Nintendo DS Lite
Variant of Nintendo DS
- Manufacturer
- Nintendo
- Production
- 2006–2014
- Generation
- Gen 7
- Type
- Handheld
- Launch price
- $129
- Units sold
- 93.9M
About Nintendo DS Lite
The Nintendo DS is a foldable handheld game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in 2004 and 2005. The "DS" in the name is an initialism for "Dual Screen", reflecting the system's most distinctive feature: two LCD screens working in tandem, with the lower screen functioning as a touchscreen. Both screens are housed in a clamshell design similar to that of the Game Boy Advance SP and some models of the Game & Watch series. The DS was among the first portable consoles to support wireless connectivity for local multiplayer over short distances, as well as online play through the now-defunct Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. Its primary competitor during the seventh generation of video game consoles was Sony's PlayStation Portable.
Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).
Library & collector facts
1,879licensed games
- North America: 1,014
- Japan: 1,100
- PAL: 1,080
What's different from Nintendo DS
- Brighter screen with 4 brightness levels (vs. original DS Phat's 1 level)
- Slimmer profile (~42% lighter, ~half the volume)
- Repositioned stylus to side (vs. back)
- Polished glossy finish
- form factor: Chunky Phat ~28.9mm thick → sleek ~21.5mm thick
- battery life: ~6-10h on Phat → ~15-19h on Lite (low brightness)
- stylus storage: Back-mounted short stylus → side-mounted longer stylus
- screen brightness: Single dim brightness → 4-level adjustable up to ~2x brighter
Lineage
Pricing
Launch price (2006)
- 🇺🇸 USD
- $129
Launch titles & exclusives
Super Mario 64 DS · Madden NFL 2005 · Asphalt: Urban GT · Feel the Magic: XY/XX · Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits · Ping Pals · Polarium · The Urbz: Sims in the City · Spider-Man 2
None standard; some bundles included Nintendogs (DS Lite era)
Mario Kart DS · New Super Mario Bros. · Nintendogs · Brain Age · Animal Crossing: Wild World · Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/HeartGold/SoulSilver/Black/White · The World Ends With You · Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow / Portrait of Ruin / Order of Ecclesia · Advance Wars: Dual Strike / Days of Ruin · Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time / Bowser's Inside Story · Phoenix Wright series · Professor Layton series · Ghost Trick · Dragon Quest IX · Etrian Odyssey series · 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Big Hero 6: Battle in the Bay (2014, NA) was among the very last releases
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (~$200+ CIB); Commando: Steel Disaster sealed; Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver with Pokewalker CIB (~$200+); Nintendo World Championships demo carts
Hardware specs
- Cpu
- 67 MHz ARM946E-S, 33 MHz ARM7TDMI
- Ram
- 4 MB RAM
Hardware revisions
- Original DS NTR-001(2004)
the 'phat' DS, GBA slot, lower-quality screens, removable stylus
- DS Lite USG-001(2006)
brighter screens, smaller form factor, retained GBA slot — the platform's mainstream best-seller
- DSi TWL-001(2008)
cameras, SD slot, DSi Shop, GBA slot removed, region-locked (DSi-enhanced and DSi-exclusive titles)
- DSi XL UTL-001(2009)
larger 4.2" screens, marketed at older audiences
Launch colorways & special editions
- Pokemon Dialga & Palkia Edition (2007)
- Pokemon Pikachu Edition (JP)
- Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass Gold (2007)
- Final Fantasy III Crystal Edition (JP)
- Mario Red Edition (25th anniv, JP)
- Guitar Hero On Tour Edition
- Tingle's Balloon Trip JP Edition
Modding scene
- Difficulty
- soft-mod
- Custom firmware
- R4 / Acekard / SuperCard DSTwo (flashcards); Unlaunch (DSi softmod)
Reception & legacy
Phenomenal — launched alongside PSP and surprised analysts with massive sales despite the PSP's more powerful hardware
Hinges are notoriously weak — cracking around the top-screen hinge is the most common DS Lite failure mode; glossy finish scratches and shows fingerprints; early units had occasional dead-pixel batches
Second best-selling video game console of all time (~154M); dual-screen + touch + microphone created entirely new game-design vocabularies; pulled Nintendo back into handheld dominance during a generation where Sony's PSP threatened seriously
References
More from Nintendo
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