The Nintendo DS shall turn five years old next week. Five years since the ubiquitous handheld launched, five years since the industry wide scepticism turned into astonishment at first, and gleeful delight later, five years since Nintendo paved the way for their stunning comeback from the brink of death.

Today, the DS is en route to becoming the highest selling system of all time. With 113 million units sold, spread evenly across three iterations, and a gaming library the scope of which covers literally every genre conceived by mankind, the DS is also a haven for all gamers alike. At a time when the three home consoles are still struggling to find their footing and deliver meaningful experiences that truly stand out, the DS quietly delivers one hit upon another, week after week.

But it really is worth stepping back a bit, and retrospecting: how did it ever come to this? How is it that the handheld that was written off by everybody as a machine destined to fail, the underpowered gadget that was going up against the might of the juggernaut Sony, managed to emerge victorious, while the PSP was left behind, biting the dust?

How is it that five years later, the DS has delivered on every single promise that it had made before its launch?

How is it that the DS has become the largest third party supported console in Nintendo's history?

The Nintendo DS was first announced at E3 2003 as a new game format that Nintendo was working on. Little specifics were revealed at that time, except for a couple that managed to leak through to the public. Initial impressions were not in the least encouraging: all that Nintendo had been able to state was that it was a handheld with two screens to provide multiple perspectives of gameplay to the player. That's it. Compare this to the PSP's debut, where it was introduced as a 'console in the pocket,' a full fledged multimedia device that would bridge the chasm that separated handheld and console gaming, and it won't be hard to understand why everybody's sympathies were with the PSP at the time.

Nintendo unveiled a prototype DS the next year. While the hardware itself looked flimsy and horrendous, its capabilities impressed quite a few of the observers. The demo for Metroid Prime Hunters for instance, demonstrated the 3D capabilities of the hardware pretty nicely. This unveiling was coupled with an announcement of the complete set of features for the DS, which included a touch screen, a microphone, two dated processors and Wi Fi, this unholy Frankenstein of a system, this mash of seemingly incompatible technologies, seemed to confirm everybody's initial suspicions: Nintendo had panicked. In the face of competition from the impending PSP, they had probably decide to throw in everything including the kitchen sink, and mix up this contraption that would likely never work.

One needs to understand how things stood at that time, because the impending battle between the DS and the PSP mirrored the epic contest between the N64 and the Playstation eerily. At that time, Nintendo was on the very brink of extinction, and their handhelds had been their only source of revenue for many years now, ever since their home console market had been taken from them. In their own words, Nintendo had given the DS their all: if it succeeded, they would 'rise to heaven,' but if it failed, they would 'sink to hell.'

Unfortunately, the DS, for all appearances, seemed destined to fail.

It launched amidst much fanfare later that year, and its hardware launch was surprisingly successful. However, it was missing one key component: games. You see, the DS's launch lineup was surprisingly poor, and the only worthwhile games gamers got to play on the system at that time were Super Mario 64 DS, which was a clumsy port of the N64 hit, and Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, a demo for an upcoming DS Metroid game that had come bundled with the system. That was it.

Unfortunately, things did not improve. The PSP launched a few months later, and it had a lineup to put several consoles' to shame. Third party support for the DS seemed negligible, and all the system seemed to be getting were hastily put together shallow minigame compilations or crappy GBA ports. The PSP, on the other hand, was moving from strength to strength, as it lived up to its initial promise of providing the gamers with a 'console in the pocket.'

Third parties seemed to have no idea what to do with the DS. How could they possibly make a touch screen, a microphone, two processors and wireless connectivity work together, in their favour, in a single game? The DS, it seemed, was just the Sega Saturn all over again, chock full of useless technologies, and too complex for its own good.

Enter Nintendogs.

The pet simulator was a surprise hit for everybody, but it was also the first game to truly showcase how things should be done on this odd new handheld. With Nintendogs, Nintendo properly demonstrated the use of every single feature under the DS's hood for the first time, and the effect was simply marvellous, as Nintendogs turned into an unforgettable experience for all who played it. It was not a game, strictly speaking, but it definitely was a gem of human ingenuity.

Something changed after that. The wild success of Nintendogs was followed by the launch of the Nintendo DS Lite, a hardware redesign that transformed the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan- the DS became indisputably Nintendo's best looking piece of hardware with the DS Lite. Third parties suddenly woke up to the reality of the system, and the quality of games began improving, slowly at first, but it was an improvement nevertheless. At any rate, third party support for the system improved. This was perhaps marked by Final Fantasy III, a title that had never before released in the west, and was now being developed, and subsequently released, exclusively for the DS.

Nintendo, meanwhile, continued to show the way. After Nintendogs, they released, in quick succession, Advance Wars Dual Strike, Metroid Prime Hunters, Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, one after the other, and all titles shot up the critics' list as some of the finest available on the market.

Third parties, on the other hand, took the cue from Nintendo, and slowly, we began getting games that outdid even Nintendo's finest efforts on the system. When games like Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, Final Fantasy IV, Dragon Quest V, The World Ends With You, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Dementium: The Ward, Scribblenauts and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars began to appear on the system, and sold in massive numbers, the DS began to be the safest bet- for everybody.

All this while, the PSP was slowing down, as what had earlier been its strength began to now became its albatross. It provided gamers with console experiences in their pockets, but then, all PSP gamers ever got were downsized PS2 ports. Neither hardware sales, nor software sales, were stellar for the platform, and the PSP gradually tapered off into the background. it emerged from its solitude every now and then, with the release of either a new hardware iteration, or some high profile games like Monster Hunter, God of War or Crisis Core, but by and large, the system began to die a slow death. Third party support dwindled, the inflow of games reduced to a minimum, and the PSP joined the growing list of unsuccessful contenders who had challenged Nintendo's handheld throne.

The DS turns five, come 21st November, and its been a hell of a ride, these past few years. But the juggernaut shows no sign of stopping. It's had a successful year in 2009, with the release of its third hardware iteration, and several successful games. Nintendo has announced yet another batch of upcoming first party efforts that will surely blaze through again.

Meanwhile, the legacy of the DS has left an indelible mark on the industry- it led to the resurgence of Nintendo, and the fall of Sony. It led to the Wii, which has arguably, for good or for bad, changed the face of gaming forever. It is also the only system so far to demonstrate how casual and hardcore gaming can co-exist, without one, in any way possible cannibalizing the other.

Happy birthday, Nintendo DS. You and your legacy, both live on.

And today, you're well on your way to becoming the greatest system ever created. For a handheld that was relegated to failure status even before it launched, that's a pretty impressive achievement.

Ok, I guess I couldn't last forever after all, could I?

Sigh...

Ten things you didn't know about me:

1. My name is Pramath, I live in India.

2. In spite of me developing and ambivalence towards all three home consoles recently, I was, and remain a true blue hardcore Nintendo fanboy to the core.

3. I prefer handheld gaming over console gaming (more personal I feel), and my favourite game system ever would haver to be the DS.

4. The first system I ever owned was the NES, and my favourite game on it was Super Mario Bros.

5. My favourite movies are The Matrix, The Dark Knight and The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, my favourite books are Lord of the Rings, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Angels and Demons, my favourite games are The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Pokemon Gold/Silver and God of War.

6. I'm a pretty scientific person, so I have all the curiousity that comes with it. Back when I was eight, I wondered what'd happen if your... thing... got stuck in a drawer... well, you can guess what I did.

7. This is my first blog post since March. I stopped writing blogs because nobody ever commented on them.

8. I'm a Top 500 Reviewer at Gamespot, apart from being an editor for Gamefury.net and Gameobserver.com.

9. My favourite game series ever is Pokemon, due to its sheer accessibilty, depth and addictiveness.

10. I've been banned from Gamespot once. I hat to fight those guys for a month before they removed my (unjust) ban.

Now I tag calvinsora, Fire_Emblem_RD and Paul_Gamefury. Have fun guys!

P.S: SGT, I hate you.

Dismal numbers have indicated that GTA Chinatown Wars may have failed... thus dealing the death knell for quality adult content on Nintendo consoles in the foreseeable future. The game, which is the highest rated on the DS, with a whopping 94 Metacritic points (to put it into perspective, that's like a movie winning eight or nine Oscars... at least), was hailed by many to be the greatest and most fun GTA title ever... better than the PSP GTA games, which evoke mixed responses, and, in some ways, better even than last year's blockbuster GTA IV. Then what went wrong?



There are three posible explanations. The first, and the one which DS haters and PSP fanboys would pounce upon as the likeliest, is that there isn't an audience for mature games like GTA on the DS. While many would not like to belive that, it is a fact, clear as crystal thatmature games have never sold well on the DS. And while many expected CHinatown Wrs to maybe buck that trend, it hasn't happened so far.

The second explanation is that games did not sell well in March at all, except for Resident Evil 5 (whose success is unwarranted and undeserved in my opinion), and Pokemon Platinum. Look at MadWorld, which, according to IGN, sold about 205,000 copies. Or Resistance Retribution. I haven't found sales figures for that game anywhere, but there are many unverifiable sources pegging the game to have sold less than 55,000.

The final reason is releated to the second one. Which is, cosidering so many AAA releases in MArch, many might have opted for RE5 or Pokemon over GTA, holding out to buy Chinatown Wars in April or May. Or maybe they were waiting for the DSi to launch, and get Chinatown Wars with it (in the glaring absence of any proper and viable DSi launch titles, Chinatown Wars can very well fill into that fold).

Whatever the reason may be, there are a few points that need to be considered:

1. Games on Nintendo consoles typically start off slow. Look at Mario Kart DS. Released in 2005, hailed as the best game on the DS, and not even cracking the Top 10 in its first month. Today, the game has sold over 10 million, and still features regularly in the monthly NPD numbers. Another example is Wii Music. It sold less than 80,000 units in its first month and was denounced as a flop by everyone everywhere. Until the numbers for the next month came in when it was revealed that the game had in fact, sold over 2.6 million units already.
2. Look at Resistance Retribution's sales. While Sony and PSP fanboys may pounce upon the chance to cite this as definitive proof that mature games on the DS can never sell well, what would they say about RR's figures? What does that mean? That even a quality game such as RR, hyped as the PSP's saviour, can't sell? What does that mean? That PSP gamers are uninterested? The answer is no, of course not. It just means that March was a slow month. Mark my words, when the April numbers are in, both, Resistance Retribuiton and GTA Chinatown Wars will have a healthy spot.
3. Like I have already stated, a game on a Nintendo platform is in for a long run. Trust me, a year from now, Chinatown Wars will be sitting on a solid 2.3- 3 million copies sold, solid numbers by any standard, and better than the PSP games' overall sales. Oh, and one should remember that Vice City Stories' initial showing on the PSP was also very weak. But it ended up being the highest seller on the PSP. Just give Chinatown Wars some time.

I know a lot of what I've written sounds like optimistic hope, and that's because it is. I really hope that Chinatown Wars sells. I really hope it doesn't fade out of memory like The World Ends With You or No More Heroes (both excellent titles that haven't even cracked the million mark yet). To anybody who's reading this, and likes great games, and hasn't got Chinatown Wars, or Resistance Retribution, or MadWorld already, please get out and get those games now. Support good games please.

What do you think? Will Chinatown Wars recover from this initial setback? Sound off!