3 ms·

The Nintendo DS (lite or XL) is probably the greatest portable gaming system to ever exist.

by liveoneggs 9mo ago

haunter 9mo ago
Honestly I'd say that's the New 3DS XL.
- regenschutz 9mo ago
  I'm not sure. At least for me, part of the charm of these older consoles (do they qualify for the "retro" term yet?) is the smaller resolution of the displays. Especially for the bottom screen on the DS line, there is something very warm, fuzzy, and cosy about clearly being able to see each individual pixel. Perhaps it's just nostalgia. I still own my DS Lite, though.
  - someperson 9mo ago
    The best music is always from ones own youth
  - soulofmischief 9mo ago
    The DS came out ~21 years ago, in 2004. In 2004, the games I played that had come out ~22 years prior, give or take two years, were already considered retro: Donkey Kong, Pitfall, Pac-Man, Asteroids, etc. And ~21 years prior was the great video came crash of '83. Suffice to say, we're dinosaurs. I've made my piece with it and spend a considerable amount of time listening to old British dudes break down 30 year old games.
- komali2 9mo ago
  Agreed over the dsi, though I love it. The only exception is if you only play physical media, then the DS lite's ability to play the entire GBA library is pretty cool. For me it's the fact that I can emulate basically all retro consoles on the n3ds, including imo the best existent way to play VirtualBoy games in actual stereoscopic 3d. That on top of the fact that it's the only way to play 3ds games in the native experience, with 3d, which is impossible on any emulator. Combined with the social features and build quality of the device, and it's unbeatable. Get a USB 3ds charger and it's the perfect travel console. I bring it on every trip and leave it on streetpass mode. Especially for Japan trips, I still to this day pick up new street pass pings, which is so incredibly delightful to find when I get back to the hotel room. Though I prefer the non xl version, as it's a truly portable console rather than the XL which is huge and heavy in my bag.
  - holly01 9mo ago
    Fun fact, all 3ds models can actually play GBA games natively. Nintendo only ever offered GBA games to early adopters who paid the launch price for the original 3ds after a significant price cut, but it's possible to sideload any rom to run natively.
  - gyomu 9mo ago
    > the only way to play 3ds games in the native experience, with 3d, which is impossible on any emulator You can get that with a headset; there's emulators for the Quest, or you can use Citra in SBS mode with a headset like the Vision Pro or Xreal glasses. But yeah it's more finnicky for sure.
- liveoneggs 9mo ago
  I only played it briefly with a friend (street fighter) and the actual 3d seemed neat but it didn't wow me (or my eyes couldn't focus properly?). I wanted to be wow-ed at the level of that old cowboy arcade hologram game. :) I'm sure since it was the newest hardware it was the best.
  - tastyfreeze 9mo ago
    > old cowboy arcade hologram game Sega Time Traveler Playe it a few times. Never made it very far. Sure was cool to look at though.
  - Wowfunhappy 9mo ago
    The biggest reason the 3DS can't provide what feels like a hologram is that the screen is too small. As objects come closer, they need to get bigger, but they can't get bigger than the screen's dimensions. So most games focused on objects going into the screen, instead of popping out. But I think the 3D served one really wonderful purpose: it made the small screen feel larger overall. Not large, maybe, but larger than it really was.
- hoherd 9mo ago
  I carried my N3DSXL pretty much everywhere while living and working in SF. Streetpass was such a cool feature for the urban lifestyle. The 3D experience on the New model was so much better than the old ones.
PacificSpecific 9mo ago
Most definitely. Less popular opinion : the ps vita was also one of the greatest despite Sony's horrid support and faith in the product.
herpdyderp 9mo ago
Over the Steam Deck even?
- Wowfunhappy 9mo ago
  Here's the problem with the Steam Deck, and every modern handheld. (And actually also the DSi XL noted in GP.) The DS Lite can fit in your pocket. Comfortably. Not, like, technically fit, at the cost of making it uncomfortable to walk around. You can keep a DS Lite in your pocket all day, ready to be pulled out the moment you enter the crowded subway, or while in the doctor's office. Situations you didn't necessarily plan for. The stupid Switch, and especially the even larger Steam Deck, I never actually have with me when I want it. All I have is my stupid iPhone, which is great for many things but doesn't have buttons, and it turns out you kind of need those for games. Developers have been trying, for nearly two decades now, to find ways to avoid buttons, and it even kind of works sometimes, but not really. Not when you want precise control over a character. No one makes portable consoles anymore. I mean, they're portable in the way that a laptop is portable. They're handheld in the way a vacuum cleaner is handheld. But they're not portable like the DS Lite or GBA SP. You can buy these little Android things designed for emulators, and I've almost bought them a few times, but I've pretty much already played all the NES games I want to play, and because there are very few new NES games being released, the library doesn't expand.
  - ctippett 9mo ago
    I gifted a Brick Hammer[1] to my brother-in-law for Christmas. It's an amazing little device, form factor of a Gameboy Pocket and can run games from the PS1/N64 down to NES. The build quality is extremely high too (I got him the metal chassis version). I think it can even run 3DS games, but don't quote me on that. [1]: https://retrohandhelds.gg/trimui-brick-hammer-review/ https://retrohandhelds.gg/trimui-brick-hammer-review/ (most links are to third-party resellers, so a link to a review is probably safest)
    - Wowfunhappy 9mo ago
      Thanks, but same problem. I meant "NES" as a stand-in for "retro games". Now, what I would almost certainly buy is a Steam Deck in that size. It doesn't need to be as powerful as a Steam Deck (impossible, of course), just enough to play 2D indie games.
mghackerlady 9mo ago
Gaming system? yes, but the PSP is what I'd carry around today for its amazing multimedia capabilities
- MisterTea 9mo ago
  My friend cracked his PSP and had a wild setup for its time with all the console emulators, ports of PC games like Doom, Quake, Hexen 2, and a media player for music and video. Neat system for its time.
  - mghackerlady 9mo ago
    It's still great today. The thing can play (some) N64 games, and someone got an (albeit very bad) DS emulator running on it
mooglevich 9mo ago
Haha I don't have anything more insightful to say other than a: hell yeah.

The Nintendo DS (lite or XL) is probably the greatest portable gaming system to ever exist.

haunter 9mo ago

Honestly I'd say that's the New 3DS XL.

regenschutz 9mo ago
I'm not sure. At least for me, part of the charm of these older consoles (do they qualify for the "retro" term yet?) is the smaller resolution of the displays. Especially for the bottom screen on the DS line, there is something very warm, fuzzy, and cosy about clearly being able to see each individual pixel. Perhaps it's just nostalgia. I still own my DS Lite, though.
- someperson 9mo ago
  The best music is always from ones own youth
- soulofmischief 9mo ago
  The DS came out ~21 years ago, in 2004. In 2004, the games I played that had come out ~22 years prior, give or take two years, were already considered retro: Donkey Kong, Pitfall, Pac-Man, Asteroids, etc. And ~21 years prior was the great video came crash of '83. Suffice to say, we're dinosaurs. I've made my piece with it and spend a considerable amount of time listening to old British dudes break down 30 year old games.
komali2 9mo ago
Agreed over the dsi, though I love it. The only exception is if you only play physical media, then the DS lite's ability to play the entire GBA library is pretty cool. For me it's the fact that I can emulate basically all retro consoles on the n3ds, including imo the best existent way to play VirtualBoy games in actual stereoscopic 3d. That on top of the fact that it's the only way to play 3ds games in the native experience, with 3d, which is impossible on any emulator. Combined with the social features and build quality of the device, and it's unbeatable. Get a USB 3ds charger and it's the perfect travel console. I bring it on every trip and leave it on streetpass mode. Especially for Japan trips, I still to this day pick up new street pass pings, which is so incredibly delightful to find when I get back to the hotel room. Though I prefer the non xl version, as it's a truly portable console rather than the XL which is huge and heavy in my bag.
- holly01 9mo ago
  Fun fact, all 3ds models can actually play GBA games natively. Nintendo only ever offered GBA games to early adopters who paid the launch price for the original 3ds after a significant price cut, but it's possible to sideload any rom to run natively.
- gyomu 9mo ago
  > the only way to play 3ds games in the native experience, with 3d, which is impossible on any emulator You can get that with a headset; there's emulators for the Quest, or you can use Citra in SBS mode with a headset like the Vision Pro or Xreal glasses. But yeah it's more finnicky for sure.
liveoneggs 9mo ago
I only played it briefly with a friend (street fighter) and the actual 3d seemed neat but it didn't wow me (or my eyes couldn't focus properly?). I wanted to be wow-ed at the level of that old cowboy arcade hologram game. :) I'm sure since it was the newest hardware it was the best.
- tastyfreeze 9mo ago
  > old cowboy arcade hologram game Sega Time Traveler Playe it a few times. Never made it very far. Sure was cool to look at though.
- Wowfunhappy 9mo ago
  The biggest reason the 3DS can't provide what feels like a hologram is that the screen is too small. As objects come closer, they need to get bigger, but they can't get bigger than the screen's dimensions. So most games focused on objects going into the screen, instead of popping out. But I think the 3D served one really wonderful purpose: it made the small screen feel larger overall. Not large, maybe, but larger than it really was.
hoherd 9mo ago
I carried my N3DSXL pretty much everywhere while living and working in SF. Streetpass was such a cool feature for the urban lifestyle. The 3D experience on the New model was so much better than the old ones.

PacificSpecific 9mo ago

Most definitely. Less popular opinion : the ps vita was also one of the greatest despite Sony's horrid support and faith in the product.

herpdyderp 9mo ago

Over the Steam Deck even?

Wowfunhappy 9mo ago
Here's the problem with the Steam Deck, and every modern handheld. (And actually also the DSi XL noted in GP.) The DS Lite can fit in your pocket. Comfortably. Not, like, technically fit, at the cost of making it uncomfortable to walk around. You can keep a DS Lite in your pocket all day, ready to be pulled out the moment you enter the crowded subway, or while in the doctor's office. Situations you didn't necessarily plan for. The stupid Switch, and especially the even larger Steam Deck, I never actually have with me when I want it. All I have is my stupid iPhone, which is great for many things but doesn't have buttons, and it turns out you kind of need those for games. Developers have been trying, for nearly two decades now, to find ways to avoid buttons, and it even kind of works sometimes, but not really. Not when you want precise control over a character. No one makes portable consoles anymore. I mean, they're portable in the way that a laptop is portable. They're handheld in the way a vacuum cleaner is handheld. But they're not portable like the DS Lite or GBA SP. You can buy these little Android things designed for emulators, and I've almost bought them a few times, but I've pretty much already played all the NES games I want to play, and because there are very few new NES games being released, the library doesn't expand.
- ctippett 9mo ago
  I gifted a Brick Hammer[1] to my brother-in-law for Christmas. It's an amazing little device, form factor of a Gameboy Pocket and can run games from the PS1/N64 down to NES. The build quality is extremely high too (I got him the metal chassis version). I think it can even run 3DS games, but don't quote me on that. [1]: https://retrohandhelds.gg/trimui-brick-hammer-review/ https://retrohandhelds.gg/trimui-brick-hammer-review/ (most links are to third-party resellers, so a link to a review is probably safest)
  - Wowfunhappy 9mo ago
    Thanks, but same problem. I meant "NES" as a stand-in for "retro games". Now, what I would almost certainly buy is a Steam Deck in that size. It doesn't need to be as powerful as a Steam Deck (impossible, of course), just enough to play 2D indie games.

mghackerlady 9mo ago

Gaming system? yes, but the PSP is what I'd carry around today for its amazing multimedia capabilities

MisterTea 9mo ago
My friend cracked his PSP and had a wild setup for its time with all the console emulators, ports of PC games like Doom, Quake, Hexen 2, and a media player for music and video. Neat system for its time.
- mghackerlady 9mo ago
  It's still great today. The thing can play (some) N64 games, and someone got an (albeit very bad) DS emulator running on it

mooglevich 9mo ago

Haha I don't have anything more insightful to say other than a: hell yeah.