Gaming
 

Nintendo DS

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Nintendo DS
Manufacturer Nintendo
Type Handheld Video game console
Generation Seventh generation era)
First available Japan November 21, 2004
USA/Canada December 2, 2004
Europe/Australia March 11, 2005
CPU One 67 MHz (ARM) and one 33 MHz ARM7TDMI
Media GBA cartridges Nintendo DS game cards
System storage Cartridge save, 4 MB tRAM
Online service Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
Units sold Worldwide: 77.54 million, including DS Lite units[1]
Top-selling game Nintendogs, 18.67 million, all versions combined
Predecessor Game Boy Advance
Successor Nintendo DS Lite

The Nintendo DS is a two-screened portable game system created by Nintendo. It has a clam-shell design, which allows it to close and protect both screens at once when not in use. The bottom screen is touch-sensitive, which has made it and its games stand out from other hand-held systems. It's games include two Metroid titles, Metroid Prime Hunters and Metroid Prime Pinball, as well as the preview game of Metroid Prime Hunters, Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, with rumors of a third. It is compatible with the Nintendo DS Rumble Pak.

There is a slightly smaller version with brighter screens known as the Nintendo DS Lite and the latest model with larger screens (among various other new features) called the Nintendo DSi.

[edit] Hardware

Original Box Art with Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt demo.
The lower display of the Nintendo DS is overlaid with a touchscreen, designed to accept input from the included stylus, the user's fingers, or a curved plastic tab attached to the optional wrist strap. The touchscreen allows users to interact with in-game elements more directly than by pressing buttons; for example, in the included chatting software, PictoChat, the stylus is used to write messages or draw.

Traditional controls are located on either side of the touchscreen. To the left is a D-pad, with a narrow Power button above it, and to the right are the A, B, X, and Y buttons, with narrow Select and Start buttons above them. Shoulder buttons L and R are located on the upper corners of the lower half of the system. The overall button layout is similar to the controller of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super Famicom in Japan).

The Nintendo DS features stereo speakers providing virtual surround sound (depending on the software) located on either side of the upper display screen. This is a first for a Nintendo handheld, as the Game Boy line of systems has only supported stereo sound through the use of headphones or external speakers.

A built-in microphone is located below the left side of the bottom screen. It has been used for a variety of purposes, including speech recognition (Nintendogs, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!), chatting online between and during gameplay sessions (Pokémon Diamond and Pearl), and minigames that require the player to blow or shout into the microphone.

[edit] Metroid Games Playable on the Nintendo DS

[edit] Metroid Games Playable through GBA Backwards Compatibility

(DS and DS Lite models only)


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