True, that is what made the Nomad so good. But then it was also during a time of 2d gaming. Portable gaming does really well in 2D. But for 3D, its meh... well in my opinion its meh. I don't like playing 3D games on such a small screen with a D-Pad. Mario DS sucks fat balls (although it is actually kinda better then the n64 version for reasons I don't need to get into... n64 sucks).
When I get a handheld I am looking for a long lasting, easy to carry, durable, gaming environment that doesn't strain my eyes. To put it simply, no portable has done it yet! (well I haven't tried the GBA with the back light... I got an SP, so I never got to test it out)
ALL gameboys have hurt my eyes until the SP, feel horrible in my hand, but have great battery life!
All Sega portable felt great in my hands, didn't bother my eyes that much, but had awful battery life.
The PSP looks like its going to LOOK beautiful, but feel awful in my hands and have crap battery life.
So we get to the DS... it doesn't hurt my eyes, it has decent battery life, and only annoys my hands when I am lieing in bed playing it. Sounds good to me! As for games go, the DS is going to get a great deal of good games. WHY? well soon enough the GBA will phase out, the DS having backwards compatibility and all (well to the GBA atleast... why not the original GB???) and the great software makers who work on the GBA will start coming over to the DS!!! yey!!!