No product is without fault; besides, Nintendo needs something to fix for the next revision of the DS. Regardless, I don't think Nintendo will be able to produce enough of these things to keep up with demand.
My expectations were quite high before I even touched the product. Having it in my hands, it has far exceeded everything I had hoped for. The screens are brighter than anticipated, and the boost in color was entirely unexpected. The new design of the DS fixes my main complaint about the original — that clunky, ugly handheld.
The design of a product is very important, and not just for usability. This can be illustrated by the iPod. It is not an MP3 player, it is an iPod. It had a distinct look. It is an icon. The DS Lite's design has borrowed much from the Apple school of thought on this, and that is only a good thing.
The price hasn't changed, it still costs $129.99 MSRP. So if you don't have a Nintendo DS yet, (huh?) you are getting a much brighter, more vivid screen and a nice boost in battery life for the same price. The body on this one is pretty sexy, too.
If you have a DS and you are thinking of upgrading to the newest model, you are getting a DS that is less than two-thirds the size and more than 20 percent lighter than the original. The difference in screen brightness and color is breathtaking. After having the DS Lite in my hands to test, I would buy it in a heartbeat.
I will be keeping my "Fat DS", though. Considering the amount of titles that have single-cart play, as well as demo play, my old DS has already come in handy for some great competition between friends.
But is the old one worth selling for the new model? Absolutely! Highly recommended, for both new and existing DS users.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Victor Plenty
The DS Lite's clunky way of holding Advance cartridges was what finally convinced me to buy a bigger DS while they're still available, oddly enough.
2 - Dynamo of Eternia
"I can't help but imagine what movies and TV shows would look like on these new DS screens."
Funny you should say that.
In this week's Best Buy ad, there is this 3rd party hard drive adapter thing for the DS Lite that allows you to play music and movies on your DS. I also saw it last night at my local Best Buy Store. I forget the exact price off-hand, but I know it was over $100 for this thing.
I'm not exactly sure how it works. I assume you can download video or rip your DVDs onto the HD or something. Check the ad and you should be able to see what I am talking about.
I believe it says that it is for DS Lite as well, so I don't know if it will work with the regular DS.
It sounds interesting, and I wouldn't mind getting when and if I can afford it (I will have to get a DS Lite first anyway, and I don't know if I really want to spend that money right now since I already have the regular DS).
So, if you really are interested in watching movies and stuff on your DS, you may want to check that out. If I have a chance to double check the exact name of the item later on, I will post it here.
3 - Ken Edwards
Yes, oddly enough, it is a big design flaw, and an oversight they should have considered revising. Though I do not play many GBA games, I do still play them.
They would have had to move the placement of the stylus to fit the GBA cart inside flush. Although considering the DS cart is also above the stylus, they have the stylus in the only conceivable spot on the unit.
I am sure it was a conscious design decision on their end, and something had to give.
The fact that I will need to buy ANOTHER Rumble Pak to get one that fits flush is also a little irritating. The DS Lite should have shipped with the new sized Rumble Pak inside the box.
4 - Ken Edwards
Datel 4GB HDD and Media Player for Nintendo DS.
I was unsure about it working on the DS Lite. But it may be something worth checking out, since the screens are so nice.
5 - Victor Plenty
If that manufacturer is smart, they'll send you the hardware to test out on your DS Lite and your original DS so you can write a review here.
6 - Matt Paprocki
No brightness control button = crap. If my batteries low and I'm in a tough boss fight and can't quit, I'd like to get a few extra minutes with the brightness control. Apparently, this was too much for Nintendo to consider.
That alone is enough for me to drop the system down a notch, along with the GBA annoyance.
Everything else though, well, yeah, it's spectacular.
7 - Ken Edwards
A hardware dial for brightness control would have been a nice touch. There is room on the left side of the unit, or to the left side of the stylus port.
That will be on the DS 3.0 release hardware.
What GBA annoyance? I mean other than the going blind part.
8 - Eric
Datel MAX Media Dock is only $40 so if you have spare Compact Flash Drives you can use that. Or buy a 2GB CF card for ~$46.
BUT it's going to be ugly on the DS Lite, it plugs into the GBA Port.
Didn't the GBA SP have a Backlight Button? why couldn't they include that on the DS? Slight Oversight or a planned way of not making a "Perfect" DS revision. So I guess that is going to be released next.
9 - Dynamo of Eternia
Well, I said earlier that I was going to wait before getting one.
But then I was at Best Buy earlier today, and weakness got the better of me, and I bought one.
I had other things I did after going to Best Buy before going home, so I didn't get to try it until a few hours later. During that inbetween time, I kind of regretted buying it (I'm not going to be in the poor house from buying it or anything, but I just like to plan these kinds of things out more).
Then I got it home and tried it. And I must say, it is SO much nicer than the regular DS. The brightness of the screens is a lot nicer. It's like night and day comparing the two. This is as big, if not a bigger difference between these two as there was between the original GBA (the one that didn't light up) and the GBA-SP.
The only thing that I do not like about it is the fact that the GBA games do not fit flush into the DS Lite, as pointed out in this article. It is rather annoying. But still, I'd rather put up with that just in order to have the nicer screens.
The Stylus is in a much better place, too.
With the regular one, it is on in the back, and it can be a pain to pull it out when needed (esspecially in a game where you don't use it a lot, but it is crucial to have when you do need it), and it is even more annoying to put back. Now that it is on the side, it is so much nicer.
So, aside from the GBA game issue, this new unit is a huge step up in every way from the previous version. I highly recommend it.
10 - Ken Edwards
Dynamo - Ha ha! You caved. I'm glad to hear it.
11 - Dynamo of Eternia
Yeah, I'm actually glad that I caved.
I was originally concerned that it wouldn't be enough of a difference from the original DS to make it worth while. But I must say, the screens are much nicer, brighter, and the colors are more vibrant. When I put it side by side with my older DS, it was like night and day! It's really amazing.
I wonder if they made the GBA games stick out a bit intentionally. This feature may cause people to use their GBA games less and less, thus making the demand for compatibility with them decrease. As a result, they may eventually make another DS that no longer features GBA game support, or they may eventually create a new portable with backwards compatibility with the DS games, but not the older games.
The Gameboy Micro (which was the last, and least successful version of the GBA) no longer had support for the original or color Gameboy games like the previous versions did.
This could be what Nintendo is trying to do (though I could be wrong). If I am right about this, it could be because it becomes harder and harder to make each new, portable system combatible with the previous ones, and keep the new system within reasonable, portable size.
12 - Ken Edwards
I don't think it is that at all.
Look at where the stylus is. Now take the DS cart out and place it on the back of the DS. See where the end of it is? Right above the stylus. The GBA cart fits inside the unit the exact same was on the bottom, with the stylus slot in between the GBA and DS slots.
There simply is no other place for the stylus in this design. If it were not where it is, the GBA cart would fit flush. But where would the stylus be?
I think it was an unavoidable design decision.
13 - Dynamo of Eternia
True, you do make a very good point. That could well be the case. Maybe its even somehow a combo of both. Who knows. Either way, its still a better system overall.
14 - Dancinkitten
I lost my ds
15 - Bsquare
what is the screen dimensions of the DS Lite?
16 - Ken Edwards
3" TFT, just like before.
17 - Michael
i just want to know that , is psp game better than nintendo ds lite cause al i am interest is the game not the system
is the 3d graphic good and the game good better than psp?
18 - JSG
Why didn't they add chat (instant messenger) with internet support and an built in web browser!!
I think this is the feaures that is missing in this little tiny box to make it number 1 !!!
Imagine if you could have it in your pocket and your friends could send a message and it would give you a beep tone.. Like an SMS but over internet and when you access public hot spots..
19 - Doggie
Yea,
It would be nice to have public nintendo hotspot at home, i could set one up, but i would like to limit it to only DS'es that needs to have public access... Is there any rule's or ready software/community that has started a public / open Nintendo DS Wifi Network ?!?!??
20 - razr
i really wan't one of those new ds lite and i think i might go buy one tomorrow in the morning
21 - razr
who knows when the black one is coming out in the usa
22 - Matt Paprocki
"Why didn't they add chat (instant messenger) with internet support and an built in web browser!!"
Web browser (Opera) is coming soon.
23 - Wilson
I was once told by Nintendo employees that the company is not in the habit of selling hardware where they lose money per unit in hopes of making it up with games. Keep that in mind.
Adding an IM client and a Web Browser would have added to the price of each unit whether you wanted them or not. Software and hardware (memory) cost something.
It would have been nice if they included a Rumble Pak that fit perfectly in the GBA slot widget but again that would have added cost to every unit. Call me cheap but I've never purchased a Rumble Pak and I still thoroughly enjoy my games.
For a street price of $130, I can get a DS Lite and two games ($35 each) for the price of a PSP with no games.
As for the GBA cart sticking out, Ken is right that there was no choice if they wanted to hit that form factor. It's a penalty that I am willing to pay. I have lots of GBA games that I am replaying because the screen is pure joy to use and the cart sticking out doesn't bother me a bit.
As for the brightness control, I agree that it would have been nice. I don't see why they could not have implemented a key sequence to control brightness at a minimal cost.
As for PSP versus DS Lite, the PSP has better hardware and the graphics look better to me (I write 3D engines for a living) but they have very few games that excite me. I'll take my GBA games with crappy graphics over all of the whizbang PSP games that leave me cold.
I just picked up a DS Lite having passed over the DS because I did not like the screens and the form factor. I'm glad I did.
24 - joshua earl
Well i have a psp and so does my friend austen we both have syphonfilter dark mirror so one day we finnaly met up and i had my game ready to verse him online so i asked where is your psp and he had told me he had traded it in 4 a nintendo ds so shortly after i wanted one 2, because i remember asking at least 100 people if they had a psp and 3/4 of them said (no but i have a nintendo ds ) and i also remember in my daycare nooen having a psp there so i was sitting in a corner with my psp watching like 5 other people sitting there on pictochat with their nintendo ds's so i got fed up as soon as my friend traded his psp (he was the only pearson i knew that had one in pearson)so i wanted 2 trade mine in 2 but i was afraid that my mom whould laugh and say " yeah right " but i asked her anyways and i said " I can trade my psp and all my accessories and games for a nintendo ds " and she felt bad because i had so much fun on that thing so she said that she whould buy me one so i was just about 2 get one when the guy at the store informed me about the new one so he pretty much saved me from a fat dark low coulor range piece of fragile junk. but we went back home without getting one and my mom said she whould get me one in less than a week so i am still paranoid about it asking her all day long can i get one now (ect). and then i started to tell her facts about the nintendo ds (BRITE) and how it was so much better than the old one that really pissed her off but the moaral of the story is get the newer ds i always get what i want and im obsessed with video games.
25 - Croda
The only thing about this that irritated me was that when I went to go play Golden Sun on the new DS Lite it changed the colors of the screen to some degree, so the big storm in the beginning is done with light cheerfully streaming in the windows of your house and when you go outside it is a bright sunny day with rain streeking across the screen. I don't know if this problem will percist throughout the game but it would suck if it did. The big review above mentioned that the yellows and greens are sharper, maybe that's the problem.