Typically, when someone mentions a classic video game console, the first thing that comes to one’s mind is the good old Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) from the ’80s. The boxy gaming device is over 35-years-old now and has certainly cemented itself in history as a true classic video game system. They are a pretty rare find these days, and the system itself and its selection of games can be seen selling for hundreds of dollars from video game collectors, a value that will only increase as the system becomes older and more of them cease to exist.

The problem with the NES and its beefier brother, the Super Nintendo (SNES), is that they’re too old to be considered true classics to the next generation of video game enthusiasts. Let’s face it; the hardware of the NES and the SNES is ancient and doesn’t hold up very well today in the slightest. You’d have an easier time beating Dark Souls than any game for the NES, and you’d be playing something much more cinematic, aesthetically pleasing, and easier to wrap your head around.

Take the humble Nintendo DS Lite, then. Launched in 2006 in North America, this little handheld system is the perfect candidate to usurp the NES and the SNES as the desired retro console of the current generation of gamers, and beyond that, the next true classic console. Chances are, even if you’re not into video games, you, your siblings, or maybe even your parents, owned a Nintendo DS; the dual-screened handheld was extremely popular in its day and was loved by more than just hardcore gamers. It’s easy to understand why, too. The DS has a library of over two thousand games, and that library includes everything from Mario to Call of Duty to Tetris and even cookbooks, music lessons, Guitar Hero- you name it, it was probably on the Nintendo DS.

The “Lite” moniker at the end of the DS name is important to its classic console status; this is because the Lite version of the DS is easily the best of the different DS iterations. The Lite model was introduced two years after the original Nintendo DS, and while there were no major hardware upgrades, the Lite improved greatly on the original model’s form factor, overall look, and ease of play. It was sleeker, the stylus for the DS’s bottom touch screen was easier to access at a moment’s notice, and best of all, it still included the second slot to allow backward compatibility with the DS’s predecessor, the Game Boy Advance (GBA). That’s right, not only can the DS Lite play DS games, but it can also play any number of GBA games, which, combined with the DS’s already massive library, makes a pool of over three thousand games to play. Of course, that means nothing unless that game library is impressive, and boy, did the DS and GBA have some stellar games; Zelda, Pokemon, Sonic, GTA, Mario, Final Fantasy, Castlevania, all sorts of major game franchises have multiple game titles for both systems, easily playable on the DS Lite. Add to that wireless multiplayer, and you’ve got a true steal of a game console. Just be quick purchasing one; as more people yearn to play the games of their childhood, the value of the DS Lite quickly rises, and for good reason.