Table of Contents
Nintendo DS Lite Review
Have you ever wondered which portable console ranks first in sales? It's the Nintendo DS Lite. It sold 93 million units. That's more than the combined sales of all other consoles in the Nintendo DS family. Even all versions of the PlayStation Portable sold fewer units (82 million sales), and that's, mind you, the main competitor of the Nintendo DS Lite.
Of course, such success was achieved thanks to many factors, including external ones. For example, by the end of 2005, there was a shortage of Nintendo DS consoles. Realizing that they had a new console on the way, Nintendo decided not to increase production of the old version. Therefore, a significant shortage of consoles occurred. There were many other factors: the console itself was improved, the game Nintendogs was released, which achieved phenomenal success.
Let's try to understand why the Nintendo DS Lite sold so well and whether it truly is the best among all consoles in the Nintendo DS family.
Nintendo DS Lite in the bottom row on the right.
The Nintendo DS Lite is the second console in the Nintendo DS family. Many factors contributed to the appearance of the Nintendo DS Lite, but the main ones, in my opinion, are the large size and poor screens of the Nintendo DS.
Read more about the development history of the Nintendo DS Lite in the article: «History of Nintendo DS Lite».
Console Package
The Nintendo DS Lite came in a beautiful white box.
Inside you will find:
1. Console;
2. Instructions and other paperwork;
3. Charger;
4. Strap to spin the console on your finger.
Console Dimensions
Dimensions of the Nintendo DS Lite.
Length: 133 mm
Width: 73.9 mm
Thickness: 21.5 mm
It's worth noting that this is the smallest console in the Nintendo DS family.
Usage
When Nintendo published the press release about the release of the Nintendo DS Lite, they mentioned that the new console would be of a higher class. It's clear what they meant, but it's not entirely clear why the Nintendo DS Lite turned out to be more careless compared to the Nintendo DS.
There weren't many conceptual changes, but the ones that were made hit the mark.
The Nintendo DS Lite started to feature a good screen with four backlight modes. The viewing angles were significantly improved.
The size of the console was reduced.
The battery capacity was increased. Because of this, the Nintendo DS Lite has the longest battery life among all Nintendo DS consoles.
Minor changes include moving the microphone closer to the center of the console (for games where the console needs to be held sideways) and moving the power button to the outer side.
All these improvements were very necessary, especially when it comes to the screens. On the other hand, some changes were strange.
The plastic used for the console was glossy. It looks beautiful, but it's not very pleasant to the touch.
The buttons on the console changed significantly. If you read reviews online about the Nintendo DS Lite, this is the main complaint.
The buttons on Nintendo consoles consist of three parts. The plastic part that you see on the console body. Underneath it is a rubber pad that presses the actual button on the board. So it's a three-component button. The bottom part of the button can be of two types: either it's just a contact pad that is closed by a conductive rubber pad, or it's an actual button where the contact pad is closed by a specially bent plate (this plate makes the sound when you press it).
If you look at the photo above, you can see that the Nintendo DS has a cross-shaped button, while the Nintendo DS Lite has just a contact pad that is closed by conductive rubber pads.
The main difference between these two types of buttons is that the Nintendo DS Lite has a more reliable option, but it lacks the click sound when pressing the button. That is, when you press the console button, you press the rubber pad that connects the two contacts, so there can be no click sound. In the second option (Nintendo DS), everything is the opposite: this option is less reliable, but there is a click sound when pressing the button. In reality, the difference is not very big, but in terms of feel, the option with the button and the click sound feels more pleasant and understandable.
Moreover, the difference in buttons is not only internal but also external. The Nintendo DS Lite buttons seem to be not fitted properly, there is a gap between the body and the plastic part of the button. Because of this, they wobble in their places. Plus, the buttons themselves stick out more, meaning the button travel is longer.
I tested the buttons on all consoles and came to the conclusion that, in general, I don't care. It even seemed that pressing the cross-shaped button on the Nintendo DS Lite is slightly easier than on all other consoles. And the slightly longer button travel is even more convenient.
Interestingly, out of 10 consoles in the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS families, only one other console used buttons like the Nintendo DS Lite. That's the Nintendo 2DS. All other consoles were made with the second type of button.
On the top of the console, there is a charging port, L and R buttons, a cartridge slot, and holes to hang the console on a strap. Moreover, the charging port on this console is completely new. If you take the Nintendo DS, its charging port is the same as the Game Boy Advance SP. The Nintendo DSi, Nintendo DSi XL, and all consoles in the Nintendo 3DS family also have the same port. But the Nintendo DS Lite has a different charging port than all other consoles. This is, of course, a downside.
On the bottom, there is a headphone jack, a volume slider, and a port for Game Boy Advance cartridges.
On the right side, there is a stylus compartment and the power button.
There is nothing on the left side.
On the back, at the bottom, there is a battery slot, the console's serial number, and the mandatory legal text.
On the front, in the center, is the microphone that was moved from the bottom panel.
How to Play on the Console?
Since this console still has a port for Game Boy Advance cartridges, you can run both Nintendo DS games and Game Boy Advance games on it. Note: Nintendo DSi games cannot be run on this console.
However, Game Boy Advance cartridges stick out of the console.
And Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges simply cannot be inserted into this console.
Many people wonder: can this console be flashed? In general, yes, but there is no point in doing so. Flashing the console is usually needed for four things: to change the console's interface language, to run games with regional restrictions, to run homebrew applications, and simply to play pirated games.
Let's break it down in order.
Changing the console's interface language is done directly in the console's menu. And if, for example, on Nintendo DSi consoles, the Japanese version doesn't have built-in English, then on the Nintendo DS Lite, all regional versions of the console have English. Even the iQue DS Lite.
There are no regional restrictions on the Nintendo DS Lite. Unless you want to play a Chinese game, then you will have to buy an iQue DS Lite, because only it can run such games.
To run homebrew applications and pirated games, you don't need to flash the console, but you need to buy a flash cartridge. The Nintendo DS Lite doesn't have built-in memory (well, it does, but it's system memory and there's not much of it). And you can't write games to it. In this case, the flash cartridge acts as a hard drive where you write your games and homebrew applications.
For example, you can now buy an R4 flash cartridge. You can read more about this flash cartridge in the article: «R4 NDS Cartridge».
So why would you need to flash the console?
Before flash cartridges in the Nintendo DS cartridge format appeared, you could play pirated Nintendo DS games using Game Boy Advance flash cartridges.
The latter procedure looked a bit strange. You needed an original cartridge (and not just any cartridge), plus you needed a special PASSME cartridge. You also needed a special Game Boy Advance cartridge that could run in Nintendo DS mode.
After that, you had to flash the PASSME for a specific game (in my case, Fifa). Once everything was ready, you could run the GBA cartridge in Nintendo DS mode and play DS games.
For example, the G6 Flash 4G flash cartridge can run games in NDS mode.
When you load it as a regular GBA cartridge, the menu looks like this:
And if you run it using a PASSME cartridge, the menu looks like this:
So, if you flash the Nintendo DS Lite, you wouldn't need to buy the original game and the PASSME cartridge. You could immediately run the Game Boy Advance cartridge in Nintendo DS game mode.
But this method is no longer needed because flash cartridges have appeared that are made in the Nintendo DS format and don't require any additional purchases.
iQue DS Lite
As with many Nintendo consoles, there is also a version from the company iQue.
There are no cardinal differences between these versions. Unless you want to play iQue DS games, then you can only do so on iQue DS consoles.
Epilogue
Compared to the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo DS Lite console was a huge step forward. Just because of the improved screens, there is no reason to buy a Nintendo DS anymore.
By a strange coincidence, this console still has the ability to output images to larger screens. And now you can even buy a ready-made board for installation in the console.
I don't like playing Game Boy Advance games on Nintendo DS consoles, but this slot is not only used for such games. There are also Nintendo DS games that use the GBA slot. There are many homebrew programs that allow you to do various things with GBA cartridges (rewrite cartridges, dump saves, restore them, and much more).
In the end, it turns out that in terms of the combination of all possibilities, this is the best console. Only the Nintendo DSi XL can offer any competition, and even then only because of the larger screens. All other consoles are immediately at a disadvantage.
