More thoughts on the Nintendo DS

[hex65000]

Well, I finally got my DS on Monday through EBay in a blind auction. You know, the kind with all the 'stock photos' so you have no clue as to what your'e really getting until it's too late. Overall, it's in good shape. There is one dead/hot pixel on each screen, it is a touch distracting, but nothing too bad. It came with four games, Yoshi: Touch and go, Pac-Pix, Retro Atari, Star Wars: Ep. 3, and the Metroid Prime demo. Since then I found a couple more for ~$18 ea. (Spider Man 2 and Asphault) I need to put some more milage on the unit to form any kind of solid opinion. I'm going to try and avoid comparing it to the PSP for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I have been blocking out Sony's hype machine. Second, for those who pay attention, I do not think that highly of Sony as an electronics manufacturer. I have not spent any quality time with the PSP making any thoughts I have either based on historical data or someone else's opinions. Back to the DS, here are my early impressions:

 

Weight: This thing is surprisingly heavy. While it does make it a lot less portable, it also feels reasonably sturdy as well.

 

Graphics quality: I like what I see, but everything seems rather small. I suspect that it's the same size or close to the screen size of the SP. The larger body of the DS just dwarfs the displays IMO. The visuals were quite acceptable, and the lit screens are nice as well. I'm glad that bit of technology has finally been adopted by Nintendo.

 

Touch games: I'm thankful that not every game has been touch-centric. Is it a gimmck? Yeah, probably. I do look at it as an interesting experiment though. It's not 'the norm' and by default any sane company would probably rather save the cost of parts to add a touch screen v/s using a standard LCD screen. The touch games are good for that instant gratification feeling I must say. There are also viable applications for the touch screen such as Missile Command. It's not a perfect port or anything, but the whole "Tap touch screen to launch a missile". That's a perfect application.

 

Dual screens: Hence the name DS. I'm trying to figure out the true motivations here. Was it cheaper than having one bigger non-touch screen on either the top or bottom? Was it a hark back their hey-days with the game and watch series? The marketing dept. took some 'mind expanding' drugs that day? I don't know. It's interesting, but I'd love to see the proper reason why they chose to go this route.

 

Clamshell design: I admit it, I was initally unimpressed with the Gameboy SP when it came out, I had already bought 4 NiMH batteries and an Afterburner kit for my regular boring GBA. I still like that form factor better than the SP when I need to use the shoulder buttons regularly. However, the clamshell design has merit in that the screen(s) are protected when it's closed up. This is desirable especially with a more pricey and possibly easier to damage touch screen.

 

Game library: There's only two or three more titles that I have to own right now for the DS. Wario and Mr. Driller are the first two for sure. I would have to say that this is where Nintendo may have problems: they need some 3rd party presence and not the half-assed presence of EA either. We've discussed in previus threads some of the potential of this deck. All we need are developers to do it. For the love of Mike, there's got to be sombody else out there besides EA.

 

Cartridge form factors: If the GBA carts said 'lose me' the Nintendo DS carts say 'lost between the couch cushons forever'. They are miniscule, and I suppose are flash ram based in nature. The small size limits what can be crammed in a cart, which could lead to problems down the road. While I'm not motivated to break open any of my game carts, if I were to guess how this is mounted inside I'd guess that you have one or two silicon wafers epoxyed in place wrapped in a plastic shell. They make low profile parts that may be soldered on, but I'm not confident that is the case. I also _like_ carts in a portable environment. The capacity of flash ram has improved regularly due to high consumer demand in things like Cell phones, USB mem-sticks, game system memory cards, etc. Memory makers get more money if they can cram more memory onto a smaller and smaller die (square of silicon) It's gotten to the point where it's reasonable (not cheaper) to store large amounts of data on flash ram over a CD. The other upshot is access time. Even though The data HAS to be coming out of the cart in some serial fashion. (there's just not enough data pins to go around for a particularly wide parallel buss) Ram/rom is typically faster than other storage media. And it's pretty painless to retreive data in a scattered pattern from ram v/s any kind of disc media. I feel this applies wether we are talking portable systems, consoles, or PCs. The result is roughly the same; RAM is fast, but it can be expensive.

 

Stylus: It's okay, but feels a bit small in my larger hands. It's also nice that readily available replacements can be had for a tolerable price. I'd rather not have to replace it, but ~$3-$4 per stylus isn't too bad. I realized quickly that I'd have to get used to using it with the touch screen though, I like having a slightly bigger stick to wield.

 

Thats it!

 

Hex.

[ And now I'm going to get myself into more trouble ... ]

[ninjarabbit]

Just wait for Animal Crossing and Castlevania and you'll be happy with your investment.

[kevin242]

Warioware and Feel the Magic work great with the touch screen! You should try one

of them (feel the magic is pretty cheap on Ebay). Mario 64 is nice and one other

thing to consider is the DS seems to have the best interface for FPS type games,

altho I dont go crazy for the Metroid demo there are some first person shooters on the

way that look good (Rogue Agent came out this week for example)

 

 

 

Can't you get the dead pixels fixed for free by Nintendo?

[shep]

It seems heavy at first when compared with the SP, but she's just fine and the screens are larger than the SP's.

Edited June 18, 2005 by shep

[AlexKIDD]

I just got my ds last week and I'm loving it. I'd say it's the best handheld I have and that would include gba,psp,lynx,nomad and ngpc. I have Mario 64,Star Wars episode 3,Kirby and Yoshi. So far I like Kirby the best. I'm going to get Meteos in two weeks and I'm looking forward to all of the other great games coming out this yeard especially Castlevania,Metroid and Animal Crossing. I also really like playing gba games on it. They look great. My only complaint about the system is the fact that you can't play game boy color games on it(i'm sure those dragon warrior games would look nice on here) but that's a very minor complaint.

[Zoop]

I bought my DS about 2 months ago now ,and i'm very happy with it. So far i got Yoshi Touch & Go , Zoo Keeper, Goldeneye, Mario 64, Metroid First Hunt, Rayman DS, and Ridge Racer. Rayman ,and Ridge Racer haven't came in yet though. See i was stuck on a Nintendo 64 for almost half of the current generations life cycle so the graphics on a DS i feel right at home with although i do have a PS2,Dreamcast, and Gamecube now. I know the DS isnt a graphic power house like the PSP ,but i dont want that. Especially not for the cost you hafta make to get that 40-50 a game ,and 250 for a unit that has its flaws. My only complaint is it can be easy to scratch the touch screen. the D-pad on it is alot more comfortable than my old gba so its nice to play gba games on as well. I like my DS so much ,and since my mum and girlfriend so much i'm going to buy an electric blue one soon ,and give the silver one to my girl so me ,and her can play some Zoo Keeper together she loves that game. Star Wars EP3 looks good for it especially with the 3D flight section it seems to be the closest thing to star fox we'll get on the DS so far ,but since those sections of the game are small its not worth 40 bux maybe once it comes down to 25. My next DS titles are going to be Pac Pix Kirby SPiderman 2 Splinter Cell Nanostray ,and Pac n' Roll... and i definetly can't wait till the holidays Mario Kart Mario Bros Metroid Prime Animal Crossing i'm going to be in DS heaven. i take the thing everywhere i go

[sega saturn x]

How is golden eye? And stay away from spider man 2 its awful it was the second game i got at launch for the system. Oh and do you think yoshi is worth 30$?

[Jess Ragan]

I haven't played Rogue Agent (nor do I intend to), but I've heard that it's only an adequate first-person shooter, burdened with lots of annoying flaws that could easily have been fixed if the designers were given the time to do it.

 

Yoshi's Touch and Go, on the other hand, is a game I'd recommend. Don't expect the depth of Kirby Canvas Curse, but do expect fun gameplay, precise touch screen recognition, and fantastic, colorful graphics.

 

JR

[chrisbid]

this obviously needs to be screamed louder

 

FEEL THE MAGIC

 

buy it, think wario ware with dreamcast-era sega humor

[kevin242]

I agree with both of the above comments. Yoshi was a grower for me, at first I was

like what the hell, this is it!!! Then I was like okay this is kind of fun but this is it!!!!

A week later I picked it up and now I play it almost every time I turn on my DS. It's

addictive and fun.

 

Feel the Magic is great and has that wierd japanese humor/style, get it on ebay for

like 15 bucks like I did it is well worth it! Also Warioware and of course Mario 64.

I still need to buy Kirby, and I am waiting for ZooKeeper to come in the mail so I

can't comment.

 

Goldeneye is pretty universally considered mediocre....

 

I really love the DS, I find it more entertaining then any system Ive owned in at least 10

years. I think Nintendo really made something unique and it will open up a whole new

type of system since the way it is going (with LInux and PDA capabilities on the

horizon) it looks like this will basically be a little computer you can carry around with

you that plays awesome games and has built in wireless internet.

[classicgamingguy]

I'm STILL kicking myself for selling mine! ARGH! Why did I do it???

 

Well, I got some credit coming from Estarland...so mebbe it's time to get another one and KEEP it this time!

 

Steve

[sega saturn x]

Ok any one with a DS needs to make meteos your next buy for ds. It's a great puzzle game with lot's of options and it's just a ton of fun.

[Atariboy]

Are dead pixels common? Fired mine up for the first time last night and have one in the upper screen.

 

Should I return it?

[sega saturn x]

Yes you should return it

[classicgamingguy]

Are dead pixels common? Fired mine up for the first time last night and have one in the upper screen.

 

Should I return it?

882921[/snapback]

 

From what I've read on the subject, dead pixels are common on the DS, but I thought for the first batches that were released. When I owned my DS, I had nary a dead pixel in sight. Return it and make Nintendo give you a clean system.

 

Steve

[kevin242]

Are dead pixels common? Fired mine up for the first time last night and have one in the upper screen.

 

Should I return it?

882921[/snapback]

 

From what I've read on the subject, dead pixels are common on the DS, but I thought for the first batches that were released. When I owned my DS, I had nary a dead pixel in sight. Return it and make Nintendo give you a clean system.

 

Steve

884186[/snapback]

 

 

 

dead pixels may have been commen at first, but I would DEFINITLY return it. You

shouldnt have to spend 150 bucks and live with dead pixels. Nintendo has a great

policy too, if you let them have your credit card # for security they will send you

out a replacement BEFORE you ship yours, so you wont ever go without your

precious DS.

 

The DS is a lot of fun and it is a platform that is here to stay for a few years at

least, dont be lazy, get the thing fixed, you will be happy you did. BTW when you

send it back keep the extra stylus as a bonus.

[cryptik76]

Ok any one with a DS needs to make meteos your next buy for ds.  It's a great puzzle game with lot's of options and it's just a ton of fun.

882687[/snapback]

 

I agree totally with this.

 

I bought Meteos yesterday, and I've already put several hours into it.

 

I'm not a big DS fan (I bought it on launch date but until I bought Meteos yesterday I was convinced that I had thrown $150 away when I bought the thing), but Meteos is an awesome puzzle game. It might even be better than Lumines on the PSP, as much as I love that game.

 

Nanostray will probably be the third game I buy for my DS, once it comes out. I have faith in developer Shinen because of how awesome Iridion II on the GBA is.

[sega saturn x]

I too am looking forward greatly to nanostray looks amazing.

[Atariboy]

Would Wal-Mart take it back so I could just get a new one right in the store? I think I'll go that route first. Bought it there since my local EB annoys me with their dumb employees and I still have the receipt of course.

 

Thanks for the advice. Glad I'm only 8 stars in for Super Mario 64 DS, barely losing anything.

Edited July 3, 2005 by Atariboy

[cryptik76]

Would Wal-Mart take it back so I could just get a new one right in the store? I think I'll go that route first. Bought it there since my local EB annoys me with their dumb employees and I still have the receipt of course.

 

Thanks for the advice. Glad I'm only 8 stars in for Super Mario 64 DS, barely losing anything.

885006[/snapback]

 

I think DS games save on the game cards themselves, so you won't lose anything (unless when you return your DS, the card is still in the slot). When you get your new DS and put in the game, your saves should still be there. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Atariboy]

Well, I got the bundle for 150 that included Mario 64. So it will have to be returned too.

[shep]

Well, I got the bundle for 150 that included Mario 64. So it will have to be returned too.

885016[/snapback]

 

Just take it back to where you got it and just say the screens were messed up. Your average joe walmart employee will just say okay, and give you store credit to buy another. Worked for me.

[cryptik76]

Well, I got the bundle for 150 that included Mario 64. So it will have to be returned too.

885016[/snapback]

 

Oh, I see. I forgot about the bundle.