Nintendo DSi Review

I've owned my DSi for almost a week now and have spent some quality time gaming with the little guy. I've found both good and bad points to having the new portable versus the old DS lite.

First and formost are my recomendations for upgrading. If you have a DS phat, it is time to upgrade. That thing is bulky, ugly, and has terrible screen quality.

That said, if you have a DS lite, I see no reason to justify the $170 price tag. I have owned a DS lite since it was first released in black and have easily logged 200+ hours onto that thing. There are simply not enough new features on the DSi to warrant an upgrade.

Why did I upgrade? Well I sold my DS lite to my girlfriend Emily and bought a DSi. I also wanted to upgrade my flashcard.

I have broken my review into categories. If you are interested in something particular, just jump to the bolded headings.

Asthetics DSi 10/10 <--- DS Lite 9/10
I absolutely love the feel of the DSi compared to the DS lite. The lite had that shiny/glossy coat of paint on it that aquired many, many fingerprints. The DSi has a matte finish which not only prevents fingerprints, but also makes the unit feel more "grippy". The colors are also very bright and solid. I'm glad that there are no dual color schemes (red/black, blue/black).

The buttons were all changed to use the "clicky" buttons like the DS phat and Gameboy SP. The power and volume sliders have also been changed to use the clicky buttons which is a big plus. No longer will I accidentally bump my DS up to full volume or have it turn off in my pocket!

The screen was made slightly bigger than the lite, but I can't tell the difference unless they are held up side-by-side.

The DSi also sports an SD-card slot which supports SDHC. I popped in my 8gb micro-sd card and it worked without a hitch. Having some extra space is nice, but the internal memory can store 400+ pictures and also has room for the downloadable apps/games. It's just a matter of time before the DSi firmware is cracked and you can play retail games/homebrew from the SD-card without the need for a flash cartridge.

I like the design of the DSi much better than the lite. It just feels good when playing games on it.

Cameras DSi 3/10 ---- DS Lite null/10
One word--Useless

The cameras on the front and back seem to be of the same quality--poor. The quality is good enough to trade pics with your friends and post on the internet, but not for printing photos. There is also a facebook button which uploads photos of your choice directly to facebook (no menus or anything!) Sadly, the camera/s are slow. It takes a long time to boot up the DSi and enter the camera mode (10 seconds?) After taking a picture, there is delay before you can take another one. Finally, there is no option for taking video. The DSi is obviously no replacement for a digital camera.

The image "morphing" features are cool little additions, but there really needs to be more options. Why are there no picto-chat features for editing images? I want to draw funny faces on my friends and add text! Also, why can't I take the "stamps" and apply them wherever I want? The face recognition is cool, but doesn't work half the time (i.e. when wearing sunglasses.)

The DSi doesn't need the cameras. They are never going to be used in retail games as the games must also be compatible with the older DS models. The cameras probably drove the price up too. *Sadface*

Operating System DSi 5/10 ---> DS Lite 7/10 ---> Wii 8/10
The built-in user interface looks very similar to the Wii. There are buttons arranged in a horizontal line on the bottom, while the top screen shows a random picture from your collection. Why is the interface not an exact replica of the Wii? Only 5 icons can be on the screen at any point in time, yor the rest you must scroll to the right. Annoying. Not to mention that by default all the precious screen space is filled up--Settings, Cartridge, Picto-chat, Camera, Microphone, Download Play.

Second, using the touch screen is mandatory... In some places. Everything on the main menu can be accessed using buttons. However, if you go into the options menu or camera menu, you MUST use the touch screen to select options. This is a dumb move on the designers part.

Finally, unlike the Wii operating system, you cannot access it during a game. This means you can't pause the game and take a quick picture. You also can't turn on and off the wireless card from in-game. If you are playing a game like Pokemon, you must make sure the wireless is turned on in the options menu BEFORE you start playing the game. It is not dynamically turned on and off as needed. Goodbye battery life.

Battery Life DSi 8/10 ---> DS Lite 10/10
I can play a game on the lowest screen brightness for more than a few gaming sessions. I hear it is worse than both the phat and lite, but if I don't have to charge it everyday (erm.. Smartphones) I am happy.

The charger is once again different than all the others. Why Nintendo changes the size and shape of the charging port is beyond me. It just creates more confusion and waste on the consumer end. Also, the part that plugs into the wall is slightly larger than previous iterations.

Downloadable Content DSi 3/10 ---> Wii 6/10
The downloadable content for the DSi sucks. Period. I can pay $2 to download a mario themed calculator. That definately won't be taken away by the teacher when I whip out my DSi during math class. Much of the content is simply stripped down versions of DS games. Puzzle League, Tetris, and Dr. Mario all have "express" versions for $5 which allow you to play the games that were released years ago. No online play, no wi-fi play, no extra modes, no stat collecting. I would much rather pay $20 and grab a physical copy of the game with all the extra features. That aside, it will be interesting to see what kind of games appear on the DSi downloads.

I have two big complaints with the entire system. First, the Wii and DSi are two separate entities. Even though both of them can be tied to the same Nintendo account, points and games are not shared. Now I have $15 left over from my Wii purchases and $10 from the free points that come with the DSi. Tracking this has got to be a pain.

The second complaint is that there is no virtual console on the DSi. That means no Mario or Zelda on the go. The system certainly has the power, but Nintendo fails again. I own the NES Mario Brothers on the Wii. I should be able to play it on my DSi. Period.

Game Compatibility DSi 10/10 ---- DS Lite 10/10
Contrary to popular belief, there is no region locking on the DSi. I popped in a couple of my Japanese games and they all ran fine without a hitch.

Of note, the North American DSi only supports menu languages in English, Spanish, and French.

Also notable mention, the DSi cannot play GBA games. That means no portable guitar hero and no pokemon ruby/saphire syncing. I can deal with that, I have a Micro for my GBA games (which I prefer to playing them on a DS Lite.)

Web Browser DSi 7/10 ---- DS Lite null/10
The web browser works better than expected. It is zippy as long as there is a solid wireless connection. I could use Gmail, Google Reader, Facebook, and a few webcomic sites fully featured; None of that mobile crap. The only reason I don't give it a 10 is because the user interface could be improved. Using the touch screen to browse is awesome, but using the buttons leaves much to be desired. Nintendo could have taken advice from the PSP on this one.

I hear the DS Opera web browser is really bad, but I personally have never used it.

Conclusion
If you don't already own some version of the DS, you should pick up a Lite or DSi. Is the DSi worth the extra $40 over the Lite? Probably not. While there are some noticable improvements with the system hardware, many of the "improvements" are quite gimicky.

The game library on the DS however is very strong. There are numerous 1st party sequels (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kirby,) along with many new game franchises (Pheonix Wright, Scribblenauts, Trauma Center, Proffessor Layton,) that will keep you playing for ages.

I know if you are a Sony fanboy I won't be able to sway any opinions, but I have owned a PSP for over a year and only played a couple of games I liked. The library has too many re-makes and sequels for my tastes. Not to mention that both the hardware and software are more expensive.

I'm happy with my DSi but I wish some of the features were implemented better. I feel that it is a good upgrade hardware-wise with the potential to see massive improvements. If the Wii was any indication, it could be years before Nintendo decides to fix these problems with a firmware update.

That's my 2 cents.