Genius modder Kotomi is at it again. A couple of years ago, he redid a DS Phat in the old Famicom colors -- his favorite console, apparently -- but as he recently came into some free time, he realized it was time to live in the now. At least, as "now" as you can be when doing a modern system over in the colors of a retro console.
With a black DS Lite as his base, the modder worked his magic, and the result is simply stunning (and shiny!). Kotomi says he's got some more projects in the pipeline at present, so we'll be keeping an eye on this master.
Want more? We've got a few of his other, older projects in the gallery below.
These two redone handhelds -- a Phat and a Lite -- popped up on eBay, courtesy of seller rebelforever33, and since we post the occasional auctioned-DS, we thought it might be a good time to ask: have you ever considered buying one of the gussied-up systems that turn up there? We've seen some incredible mods up for auction, but redoing a DS can be a delicate undertaking.
Whenever anyone announces one of these limitededitionDS Litesystems in Japan, we try to push them out of our memories immediately after reporting them here, afraid that if we dwell on these designer handhelds too long, we'll only make ourselves even more depressed than we already are. Just when we think we've put these fantasies of owning rare portables behind us, however, someone always has to remind us that they exist.
DS Fanboy reader Supa_s, for example, sent in photos of her Honeyee x Fragment Design DS Lite, a slick, duotone system from seminal streetwear designer Hiroshi Fujiwara. Though she's hesitant to reveal where she obtained the remarkable handheld, she admits that it wasn't cheap -- approximately $400. Yeah, totally banoodles.
Buying the accompanying Honeyee x Fragment Design case would have cost her an additional $100, so she skipped that extra purchase, using a Club Nintendo case instead to carry the system. Her impressions on the system? "I love it, but I worry about the L & R buttons getting yellowish. I like the way it feels -- it's kind of like the bottom part of the Cobalt DS, but much smoother." Hit the gallery below for more photos of the Honeyee x Fragment Design DS Lite.
If you need us, we'll be staring at our plain, ordinary DS Lite from across the room, crying over dreams deferred, haunted by the ghosts of what should have been.
The ancient prophecies foretold of the one time someone would put a custom painted DS Lite on eBay and it would not look terrible. This Hero of Painted DS Lites, now revealed as viper640_0 from the idyllic POWER SELLER VILLAGE, whose earlyeffortslackedmagic.
Now, however, he has acquired the Airbrush of Paint and defeated the Impulse to Use Questionable Color Schemes, and has returned from his quest with the Triforce of Pretty Good Paint Jobs. And, uh, he's selling it on eBay. We would be proud to carry this DS Lite around in Hyrule or even somewhere that existed.
Blurry pictures aside, this modded and painted Game Boy color looks pretty good! It's been Zelda-fied and is now available on eBay, though the Buy it Now price of $70 seems a little ambitious, but maybe with the upgraded sound and the new look, seller auron5881 might get lucky.
It's starting to seem as though Zelda-themed mods and paint jobs are among the most common for Nintendo fans. How's this rate among all you've seen?
There's no doubt in our minds that the Bape DS is a hot little number, but we'd never wait on a line like this for one. At first, the line seems somewhat modest, but then the camera keeps on turning around more and more corners. We should have guessed as much, seeing how the video is over two minutes long.
To see exactly how much Japanese gamers love special edition DSes, check out the clip embedded above for yourselves.
You may be wondering just what this is. Stark white slabs, neatly stacked ... no, it's not the preliminary plans for Apple iChocolate (available in white only), but rather, the work of a DS owner in need. Reader PeZ had a problem: a lost game. And while the missing game turned up later, it revealed a flaw in his DS cart storage system. Nothing quite fit his needs; either everything was too big, too small, or unsafe. One day, as he finished off some Läkerol mints, an idea struck. Surely that neat little tin would be good for something.
And so PeZ got to work. As a designer, he had some idea of how to start -- he drew up plans for the perfect cart case. To the right, you can see the plans, which were eventually cut from black cardboard and glued to the inside of the tin. PeZ reports that, with slots cut in, the carts are perfectly secure, even with the tin held upside down! But with the practical inside complete, the outside needed a little work. To see what he came up with, jaunt on past the break.
Got something you want to show off to all the other DS fans? We like just about anything with a little Nintendo flavor, so snap a few pics and send 'em off to tell us what's up, and send it all to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest.
If there's anything we like, it's customization. Call us crazy, but even if it's, uh, not the best, we'll usually find something to say about it*. Lately, though, we've been blessed here in the Show and Tell corner with some really awesome submissions from readers who've been taking the look of their Lites into their own hands. Reader Josh didn't draw the art that he's used to adorn his DS, but he made it work on the case, so we'll credit both him and the artist. Can you puzzle out what it is? If not, teleport past the break to see it in full-sized glory. Actually, go whether you can guess or not!
Got something you want to show off to all the other DS fans? We like just about anything with a little Nintendo flavor, so snap a few pics, tell us your story, and send it all to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest.
*We didn't say it would be necessarily positive, but in that case, the artist herself seemed to be with us!
As folks who love the DS to be all kinds of different colors and modded inall mannerof amazing ways, we often stare at our boring white DS Lite and wish we could punch it up with some color. But, alas, we are far too afraid that even an attempt at taking out the screws would result in the handheld's failure to work any longer. Seriously, you should have seen the spice rack we tried to make back in wood shop. The thing was fugly.
Yet, we have found hope through a flickr photostream. One soul, who describes this ambitious project as their "first time to paint such a demanding job," really managed to set the bar for first attempts. Just looking at this thing, we can hardly believe that this person has never taken apart and painted a DS before. It's quality.
Does this give you a yearning to try and paint your own DS? Still too scared to give it a go?
Painting specialists ColorWare want to add some spice to your life by giving your DS a stylish new paint job, or by providing you with a brand-new custom unit.
The only thing that comes to mind, for us, is creating a DS themed after our favorite sports team and slapping a sticker on the top of the clamshell. And considering that we don't partake of the DS line-up of sports titles available, as we often favor the console variety, we can't really see that much appeal in giving the DS a splash of color.
But then we start thinking about what people with actual artistic ability could do with a professional paint job like this on their DS. True, most folks who mod their consoles and handhelds might prefer to do the painting themselves, as it all ties into the whole I made this part of it, but perhaps the time saved or price are the factors that could weigh heavily on someone's decision. Then again, we don't really know how much it would cost to paint something like a DS. Our skills lack.
Or maybe this can be a really expensive prank. Snatch a friend's DS, send it in and have them paint it puke green on top of puke green, that kind of thing? Actually, that might not be a bad way to get your own DS, because if our friend did that to us, we'd tell them to keep it.
We haven't seen a lot of custom skins made by our readers, so we were pretty excited when That Girl sent in pictures of her skin, adapted from a wallpaper. The colors and design really suit her DS Lite perfectly, and it's always nice to see someone tastefully customizing their handheld while giving a nod to another fandom. It's not just the outside that's prettified, either; hit the jump to see the inside of the DS.
Have you made a custom skin or anything else Nintendo-related? We'd love to know about it! Show us what you've got and we'll tell the world -- just take a few pictures, scribble a few lines, and send it all to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest.
"Haters get mad 'cause I got me some Bathin' Apes (DSes)."
If its shoes are any indication of how much these custom DSes will cost, it's safe to assume that you'll need to spend about a billion dollars to procure one of these Mario-and-Milo-patterned handhelds. Mario's slackjawed expression? Chalk it up to him seeing this package's price tag.
According to High Snobiety, Japanese clothing company A Bathing Ape plans to sell the "Bape x Nintendo DS Lites" in Japan starting April 1st. The systems will be available in white and, naturally, gold. Of course, you can expect this to be a very limited edition run.
Simple changes to a product's look can really make all the difference. Streetware designer Hiroshi Fujiwara and Japanese magazine Honeyee put their creative heads together for this DS Lite project, adding a few decorative touches that add up to a very classy form.
The duotone DS sports a matte black shell with white hinges and a white interior. Past the break, we've got a photo of the system with its lid pulled back. Honeyee and Fragment Design haven't yet determined how many of these limited edition handhelds to produce, but you can bet they'll be hard to get your hands on!
While this is a yellow Pikachu DS Lite, it's not theyellow Pikachu DS Lite. But unlike that other one, this custom job from viper640_0 gives you assurance that the Pokémon featured on the top is in fact Pikachu, and not some biter. Only trust verified Pokémon art on your consoles!
We must admit that the little Pikachu is cute, and that the gold-and-black DS combination is a lot better than some custom paint jobs. We just didn't necessarily need the huge caption. Oh, wait, maybe this is Pikachu's DS, lost in POWER SELLER VILLAGE! We should buy it and return it to him.
We often poke fun at custom Lites (usually with good reason, but sometimes, just because), but this one actually looks alright. The new Gloss Silver DS Lites are pretty, but a little plain; the buttons are also silver, so the whole thing is very monochromatic. The original Phat was also silver, but had black buttons to shake things up a little. Maybe we like variety, or maybe we're just nostalgic for the good ol' days of less battery power, but this Lite Redux that turned up on eBay really seems like the best of both worlds. It's got the sleek, slender sophistication of the silver Lite, but the black buttons just scream "old school." The price ($175) may be a little high for our tastes, but hey -- we're on board with the idea.
Genius modder Kotomi is at it again. A couple of years ago, he redid a DS Phat in the old Famicom colors -- his favorite console, apparently -- but as he recently came into some free time, he realized it was time to live in the now. At least, as "now" as you can be when doing a modern system over in the colors of a retro console.
Blurry pictures aside, this modded and painted Game Boy color looks pretty good! It's been Zelda-fied and is now available on eBay, though the Buy it Now price of $70 seems a little ambitious, but maybe with the upgraded sound and the new look, seller auron5881 might get lucky.
You may be wondering just what this is. Stark white slabs, neatly stacked ... no, it's not the preliminary plans for Apple iChocolate (available in white only), but rather, the work of a DS owner in need. Reader PeZ had a problem: a lost game. And while the missing game turned up later, it revealed a flaw in his DS cart storage system. Nothing quite fit his needs; either everything was too big, too small, or unsafe. One day, as he finished off some Läkerol mints, an idea struck. Surely that neat little tin would be good for something.
While this is a yellow 
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