https://medium.com/super-jump/pok%C3%A9mon-on-dual-screens-the-end-of-an-era-cc99eea927f2

The Pokémon franchise is about to make its big debut on the Switch, and as it does so, a major change is taking place in its interaction design. The past four generations of Pokémon games, spanning back to Pokémon Diamond and Pearl that came out in 2006, were played on the Nintendo DS and 3DS, both dual screen devices. Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee are the first mainline titles in the series (at least since Pokémon Emerald for Game Boy Advance) to be released for a single-screen Nintendo handheld device: in this case, the Nintendo Switch.

So, let’s take a moment to appreciate the era that was dual-screen Pokémon. It feels so natural today, but when the Nintendo DS first made its debut, it was unclear how games would utilize that second, touch-enabled screen. The Pokémon games mostly used it as a massive touchpad for UI elements, with the support for occasional mini-games and even some pretty robust live game systems. There was some neat stuff down there, so let’s take a deeper look.