Here's the problem with the Steam Deck, and every modern handheld. (And actually also the DSi XL noted in GP.)

The DS Lite can fit in your pocket. Comfortably. Not, like, technically fit, at the cost of making it uncomfortable to walk around. You can keep a DS Lite in your pocket all day, ready to be pulled out the moment you enter the crowded subway, or while in the doctor's office. Situations you didn't necessarily plan for.

The stupid Switch, and especially the even larger Steam Deck, I never actually have with me when I want it. All I have is my stupid iPhone, which is great for many things but doesn't have buttons, and it turns out you kind of need those for games. Developers have been trying, for nearly two decades now, to find ways to avoid buttons, and it even kind of works sometimes, but not really. Not when you want precise control over a character.

No one makes portable consoles anymore. I mean, they're portable in the way that a laptop is portable. They're handheld in the way a vacuum cleaner is handheld. But they're not portable like the DS Lite or GBA SP.

You can buy these little Android things designed for emulators, and I've almost bought them a few times, but I've pretty much already played all the NES games I want to play, and because there are very few new NES games being released, the library doesn't expand.

Agreed over the dsi, though I love it. The only exception is if you only play physical media, then the DS lite's ability to play the entire GBA library is pretty cool.

For me it's the fact that I can emulate basically all retro consoles on the n3ds, including imo the best existent way to play VirtualBoy games in actual stereoscopic 3d. That on top of the fact that it's the only way to play 3ds games in the native experience, with 3d, which is impossible on any emulator. Combined with the social features and build quality of the device, and it's unbeatable. Get a USB 3ds charger and it's the perfect travel console. I bring it on every trip and leave it on streetpass mode. Especially for Japan trips, I still to this day pick up new street pass pings, which is so incredibly delightful to find when I get back to the hotel room.

Though I prefer the non xl version, as it's a truly portable console rather than the XL which is huge and heavy in my bag.

I'm not sure. At least for me, part of the charm of these older consoles (do they qualify for the "retro" term yet?) is the smaller resolution of the displays. Especially for the bottom screen on the DS line, there is something very warm, fuzzy, and cosy about clearly being able to see each individual pixel.

Perhaps it's just nostalgia. I still own my DS Lite, though.

I only played it briefly with a friend (street fighter) and the actual 3d seemed neat but it didn't wow me (or my eyes couldn't focus properly?).

I wanted to be wow-ed at the level of that old cowboy arcade hologram game. :)

I'm sure since it was the newest hardware it was the best.

I agree. It seems like interpreting one instruction per frame is the developer's way to guarantee real-time performance. I don't want to discourage the developer from experimenting with this design. What I think they should do is determine the most instructions they can interpret each frame.

I like the idea of on-device programming like this. While I haven't used it, I know there is a DSiWare application Petit Computer that lets you implement more complex (sprite-based) games in a Basic dialect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petit_Computer. As DSiWare, it has an official video trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AYlEo3rJHs.

Which is why I love this. Extreme constraints. Takes a lot of creativity to make something interesting, without feeling overwhelmed with possibility. I'm considering making tiny arthouse game projects with this.

Don’t worry, you can’t have that many lines anyway…

> Up to 128 script lines per program

،sh12

Once a DS has been flashed (skips the health and safety screen) it also disables signature verification for DS download play, so you can beam homebrews directly to your DS' home screen with a wifi card. But this is an awkward process that most people don't actually do with their original DSes, as it requires putting tinfoil over a toothpick and jamming it into a hole next to the battery to close the flash write jumper. I think DS' crypto has also been defeated but I can't find any documentation of arbitrary download play on unflashed DSes. Also seems no .nds signing keys in the leaks from what I can tell.

A Steam Deck is also X times more powerful.

The decision-making here involved more passion than logic, clearly. And that's good. :)

Right, because the Deck is open source hardware...

rather get a used DS for cheap than help pay for GabeN's next hyper-yacht.

I have a Steam Deck instead of a Switch for that reason. Doesn't stop me from admiring and envying the form factor, unfortunately.

I do think it would be fun to have a plugin and be able to control lights from the Steam Deck menus, too, though. Just haven't gotten around to trying.