PictoChat

PictoChat is an awesome instant messaging service thing developed by John Nintendo in 1996, but was never released until it became a default Application on the Nintendo DS Family of systems in 2004. It is the place everyone claims they're going to be Hanging out, whenever the popular messaging service Discord goes down, but in reality, all they're trying to do is be Funny

PictoChat
Type of object	Software
Opponents	AOL Instant messenger, Twitter, Discord,Teamspeak, Skype
Legality	Legal
Ethical?	yeah
Where to get	Nintendo DS
Safe to eat?	No
First appearance	November 21, 2004 (2004-11-21)
Latest appearance	April 15, 2010 (2010-04-15)
Created by	John Nintendo

History

In 1995, as John Nintendo was sitting at his 30 foot Dining table in his Mansion which he was able to afford thanks to the millions he made founding his company Nintendo, he discovered a problem, that it was much too difficult to converse with people sitting at the other side of his dining table. His solution: get his workers to devise a wireless short range communication platform where you can send text and draw images to others, and then take all the credit for creating it. It was a genius idea. However, the technology at the time was not reliable enough to accomplish this task. His prototype, then made for the Game Boy and Nintendo 64 had a number of shortcomings, such as support for a wireless communications, and the ability to draw. realizing this, he decided he might as well wait until 2004, when he will release the Nintendo DS, which solves these shortcomings.

Features and Functions

A look at the PictoChat interface, featuring two people conversing. how nice!

PictoChat is accessed through the default menu on the Nintendo DS systems. from there, You can pick from four chatrooms, labelled A, B, C and D, of up to sixteen participants! That's a total of 64 people! I doubt you'd ever get that many people in somewhere all at once, though.

Interface

there are so many Buttons to press! you can press all the buttons! But the most important one is the X in the top right corner of the bottom screen, as it allows you to leave the chat room and do Something Else. When you leave you can press B then A to shut the system down. If it instead tells you to return to the DSi menu, then you must leave this page immediately. this page is NOT for DSi users.

Drawing

If you don't want to leave, I guess you can look at the buttons on the left. the two arrows allow you to scroll through all the messages you've sent. the pen button allows you to draw on the screen! I love drawing , everyone should try it. It's the most awesome function ever. But, whatever you do, do NOT press the pen button again. Absolutely nothing will happen don’t press it don’t press it GOD STOP PRESSING IT THERE IS NO RAINBOW PEN STOP TRYING GOD I HATE DSI USERS

Typing, and eraser

If you don't like drawing, I guess you can type as well. To type, just select or tap a letter and it will appear on screen according to the lines. If you don't like having your text be aligned automatically, you can drag a letter from the keyboard and start typing anywhere, if you want to be a true agent of chaos that's not bound to any rules. Under the pen is the eraser, to erase the pen you've drawn on the screen. Sadly, you cannot erase the mistakes you've made in life using this tool, much like I can’t erase the fact that the DSi exists. What a bummer.

Pen size, and other keyboards

Below the eraser is the pen size, so you can feel big or small, to suit your mood. I like being big because it makes me feel awesome as heck. We've gone over the keyboard, but now let's go over the other keyboards at your disposal. You have the accent option, which is great for conversing with your amigos in other countries, if you somehow end up within 30 feet of each other. The Japanese keyboard lets you experience the cool, kawaii, sugoi, awesomeness of the japanese language, to further your Multilingual arsenal. Prank friends by showing how cool you are by saying mean things about them in a foreign language. They'll never be able to know! Below that, are the symbols and emoticons. Who needs to use actual language, when you can be all cryptic and stuff, by using symbols. how fun!

Other functions

Tap the names of Other users in the chat room to see their personal message. It's like a secret window to your friends minds...

Sending, Copying and Deleting

Once you've creating an awesome message, just hit the send button to send it to others! Remember to not embarrass yourself!! That would be such a Bad Idea. if you feel like committing a little bit of Plagiarism, you can copy a message with the copy button. you can make edits or simply just send the message again. Confuse users by sending so many messages nobody knows what to do with themselves. After all of that, if you've decided; "Nahh... this message sucks..." you can simply press the delete button and then the message you spent all afternoon working on is gone, just like when my Dog ate my homework. Be Careful! Also, whatever you do, do NOT copy the messages of any DSi users! otherwise people may think that you are a DSi user and that is a fate worse than death itself.

Limitations and drawbacks

Sadly, PictoChat has some big drawbacks compared to other messaging apps. These include:

• the signal strength begins to diminish after 30 feet, gotta stay close!

• the messages cannot be saved. Once you close down, they’re gone forever!
• you can only draw in black and white. As mentioned earlier, there is NO rainbow pen. Don’t believe the DSi users lies, they’ll just derail all conversations when they bring out the things they’re clearly hacking in with their cameras! Wow I hate DSi users…
• only 16 per chat room, with a total of 64! That’s less than the total of people who have participated in The Wiki Camp 2!!
• they stopped making the DS years ago which is the only platform this software is on. Talk about bad business decisions!

Tips and tricks!

Play games!

you can draw some pen and paper games on PictoChat such as Tic Tac Toe! just draw a grid and use the copy feature to copy it! let your imagination run wild as you make all kinds of games without actually playing a game. The Game Master approves.

Happy Birthday!

if it's your birthday and you enter a room, you get a special jingle and a message showing that it's your birthday!! How cool is that!

Happy Birthday! Wait a second... is that r-rainbow text? I guess it's not pen, so it gets a pass...

Flowers

Luigi can make flowers!

Watch out for DSi users!

If it hasn't been clear enough, steer clear of DSi users! Not only do they try to derail conversations while boasting their so-called "superior" features, they are known to create all sorts of chaos everywhere they go, they may try to convert you to their ranks. don't fall for it!

Look out for people like this! You have been warned.

Share Personal Information

Look, people tell you not to share personal information online, but as PictoChat isn't online, it's totally safe!

Help I'm trapped in the Tips and tricks section of a wiki article!

oh jeez, uh? sorry? hope you get better soon?

Thanks, By the way before I got trapped I dumped a load of cites and stuff all over the article, hope you don't mind

Impact

PictoChat was incredibly impactful. Not only did it make more people know what a message was, it gave birth to a whole new way to chat! How cool is that?

Spiritual Successor

Thanks to Pictochat's success, John Nintendo made a Spiritual Successor on the 3DS Called Swapnote (Nintendo Letter Box in Europe), however, that got shut down due to.. reasons. Due to the fact that Swapnote was directly connected to John Nintendo's Life force, he sadly passed away shortly after. Nintendo was then inherited by His daughter, Jane Nintendo.

RPG Spin-offs

PictoChat got a Spinoff title in 2005 called Picto and Chat the game! Nobody purchased it, and the developer soon went Bankrupt.

In popular culture

In everyday life

People are always talking in everyday life. This just makes it even cooler! Imagine if all talking irl was as cool as doing it through pictochat...

Additionally, PictoChat is plentiful, since everyone has a Nintendo DS, so everyone in real life should honestly try it someday. When it comes to short range communications, there's nothing quite like it (except for Mobile Phones I guess but that's icky.)

Fighting game Stage

PictoChat appears as a stage in Nickelodeon all star brawl, Multiversus, Cartoon Network Punch time explosion and Rivals of Aether. However these appearances were unlicensed and John Nintendo himself personally DMCA’d all of them. He then put it in his own fighting game, Marvel vs. Capcom. This game was also DMCA'd but by Marvel and Capcom Because John Nintendo forgot that he didn't own the rights to either of those franchises. Talk about bad luck, am I right?

At the birth of christ

PictoChat was given to our Lord and Savior Jesus of Nazareth on a Nintendo DS he received from a secret fourth wise man. He enjoyed using PictoChat while at church. His favorite game on the Nintendo DS was Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force.

Testimonials

Don't just take my word for it, check out these awesome things people have said about PictoChat!!

This is the defenition of perfection. Pictochat has survived the test of time and is still one of the greatest game of all time.

— BlockReviews

Do you want to have a great time in 2004, well pictochat is the place to do it. Go swear at your sister without your mom knowing, see who can make the screen black the fastest or talk to random people. The possibilities are endless

— matthewm13

Trivia

PictoChat is you's favorite game!

A message to Nintendo DSi users

You guys think you're hot shit, huh? "oooohh look at me! I have cameras on my DS" well, it's 2023! Literally everyone has a camera on them these days, and they're all way better than the cameras you have! and for one more thing, an official DS camera accessory already exists! What else do you have, the DSi Shop? We already have those! It's called Gamestop, and unlike your shop, it's still around! What's that? SD Cards? Come on... for storing what, exactly? Pictures? Give me a break... Huh? Flipnote Studio? Really? You can do animations in PictoChat, with no other software required! Honestly, why are you even trying? You're just embarrassing yourselves at this point.. Let's see... Oh? a browser? the DS beat you to that as well! We have our own browser! Huh? WPA security?! You guys just never give up... WEP is all you need, or a Nintendo Wi-Fi USB adapter! You guys just don't get it... None of what you do is necessary! and no I'm not just mad that I only had a regular DS for years! Uh-uh! Just admit it, the Original DS is far superior....

A message to Nintendo 3DS users

You guys are cool. Sorry your messaging app got shut down.

...Wait, my agent has just informed me that your eShop has Nintendo DSiware on it, so we can't be friends until it shuts down in 731 days ago. Sorry.