On the heels of a hint from Reggie of Nintendo USA, we
asked our readers to submit their ideas and redesigns for a new Nintendo DS. Ideas ranged from decreasing the distance
between the two screens and making them widescreen to adding gyroscopic functionality like the Revolution controller.
You can read the brilliant ideas our readers have for the DS at
the original article's comment thread.
We promised to post any visual mock-ups of a possible new design, so here they are in order of the time we recieved
the tip. Check out the designs after the jump.

Ryan Cooper’s design was the first in and was the one that sparked off this little redesign effort. As we mentioned in the last article, this design is heavily inspired by the Apple iBook. Its clean lines and subtle colors make it much very easy on the eye. Now how about a top view Ryan!
Aaron was the next to send in a redesign with his Nintendo DS “Nano”. No clues as to which device inspired this DS design! Again as a design inspired by an Apple product, it features light colors and clean lines.
Nick had a couple of redesigns made up before we even posted the article, so he kindly linked us to his creations. The designs take cues from Nintendo’s other portable console, the GameBoy Micro. As we saw in the last two designs, a flat design seems to be more desirable than the DS’ bottom raised screen. The second design features a very nice looking slide out screen, which hides the fugly hinge and saves space if you only want play a GBA game (or watch a movie?).
M.Almasy sent us in his shiny DS redesign which looks to share some of the PSP’s design elements. Although according the creator this design is a “basic ergonomic principle” and cannot be credited to the PSP. Read his blog entry for more of his musings on what the next DS could look like. Joystiq suggestion: maybe the thumb pad could electronically and physically limit itself to two axis when playing GBA games. For that authentic retro feel.
Anthony Perri’s design featured a prominent slide screen design. There are some similarities to the Gizmondo (the shape of the console), but they’re not too overwhelming. This design replaces the D-pad with an analog nub controller.



LaserBeam’s 3D mock-up was one of the most comprehesive redesigns we received. Created in a 3D program, the design seems to be closest to the Nintendo DS itself. According to LaserBeams that was the idea. “Design cues from the NDS were used, I wanted to keep the sort of clunky Nintendo look, without it actually being clunky.” It certainly seems to have achieved that look. The overall feel is of a more streamlined design that keeps all the old features as well as adds new ones without confusing the user.
We thought we’d also look at Nintendo’s latest redesign effort (with a tongue in cheek). Overall it seems to be a very poor effort on the behalf of Nintendo. The only noticeable change appears to be the overwhelming fake gold color that they’ve spray painted over the old silver design. Hopefully this won’t result in owners dropping a load of “it’s worth its weight in gold” gags.
Thanks to our readers for the overwhelmingly positive response! We’re open to posting any more redesigns, so keep ‘em coming.














(Page 1) Reader Comments
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The DS Nano above (based on the Micro) is especially hot.
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It seems like that would be more stable and easier to implement than the flipping/sliding screens. And it would still allow you to play GBA games without the whole contraption being "open."
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one word "sweet"
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All my nintendo consoles have "made in Japan" under them.
And the designs are forgetting one thing, the DS has a space under the bottom screen to support the tip of the hand while using the stylus, great for those tough Kirby levels.
I cant see myself playing a frantic stylus-only game with any of the designs, and Aaron's one putting a power button where my frantic fingers mighta accidently press it... a disaster.
Functionality over form people, great ideas BTW.
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In other words, is an analog stick a possibility? Will old games retrofit automatically, (i.e., the d-pad is merely an 8-way hardcoded form of it) or will newer games be required to also support the old d-pad?
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If an analog nub is added to the DS, Mario 64 DS will see a nice re-surge in sales ;-)
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Although, seeing my buddy play Mario Kart DS is tempting me...
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Lots of these designs are neat, but as other commenters have noted, form should follow function. Much more consideration should be put into how the device plays and works with real human hands instead of how it looks.
And to the reader who does not want to be seen playing a DS on the bus, why not? Are you more worried about what other people think of you instead of enjoying yourself? Perhaps you should worry more about appearing shallow and concerned with image.
Personally, whenever I see someone playing a DS in public, I think that person is interested in gaming and would possibly want to play something with me. They show that they are people interested in having lots of fun for a little money.
People I encounter with a PSP (very few) are always using it to play movies, don't have any multiplayer games that I have (and no ability to play multiplayer games with one disc) and generally aren't interested in gaming. When I press them on why they have the PSP, they tell me cause it is a cool toy.
Now say what you will, but I don't carry my PSP with me at all any more. There is little-to-no chance of encountering interesting people with which I can play.
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And finally, if you're embarrassed to play one out and about, get over yourself. It's a game, and you should focus on having fun. Not on what complete strangers think of you.
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I want the new one.... but also want Mario Kart
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that is the coolest oe on this list
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anyone wanna trade mario kart DS friend codes? visit my blogg
http://vgameviews.blogspot.com/
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M.Almasy
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About the Gold DS: seems like joystiq is poking fun at Nintendo and lack of originality. But then again, Homer Simpson won a nuclear powerplant design award by just adding wings and racing stripes on the existing powerplant.
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$0.02.
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To Comment 9 who said "I am going out on a limb and saying the screen dimensons (not size) will not change. Doing so would render all current games worthless. If they made a wide screen DS, all the current games would be stretched. But I am for making the screens closer together."
If you read the notes on the design with a wider top screen he states that older games would have black bars on the side... this would not a be a problem at all.
If I had any skills at making these mock ups I would use
-Laserbeams design (seriously when I was looking thru the mockups I was totally thinking about making the screen slide and hinge).
-Increase the possible resolution for the screen, shouldnt be a problem since gba games are lower than ds games yet have no trouble. This would make it awsome for movies, along with the next spec
-WIDE SCREEN ON TOP!!!! thatd be SOOO SICK!
-Analog thumbstick, like the psp maybe both that and a dpad??
-Lighter (after playing mario kart ds for the last three days straight my right ring finger is totally wasted from holding the ds since you use the right shoulder button to initiate drifting.
-Finger contours for those same ring fingers
-Lots of soft rubber gripping on buttons contours etc
-Bigger buttons closer to the touchscreen
-Longer heavier stylus that slides in sideways like the nano redesigns
-Memory card slots... so i can get rid of my bulky gba movieplayer and still play my nes and sms emulators, along with movies etc. Just write a software program to create the same style menu, though I am sure nintendo could do a much better job.
-Web browser? (its not having anything to do with the physical design but i might as well put it down since I know I am totally dreaming with the above ideas)
Like i said just dreaming, mostly what i want is the design to be lighter and more ergonomic to decrease finger fatigue.
MARIO KART DS WILL ONE DAY RULE THE WORLD AND ALL WILL BOW TO ITS MAJESTY! that game roXXX!
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Great job on the designs, everyone else who submitted.
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Additionally, making the screens smaller or larger would affect the gameplay on the touchscreen; tell me you can play the scene from the end credits of Meteos on a smaller screen!
Frankly, I love the look of the DS as-is; if anything, I'd love for it to be slimmer and lighter, but it's not a necessity by any means. And really: the clamshell design is the best possible solution for screen safety. Anything ditching that for an exposed screen is ludicrous.
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My design, a day or so late it seems. Whoops.
I could totally see myself buying Laserbeam's slick DS.
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http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/eztips/Widescreenfrontcopy.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/eztips/widescreenclosed.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/eztips/WideScreenOpen.jpg
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It's just that the sliding screen looks VERY fragile.
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Interesting ideas, even if not something I'd do.
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And by the way, yes that d-pad is straight from the rev, everything else was custom made, this is my first (finished) photoshop project ever
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PS- the Revolution controller idea is awsome. Put HD support on this thing and push some "real" use for the motion sensors and Sony & MS better look out.
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v128/koyuga/anotherdsconcept.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v128/koyuga/anotherdsconceptcolor.png
Lazerbeam's design, as you can see, is pretty much simillar to how I envisioned it, except his a couple of better features.
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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v128/koyuga/anotherdsconcept.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v128/koyuga/anotherdsconceptcolor.png
Lazerbeam's design, as you can see, is pretty much simillar to how I envisioned it, except his a couple of better features.
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