Fun Everywhere (Nintendo DS Lite Onyx)

Member Name: DocDan3

Product:	Nintendo DS Lite Onyx
Date:	28/07/09 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Entertaining, Not Too Expensive, Great Games, Super Design, Nintendo Wifi, Features

Disadvantages: Fingerprints, Not All Games Are Great

The Nintendo DS Lite is one of the latest handheld gaming systems and has on offer a huge range of games along with loads of features to enhance your gaming. I bought the Nintendo DS Lite in the Onyx Black colour as it looks great with a shiny black outside and a matt black inside. Most people go for other colours such as white or pink for girls, so I thought I'd be different. It really is a great portable console and although I don't play it that much, I have had some brilliant games for it and enjoy playing it when I do.


The Box
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The Nintendo DS Lite comes in a white box with a picture of the DS on the front and it's respective colour. The box looks very simple, with the Nintendo DS Lite logo to the top right and a picture of the DS to the left with a stylus lying beside it. The picture of the DS continues onto the left side of the box and the other small sides pretty much all have the Nintendo DS Lite logo. On the back of the box is an image of the Nintendo DS with the screen opened up. It shows you what the screens look like as well as the buttons and it shows the stylus touching the bottom screen, signifying it's the touch screen. One side of the box has the warning messages and those telling you not to throw it away and all the other legal bits and bobs. The box is very small and simple, just like the gadget inside.

The box is easy to open - you just flick out one bit and then pull down the side to slide out a cardboard box. This cardboard box has 3 compartments. The largest contains the DS Lite in plastic packaging and foam. You get a set of instructions and leaflets as well as an invitation to Club Nintendo - which I didn't join. The other compartments contain the charging cable as well as the game pack slot cover and the stylus. The slot cover is used to fill in the bottom slot where Gameboy Advance and other Gameboy games can be inserted. This fills it in and comes in the same colour as your DS so it looks great. It is a useful thought, or you'd have an empty slot, which doesn't look so attractive.


The Design
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The DS is very small with just over a 15cm length, 7.5cm width and 2cm depth. At just 440g in weight, the Nintendo DS Lite is great to carry around, which makes it a very good handheld games console. This version has a shiny black outside and it's made of plastic. The only down side is that you get fingerprints showing, but they can easily be wiped away and are only visible in light. The bottom of the console has a slot for Gameboy games and the top has a slot for Nintendo DS games. On the bottom, there is an earphone slot to the right as well as a sliding volume control to the left. The right side has a sliding power button, which slides up and automatically comes back down, used to switch the DS on and off.

Just below this on the same side is the stylus slot. The stylus fits in here and clicks so it won't fall out. You can easily take it out with your finger using the indent so you can get underneath it and pull it out. The stylus itself is also shiny black and considerably larger than the original DS one. It's also a bit thicker and quite comfortable to hold. The top of the DS has the charging input, where you insert the charger, which must be connected to an electricity port on the other side. There are also triggers on the upper left and right sides of the DS, which are great to use as they are easily accessible.

The front face of the DS has the two curved rectangles, as the logo, which signifies the dual screens. You can easily take hold of the screen that folds down and lift it up to reveal the inside. The inside has a matt black colour, which looks modern. Both the screens are the same size and one lies on each of the upper and lower parts. The top screen is a normal one with speakers either side. The bottom screen is a special touch screen, sensitive only to the stylus (not fingers as much). To the left of the touch screen is a directional pad and to the right are A, B, X and Y buttons, which are the main controls in most games. Below these are start and select buttons. The DS has a microphone in the middle part where the screen folds down. This is very sensitive and used in quite a few games.

The design is really good and compact, and the way the screen folds down is excellent in naturally being able to protect your DS. No dust can get onto the screens if you fold it down when it's not in use, and you get 2 screens but the console is still of a small size. The colours are brilliant and the DS is very easy to handle due to its clever design.


Features
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- Dual screens including touch screen
- Nintendo Wifi connection enabling you to wirelessly play with others all over the world
- Pictochat, which enables you to talk to nearby users and send drawings too
- DS Download Play where you can download game information to play with nearby users, sometimes with just one game card
- Backlit screens, which are clearly visible in bright light too
- Ability to play previous Gameboy games
- Customise your DS menus, view the time, date, calendar and set alarms
- Inbuilt microphone for use in games and over Nintendo Wifi to talk to friends


Games
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There are loads of games for the Nintendo DS so you will not be short of ones to play. The best ones usually come out at around £30.00 in shops and they may maintain this price if they are top quality. Other games will be nearer £20.00 and older ones may drop below this. From my experience, the very best game out now has to be Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. It makes superb use of the touch screen and really makes you think and use logic to complete puzzles and progress through yet another fantastic Zelda Adventure. Other good games include Animal Crossing: Wild World, which is similar to previous versions but enables you to visit other peoples towns using the Nintendo Wifi connection. Another good game is Mario Kart: DS, which is always fun to play. Other good games include Metroid: Prime Hunters and Nintendogs. There is a huge range of games to choose from, so there are bound to be some you like. This console is not just designed for younger people but adults too.


Sound & Graphics
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In general, the Nintendo DS Lite has very impressive sound and graphics. The sound differs from game to game, but most will have music, which is of a good quality. The speakers work quite well and even give a surround sound effect on certain games. This is more effective with earphones. Some games have real-life songs in them such as Tony Hawks American Sk8land. I was surprised by the quality of some songs but coming out speakers, they didn't sound as good as on an iPod with earphones.

The graphics differ even more but are very good in some games. I only tend to buy games with good graphics, because others may have terrible graphics. The better games like Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Animal Crossing: Wild World have very good, clear, animated graphics. The colours are vivid, which is helped by the backlit screens, which give superb brightness and quality, so you can play your DS anyway including outside on a sunny day.


Price & Availability
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The Nintendo DS Lite is not the newest version as the DSi was recently released with a camera and a few other features such as the built in internet browser. However, the DS Lite still comes in at around £100, but you can usually buy it with a deal that includes other games at a value price. It is available to buy online at places like Amazon.co.uk, Play.com, Game.co.uk and offline in shops such as Game, Zavvi and Tesco. The games range from £20 to £30 as I said before but everything you will need as basics are included with the console.

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In conclusion, I would definitely recommend this console as it's got such a superb design, a huge variety of games and is very fun to play. You can never play the same game twice with the ability to go online and try your skills against different, real opponents. There are loads of features too and it is so easy to carry around, whether you are at home, on holiday or on a trip somewhere else. It is significantly improved from the original DS and I wouldn't say the newer DSi is worth buying for over £20 more. I love the colour of the Onyx Black version and would recommend it to anyone out there.

Thanks for reading,

Dan ©

Summary: A superb handheld consoles with a huge host of games and brilliant features