Nintendo DS: Difference between revisions

 

 

Short story, the Nintendo DS succeeded in just about every way the [[Nintendo 64]] faltered.

 

 

Their first step was, instead of simply making "a more powerful [[Game Boy]]", trying something new with the system to alter the gameplay and get developers out of a rut. With the DS, the method was to add a touchscreen in between the d-pad and the buttons, while keeping the regular screen above it. The public prototype was codenamed the "Developer's System", or the "DS" for short (it was initially developed under the code name "Nitro" in-house; DS games still carry the "NTR" indexing code as a result, with the exception of games capable of using the DSi's additional features, which use "TWL" instead). But because of its two screens, the gaming press kept thinking it stood for "Dual Screen". Recognizing it was giving the system name recognition already, Nintendo made "DS" the official name.

When it was in development, Nintendo presented the device as a "third pillar" to complement the [[Game Cube]] and the [[Game Boy Advance]], rather than claim that the DS was the latest iteration of the Game Boy hardware. There is some indication that this was a marketing ploy -- Nintendo did not want to potentially tarnish the positive image of the much-beloved Game Boy line if the DS failed to live up to expectations. Unnecessary in retrospect, [[Brand Name Takeover|and it didn't stop people from calling it the "Game Boy DS" anyway.]]

 

 

 

 

Another thing that some initially believed was that with the PSP using discs, and the DS sticking with carts, that Nintendo was falling into the same trap as with the N64. There were four main reasons that wasn't the case.

# Carts are small, and require basically no support hardware, making both them and the console they're used with more compact.

# Compression and the processing power needed to use it had evolved significantly since the N64 days, so the capacity wasn't that big of a problem.

The DS also had a [[Product Facelift|redesign]] to address problems noted with the first system, such as a dim screen light and the bulk. The so-called "DS Phat" is the biggest of Nintendo's handhelds since the original [[Game Boy]], while the DS Lite is just about the size of the original [[GBA]]. Another redesign, the DSi, dispenses with the GBA slot entirely and slightly decreasing the battery length to increase the size of the dual screens, add an SD Card slot, slim its third dimension even more, add two cameras, and 256MB of onboard flash memory, all built-in. Games can now be downloaded through a DSi Shop Channel, much like the [[Wii]]'s own Wii Shop Channel. Despite titles like ''[[Guitar Hero]]: On Tour'' which use the GBA slot, the DSi sold over half a million units in '''''[http://www.gamespot.com/news/6207644.html two days]'''''.

 

 

 

 

=== Specifications: ===

** The reason for this split is partly to keep GBA compatibility through the secondary processor, and partly because running 3D graphics on both screens would split the processing between them. So having 3D on one screen and 2D on the other is the best compromise.

*** That's not to say that no games use both screens for 3D however. There are games out there who try to do 3D on both screens. The only caveat is that the max framerate is 30 fps instead of 60.

* The DS does not have the processor from the [[Game Boy Color]], making it impossible to play original Game Boy or GBC cartridges. While the system is capable of emulating the games, [[Revenue Enhancing Devices|Nintendo will only let you run an emulator]] [[Compilation Rerelease|if you repurchase a game with it]].

* The ARM 7 CPU does audio processing, control input and wireless communications. It can process 16 "voices" at once, with support for ADPCM, 8-bit and 16-bit PCM. Streamed audio, through either PCM or audio codecs are possible. Virtual surround is also possible with certain games.

* The DS has 4 MB of RAM, similar to the N64, but it's not Rambus DRAM, partly because of the latency, but mostly because of the increased power consumption it would cause. This has been quadrupled in the DSi to 16 MB.

** The original DS and [[DS Lite]] allows one to expand the RAM by slotting a special cartridge into the GBA game slot. Most notably, the DS Browser cart uses it.

* There is also 656 KB of [[Video RAM]] (not sure if the main 4 MB can also act as video memory if needed).

* The 3D hardware can render to either a frame buffer or directly to either screen through a 48-line ring buffer. Frame buffer allows drawing 3D graphics on both screens at a cost of frame rate, color depth (drops down to 15-bit) and 192 KB of VRAM for the frame buffers. It is also possible to use only one frame buffer for advanced screen effects on only one screen, and this doesn't come with a frame rate hit, but still reduces color depth and uses 96 KB of VRAM.

* The DSi comes with 256 MB of built-in flash memory storage for downloadable games and content.

* Resolution is 256×192 per screen, which means this handheld can almost match Nintendo's home systems, finally.

** Sadly for ports, just like the GBA, this is ''still'' smaller than the industry standard 320×240 size used by nearly every classic gaming platform.

* Textures are a different story. Not only does the system allow huge textures (1024x1024 apparently with a max size of 512K, though you are not going to fit anything good after that due to 656K of total VRAM.), but the system also has [[Texture Compression]] built in. Though, this is more likely to save cart space than for motherboard bandwidth. Although the system only supports point texture filtering, possibly resulting in blocky textures up close, the greatly improved texture resolution and color depth negates this disadvantage.

* The DS also keeps the GBA 2D hardware and also improved it, which can be used by DS games.

* Either version of the DS could have about 18 hours of battery life on the lowest settings, and about 10 hours on the highest. The DSi features about 14 hours of playtime at the lowest brightness settings, and around 3 hours at the highest, which is even brighter than any model of DS before the DSi.

* The slot for GBA games can include extra devices for DS games. This could include a rumble pack or even a camera. This slot is sacrificed for an [[SD Card]] slot and cameras on the DSi, however.

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=== Games: ===

 

* ''[[Cooking Mama]]''

* ''[[The Dark Spire]]''

* ''[[Deep Labyrinth]]''

* ''[[Dementium the Ward]]'' and its sequel

* ''[[Elebits the Adventures of Kai And Zero]]''

* ''[[Elite Beat Agents]]''

* ''[[Final Fantasy]]''

* ''[[Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles]]''

* ''[[Giana Sisters]]''

* ''[[Ghost Trick]]''

** ''[[Last Window]]''

* ''[[Izuna Legend of the Unemployed Ninja]]''

* ''[[Ketsui]] Death Label''

** ''[[Kirby Super Star]] Ultra''

* ''[[The Legend of Kage]] 2''

* ''[[Luminous Arc]]''

** ''[[Luminous Arc 2]]''

* ''[[Monster Tale]]''

* ''[[Ninja Town]]''

* ''[[Ni no Kuni]]''

* ''[[Pokémon]]''

*** ''Pokémon Platinum''

* ''[[Princess Debut]]''

* ''[[Rondo of Swords]]''

** ''[[Super Scribblenauts]]''

* ''[[Solatorobo]]''

* ''[[Soma Bringer]]''

* ''[[Spectrobes]]''

* ''[[Sprung]]''

* ''[[Style Savvy]]''

** ''WarioWare: D.I.Y.''

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Videogame Systems]]

[[Category:index]]