2024年4月9日

Using the Nintendo DSi as a Photo Diary

For the past month, I carried a Nintendo DSi with me everywhere I went, using it as my main camera and as my diary. Here’s why, and how it went.

About the DSi

For those who might not be familiar, the Nintendo DSi was a mid-lifecycle hardware revision to the DS line of products, released in 2008 following the DS Lite and the original Nintendo DS. New features included the introduction of the an online store where you could purchase and download games and other software, a new home screen where all your software titles could be accessed, a sleek new design, and most notably, the addition of a front-facing and back-facing camera.

Nintendo DSi (Source: Nintendo)

The DSi came preinstalled with a couple of simple software applications, and among them was the “DSi Camera” application for taking and viewing photos. Under the camera section, users could take photos and choose from a number of amusing filters and effects, such as a color-swapping, lens-warping, and image frames. Under the album section, users could view their photos, play photo slideshows, and doodle on their photos and alter them in other fun ways.

There’s a Diary Hiding in your DS

Another somewhat overlooked feature of the camera software was the photo calendar. Upon opening the software, the top screen would display a calendar of the current month, and each day would be filled in with a photo taken that day (if any). By tapping on the “Calendar” button, users could view the calendar, tap on a day to enlarge the photo(s) taken that day, and use the touch screen to handwrite a brief comment about that day, which would be displayed under that day’s photo(s). In effect, you could use your DSi as a very simplistic photo diary using this pre-installed software. Indeed, in this interview, Nintendo user interface designer Masahiro Imaizumi states that one of the goals in designing the camera software was to create a “sort of personal photo diary”.

The camera software's calendar feature (Source: Nintendo)

When I owned a DSi in my childhood, the calendar feature didn’t interest me much, but looking at it again recently as an adult who enjoys journaling, I became intrigued. As I talked about in my previous post about the Breath Diary, different diaries and journals with their different formats lend themselves to different journaling experiences. Likewise, different devices lend themselves to different experiences. My modern-day iPhone obviously far exceeds the DSi in terms of camera quality, hardware power, and convenience. But more isn’t always better, and it’s precisely the limitations of the DSi’s dated hardware that create a unique diary-keeping experience. And so I think it’s worth exploring that experience in 2024, to see just what we left behind when we moved on to newer, shinier devices. And so last month I posed a challenge to myself.

Using the DSi as a Photo Diary

For the entire month of March, I decided to use my Nintendo DSi as a photo diary, carrying it with me everywhere and taking at least one picture each day of something I did that day. My goal was to create a completely filled-in calendar of photos and comments. (And since I’m always looking for ways to improve my Japanese, especially my writing, I decided to try writing all my comments in Japanese.)

I’ve been keeping a physical journal for the past 9 years or so, writing in it most nights before bed. And one of the things that has taught me, and indeed one of the reasons I enjoy it, is that no matter how uneventful or crappy my day was, when I take the time to reflect, I can always find a couple of happy moments in it. I’m not talking about things that should make me happy, or things that I should be grateful for, I’m talking about things that did make me happy that day, however brief or insignificant. Some days that’s a small social interaction - a nice exchange with the lady at the bakery, perhaps. Some days it’s cleaning up one corner of my messy room and feeling good about how much better it looks. Some days it’s the little dessert I picked up at the convenience store and tried for the first time.

Likewise, in keeping my photo diary this past month, I sought out little things that made me happy throughout my day and snapped pictures of them - a nice meal, a small but exciting purchase, a cup of tea. There’s something uplifting in realizing that even the worst days contain moments of happiness, as long as you look for the little things.

"Finally watched Matilda: the Musical"

On this day I was really excited about this portable DVD player I found at a secondhand shop, allowing me to watch Japanese DVDs in bed (my laptop only plays American DVDs).

I couldn’t help but notice a difference in the photos I was curating in my DSi photo calendar versus the photos I normally post to my Instagram. In theory Instagram is where I go to post photos of me enjoying my life. But thanks to the private, offline nature of the DSi, there was this discrepancy. I was curating a more honest record of what me enjoying my life looks like, and it contained a lot more nights in with yummy snacks and old shows on DVD.

"Rooibos tea, this new chocolate, and 30 Rock"

A couple times I even took pictures of things that happened within a video game I was playing, if that’s what made me happy, though that created the awkward situation of using one DS to take a picture of another DS…

"My room in Animal Crossing: New Leaf is coming along nicely!"

Of course, I also had more eventful days, days where I was social and hung out with friends, and I got pictures of some of those fun moments, too. But I admit to feeling a little embarrassed at times about whipping out my DSi and asking if I can get a picture of everyone. I guess it depended a lot on the kind of company I was in. With some people, my shame got the best of me, and my DSi stayed in its pouch. But when it was with friends who are also interested in video games, or just really close friends who know me and my interests, I was excited to pull out my DSi and share how I was using it to keep a diary.

Almost everyone around my age owned a DS at some point in their childhood, and I found that most people light up upon seeing one again. Many people start recounting fond memories of games they used to play, and most are surprised to learn that a DS could be used as a diary in this way.

"Went shopping in Shibuya with Haru-chan"

"Had a cherry blossom-viewing picnic with Wan-san, Ou-san, and Den-san"

As I used the DSi in this fashion over the course of the month, there was another feature I came to appreciate. Every time you return to the home screen, the DSi’s top screen displays one randomly chosen starred photo from your photo library, as a sort of surprise wallpaper. Photos taken with the camera quick-access function (press L or R when on the home screen to quickly access the camera) are starred by default. This meant that the photos I was snapping each day of happy moments using the quick-access camera would not just lie buried in a photo library, never to be seen again. Instead, the next time I turn on my DSi, whether it be tomorrow or 5 years from now, I’ll be reminded of that fun friend date, or studying at that cafe, or that cozy evening with a good TV show.

The DSi home screen showing a photo I took of a nice walk in the rain.

Final Thoughts

Although I cheated one or two times by adjusting the DSi’s internal clock to the previous day in order to get a picture I forgot to take, I think I can say I achieved my goal of creating a completely filled-in photo calendar.

Over the past month, I experienced the DSi’s photo calendar feature perhaps more throughly than even the developers themselves ever did, and came to appreciate it certain aspects of it. I enjoyed having such a limited writing space, making for a form of journaling that’s easy to keep up even on the busiest of days (though it made writing Japanese kanji characters a bit challenging). I enjoyed the home screen wallpaper feature, bringing back happy memories each time I opened by DSi. I enjoyed how having my DSi handy at all times made me feel less tied to my phone, and on longer train rides I found myself passing the time with some games I’ve been meaning to play rather than mindlessly scrolling Instagram.

I remember when the DSi was released, it was widely mocked for its cameras being a mere 0.3 megapixels, outputting 640 by 480 pixel photographs. Even by 2008 standards, that was extremely low, being comparable to cell phone cameras from about 6 years prior. Yet here I am in 2024, enjoying my DSi daily and filling it with a record of happy memories thanks to its built-in software and cameras. I think it’s a mistake to evaluate devices merely in terms of technical specifications and then rank them accordingly. This kind of comparative thinking leads to constant dissatisfaction and a never-ending cycle of consumerism as more and more powerful devices are released each year. Rather, I think we should appreciate each device on its own terms and be open-minded about the ways it could potentially compliment our lives. That’s what I attempted to do here with the DSi, and I found that it offered something unique and worthwhile, regardless of whether it’s 2008 or 2024.

References

• Iwata Asks: Volume 2 - Nintendo DSi Internal Software | Nintendo
  https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/ds/dsi/1/1/
• Nintendo DSi | Nintendo
  https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/series/dsi/index.html