I swear. I did own an original Nintendo DS. Despite its innovation and the games that were on the way, I had to give it up. I had won it in a contest, but was out of work at the time. I really needed the money and couldn't afford to start putting in money for games. Since I became reemployed, the PSP was released and it had superior hardware. No one could be sure where the portable market was headed at the time. But that was back in early 2005. Now we're coming down the home stretch of 2006. There are many more fun and interesting games for the Nintendo DS, while the PSP has only seems to churn out port after port. In addition, the PSP has all but abandoned its UMD movie format and the price of owning a PSP is still much more than any other current video game system save the Xbox 360 and the yet to be released Wii and PS3. Yes you can accuse me of choosing sides after the winner has all but been declared, but I don't profess to be a prognosticator of video game systems, certainly not when I'm hardly privy to what games are coming up in the future.
Like most revisions of a game system, the goal of the Nintendo DS Lite was clear. Make the unit smaller, lighter, and give it some useful features the original was missing. This was the case for the , and the Gameboy Pocket. Nintendo might have even done the same thing to the Gameboy Color if it had been more successful. The results of the Nintendo DS Lite are staggering. Nintendo announced that it had sold 21 Million units, and that was 2 months ago. Since then two new colors have been introduced and interest has remained strong despite a PSP price drop to $200.
Hardware
The main processing is on the Nintendo DS Lite is performed by dual ARM9 and ARM7 processors. The resolution is 256x192 and can display 260,000 different colors. The rechargeable lithium ion battery is internal and provides 15 to 19 hours of battery life at the lowest setting and 6 to 8 hours on the highest. The Nintendo DS communicates wirelessly through an IEEE 802.11 compatible direct connection. The Nintendo DS also weighs approximately 7.7 ounces, which is roughly 20% less than the original model. Overall, the Nintendo DS is very comparable to the N64 in terms of hardware capability.
Design and Features
The design of the DS Lite is much sleeker than the original. Not only does it weigh less, but the dimensions are also much smaller. Now its measurements are 5.2 × 2.9 × 0.9 as compared to the old dimensions of 5.9 × 3.3 × 1.1. The dpad and four face buttons are positioned similarly to where they were on the original Nintendo DS, but the start and select buttons are arranged vertically below the face buttons. The Nintendo DS Lite still has two cartridge slots: one for DS games, the other for Gameboy Advance games. However, the GBA games stick out a little bit from the base of the unit when inserted. In addition, the DS Lite comes with a plastic piece that fits into the GBA cartridge slot to keep the slot clean. Finally, the GBA cartridge slot is large enough such that the GBA eReader can now fit.
The DS Lite still has virtually identical firmware as the original DS with the time, date, alarm, and pictochat built in. There's just one exception, it now 4 backlight settings. The lowest prolongs the battery life by quite a bit. The touch screen also seems a little sturdier and scratch resistant. After just a few days of playing the Metroid Prime Hunters demo on my old DS, the screen was already showing signs of wear. However, I've put in many more hours into Meteos and there's nary a mark on the touch screen.
The Nintendo DS Lite is available in three colors: white, onyx (black), and pink.
Accessories
One of the greatest aspects of the Nintendo DS Lite is that you don't have to buy additional accessories. You don't have to buy any batteries because it has a built-in rechargable battery. It comes with a stylus that attaches to the bottom of the unit. Finally, you don't need a memory card or memory stick to store saved games. Instead saved games are stored on the individual cartridges.
Despite the lack of mandatory accessories, there are many optional accessories to choose from. There are carrying cases for your DS and its game cartridges (although the cartridges come with their own case similar to that of current generation console games). You can also buy different types of styluses. You can buy "skins" for your DS, which are pretty much stickers. There's already an Action Replay available for the Nintendo DS which allows you to load saved games and cheat through various means. The Nintendo DS also comes with the standard array of accessories like car adapters, screen protectors, and chargers. The only thing I wouldn't invest in is a glare shield. The DS Lite is pretty good in bright sunlight and its screens are pretty glare-resistant as far as my eyes can tell.
Unfortunately the Nintendo DS Lite has a new power cable design. This makes the DS Lite incompatible with most GBA accessories unlike its original design.
Finally, there's one very useful accessory that's available in Japan but not in the US yet. It's an Opera Web Browser. While the PSP has a built-in web browser in its firmware, the Nintendo DS doesn't have a web browser yet. However this might change in the future.
Game Library
The Gameboy Advance generation tended to attract a lot of games geared primarily for young kids, whether it was games based off the latest Disney movie or ones based off the latest popular Nickelodeon cartoon. The Nintendo DS while keeping a strong lineup of kid-friendly games, also introduced a very strong lineup of puzzle games and adult brain teasers. Some of the strongest offerings are Tetris DS, Meteos, Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, and Clubhouse Games. These games, while not exactly rated Mature, were meant to entertain adults primarily. In the end these four games end up being part of a strong foundation of games for the system.
Besides puzzle games, the Nintendo DS has one of the strongest lineup of platformers on any system, which is amazing considering the DS was released under two years ago. The Nintendo DS launched with Super Mario 64 DS, which was a straight port of the N64's Super Mario 64 game. It followed with Super Princess Peach, the wildly popular New Super Mario Brothers, and Kirby: Canvas Curse. It also has many other good platformers like Sonic Rush, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, Yoshi Touch & Go, and Mega Man ZX. It's a very strong lineup with a couple games that definitely would push sales of the DS hardware.
The Nintendo DS also has many other quality titles that have generated interest in other less mainstream genres like simulation, strategy, and racing. One of the most popular games ever to grace a portable game system is Nintendogs. There is a new version in the popular Advance Wars series, Advance Wars DS. There's a new version of Wario Ware called Wario Ware Touched!. There are also two games that have increased in popularity because you can play them online: Animal Crossing DS, and Mario Kart DS. Finally Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is considered by many to be one of the best games for the DS. That's a pretty strong lineup of games, many of which have provoked people to buy a Nintendo DS just to play.
The Nintendo DS doesn't excel in all genres. It fails to deliver in the shooter and sports genres. While EA does port many sports games over to the Nintendo DS, they frequently fail to deliver in the quality department. Just about the only sports game that has impressed the critics is Tony Hawk's American Sk8land, which doesn't feature a mainstream sport. In the shooter genre, there are really only three games worth mentioning are Metoid Prime Hunters, Starfox Command, and Nanostray. If you're looking for a good 3rd person shooter or sports game, the PSP is the better portable system to have.
One genre I expected to have a much better showing on the Nintendo DS is RPGs. The Nintendo DS still doesn't have a Pokemon, Golden Sun, or Fire Emblem game out yet. Final Fantasy III is slated to be released in a couple months. Just about the only RPG out there is Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time. That's a rather disappointing showing for a game system whose prior generation boasted such a heavy lineup of RPGs.
The ability to play Gameboy Advance games improves the Nintendo DS's library that much more. Backwards compatibility all of a sudden improves the quality of RPGs. Even though you cannot use the link cable to play GBA games in multiplayer mode, that shouldn't matter much in the RPG genre with the notable exception of the Pokemon games. It also makes the shooter genre look much more respectable as well.
Games will run you usually $35 as opposed to the $40 PSP games. However there are some Nintendo DS games that sell for $30 upon release, and other new but older games are now available in the $20 range.
Overall, the Nintendo DS' library is very impressive. Its biggest weakness, besides the lack of sports games and current generation RPGs, is the lack of multiplayer games. Right now there are only a handful of online DS games, while the PSP boasts quite a few more. Still, with the wifi support and the popularity of games like Animal Crossing DS, Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime Hunters, Tetris DS, and Starfox Command, I would be surprised if more aren't released very soon.
Conclusion
The Nintendo DS is the portable gaming system to have. Yes it can't play movies or music, but I have an MP3 player that can play music and a laptop that can do both. However, for original gaming, the Nintendo DS has by far the best gaming library of any portable save for possibly the Gameboy Advance. For $130, the DS Lite is a bargain and for a good deal you can get a new unit for around $115 or less if you're observant.
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