Capcom vet and Game Republic founder Yoshiki Okamoto says that the market for Nintendo's DS may be destined for a market crash similar to Atari in 1983.

Speaking on Nintendo's wildly popular Nintendo DS, Okamoto suggested that the system's rapid growth and glut of available software might indicate an impending doom for the market, particularly in North America.

"I think it's a fact that the market blew up more rapidly than even [Nintendo] thought it would," Okamoto told Gamasutra. "And the faster something expands, the easier it is for it to deflate again, right? I hope they come up with a way to avoid this with the DS. But for one thing, there are way too many titles out all at once."

"You've started hearing the phrase 'Atari crash' pretty frequently," he added. "People are talking about how the second 'Atari crash' is around the corner. And Nintendo is the one that has to figure out a way to stop it."

The infamous Atari crash in 1983 was prompted by a number of factors, including increased saturation of consoles and products on the market. The crash nearly destroyed the then-fledgling game industry.