the ds came out in 2004. it folded in half and had two screens. one of them reacted when you touched it. after a while, that stopped being weird.
you opened it like a small book. the hinge felt solid. closing it made a soft click. most people used the stylus that came with it. some people lost it and used whatever worked.
the top screen usually showed the game. the bottom screen handled maps, menus, or drawing. you got used to looking back and forth without thinking about it.
ds systems were everywhere. backpacks. car trips. waiting rooms. people played them on couches while something else was on tv.
a lot of games were short. some were meant to be played for a few minutes at a time. that fit how people actually used it.
some games used the touchscreen a lot. others barely touched it. there were microphones, local wireless, and strange little extras. not everything worked. some things were great anyway.
flipnote, pictochat, and download play all felt normal back then.
the ds stuck around for a long time. new versions came out. the library kept growing. eventually, it stopped being the current thing.
a lot of people still know exactly how it felt to hold one.