Nintendo DS: The first five years

Criticism: Another barren summer from Nintendo, with only Picross DS and Planet Puzzle League to tide us over. Granted, we were neck-deep in Pokemon all summer, but it’s sad when third parties have to carry your platform through the months when everyone ages 5~15 is dying for new games. Furthermore, there are still too few games really taking advantage of the stylus, microphone and dual screen presentation, even if the games themselves were excellent. Makes us wonder, did we need this setup in the first place?


Above: Planet Puzzle League is fun, but we’d like more over the summer

Sales: Once again, Nintendo’s numbers rise to absurd levels, with areported64 million units sold worldwide. That’s more than the NES, Super NES or Genesis pushed in their entire lifetime. Geeze.

Best game of 2007: Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Another year, another Nintendo title to take the top spot. We already praised Hourglass in the above section, so we’ll take this moment to predict Spirit Tracks will perform just as admirably.

Honorable mentions: Contra 4, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

Worst game of 2007: Chicken Shoot

On the other end of the spectrum lies Chicken Shoot, aka the shovelware drivel that’s choking every inch of DS and Wii shelf space these days. As sad as it is, this is the true face of DS development, no matter how hard you want to believe otherwise.

Hateful mentions: Everything else like Chicken Shoot. Dozens. Hundreds.

CATEGORIES
Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE. 

Latest in Action
Assassin's Creed Shadows screenshot showing female protagonist Naoe
Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe actor was terrified to perform until her first mocap scene earned "a standing ovation" on set: "Maybe I can do this mocap thing"
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Yasuke actor says that Naoe could beat his samurai in a fight: “Especially with that big a** helmet of mine”
Asssassin's Creed Shadows kusarigama
My favorite weapon in Assassin's Creed Shadows is also the most misunderstood
Imai Sokyu leads the tea ceremony in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows' tea ceremony quest is one of the game's best moments, but I wish Ubisoft would give us even higher stakes
Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe wearing black kosode
How to acquire a kosode in Assassin's Creed Shadows and should you choose red or black?
Bayonetta 3 screenshot showing bayonetta looking at a gun
As Assassin's Creed Shadows passes 2 million players, Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya reveals "I felt bad that it was being criticized so much"
Latest in Features
Asssassin's Creed Shadows kusarigama
My favorite weapon in Assassin's Creed Shadows is also the most misunderstood
Imai Sokyu leads the tea ceremony in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows' tea ceremony quest is one of the game's best moments, but I wish Ubisoft would give us even higher stakes
Bloodborne
10 years on, Bloodborne remains an unmatchable feat of atmosphere thanks to the mind-boggling oppressive scale of Yharnam
Cropped key art for Revenge of the Savage Planet showing two player characters running away from lots of green goo, flanked by various googly-eyed wildlife
Revenge of the Savage Planet is a refreshingly colorful and light-hearted co-op throwback to the carefree action platformers of the noughties
Yasuke looks at a shrine in the water in Assassin's Creed Shadows On The Radar
"We don't want to force one terabyte of data on the players": Assassin's Creed Shadows' tech director on the clever tricks Ubisoft uses to "go beyond" current-gen
Kill Team: Blood and Zeal box on a wooden surface
Kill Team: Blood and Zeal pre-orders just went live, and I wish other Warhammer games were this weird