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Few people would argue that the Nintendo DS is the best portable on the market now, and the people who would are basically insane. Now, would you argue that the Nintendo DS is the best portable ever? How about that it's the only system called a portable that's really fit the name? That's a bigger argument, but mighty guest blogger and web comic guy John Hurst has decided to make it. Check behind the cut to get readin'.

The most astounding thing about the Nintendo DS, to me, is that it is the first system that I can actually call "portable".

"But wait!" you say. "The Game Boy was certainly portable enough! The Game Boy Advance could easily fit onto one's person! And the Virtual Boy... erm, well you could carry that, kind of!" All of that is true. They were all systems you could take with you, not requiring any of the cumbersome wires, TVs and power plugs that their big brothers hungered for. The problem is that while all of these systems were indeed "portable", they weren't completely usable or convenient enough to really be "portable".

I can only speak from personal experience on this matter. I got the original Game Boy, complete with the pack-in classic Tetris, the Christmas it was released. Despite only owning five games for the original system total, I was enticed by it. With every road trip I brought the system along, entertaining me when playing "count the country music stations" wouldn't do the trick (Hint: It never did.)

On those long, arduous journeys, it was a godsend. But when we arrived at our destination, there in the car it stayed. Sometimes it was because it was just too big for my tiny pockets. Most of the time it was because the batteries died three hours ago. Sure, I could have just plugged in the official AC battery pack to beat that one boss in Mega Man V that I absolutely needed to beat dammit. But that required me to lug around the gigantic handheld beast's equally weighty cub. Nintendo did include a belt clip for the AC pack in the hopes of being convenient, but I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that. Thus, the Game Boy and its soap bar battery were doomed to the void beneath the driver's seat, at least until it was time to go back home.

Multiplayer was possible and fun when it happened. The key words to note here are "when it happened". To work the magic as told by the Multinomicon, you needed the following:

• 1) a friend with a copy of the cartridge. This was a nearly impossible feat on its own, especially if you were part of a lucrative game trading network with the other neighborhood kids.
• 2) The sacred cord that connected the Game Boys together. This cord had a nasty habit of appearing in the least expected place, and always hours after your friends had to go home for the evening. Drat!
• 3) A nice, comfy spot for everything to take place it. The relatively short length of the game link cable didn't help this one bit. By the time you had everything ready to go, you could maybe get one game in before everyone was ready to move onto something else.

Many years passed. Technology improved. New, smaller variations of the original Game Boy were brought onto the market. Moore's Law continued as predicted. Lithium Ion batteries became the thing, and a great thing to those trying to avoid a system's never ending quest for AA battery munchies. But while the systems could now fit into tiny little pockets, there were several other issues to work out with the software itself.

The concept of "saving anywhere" in games such as Pokemon Red and Blue was a blessing for the handheld environment and one that rightfully was duplicated... but not frequently enough. A surprising number of high-profile GBA games omitted it, and without good reason. There is a special sort of insanity that comes when you absolutely need to find a save point, stat. It's even worse powering off, knowing full well that you will have to repeat that dungeon later. It is the very essence of "not very fun."

The Nintendo DS pushed everything the older Game Boys did to a completely new level. Its size continues the family tradition brought on by later GB models and easily fits into most pockets. Much like the SP, the folding case means there's little worry about damaging the screen. With the addition of wireless technology and extra memory, multiplayer is the breeze it should be. Not even needing extra cartridges in many cases only sweetens the deal (which is always nice to help your friends get addicted to the things you like). The Standby mode is the biggest piece of the puzzle and something that I am eternally grateful for. I just need to remember to not habitually attempt to power it on again.

I'm not trying to be complete glowing praise for the system. I'm really not! We still have friend codes to worry about, the occasionally connection hiccup and minor hardware problems to worry about (Such as the forever haunting dead pixel.) But when I am in the middle of a long line, I can retrieve my DS easily from my pocket, yell out "Pictochat!" and eventually get a multiplayer Tetris DS match going within minutes. Admittedly, this was at a registration line to a convention. It nonetheless still impresses me.

In contrast, I owned a PSP for about a week before I decided it was not for me. This was probably not a long enough time to take the system to its extremes and I regret that in some ways. For a handheld, I was impressed by its graphics and customizability. There were lots of little things the PSP did that piqued my interest and I spent most of my time with it exploring those features.

But here was a device that I was actually afraid to use for its intended purpose: to play on the go. With the DS, I could fold it up and put it into my pocket with little to no worry. With the PSP, one absolutely needed a screen protector or a case. If I still did a lot of my handheld gaming at home, I would have been tempted to keep it. Alas, I have other things and other consoles to tide me over these days. I have a feeling that if I had kept my PSP it would have eventually ended up like the Game Boy of old: underneath the driver's seat with a dead battery.

To conclude, I present to you, the reader on the other side of the screen, a question: I know not everyone carries their handheld systems with them at all times. But if you do, what was it that convinced you to make the change? Were you simply not bothered by it from the beginning or did the inclusion of one little feature tip you over the edge? And if you still do most of your handheld gaming at home, what would convince you to do otherwise?

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