Having been a Gameboy fan for almost a decade I anxiously looked forward to the release of the new DS. When one of these units finally fell into my hands I was overwhelmed with the quality of the graphics and sound. The demo Metroid game it was packaged with is a great way to show this unit's capabilities. The depth of the 3D graphics rivals those seen on newer game consoles like Gamecube. Motion is fluid, I have only saw a few brief 'freezes' while playing 2 player wireless mode (in excess of 20+ ft. away) in 'Metroid Prime Hunters' (a hide and seek and then of course kill kind of action game). The stereo speakers are easy on the ears and would have even worked well for a portable music player. This unit has a standard mini as well as an SP headphone jack.

One of the first things I looked forward to was playing with the wireless 'Picto Chat' that is included with the unit. I quickly realized that the entire unit had to be powered down any time you want to change back to the main menu. 'What's this?' I wondered ?? This was a heads up to other design 'let downs'.

What few games I have seen and read reviews on (most are not yet even rated) makes it look like they will offer a wide range of games. They list everything from classic style Nintendo games, Zelda and Mario 64 DS version, Metroid Prime (a small screen version of the GC game) to tacky teen titles such as 'Feel the Magic XY/XX'. In this later game you are trying to 'score' a date, later animated with silhouette images. Never fear because you can enlist the aid of a gang, The 'Rub Rabbits', that are recognized by the fact they wear plastic rabbit ears (??). No kidding. You can get the scoop right from Nintendo on this one. I guess this game will have features that unlock (new fashions for your girl) when you insert Sega GBA games like Sonic and Chu-Chu Rocket. This game also uses the voice input capabilities of the DS.

I knew that the unit was backward compatible only to the GB Advance cartridges but did not realize that they could only be used in single player mode due to a the lack of a cable port.

Not only is there no cable input but also there is not a usb port either. I'm sure this unit could have been capable of mp3 or other music format playback but there is no way to download them.

A built in microphone would lead you to believe it has digital recording capabilities but that possible feature seemed to escape Nintendo engineers as well. This is instead for voice control on games.

I have seen several of these units on display at mass market retailers such as Wal-Mart and the touch screen seems to be miserably failing the kid test. Most are horribly marked up and probably useless after the marauding kids got through with them. I have had and regularly used PDAs for about 5 years now and will say the DS touch screen/keyboard works well whether you use the stylus or your finger. The screen does feel a bit 'soft' though. I am sure a screen protector will help.

Battery life seems good, other handheld manufacturers could take a few lessons from Nintendo on that! Play time seems to vary, wireless chat seems to be a great drain but the unit charges pretty quickly (~ 3 hours, like the GBA).

As assumed the unit is set up only to use Nintendo's version of memory cards so future use of this device as a PDA or anything requiring memory storage would be strictly limited to what Nintendo would release or approve despite any innovations by 3rd party designers. Obviously this DS has quite a powerful processor so other uses like PDA or mp3 functions would have been a breeze.

The dual screens are a great way to access information on some games, i.e. maps etc, but it takes some getting used to. In order to keep track of both the data screen and the gaming screen you must peek under your fingers while your hands fly over the myriad of buttons. I was glad to see they went back to a wider unit like the Advance instead of the palm sized SP which make it easier to handle.

Wireless chat is a blast but I worry about possible hacking such as has been seen with other wireless devices such as phones, PDAs and notebook computers. Will or has Nintendo thought of this? If so with no way to download protection programming or virus removal what will we do?

I think that this is a neat unit, probably worth the money based on the gaming graphics. I paid $149 for mine before the holidays '04 but have seen them online for upwards of $229. The price difference seems to depend on how many 'extras' (games, carrying cases etc.) you get with the unit. I would not give one to the average ten year old boy, it would probably be quickly wiped out. It seems like Nintendo is aiming most games at a more mature audience anyway as they do in Japan. I do feel that Nintendo, in order to beat out the new Sony handheld nit, rushed this DS to market. I think that was a shame and a waste of such a potentially great piece of technology. For gaming uses I think many people will be satisfied but don't toss your old Gameboy if you are a fan, this unit does NOT replace it.

It could have been great, it could have been so much more, instead it is just o.k. I am very disappointed in Nintendo.


Recommended: No