Nintendo DSi

Lore & Background

Development of the Nintendo DSi began in late 2006, with Masato Kuwahara of Nintendo's Development Engineering Department serving as hardware project leader for the first time. The team had to devise a theme for the new DS by late December 2006, and most chipset specifications were completed by February 2007. Consumer demand convinced Nintendo to produce a slimmer handheld with larger screens than the DS Lite, leading to the removal of the Game Boy Advance cartridge slot to improve portability without sacrificing durability. The console's digital cameras were considered early on: Nintendo president Satoru Iwata described the touchscreen as the DS's sense of touch and the microphone as its 'ears,' and a co-worker suggested it should have 'eyes.' The team originally wanted one camera with a swivel mechanism, but this was abandoned due to concerns about reliability, cost, and the need for a thicker console.

The DSi's size was changed midway through development, delaying its release. An original design with two DS game card slots was abandoned after a lukewarm reception from Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development producers in October 2007, making the DSi approximately 0.12 inches slimmer. Yui Ehara, designer of the DS Lite and DSi's original casing, redesigned the revised case, changing the six speaker apertures to signal a clearer distinction from predecessors while keeping the unit 'neat' and 'simple.' The console was publicly revealed at the October 2008 Nintendo Conference in Tokyo. A larger model, the DSi XL, launched in Japan on November 21, 2009, and worldwide beginning in March 2010. Development of a large DS Lite model in 2007 eventually led to the DSi XL; after finishing work on the DSi, Kuwahara started the DSi XL project. Various names were considered, including 'DSi Comfort,' 'DSi Executive,' 'DSi Premium,' 'DSi Living,' and 'DSi Deka' (Japanese for 'large'), with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto insisting on 'DSi Deka.'

Reader's Guide

The Nintendo DSi represented a significant evolution in the DS product line, adding digital cameras, internal and external content storage, and the Nintendo DSi Shop online store. Nintendo stated that families often share DS and DS Lite consoles, and the DSi's new functionality was intended to facilitate personalization to encourage each household member to purchase their own unit. The handheld supports exclusive physical media in addition to DS games with DSi-specific features and standard DS titles, with the only exception being earlier DS games that required the GBA slot. Reviews were generally positive, though IGN and bit-tech criticized the lack of exclusive software and removal of the GBA slot. Many journalists recommended it to those who had not purchased a previous DS model. Numerous critics were disappointed with the limited resolution of the DSi's cameras, while others like Ars Technica and GameSpot agreed they were adequate for the handheld's display. CNET and PCWorld considered the DSi Shop the most important buying incentive for current DS owners. Some critics believed the DSi XL was not an essential upgrade, while GamePro and Wired UK praised its larger screens for improving gameplay and revitalizing older DS games. The DSi and DSi XL combined sold over 41 million units and were succeeded by the Nintendo 3DS in 2011.

Did You Know?

• The DSi was the first DS console to launch with multiple colors in North America—black and blue.
• Development of the DSi began in late 2006, and the console was unveiled at an October 2008 Nintendo conference in Tokyo.
• The DSi XL has 4.2-inch screens, compared to the standard 3-inch screens of the DS Lite.

The Handheld Throne

Nintendo's grip on portable gaming stretches back to 1989, when the original Game Boy became the first handheld system to move in genuinely large numbers. That early triumph set a pattern the company would refine for over a decade. The Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Advance each reinforced Nintendo's position as the dominant force in the portable space, even as rivals like Sony and Sega waged fierce battles in the living room. By the mid-2000s, the company needed a next leap to keep that crown. The DS family, which includes the DSi, arrived as the first handheld device to pair a touch screen with mainstream commercial success, a distinction no competitor had claimed before. This was not a minor iteration; it represented a fundamental rethinking of how players interact with a portable system. In a market where Nintendo had already proven it could define the rules of handheld gaming, the DS and its variants extended that authority into new territory, ensuring the company's portable lineup remained the one consumers reached for first.

Touch and Motion: A Dual Revolution

In the mid-2000s, Nintendo pulled off something remarkable: it redefined interaction on two fronts simultaneously. On the portable side, the DS family introduced the first touch-screen handheld to achieve genuine mainstream success, letting players tap, draw, and select directly on the display rather than relying solely on buttons. On the home side, the Wii became the first console built around motion-controlled input to find wide commercial appeal. Together, these two systems proved that Nintendo could reshape how people played in both the palm of a hand and the living room. The result was a pair of consoles that joined the ranks of the best-selling systems of all time. For a company that had been pushed to third place internationally by the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, this dual breakthrough was a statement of intent. It showed that rather than chasing raw graphical horsepower, Nintendo could win by asking a fundamentally different question of the player. The DS and its variants, including the DSi, stood as the portable half of that philosophy, a reminder that innovation in input design could be just as transformative as a new generation of hardware.

Holding the Line in the Console Wars

The late 1990s and early 2000s were brutal for Nintendo in the home console arena. The Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft's Xbox collectively pushed the company into third place in the international market, a position it occupied despite the GameCube's release. Yet the handheld landscape told a different story. While Sony and Microsoft dominated living rooms, Nintendo kept its commanding lead in portable gaming through the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. The DS family, including the DSi, was the natural next chapter in that strategy. Rather than trying to outmuscle rivals on processing power or disc-based media, Nintendo leaned into its portable expertise and introduced a touch-screen interface that had never before been a commercial success in a handheld. This allowed the company to carve out a distinct identity in a crowded market. Even as the broader console wars raged on with PlayStation 2 and Xbox setting the pace at home, the DS and its variants gave Nintendo a platform where it remained the undisputed leader, preserving a foothold of dominance that the home console line could not match during that era.

A Stepping Stone to the 3D Era

The DS family's commercial achievements did not exist in isolation; they helped set the stage for what Nintendo would attempt next in portable gaming. By the mid-2000s, the DS had established that a touch-screen handheld could be a best-selling console, joining the all-time elite alongside systems like the NES and SNES. That track record gave Nintendo the confidence to push further. In 2011, the company became the first major manufacturer to ship a handheld with stereoscopic 3D capabilities, the 3DS, which enjoyed very strong sales from its very first days on the market. The contrast with the Wii U, released in late 2012 and significantly underperforming its sales targets, underscores how important the DS-era momentum was to Nintendo's handheld credibility. The DS and its variants proved that players would embrace bold new input methods in a portable form factor. That lesson carried forward into the 3DS and, eventually, into the Nintendo Switch, which had become the company's best-selling console and the second best-selling system of all time, with its successor, the Switch 2, arriving in June 2025.