DS Lite Review + Gameboy history - 10/10
Nintendo Handheld Gaming Systems
Well I wanted to do a review on the Nintendo DS Lite, but I though I would also take you through the history of cartridge swappable portable gaming console made by Nintendo, listing a few specifications and a brief description of each.
NINTENDO GAMEBOY
The original Game Boy was first available in 1989 bundled with the game Tetris and sold roughly 70 million units worldwide.
ACCESSORIES
• Link Cable
• Battery Pack
• Camera
• Printer
SPECIFACTIONS
•
CPU
Custom 8-bit Sharp x80 core at 4.194304 MHz which is similar to an Intel18080in that all of the registers introduced in the Z80 are not present. However, some of the instruction set enhancements from the Z80, particularly bit manipulation is present. Still other instructions are unique to this particular flavour of x80 CPU. The core also contains integrated sound generation
•
RAM
8 kByte internal S-RAM
•
Video RAM
8 kByte internal
•
ROM
256 kbit, 512 kbit, 1 Mbit, 2 Mbit and 4 Mbit and 8 Mbit cartridges
•
SOUND
2 Square Waves, 1 voluntary Wave (Triangle/DPCM), 1 White noise. The unit only has one speaker, but headphones provide stereo sound
•
DISPLAY
Reflective LCD 160 × 144 pixels
•
SCREEN SIZE
66 mm (2.6 in) diagonal
•
COLOUR PALLET
4 shades of "grey" (green to (very) dark blue)
•
COMMUNICATION
Up to 16 Game Boys can be linked together via serial ports
•
POWER
6 V, 0.7 W (4 AA batteries provide ~#35 hours)
•
DIMENSIONS
90mm(W) × 148mm(H) × 32mm(D)/3.5 × 5.8 × 1.3 (inch)
GAMEBOY: PLAY IT LOUD
The
Gameboy Play it Loud was released in 1995 using
Play it Loud as its add campaign, these units were available in red, yellow, green, black, blue, white and clear cases, and a limited edition Manchester United version in the UK.
The
Gameboy Play it Loud had the same technical specifications as the previous model.
GAMEBOY POCKET
In 1996 the
Gameboy Pocket was released this version was smaller, lighter and used only 2 x AAA batteries, battery life lasted about 10 hours of game play.
Nintendo decide to ditch the monochromatic display and replace it with a true black and white screen.
GAMEBOY LIGHT
Released in Japan 1997 the
Game Boy Light is one of the rarest Gameboy variations to find these days. Approximately the same size as the Gameboy Pocket the Gameboy Light features a backlit screen and powered by 2 x AA batteries giving around 20 hours of game play when not using the backlit function and 12 using the backlight.
GAMEBOY COLOR
After high consumer demand Nintendo released the
Gameboy Color in 1998, backwards compatibility with all previous Gameboy titles, with the option of adding selected colours to Gameboy titles.
•
SPECIFACTIONS
•
POWER
2 x AA-batteries
•
CPU
8-bit CPU, approximately 8 Mhz
•
RAM
256 Kbit (32 Kbyte)
•
COLOUR PALLET
32,000 colours, max colours on screen 32 (Game Boy/ Game Boy Color Hybrid carts)
56 (Game Boy Color carts) several thousand (Hi colour mode)
•
COMMUNICATION
Serial Port(IR)Speed: 512Kbps
•
GAMEBOY ADVANCE
Released in 2001 the
Gameboy Advance(GBA) is basically a portable Super Nintendo, approximately 79 million units sold (worldwide). The Gameboy Advance is also backwards compatible with Gameboy and Gameboy Color games. Sholder buttons were added as apposed to previous Gameboy variants.
For a list of the more popular games available for the GBA series have a look in our
Games Section:
www.myds.com.au/
ACCESSORIES
• Wireless adaptor
• Play-yan(MP3/MPEG4 player)
• e-Reader
• Cleaning Cartridge
• Gameboy Advance Video(Cartoons and Movies on game packs)
SPECIFACTIONS
•
SIZE
Approximately 3.2 x 5.69 x 0.97 inches.
•
WEIGHT
Approximately 140 grams
•
SCREEN
2.9 inches reflective thin-film transistor(TFT) colour LCD
•
POWER
2 x AA batteries, Approximately 20 hours of battery life.
•
CPU
16.8 MHz 32-bit ARM7TDMI with embedded memory.
•
MEMORY
32 kilobyte + 96 kilobyte VRAM(internal to the CPU), 256 kilobyte WRAM (external to the CPU).
•
RESOLUTION
240 x 160 pixels.
•
COLOUR
15-bit RGB (16-bit colour space using 5 bits depth per channel), capable of displaying 512 simultaneous colours in "character mode" and 32,768 simultaneous colours in "bitmap mode".
GAMEBOY ADVANCE SP
Nintendo did a remake of the GBA in 2003 into a clamshell design using all of the original hardware specifications, when closed the
GBA SP is almost half the size of the original GBA. The
GBA SP was first released with a front lit screen but later re-released with a backlit screen, and was available in many colour options, Onyx, Flame, Platinum, Cobalt, Graphite, Pearl Blue and Pearl Pink and limited editions.
ACCESSORIES
• Specific design headphones
• GBA SP AC adapter comes with the package to recharge its lithium ion battery
GAMEBOY MICRO
The last of the Gameboy series is the
Gameboy Micro basically an GBA SP but a much smaller compact version and with a much praised back lit screen.
This version is backward compatible with all GBA games but not with original Gameboy and Gameboy Color games due to a redesign of the cartridge slot.
A cool feature of the
Gameboy Mirco is the interchangeable covers.
SPECIFACTIONS
DIMENSIONS
• Height: 2"
• Width: 4"
• Depth: 0.7"
• Weight: Approximately 2.8 ounces
•
MEMORY
(RAM): 32KB, 256KB external
•
CPU
32-bit RISC-CPU (16.78MHz)
POWER
• Lithium Ion Rechargeable Battery
• Charge lasts six to 10 hours, recharging takes approximately 2 1/2 hours
SCREEN
• Size: 2" (diagonal)
• Resolution: 240 x 160 pixels
• Colours: 512 out of a maximum 32,000 colours
• Screen Type: TFT with adjustable back light
GAME CUBE GAMEBOY PLAYER
The
Gameboy series is so popular that Nintendo decided to release the Game Boy Player which lets you play Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games on your television through the Nintendo GameCube. The GBP connects to the bottom of the Nintendo GameCube, allowing players to use either their console controller or Game Boy Advance to control the action.
VIRTUAL BOY
From the creator of the Gameboy series comes the
Virtual Boy, which was released in 1995 in Japan and America and discontinued a year later, after complaints of head aches and sore necks after extended playtimes. During the
Virtual Boys short stint in the videogames market Nintendo made several price drops but just couldn’t move them from the shelfs, this has been considered as Nintendo’s worst failure, but now the
Virtual boy is quite the collectors item fetching good prices on auction sites.
SPECIFACTIONS
Processor
• NEC V810 (P/N uPD70732)
32-bit RISC Processor @ 20 MHz (18 MIPS)
1 MB of DRAM and 512 KB of PSRAM (Pseudo-SRAM)
1 KB Cache
DISPLAY
• RTI SLA (P4)
384 x 224 Resolution
50.2 Hz Horizontal Scan Rate
POWER
• 6 AA Batteries (9 VDC)
or AC Adapter (10 VDC)
SOUND
• 16-bit Stereo
CONTROLLER
• 6 buttons and 2 D pads
uses NES controller protocol
WEIGHT
• 750 grams
DIMENSION
• 8.5"H x 10"W x 4.3"D
In 2004 for Japan and America, 2005 for Australia and Europe Nintendo has ditched the Gameboy franchise and released the
Nintendo DS
SPECIFACTIONS
• Size (closed): 5.85" wide / 3.33" long / 1.13" tall
• Upper Screen: Backlit, 3-inch, semitransparent reflective TFT color LCD with 256x192 pixel resolution and .24 mm dot pitch
• Touch Screen: Same as upper screen, but with transparent analog touch screen • Colour: Capable of displaying 260,000 colours
• Wireless Communication: IEEE 802.11 and Nintendo's proprietary format; wireless range is 30 to 100 feet, depending on circumstances; multiple users can play multiplayer games using just one DS game card
• Controls: Touch screen, embedded microphone for voice recognition, A/B/X/Y face buttons, plus control pad, L/R shoulder buttons, Start and Select buttons • Input/Output: Ports for both Nintendo DS game cards and Game Boy Advance Game Paks, terminals for stereo headphones and microphone
• Other Features: Embedded PictoChat software that allows up to 16 users to chat at once; embedded real-time clock; date, time and alarm; touch-screen calibration
• CPUs: One ARM9 and one ARM7
• Sound: Stereo speakers providing virtual surround sound, depending on the software
• Battery: Lithium ion battery delivering six to 10 hours of play on a four-hour charge, depending on use; power-saving sleep mode; AC adapter
• Languages: English, Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Italian
• Colours: For a list of colours that were made check out our
Accessories Section:
www.myds.com.au/
NINTENDO DS LITE
Early 2006 Nintendo improved on the already successful
DS by releasing the
DS Lite. One of the most commonly asked questions these days is, “what’s the difference between the DS and the DS Lite?”
Well here’s a list:
• Longer thicker sylus
• Smaller
• Lighter
• Thinner
• Sleeker
• Longer battery life
• Brighter-4different levels
• DS slot is covered
• Different D-pad
• Power button is an actual switch, not a button
• More accessories are available for the DS Lite
For more information about DS and DS Lite accessories, check out our
Accessories Section:
www.myds.com.au/
I hope you enjoyed having a look through the information provided on the
Gameboy and
DS series as much as I have been researching it, digging up specs, pictures and old commercials has given me some what of a nostalgic feeling, see I had the original Gameboy when I was a kid and spent many hours playing classics like Tetris and Mario Land, I must have went through a ridiculous amount of batteries for both my Gameboy and a penlight torch which I used to see the screen at night when I wasn’t supposed to be playing it, which makes me appreciate the convenience of having the built in battery pack in the DS series.
Well since this is in our reviews section I might as well give you my personal views on the
DS Lite
• Appearance
I personally prefer the look of the DS Lite over the original DS, the DS Lite has a sleeker look with clean cut lines, and at first glance it looks like a professional piece of equipment similar to a PDA, which suits me fine being a big kid still obsessed with video games, I get less funny looks from people walking by when playing my DS in public.
• Graphic capabilities
My opinion about this might be slightly biased because I’ve been about the graphics and raw processing power; I prefer fun and addictive gameplay over fancy smooth rendered polygon graphics. Although I’m quite happy having a portable Nintendo 64, and some titles do impress me with their graphics. It does do some 3D games quite well but tends to show it’s limitations with fast pace 3D shooters.
• Sound
Not too much to say about the sound here, it’s portable so I wasn’t expecting DTS surround out of it, the Stereo sound is nice and clear and sounds quite clear when in a quite area, but when outside noise is introduced don’t expect the little inbuilt DS speakers to keep up, even at full volume! This is where a set of headphones come in handy, you can enjoy the sound and block out most of the background noise, while at the same time not disturbing others around you. Wether you’re playing games or listening to MP3s.
• Control System
This is what makes the DS stand out from it’s closest rival the
Sony PSP, Nintendo has incorporated a touch screen interface which allows you to play games in whole different way.
Touch screen games are easy and fun to play, which makes the
DS appeal to such a broad audience and there is games to suit young and old using the touch screen feature. Along with the touch screen interface system you have your traditional D-pad and buttons lay out, the D-pad and buttons do feel better on the lite version.
• Games
At this point there’s so many games to choose from, local releases and imports and with no region locking on DS games importing a game is hassle free, there is bound to be a game to suit your tastes.
If the humongous library of DS games is not enough for you, Nintendo were kind enough to make the DS backwards compatible with all GBA games so dig into the back catalogue of Gameboy Advance games which to is quite extensive.
Still not enough for you then grab a Flash cart and commence you hunt for homebrew titles on the internet, there are many good games and applications available.
For a list of DS title available check out our games section here:
www.myds.com.au/
• Accessories
One of my favourite aspects of the
DS Lite is the what seems to be an endless supply of accessories and add ons, enough to keep any gizmo freak happy. I won’t go through them all or we’ll be here for ever I’ll just list a few favourites with rest you can check out here:
www.myds.com.au/
The DS MP3 play which I had to purchase from an over seas seller, due to the fact that it was only released in Europe, I enjoyed this accessory because of its cheap price and it’s easy to use, I’ve done a full review on this here:
www.myds.com.au/ , but now I have replaced this with an Flash Cart, which not only allows me listen to MP3s but watch videos and enjoy homebrew applications.
The rumble pack, I think it was a fantastic idea for Nintendo to release this accessory, we have gotten used to rumble feedback from playing console games, it’s just a shame that not all games support this accessory, I have also done a full review on this accessory:
www.myds.com.au/
One more must have accessory is a carry case; you need aplace to store you favourite games and protect you DS from damage while travelling.
• Value
It’s very rare you hear anyone complaining about Nintendo’s prices, to me they always give you value for money, bringing a innovative and quality product below the cost of their competitors, hence the reason for them dominating the videogame market at the moment, even better is the package deals independent stores are offering, eg system + accessory pack + game for under $200AUD cheap enough to be a gift for a friends or family, spread the DS spirit
Thank you for reading my story/review I hope you enjoyed it
Guyver
Submitted by Guyver
18/09/2007
36
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