Once exclusive to the Nintendo DS, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has caused a bit of a stir lately with its porting to the Playstation Portable. Talk of the ‘underwhelming’ sales on the DS, and any kind of frustration with Rockstar for sending it to another system have actually been pretty quiet, though, when compared to the raging debate about which version is better.

Make no mistake about it- there are plenty of gamers out there who have completely written off the DS version because of its inferior visuals, and a few more intelligent ones that are pleased by the additional content that the PSP port contains. However, those that believe strongly in the capabilities of Nintendo’s handheld can rest assured that, despite similar critical reaction, the original DS iteration is the best.

The touch-screen controls may have been neat, and without doubt the same actions are pretty clumsy on the PSP’s analog nub, but the real winner for Chinatown Wars on DS comes from the name of the very handheld itself; dual screens. Even if the touch controls had been nonexistent from the original game, simply having that second screen makes the experience so much easier on the DS. Between the expanded space for all of the drug deals and mini games, always having that map available during real time, and never having to switch between menus anywhere near as often on the PSP, the DS version of Chinatown Wars is infinitely less tedious than its better-looking counterpart.

Very few people have probably noticed it, but there have been a lot of cases like this, where it’s not the DS’s touch screen that adds so much to the game. When it all comes down to it, the DS has seen such success with its software more because it offers that additional screen, not because you can draw on it with the stylus.

This is certainly not intended to brand it as ‘gimmicky’, seeing as how plenty of games have made excellent use of the touch controls, some of which exist only because of them. Titles like Starfox Command, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword and the Trauma Centers couldn’t be controlled strictly with buttons, but there are so many more games which don’t call for any serious use of the touch screen, and still wouldn’t be quite as good on another handheld.

Play all three Castlevania titles for the DS, and then play the three that were released on Gameboy Advance. As great as that trio was and still is, they’re an absolute pain in the butt to go through without the trusty map out in the open. After experiencing Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia, it’s difficult not to get frustrated with older Castlevanias as you constantly have to hit pause and shift through a menu or two to check the map, which can be pretty common given the gigantic levels found in the series.

Let’s not forget the oft-ignored Point and Click titles, either. Trace Memory, Hotel Dusk and the Professor Layton series have all benefited immensely from the ability to tell their stories across two screens rather than just one. Not to say that they are completely devoid of actual gameplay or anything, but there’s no doubt that a lot of their charm comes from the characters involved and their scenarios. Offering two screens to have the narratives play out creates much more opportunity for an engaging yarn, particularly with one like Hotel Dusk that pretty much turned the DS into an electronic book as you held it sideways.

For the longest time, handheld gaming was largely considered to be primarily for pick-up-and-play experiences. While the occasional RPG dotted the landscape, the Gameboy and its software was just seen as a minor league of sorts for the video game industry; incapable of coming close to the complexity done by home consoles.

The DS definitely has not brought handheld gaming to the same level as the Wii, PS3 or 360, but it does alleviate the problem by providing developers with more space to display their material. To say the least, it has sparked a huge leap in complexity for handheld software that would have sounded ludicrous a generation ago. Gaming as an entertainment medium is driven by visuals, and when there’s a larger canvas to work with, the creators are allowed to display bigger and better sights. Whether this is to enhance the imagery or smoothen the gameplay is up to the developer, and luckily there’s been a whole lot of both so far on DS.

So the next time you want to praise Nintendo’s glorious handheld, don’t fuss so much over what you can do with the stylus, or even all of the online capabilities, for that matter. Instead, take a moment to realize how much more of portable video games you’ve been able to enjoy with dual screens as opposed to only one.

It’s in the system’s name, for Pete’s sake.