The Nintendo DS is celebrating its 20th anniversary but you probably haven’t used it in this way…

It’s the anniversary of a historic console

It’s his birthday. The Nintendo DS is celebrating its twenty-fourth anniversary today and takes us back to those sweet years when Beyonce pretended to rave about Dr. Kawashima’s exercises in the commercials of yesteryear. It is also an opportunity to remember these beautiful productions that made our styluses tingle, like New Super Mario Bros., Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, Dragon Quest IX: The Sentinels of the Firmament, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing: Wild World and my favorite of the lot, Hotel Dusk: Room 215. With more than 150 million units sold worldwide, the Nintendo DS remains the best-selling Nintendo console, the best-selling handheld console and, overall, the second best-selling video game console behind the PlayStation 2. And because it was so beloved, four iterations of the DS were released, including the original model, the Nintendo DS Lite, the Nintendo DSi and the Nintendo DSi XL.

The machine is also historic for other reasons: It was the world’s first handheld video game console to support 3D polygonal graphics, and it was also the first Nintendo console to be released in North America, even before its launch in Japan. Even crazier, the Nintendo DS was the first video game console to be played on Mount Everest in June 2005. It is even one of the rare pieces of electrical equipment not to have failed even once during the ascent . There is no doubt that many of these robust little machines still sit on the shelves of many of you, who from time to time turn them back on for nostalgia.

Some facts about the Nintendo DS

When it was released, the Nintendo DS was considered a great innovation for the still rare features it offered, with its touch screen, camera and stylus which made it the worthy successor to the Game Boy Advance. DS is the acronym for “Dual Screen” in English, or “Double Écran”. But we can also give the two letters another meaning: “ For our developers, this is the “Developer System”, because we believe it gives game creators entirely new tools that will lead to more innovative games for gamers around the world », Explained a Nintendo representative at the time. Commenting on the machine, the late Satoru Iwata, general manager of the Japanese company, said in a statement: “ We developed the Nintendo DS based on a completely different concept from existing gaming devices to offer gamers a unique entertainment experience for the 21st century “. A successful bet, the portable console will reach a wider audience than ever, in particular thanks to marketing campaigns more targeted towards seniors and women, and will thus consolidate Nintendo’s reputation as a family brand. And to find out more, don’t hesitate to watch our video: “Nintendo DS: 20 secrets and anecdotes about the folding portable console.”

An ally for sight?

In addition to being an absolutely cult portable console, it was said that the DS also had the ability to correct vision. Yes, if it is common knowledge that time spent in front of screens can lead to visual fatigue and headaches, it turns out that the portable console would be a formidable ally against amblyopia, which characterizes poor vision weakness in one or both eyes due to a faulty connection with the brain. In 2010, ABC News was particularly interested in Isabelle Wurmser, five years old, and suffering from amblyopia. The child must wear a patch four hours a day, and for one hour she plays Nintendo DS. A useful hobby that improves his hand-eye coordination, according to his mother. “ I don’t think it’s so much the game itself as trying to focus on the tiny screens and using the stylus “, she said. “ Within a year, his vision went from not being able to see the big hand on the eye chart to having 20/30 vision. “. And indeed, doctors agree that the Nintendo DS and other video games can be a very effective part of the treatment of amblyopia: “ Portable video games stimulate children’s fine motor skills and visual skills says Dr. Melanie Kazlas, director of pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital.

We also remember the release, in 2007, of the game Gym des Yeux, dedicated to assessing the age of your eyes and then helping you progress and helping you regain your former vision. A title which is of course part of the movement of Dr Kawashima’s video game experiments, but which will only have inherited a small 7/20 in our columns: “ Beyond the very questionable medical benefit of this visual training, the soporific and repetitive nature of the exercises will encourage the most recalcitrant to go point the tip of their nose outside to take a deep breath. “, we wrote with great regret in our test conclusion. To hope to cure a nasty strabismus or correct myopia, it is obviously better to consult a specialist. But such games would remain good for eyesight in terms of performance, commented Marc Timsit, eye surgeon and webmaster of Ophtalmologie.fr, in the columns of Le Parisien. “ This type of game which requires eye movements mainly develops coordination between the brain and the eye.»