president in May 2002. Internal research suggested that Nintendo's past emphasis on unconventional hardware had complicated third-party development and weakened its competitiveness. Iwata therefore supported development of a dual-screen handheld that would offer distinctive new ways to play, be more accessible to non-traditional audiences, and easier for developers to support. Because Nintendo believed consumers were unlikely to pay recurring fees for online services, the design emphasized wireless functionality to enable local multiplayer and new interactive experiences without subscriptions. Few technical details were initially disclosed, other than that it would feature two 3-inch TFT LCD displays, dual processors, and up to 128 MB of memory. In March 2004, a leaked document revealed additional technical specifications, including that one of the screens would be touch sensitive, and identified the internal development name "Nitro". The prototype was shown publicly in May at
E3 2004 in Los Angeles, where Nintendo of America president
Reggie Fils-Aimé noted that the design would change before launch. On July 28, 2004, Nintendo unveiled a redesigned, “sleeker and more elegant” version and confirmed Nintendo DS as the final name. Iwata characterized the DS as Nintendo's first hardware launch in support of its “Gaming Population Expansion” strategy, highlighting that its touch-based interface would allow for intuitive play, and described the project as “a completely different concept from existing game devices”, intended to reassert the company's reputation for innovation. followed by releases in Japan on December 2 for , in Australia and New Zealand on February 24, 2005, for or , and in Europe on March 11, 2005, for or . The North American debut was marked by a midnight launch event in Los Angeles, while the Japanese launch was comparatively subdued, reportedly in part because of the winter weather. Nintendo released the DS in North America ahead of Japan, its first hardware launch to follow that order, to position the system for the U.S. holiday shopping season and
Black Friday. Demand exceeded expectations: more than three million preorders were placed across North America and Japan, quickly exhausting many retailers’ allocations. Nintendo initially planned to ship about one million units combined for both launches but added production capacity after seeing preorder volumes. For the U.S. launch, 550,000 units were shipped (up from a planned 300,000), with just over 500,000 sold in the first week. The system reached one million units sold in the United States by December 21, 2004, and worldwide shipments totaled 2.8 million by the end of the year—roughly 800,000 above Nintendo's forecast. By June 2005, global sales had reached 6.65 million units, and some commentators likened its popularity to the “
Tickle Me Elmo” craze of 1996. Some early units were reported to have
stuck pixels, as was common with LCD displays of the time. Nintendo of America launched a program to repair or replace screens if the owner felt that the stuck pixels interfered with their gaming experience.
China The Nintendo DS was released in China on July 23, 2005, by Nintendo's
localization partner
iQue as the iQue DS. This version featured updated firmware to block
game piracy and was also released in a new red color. Five games were localized for the system. The iQue DS is the only Nintendo DS model with regional lockout: games designed for it cannot be played on DS systems from other regions, although games from other regions are compatible with the iQue DS. The Nintendo DS was seen by many analysts to be in the same market as
Sony's
PlayStation Portable, although representatives from both companies stated that each system targeted a different audience.
Time magazine awarded the DS a Gadget of the Week award. At the time of its release in the United States, the Nintendo DS retailed for . The price dropped to on August 21, 2005, one day before the releases of
Nintendogs and
Advance Wars: Dual Strike. Nine official colors of the Nintendo DS were available through standard retailers. Titanium-colored units were available worldwide, Electric Blue was exclusive to North and Latin America. There was also a red version which was bundled with the game
Mario Kart DS. Graphite Black, Pure White, Turquoise Blue, and Candy Pink were available in Japan. Mystic Pink and Cosmic Blue were available in Australia and New Zealand. Japan's Candy Pink and Australia's Cosmic Blue were also available in Europe and North America through a
Nintendogs bundle, although the colors are just referred to as pink and blue; however, these colors were available only for the original style Nintendo DS; a different and more-limited set of colors were used for the Nintendo DS Lite.
DS Lite The Nintendo DS Lite was announced on January 26, 2006, and showcased at
E3 2006 the following May. The system launched in Japan on March 2, 2006. Heavy demand led to widespread shortages, and some retailers raised prices above
list price. Nintendo shipped 550,000 units in March 2006, exceeding expectations, yet the console sold out quickly. Shortages continued through much of 2006 and 2007. The DS Lite launched in Australia on June 1, 2006, bundled with a demo of
Brain Age. North America followed on June 11, 2006, with reports that some major chains sold units ahead of the official date. By June 12, most major U.S. retailers had sold out, and Nintendo reported sales of 136,500 units within the first two days. In Europe, the DS Lite was released on June 23, 2006, with early launches in
Finland and
Sweden to avoid the
Midsummer holiday. Nintendo reported sales of 200,000 units across Europe in the first ten days. During the launch period, a shipment of consoles and games valued at (US$2.32 million, equivalent to million in ) was stolen in
Hong Kong while in transit to Europe. Following the establishment of Nintendo of Korea in July 2006, the DS Lite became the subsidiary's first console release on January 18, 2007. Promoted by actors
Jang Dong-gun and
Ahn Sung-ki, it sold more than one million units in South Korea within its first year, reaching 1.4 million by April 2008. The Nintendo DS Lite was reportedly discontinued in April 2011.
Sales As of March 31, 2016, all Nintendo DS models combined have sold 154.02 million units. It established a large
casual gaming market, attracting non-traditional gamers and setting touchscreens as a standard for future portable devices. Jeremy Parish, writing for
Polygon stated that the DS, "had basically primed the entire world for" the iPhone (released in January 2007), laying the groundwork for touchscreen
mobile gaming apps, though he noted that the success of the iPhone "effectively caused the DS market to implode" by the early 2010s. The DS also broadened the market for female gamers. In 2006, Nintendo reported that 44% of DS owners were female, with the majority of
Nintendogs players being women. The system was followed by the
Nintendo DSi, released on November 1, 2008, which added dual digital cameras and digital game distribution, while removing backward compatibility with Game Boy Advance titles. A larger variant, originally planned as a DS Lite variant, was released as the Nintendo DSi XL. The success of the DS also paved the way for the Nintendo 3DS, a dual-screen handheld capable of displaying stereoscopic 3D on the top screen. On January 29, 2014, Nintendo announced that DS games would be added to the
Wii U's Virtual Console, with
Brain Age being the first released in Japan on June 3, 2014. == Hardware ==