Nintendo may have made a one-screen variant of the Nintendo DS, if a new video by YouTube channel The Retro Future is any indication. Although it was likely never intended to play games, it served an important behind-the-scenes role that many may have benefited from without knowing.
The Nintendo DS is one of Nintendo's best-loved consoles, due largely to its dual-screen set-up. Its two screens enabled some fantastic exclusive software that wouldn't work on a single screen. Plus, the console's Wi-Fi capabilities enabled multiplayer for games like Mario Kart DS. The DS also took advantage of its online connectivity with the Nintendo Zone promotional system. This enabled DS owners to download demos, news, and other content when in proximity of a DS with a special promotional cartridge.
The new YouTube video shows a hinged Nintendo-branded device with only has one screen. The machine appears to be a dedicated station for Nintendo Zone promotions. It comes with a Nintendo Zone cartridge that could be remotely updated periodically, enabling stores to add new Nintendo Zone promotions as time went on. As the video demonstrates, the machine can run DS games like Animal Crossing: Wild World, though it can only show the bottom screen. By comparing the machine to a Nintendo DSi, it becomes clear that it is in fact just the bottom half of a DSi, placed in a new stripped-down body for retailers.
This machine was likely created as a cost-saving measure. Nintendo Zone once required a regular DS and an up-to-date Nintendo Zone cartridge, which required Nintendo to frequently distribute new cartridges. The single-screen system uses a single updatable cartridge and strips out all unnecessary functionality from the hardware, making it much cheaper to produce and purchase. That means it has little practical value today. As might be expected, actually playing most DS games is impossible with only one screen. Most DS games that made the jump to single-screen consoles, such as The World Ends With You: Final Remix, had to be completely rebuilt to be playable.
As long as this is actual Nintendo hardware, this marks the latest in a line of major behind-the-scenes leaks from throughout Nintendo's history. The so-called "gigaleak" includes never-before-seen games, beta versions of popular titles, and tech demos never made available to the public. The leak even included at least one fully complete game that was never released, Pokemon Picross for the Game Boy Color, Still, it is debatable if the newly-revealed machine is a "leak," as it was likely commercially distributed to retailers.
Technically, there is another handheld with one screen that can play DS games. The original non-hinged Nintendo 2DS actually uses a single large screen, split into two sections to function like two separate screens. Of course, the 2DS could properly display both screens of Nintendo DS games, so it has the newly-revealed machine beat in that regard. Although it's unlikely anyone will try to play DS games on a one-screen machine any time soon, the machine is an interesting curiosity that shows that there are some innovations consumers never normally get to see.