You know, the DS Daily is a great place to spur discussion and get your DS-obsessed day off on the right foot. But, we feel the need to be a bit selfish today. Instead of writing a love letter to our handheld and postmarking the envelope to our heart, we figured we'd call out one of its many small, but very lovable, features in our daily topic.
Like the NES of old, the DS cart slot is a godsend for us. One of the most annoying things we find with GBA games is the whole forcefully ripping the game out of the slot thing. Perhaps it's just that we're the most macho and manly of men (how you doing, ladies?), but we always feel like we're going to rip something in half when messing with the GBA stuff.
The DS has a nice spring-loaded slot that carefully extracts our games for us. It's one of the features that gets used most for us (right up there with the power button) and considering how much of a glutton our DS is (it does consume a lot of quality gaming), we're thankful the thing hasn't managed to mess up a single cart on us yet.
But what about you all? What features of the DS, no matter how big or small, do you admire? The glossy finish? The durable outer shell that can withstand falling down a flight of stairs without so much as a scratch (DS Fanboy staff tested)?
_thumbnail.jpg "Mega Man Star Force 2")
_thumbnail.jpg "Rune Factory 2")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-04-2008 @ 9:36AM
tamriel said...
My best of the best features of the DS is the sleep-on-close. My DS much only gets turned off when I switch games. In the commute, for instance when switching subway lanes or when pausing during a turbulent part of the ride, I just close; wait a bit; open; resume play.
I love that so much that I shun games that stay alive when I close the lid.
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3-04-2008 @ 12:20PM
foosnark said...
That's my favorite bit too. While waiting for a compile at work I can open the DS and play for a bit; when it's done I close the DS and work some more. Brilliant.
3-04-2008 @ 12:22PM
TheCoats said...
Out of curiosity......(I too being a big fan of this feature and taking advantage of it on subway.....and when a class gets out having to close it up to move somewhere else:) like student union center or to another class where it gets reopened. GOTTA LOVE COLLEGE)........anyway out of curiosity......what DS games dont support this feature.....i can not say i have ever recalled one that didnt?......or where you primarily speaking about GBA games?
3-04-2008 @ 1:02PM
tamriel said...
TheCoats: Zoo Keeper, though a DS game (at least, it's held on a DS cart), doesn't go to sleep when I close the lid. It might be because of my ZK cart or my DS in particular, as the latter was a refurbished unit sent over a warranty reclamation.
I also had problems once with Planet Puzzle League, whereby closing the lid would crash the game. However, getting the cart out and back in solved the problem and it hasn't crashed on me since.
3-04-2008 @ 11:20AM
Nigeria: the graphics have amazing gameplay said...
Well, I love the upgraded DS Lite stylus. I can actually hold it without the feeling my fingers are going to disintegrate.
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3-04-2008 @ 12:22PM
Jacksons said...
The Li-ion battery. Yes, I know even the SP had one, but I still remember my gamegear and nomad chewing through 6 AA batteries in 2-3 hours. Absolute garbage.
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3-04-2008 @ 1:31PM
zelderman said...
My friends who don't own a DS Lite alway try to pry to game right out. I quickly snatch it up and show them a gentle phus down will let you lightly pull out the cart. No force needed. I just Love the DS Lite. I don't play it as often as I like but I am broke and see more good games on Wii. I still love DS Lite, please don't kill me.
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3-04-2008 @ 1:45PM
InvisibleMan said...
For me it's a toss-up between the "sleep-on-close" feature, the brightness of the new screens, and the alarm clock.
Yes, you read right: the alarm clock. The fact that I can use it as my night table alarm clock and, if I wake up at night, I can see not only the time but how much time to sleep I have left in big, bright-lit numbers. Oh, and the touch-screen snooze is genious!
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3-04-2008 @ 5:28PM
Dig said...
I support the backlit screen all the way. I had a GBA when they were still the main system, but I never played it too often because there was only one place in my house where I could sit and get enough light to see the graphics on darker games. the light is so pleasing that it convinced me to go back and buy a GBA SP for those times when I want to play GBA games on their original system.
...I guess it is actually a major feature of the system, but my fanaticism still stands.
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3-04-2008 @ 5:41PM
eight said...
Honestly, i think the best feature is the size. Its the pefrect size, imho.
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3-05-2008 @ 7:20AM
Morose said...
i like the speakers. it makes much more sense to me to have them near the screen rather than nestled amongst the controls, as they were on older Nintendo handhelds.
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3-05-2008 @ 1:56PM
martial4rtist said...
Everything. :O
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3-05-2008 @ 7:01PM
Dementis said...
The fact that it has two screens (with touch) and the GBA slot.
I love it when my little brother (he's 17) have tried my DS a couple of times, he never could cope with the fact that it's two screens instead of just one. He says that it get's confusing, haha.
And the backward compability, we all love it, it's genious, simply as that.
Oh, and the slogan "Touching is good" beats all, hands down.
(But I do not like the speakers, they are too weak. If I try to listen to music while I paint at school, it will be drowned by all surrounding noise....)
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3-06-2008 @ 7:26PM
JACOB said...
well it works as a good game launcher for hated games
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