Seventeen years young, the Nintendo DS Lite might be the most underrated successor to the original Nintendo DS. Lucky for me, I was able to finally find one of these lil’ guys in the wild. This was my first piece of technology at the wee age of 8. After running through two DS Lites, a DSi, and about three 3DSs, I think I’d consider myself a bit of an expert on the Nintendo DS family of systems.
With that in mind, I have never owned the original DS. Honestly, I don’t think I missed out on much. While the original revolutionized handheld gaming, the DS Lite does everything it can but better. The original DS was a natural step up from the Gameboy Advance (GBA) SP and it’s easy to see with them sharing a hinge design, backlight brightness, a charging port, etc. The DS Lite, however, set the stage for the future of the line by improving on all of the above. The backlight on the DS Lite is infinitively brighter than its predecessor, its charging port was made smaller to accompany its unique new AC adapter, and its hinge, along with the rest of the body, was almost totally overhauled to fit a new, sleeker design.
So, is the DS Lite just a prettier version of the original DS? Well, while I never owned the original, the software does seem to be near identical. Even so, I’d say the DS Lite is still the better option, if only for the ability to see its dual-screens in the sun. Even price-wise, the DS Lite was priced at $130 at release; $20 less than the original, and $40 less than its successor, the DSi.
Picking one of these up for the first time in about 10 years is definitely a trip. I love just about everything about this console’s design. For starters, this D-pad is phenomenal. I can’t begin to put my finger on it, but Nintendo makes an awesome D-pad and it’s especially noticeable around this era. The same goes for the buttons in general, really. It’s all just so nostalgic. It’s one of those things that we take for granted, but the feel is notably very comfortable. The stand-out feature for me is definitely compatibility with GBA games. This is something that was carried over from the original and, unfortunately, ends with this iteration. For a Pokémon fan like myself, this was also the only way to transfer Pokémon from the third generation of games to the fourth. If I have one gripe with my specific model, it is the faintly worn out “A” button. Of course, it’s been about 17 years, so I’m frankly lucky that it’s lasted so long at all.
I’m not sure I would recommend hunting one of these down today. At least, not for the same reason you’d buy a Nintendo Switch or a PS5. For me, it’s an awesome console that means a lot to my history with games. But if you really want to own the most ergonomic gaming machine in Nintendo’s early handheld history, I’d say this is it.
