When the Nintendo DS launched in the 2000s, it still did not have an built-in web browser. This meant that users could not easily access the internet (except using a special internet browser cartridge which had not yet been released), and this made steaming services nigh impossible. Streaming services at this point were not common online either for any platform. This was a time before YouTube, and when Netflix still operated by mailing DVDs. This meant that if someone wanted to get anime or other media on the DS it had to distributed physically.
After the Japanese company AM3 released their Advance Video Smart Media Player in 2003, it seemed like the next logical step would be to release an equivalent for the much newer and more powerful Nintendo DS hardware, and DSvision released in 2008 would be just that.
The system, comprising of a cartridge similar to the format that would later be used for Nintendo DS flash cartridges was used. This was a standard DS sized cartridge with a slot on the side, into which a micro-SD card could be inserted. This micro-SD card would contain the movie that you could watch on the system, in a similar way to how the smart media cards held the content for the Gameboy Advance Video. Pre-recorded micro-SD cards could be purchased, or one could buy content on the now defunct official website dsvision.jp, which sold content that could be transferred to the micro-SD card using a program known as 'DSvisionラック' or 'DSvision Rack'. Unlike the previous Advance Video for the GBA which planned to have different content types, and was not able to within its lifespan, the DSvision sold books on the official website that could be read on the DSvision. In addition to traditional books, the service also sold manga as well as educational materials. Quite notably like the previous system (the Advance Video), the DSvision had Pokemon titles including full movies which could be purchased for download, with many in the 300-500 Yen price range. The full movie MewTwo Strikes Back was available for 500 Yen in its entirety or over 85 minutes runtime, and it could fit onto your micro-SD card only taking up a measly 184 MB. And even more impressive some manga titles were available for download for a price of only 32 Yen. Some animated content could even at one point be downloaded from the DSvision website for free, including the first episode of やわらか戦車 (Soft Tank), a popular online animated series that ran for over 50 episodes, as well as モフ☆モフ (Mofu☆Mofu), which was another short online animated series.
At this point is is unknown what type of DRM was used or if a user could load their own content onto the micro-SD card to be read by the DSvision cartridge. The DSvision system would never quite catch on, and this would be another great idea that for better or for worse would not be released internationally. The DSvision website and the AM3 website would eventually disappear along with AM3 itself and it would never be seen again.
Video game consoles have had a lot of accessories throughout the years, all the way from retro consoles like the Atari VCS with its Starpath/Arcadia Supercharger of Coleco Kid Vid Voice Module accessories, to modern consoles such as the Xbox and PlayStation consoles, and this was no different for handheld consoles such as the GBA. Now, users have to anime, TV shows and movies on their consoles, phones and computers, but it was always like this.
Looking at the title, you may be wondering why anyone would want to watch video on the Gameboy Advance, but this is actually a unique way to watch anime on a video game console, when streaming anime online was not as accessible as it is now, and when handheld systems did not have the ability to access the internet. Apparently this topic is so unique, that even Wikipedia does not have an article on this topic. Also coming back and editing this article with further details, the version that was released that was designed to just play the anime cards is officially called 'Advance Video' [7].
In the United States and internationally, Game Boy Advance Video cartridges were made available which on standard Gameboy Advance cartridges contained a heavily compressed copy of one of many series or movies. A large list of animated television episodes and movies were released. In Japan however, AM3's own system existed which allowed users to view videos on their Gameboy Advance systems from smart media cards.
Gameboy Advance Video Advertisement (source: YouTube)
AM3 created a system in 2003 [1] with an adapter that allowed users to insert special Smart Media Cards which contained videos, and that could play these videos. The cartridge contains special software and has a slot on the side allowing the user to insert a standard sized Smart Media card. A wide range of anime titles would be made available for purchase on prerecorded Smart Media cards, or blank anime-themed cards could be purchased.
Individually packaged cards could be purchased with videos on them, or bundled with the card reader adapter. The adapter could also be purchased separately, and with blank Smart Media Cards. Sets of Smart Media Player adapters with blank branded cards could be purchased themed around some series.
The cards can hold up to 24 minutes of animated content on a standard 32 Megabyte card, or 192 minutes on a 256 Megabyte Smart Media Card [6]. The videos uses a proprietary video compression technology by both Act Image of France as well as IMAGICA Corporation, which is also known for HDCAM video compression [2][2(archived)]. These cards were partially transparent [6]. 4 titles were available at launch in May 2003 and the adapter was available for 3200 yen [7]. Additional titles could be written to blank cards for a price of between 100 yen and 500 yen, and blank cards were available for purchase at a price of 1800 yen. Kiosks were also set up that allowed customers to purchase videos and have them copied onto blank Smart Media cards or write over cards that already have videos on them. There were also dedicated kiosks for one particular program known as 'Advance Gacha' and were planned to be placed in convenience stores and toy stores [7]. This is similar to the way that the Family Computer Disk System in Japan had kiosks set up that allowed users to purchase Famicom Disk System games and have them written onto disks. AM3 planned to have over 10,000 of these machines to copy onto blank cards by the summer of 2005 [4]. The cards were distributed in conjunction with Happinet Co [6].
A mock of an 'Advance Gacha' system
Image from: link
A pricing table has been added below:
Release date
Content
Price
Adapter
November 20
Advanced Movie Adapter
3,200 yen
Adapter + Movie Card Set
November 20
Advanced Movie Adapter Detective Conan 'Roller Coaster Murder'
You might think that the prices listed for a single low quality copy of an episode are expensive at about 25 USD per episode given how cheap it is to buy a digital movie or TV series online, but with this technology, you were really paying for the novelty of it, and at this time, there was really no way to watch videos on the go or in a portable manner, except for perhaps Hasbro's VideoNow which offered content at a lower price point, but only in black and white for the original version and which may not have been released in Japan.
Image Used With Permission, Credit: u/karulg on Reddit
According to the website lik-sang, a former importer of Japanese products, content for AM3's smart media player was planned to be released in stores on CDs with content on them, and which could be transferred to cards [2][2(archived)][7]. It is not known whether these CDs were ever released. This is however contradicted by ASCII corp. which claims that the content would utilise DRM that tied data to hardware in order to prevent unauthorised copying. The system adopted a special ROM-specific ID system recorded for each file, so even if it was copied onto a commercially available Smart Media card, it could not be played. This would be encrypted with DES encryption and use a 128-bit encryption key which would be recorded in the media ROM, and would need to be verified before a video could be played back. Despite this, data from computers and cameras could still be recorded to the memory cards [6].
Unlike Gameboy Advance Video which would not allow users to play the cartridges on the Gamecube Gameboy adapter, the AM3 Smart Media Player could be used on the Gamecube [5]. The adapter is 55 mm long and extends 20 mm out of the GBA [6].
The player has several functions that can be used whilst playing back video. These are play and pause using the 'A' button, fast forwards and backwards, using the right and left buttons on the d-pad respectively, and pressing and holding for forwards and backwards at 1x speed, 2x speed, 3x speed, and 4x speed. Some material would also support chapter menus, although earlier content such as the Detective Conan Roller Coaster Murder Case did not [6]. Titles such as the Pokemon titles would support basic interactive menus which allowed the selection of either the main movie, or short commercials for other Pokemon movies to watch [u/karulg on Reddit].
The player contains no decoding chip, but instead uses the ARM7 CPU of the GBA in conjunction with the specially developed FastVideo codec to allow video playback. This allowed the player to be built at a low price-point as it did not have to contain any custom chips. Video can be played back at 30 fps and at a resolution of 240 x 160 pixels, the full resolution of the GBA screen [6].
Lik-sang, a international distributor expected a wide range of content to be released for the system including [2][2(archived)]:
Animated content
Game and movie previews and trailers
Pictures
Music
Educational software titles
E-books
Karaoke
This is also backed up by a 2004 GameSpot article which claims that AM3 was also planning to release other peripherals that would works with different types of media. These included [4]:
Advance Picture for still images
Advance Music for music
Advance Comic for manga
Advance Navi for maps
According to ASCII, the company was releasing animated content at first, but planned to also release other content such as eBooks, so that the GBA and GBA SP could be used for educational materials. Nintendo however prohibited the company from using the technology to distribute any games or adult materials [6].
Looking at listings for the Smart Media Player on Amazon.co.jp (which can be found by searching for 'AM3' under the category 'TV games'), it can be seen that cards were released for many anime series including, but not limited to:
These releases could have either television series episodes or movies on them. During the time of the Nintendo DS, smart media cards continued to be released with Nintendo DS branding on the packaging, although they were still the same GBA cartridge design. AM3 would go on to release DSVision, which was a similar concept to the Smart Media Player except it took Micro SD/TF cards and was housed in a special DS cartridge that looked similar to a DS flash cart.
The ActImage codec was announced by Shinji Hashimoto, the executive officer of Square Enix to also be planned for use in the GBA game 'Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories', which did feature rendered cut-scenes. Although from research I cannot find whether it was in fact this codec used to compress the video used in cut-scenes, it likely was due to this announcement [7].
In 2005, am3 would also provide 'Poke Park Advanced Navi' at PokePark, the world's first Pokemon theme park, which was a video utilising the Advance Video technology and could be written free of charge onto a card using an 'Advance Gachapon' system. They also operated a lending system there, where a guest could pay 2100 yen to rent a system with the card and movie, 2000 yen being given back to the guest on the system's return [8].
Currently, there does not appear to be much information on the internet about the AM3 Smart Media Player, or at least it is not easily accessible. Many sites that contain information about the product such as 'lik-sang.com' are no longer available, and many western sites did not cover this product as it did not have an international release, unlike Gameboy Advance Video. It is likely that the Smart Media Player was not released internationally, due to the success of Gameboy Advance Video, and it's much simpler nature only requiring a cartridge for each video, and not a bulky adapter with fancy media cards. Some information can be found through listings on sites such as Amazon.co.jp, which is not normally used by people outside of Japan, which makes it hard for people to discover the AM3 Smart Media Player.
