Nintendo DS review (Nintendo DS)

Member Name: Walter_Kovacs

Product:	Nintendo DS
Date:	28/11/08 (222 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great games, great graphics, innovative

Disadvantages: None

The Nintendo DS is a handheld console released by Nintendo in 2002 in Japan and 2005 in Europe. It has a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, and has two LCD screens inside it (hence DS - meaning dual-screen), one being a normal screen and the other being a touch-screen. It also has a built-in microphone and supports WI-FI.

The DS comes with a stylus, which fits neatly into the back, which you use with the touch-screen, being more delicate and precise than your fingers. This allows you to interact with games directly, pulling you right into the game. There are traditional controls as well though, on the left of the bottom screen is a D-pad with the power button above it, and to the right are the A, B, X and Y buttons with 'Start' and 'Select' buttons above them. There are also two shoulder buttons located on the top of the lower half of the console. Also included is a microphone which can be used for voice recognition or if you need to either blow or shout into the microphone in order to accomplish something (i.e. a minigame).

The DS has stereo speakers providing virtual surround sound, which is a first for a Nintendo handheld. The battery life is great, giving 10 hours of playing time for an hour's charge. The screens are backlit, which gives more illumination than other Nintendo handhelds, and makes things a lot easier to see.

There are a number of excellent ports for this console, from "Super Mario 64 DS" which is a fantastic game, and made even better now that it's portable, to new games that make fantastic use of the touch screen, like the "Phoenix Wright" games and "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass " in which you use the touch screen to move, fight, interact with other characters and take notes. You can even blow into the microphone to extinguish candles!

Sometimes I still can't believe how good things look on this console. I still remember being a child and being so excited at one Christmas because I got a Sega Mega Drive and a copy of "Sonic The Hedgehog", and now you can get games of that graphical quality on a mobile phone, and games I remember playing on the Nintendo 64 can now be encapsulated in a console weighing no more than 300 grams! If only they put the two "Banjo Kazooie" games on the DS, I would be in heaven; however I think that hell would be frozen over before that happens.

Overall an amazing piece of kit with some fantastic games and some great ports of already fantastic games, I cannot recommend it highly enough, five stars!

Summary: Nintendo does it again!