The Nintendo DS was Nintendo's fourth main handheld console, releasing in North America and Japan in 2004. Compared to its previous handheld, the DS featured better support for 3D visuals along with dual screens (the latter giving the console its name).

Compared to the Game Boy Advance, which sold decently but lagged behind the previous generation, the Nintendo DS became one of the best selling consoles of all time. This is in part due to the strong first-party support that is expected from Nintendo consoles, but also catering to a more diverse range of gamers. Many of the system's most popular titles were ones that could be enjoyed even by new gamers young and old, such as the Brain Age and Nintendogs franchises.

The DS Lite could also be attributed to the handheld's overall success. This smaller, sleeker model released only a few years later in 2006, slimming things down while still improving battery life and screen brightness.

Just a few years later, Nintendo would release another revision in the form of the DSi. This (and the larger DSi XL) brought support for digital games, though this came at the cost of Game Boy Advance backwards compatibility.