The Nintendo DS release

In 2004, Nintendo released the Nintendo DS, its fourth major handheld system. The DS is a dual-screened handheld featuring touch screen capabilities, which respond to either a stylus or the touch of a finger. Former Nintendo president and chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi was translated by GameScience as explaining, "If we can increase the scope of the industry, we can re-energize the global market and lift Japan out of depression – that is Nintendo's mission." Regarding lukewarm GameCube sales which had yielded the company's first reported operating loss in over 100 years, Yamauchi continued: "The DS represents a critical moment for Nintendo's success over the next two years. If it succeeds, we rise to the heavens, if it fails, we sink into hell." Due to games such as Nintendogs and Mario Kart DS, the DS became a success.