Homebrew hero keeps Nintendo DS alive with a port of Valve’s Portal

By Anthony John Agnello Published February 12, 2013

PortalDS — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Nintendo DS is the best-selling devoted portable video game device in the world. Over the last nine years, Nintendo has managed to sell close to 154 million DSs, and even though the Nintendo 3DS continues to pick up momentum with new players the DS keeps on selling. Unfortunately, even Nintendo appears to be done making games for the old machine. Pokémon Black/White 2 will likely be its last, with Pokémon X and Pokémon Y moving on to the Nintendo 3DS. Leave it to intrepid homebrewers to keep a console living, though. One Nintendo DS enthusiast has a port of a bona fide classic in the words: PortalDS.

French homebrew game maker Smealum posted a brief video demo on his Nintendo DS port of Valve’s 2007 classic Portal, which you can check out below. While PortalDS isn’t quite playable just yet—Smealum’s still working on the nuts and bolts—the basics are in place. The portal gun can make portals and objects can pass through them, reoriented in the environment on the fly. The video below shows some graphical glitches that won’t be in the final game since the demo is running on an emulator rather than an actual DS.

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Smealum has a history of reimagining contemporary hits for Nintendo DS. He also made Minecraft DS.

Anthony John Agnello

Former Contributing Editor

Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…

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