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I dunno, if you look at [0], it seems to put the sales in perspective. I'm curious when these lifetime sales figures stop being updated? I'm assuming it's as lo

by zxexz 5y ago

I dunno, if you look at [0], it seems to put the sales in perspective. I'm curious when these lifetime sales figures stop being updated? I'm assuming it's as long as the product is sold by the parent company. I'm amazed the DS did that well? Then again, I do remember everyone except me seeming to have one when I was a teen :) Seems crazy it took Nintendo that long to come up with a 'worthy successor', in some ways. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_cons...

Izkata 5y ago
> I'm amazed the DS did that well? Features of the NDS that may have been forgotten, that all could have contributed to the popularity: * Two game slots, one for NDS games and one for GBA games, making it almost a straight upgrade (it dropped support for pre-GBA games) so you could have two games in your pocket instead of just one. * PictoChat, an ad-hoc network chatroom that wasn't just text but also drawing with the stylus. I remember bringing it to school and finding several others were also online, we chatted instead of paying attention to the assembly. * Download Play, for games that supported it you could do multiplayer on multiple systems with only one game cartridge. * For that matter, it was their first handheld with built-in wireless multiplayer. Also in terms of games, I think it was their first handheld that really appealed to the more casual/relaxed players: For example it was the first portable Animal Crossing and introduced Nintendogs.
- bspammer 5y ago
  Download play was absolutely brilliant. I remember being on a school trip and playing Mario Kart on the bus with 7 other people, with only one person having the game. It had to be good for sales too - I bought the game after that. The download play version of the game only let you play as a single character, and I wanted to be Bowser. It’s sad that they don’t do it any more, but I suppose the games are too large to transfer in a reasonable amount of time nowadays
- Tarsul 5y ago
  Yes. The success of the DS is basically that it was a smartphone (wrt games) before smartphones (and without a phone ;)). The brain games (Brain Age, Big Brain Academy - 3 of those games are in the top20 best selling ds games[1]) were a big reason why it was so succesful. Also tamagotchi with dogs/cats (nintendogs). But 150 million could only have been reached with a) longevity, b) weak competition (PSP, sold enough to be seen as a threat, but didn't hinder the DS) and great software support (once a hardware is successful the third party support basically reinforces itself due to good sales). Also, quite a few hardware revisions helped also (the first DS was clunky). [1]https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Nintendo_DS_games https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Ninten...
wodenokoto 5y ago
I'm surprised by the PSP sales numbers. I don't think I've seen one outside of Japan.

by zxexz 5y ago

Izkata 5y ago

> I'm amazed the DS did that well? Features of the NDS that may have been forgotten, that all could have contributed to the popularity: * Two game slots, one for NDS games and one for GBA games, making it almost a straight upgrade (it dropped support for pre-GBA games) so you could have two games in your pocket instead of just one. * PictoChat, an ad-hoc network chatroom that wasn't just text but also drawing with the stylus. I remember bringing it to school and finding several others were also online, we chatted instead of paying attention to the assembly. * Download Play, for games that supported it you could do multiplayer on multiple systems with only one game cartridge. * For that matter, it was their first handheld with built-in wireless multiplayer. Also in terms of games, I think it was their first handheld that really appealed to the more casual/relaxed players: For example it was the first portable Animal Crossing and introduced Nintendogs.

bspammer 5y ago
Download play was absolutely brilliant. I remember being on a school trip and playing Mario Kart on the bus with 7 other people, with only one person having the game. It had to be good for sales too - I bought the game after that. The download play version of the game only let you play as a single character, and I wanted to be Bowser. It’s sad that they don’t do it any more, but I suppose the games are too large to transfer in a reasonable amount of time nowadays
Tarsul 5y ago
Yes. The success of the DS is basically that it was a smartphone (wrt games) before smartphones (and without a phone ;)). The brain games (Brain Age, Big Brain Academy - 3 of those games are in the top20 best selling ds games[1]) were a big reason why it was so succesful. Also tamagotchi with dogs/cats (nintendogs). But 150 million could only have been reached with a) longevity, b) weak competition (PSP, sold enough to be seen as a threat, but didn't hinder the DS) and great software support (once a hardware is successful the third party support basically reinforces itself due to good sales). Also, quite a few hardware revisions helped also (the first DS was clunky). [1]https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Nintendo_DS_games https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Ninten...

wodenokoto 5y ago

I'm surprised by the PSP sales numbers. I don't think I've seen one outside of Japan.