Looking back? But we only have half the games library!
Jokes about Australia’s release schedule aside, I was pretty excited and thankful at the time that the release date for the Nintendo DS for the region was February 24, 2005. Up until the date was announced, I was guessing it would most likely arrive around May or later, such was the case with the GameCube.
I had a job in a department store in November of 2004, and with only a few working hours assigned each week, I was trying to save as much as I could to buy a DS and game on launch day.
The day finally came, and after picking up a few of my friends, we headed off to pick up our systems. I ended up getting Super Mario 64 DS alongside my system, while my friends actually didn't pick anything up with theirs. After we all paid, we sat outside the store on some benches, opened them up, and immediately started Pictochat. Pictochat was pretty fun to muck around with, and we tried to see how far the wireless range stretched while walking around the shopping centre.
Later, we headed back to my friend's house and started playing some of Mario 64’s multiplayer and mini-games. It was also fun to draw ‘random’ things on the Mario 64 title screen and watch it shimmer and wobble when poked and pulled. The tactile feel of the touch screen was something that felt very satisfying in some of the mini-games, and I was excited by what games may come to the system. My chosen method to play Mario was to use the included thumb strap. It took awhile to adjust, but eventually I could control the game well, and ended up nearing 120 stars a month or two later.
I liked the Metroid demo, and we played it quite a bit that night, but wished it had been a launch title. By the time the game was actually released I didn’t even end up buying it.
Another feature of the DS that I had been waiting for was the backlight. It was a huge novelty for me to be able to play my games in the dark. I hadn’t upgraded to a GBA SP, and after playing the original GBA in just the right sitting position for years, the freedom of the DS was a revelation.
After finally having enough of Mario and Metroid, we started up Pictochat again. This was the moment the magic of the system truly became apparent. Many drawings were passed back and forth, people messed with others and modified them, and there was a lot of laughter over those couple of hours.
The launch of the DS was a fun day, and it was the first time my friends and I bought a system at the same time, adding to the excitement and fun.