"[14] He also expressed optimism that the DS would help put Nintendo back at the forefront of innovation and move away from the conservative image that had been used to describe the company in years past.

[19] Following lukewarm GameCube sales, Hiroshi Yamauchi stressed the importance of its success to the company's future, making a statement which can be translated from Japanese as, "If the DS succeeds, we will rise to heaven, but if it fails we will sink to hell.

[26] The console was released in North America with a midnight launch event at Universal CityWalk EB Games in Los Angeles, California.

Initially, Nintendo planned to deliver one million units combined at the North American and Japanese launches; when it saw the preorder numbers, it brought another factory online to ramp up production.

Although return policies for LCD displays vary between manufacturers and regions, in North America, Nintendo chose to replace a system with faulty pixels only if the owner claimed that it interfered with their gaming experience.

A small supply of units was available prior to this in a package with a promotional "VIP" T-shirt, Metroid Prime Hunters - First Hunt, a WarioWare: Touched!

The European game cases are additionally about one-quarter-inch (6.4 mm) thicker than their North American counterparts and transparent rather than solid black.

Chinese launch games were Zhi Gan Yi Bi (Polarium) (Nintendo/iQue) and Momo Waliou Zhizao (WarioWare: Touched!)

The iQue name was first used for a device that was based on Nintendo 64 hardware in 2003, after China banned sales of home video games in that region years prior.

"[33] The Nintendo DS was seen by many analysts to be in the same market as Sony's PlayStation Portable, although representatives from both companies stated that each system targeted a different audience.

[41] Due to lack of supply and excessive demand following the launch, many electronics distributors raised the retail price of the redesigned handheld console.

Even though Nintendo managed to release 550,000 units in March 2006[42] (which was above their initial projections),[citation needed] the DS Lite was sold out soon after its launch.

[48] There had been various reports of North American Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Meijer stores having sold Nintendo DS Lite units as early as May 30, 2006, breaking the official launch date.

[49] On June 12, 2006, GameSpot reported that the Nintendo DS Lites had sold out at major online retailers, as well as several brick-and-mortar stores in North America.

[53][54] Later, GamesIndustry.biz reported that Nintendo had confirmed that "A number of White DS Lite made for the UK market were stolen in Hong Kong.

According to Damien McFerran of Nintendo Life, the "DS was the first encounter many people had with touch-based tech, and it left an indelible impression.

According to Jeremy Parish, writing for Polygon, the Nintendo DS laid the foundations for touchscreen mobile gaming on smartphones.

[64] The success of the DS paved the way for its successor, the Nintendo 3DS, a handheld gaming console with a similar dual-screen setup that can display images on the top screen in stereoscopic 3D.

The lower display of the Nintendo DS is overlaid with a resistive touchscreen designed to accept input from the included stylus, the user's fingers, or a curved plastic tab attached to the optional wrist strap.

The touchscreen lets users interact with in-game elements more directly than by pressing buttons; for example, in the included chatting software, PictoChat, the stylus is used to write messages or draw.

On the top of the device are two shoulder buttons, a game card slot, a stylus holder and a power cable input.

When using backward compatibility mode on the DS, buttons X and Y and the touchscreen are not used as the Game Boy Advance line of systems do not feature these controls.

It also has stereo speakers providing virtual surround sound (depending on the software) located on either side of the upper display screen.

It has been used for a variety of purposes, including speech recognition, chatting online between and during gameplay sessions, and minigames that require the player to blow or shout into it.

Battery life is affected by multiple factors including speaker volume, use of one or both screens, use of wireless connectivity, and use of backlight, which can be turned on or off in selected games such as Super Mario 64 DS.

While retaining the original model's basic characteristics, it features a sleeker appearance, larger stylus, longer lasting battery, and brighter screens.

[88] The lithium-ion battery (1000 mAh) is capable of delivering 15 to 19 hours of play time on a single charge; a power-saving sleep mode is also available.

While similar to the previous DS redesign, new features include two inner and outer 0.3 megapixel digital cameras, a larger 3.25 inch display, internal and external content storage, compatibility with WPA wireless encryption, and connectivity to the Nintendo DSi Shop.

[90] It features larger screens with wider view angles, improved battery life, and a greater overall size than the original DSi.

[109] The cards usually have a small amount of flash memory or an EEPROM to save user data such as game progress or high scores.