Electric Blue DS coming to US

In March, Nintendo announced it was releasing its popular DS handheld in a quartet of new colors: Graphite Black, Pure White, Turquoise Blue, and Candy Pink. The catch? They were only coming out in Japan. Unless they felt like importing the models from Japan, it looked like American fans of the dual-screen portable would have to make do with the standard black-and-silver "Titanium" model for the foreseeable future.

So it came as a pleasant surprise today when Nintendo of America announced the "Western Hemisphere" would be getting a special DS color of its own. In June, the all-new Electric Blue DS will arrive on US shores in June as "a permanent color in the DS palette." Given that the introduction of just two new colors doubled DS sales in Japan, it's likely America will see the portable in different hues in the future.

In a prepared statement, NOA senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications George Harrison thought of the new shade for the handheld as a major event. "Nearly 2 million Nintendo DS owners in North America alone have demonstrated they want something new from a handheld video game system," he said. "Soon, consumers will have two popular choices for the innovative dual-screened Nintendo DS."

Besides the six aforementioned tints, the DS is also available in several different color schemes in (sometimes very) limited quantities. Again, this is only in Japan. Besides a cobranded light-blue Pepsi DS and a metallic-blue Pokemon-themed DS, Nintendo gave away 10 special edition DSes emblazoned with original artwork from the DS game Electroplankton.