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The Nintendo DS having two screens was suggested by former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi to then-current president Satoru Iwata, and was inspired by the Game & Watch LCD game series' clamshell two-screen design. In a 2016 Retro Gamer interview with former Nintendo designer Satoru Okada, he delves into its origins:

"The project was moving forward at a good pace but during the development, something at unexpected happened. President Iwata then came to see me. He was obviously bothered and he said: 'l talked to Yamauchi-san over the phone and he thinks your console should have two screens... A bit like the multi-screen Game & Watch, you see?' [...] at the time, everybody hated this idea, even Iwata himself. We thought it did not make any sense. Back in the Game & Watch days, it was different because a second screen allowed us to double the playing area and the number of graphic elements on display. But with the modern screens, there was no point. We were free to choose the size of our screen, so why bother splitting it into two? Especially considering that it was impossible to look at both screens at the same time. This is why we did not understand his idea."

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