Nintendo DS Lite Onyx Black

I bought a Nintendo DS Lite for my son's 6th birthday along with Mario Kart. After it was delivered, I had to make sure it worked correctly before wrapping it. After all, there's nothing worse than getting a birthday present that you find to be busted, not working after you open it. I tested the DS Lite by playing the game Mario Kart that I bought along with it. I tested it for a couple of hours and then the screen went blank. Was it broken? This thought frightened me for a second, but then I realized that the battery probably just ran out of juice so I plugged it in. Bingo! It was working again, so I went back to testing it by playing Mario Kart to make sure the DS Lite was going to continue to work. I put it through hours and hours of stringent testing. Before I knew it, the sun was coming up and my kids would need to wake up and get ready for school. I was also supposed to go to work, but I was so focused overnight on testing my son's soon-to-be-gift that I forgot to go to bed. Nevertheless, I got the kids up and rushed them off to school, but as I was getting ready to go to work myself, a thought popped into my head; had I actually tested the Nintendo DS Lite long enough to be certain it was going to continue to operate? The quick answer to this was no; I had not tested it thoroughly enough. I called my boss and - in my best sick and croaky voice - told him I had come down with pneumonia and wouldn't be able to make it into work that day so I could get back to testing the DS Lite. Before I knew it, my kids were walking through the front door, home from school, and there I was still in my underwear on the couch, playing the DS Lite. I was almost busted, and I had to quickly hide the DS under the cushion so my son wouldn't see it. Let me just say this: The Nintendo DS Lite can be addicting. I stayed home from work the rest of that week (after all, it takes a while to get over pneumonia) just so I could play this fabulous handheld device. For about five days I forwent sleep, eating, and personal hygiene. And that was simply to play Mario Kart, which is only one of many, many games available for this handheld system. When my son opened his gift from me at his birthday party about week later, he didn't seem to be all that enthused with the packs old baseball cards I gave him out of my collection. I think he was really expecting the Nintendo. Where was the Nintendo DS Lite I bought for him you may be asking? I decided to keep that for myself. Okay, okay - I'm just kidding! I wouldn't do that, but I will tell you this: my six year old son loves the Nintendo DS Lite, as do I. I've seen a couple of other reviews over the DS that state children are unable to use the device by themselves without an adult setting up the game for them. To that I say this: hogwash! My son just turned six and is in kindergarten and has no trouble whatsoever in booting or navigating through any of the games he has (which include New Super Mario Brothers, Kirby Squeak Squad, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 March of the Minis, Mario & Luigi Partners In Time, Monster Trucks DS, among others). The only problem my son seems to have with the device is keeping track of the stylus; even though there's an actual hole in the thing to stow it in, he seems to constantly lose the stylus. Go figure. However, small skinny sticks of plastic come cheap (replacement stylus packs are usually under five bucks for two of them) and he can always use his finger on the touch screen whenever a stylus is AWOL. He also lost the cover for the Game Boy Advance cartridge port, but I ordered another one off the Nintendo website for three bucks. Oh, and that reminds me - I should mention that the DS Lite also plays all of the Game Boy Advance games as well as DS games! As such, the DS Lite plays more games than any other handheld or console system on the market. I ended up getting a pink DS Lite for my 9 year old daughter for Christmas. The only drawback I've found was thinking that they could share their DS games, but this has posed a slight problem as games are saved on the game cartridge and not to a storage device in the DS itself. The problem occurs when my son borrows his sister's Nintendogs game and somehow ends up messing up all her hard work. She claims that when my son's plays with her dog, all of the hours of training she's put the dog through are spoiled because he's teaching the dog to be bad somehow. I haven't played this game enough to know exactly what she's talking about, but I know there are several versions of the Nintendogs game, so I may end up buying my son his own so I don't have to hear her whine about this any longer. Nintendogs, along with Mario Kart, are two must-get games in my opinion. I must also mention the fact that you can play several of the games through peer-to-peer (ad hoc), which means my son and daughter can play each other wirelessly. For instance with Mario Kart, they can race each other on their own DS, and you only have to have the one cartridge to do so (the DS without the inserted Mario Kart cartridge downloads the necessary files to play head to head in this manner). Furthermore, you can also race people around the world if you have a wireless network. I should also mention that I have a Sony Play Station Portable (PSP). If you're trying to decide between the PSP and a Nintendo DS Lite, I have sympathy for you because that's not an easy decision. The graphics are better on the PSP, but the DS games are a whole lot of fun. If you're trying to decide which one to buy for a child, I'd definitely suggest getting the DS Lite as it seems to offer more games geared for the younger crowd. So that's about all I have to say about the Nintendo DS Lite, and I hope what I said helps. Let me know if it helped by clicking the `Yes' button below to the right of the sentence that says "Was this review helpful to you?" Thank you.

Great condition. Works well.

I bought my onyx black Nintendo DS Lite shortly before the Christmas holidays. I was lucky enough to be online when they briefly became available here at Amazon. Within hours, there were none left. Had I wanted to, I could have sold mine and made a small profit. But that's not how I am. I am first a gamer and much farher down the list, a business person. I am awarding this Nintendo DS Lite a 5-star rating. I also gave my Sony PSP a 5-star rating. Both consoles are excellent portable gaming devices. From a consumer point of view, the question is not which of the console is "better" hardware. The question one should ask, in my humble opinion, is which console would best meet one's needs. The Nintendo DS Lite fit my gaming needs better. If I can only have one handheld, the DS Lite would be my choice. You're probably thinking, "but Citan, the PSP can do a whole lot more!". True enough. However, for someone like me, who is simply looking for a handheld console to play casual games away from home, the DS Lite is a better fit. And it has nothing to do with the hardware. The DS Lite simply has a wider variety of games available, compared to the PSP. And to me, the selection of games is the most important factor. So then you say, "Citan, I want to know which is best for me, not for you" Ok, fair enough. Please, read on. The Sony PSP platform is home to games like the Grand Theft Auto and Metal Gear Solid series. The more popular games for the Sony platform seem to be the types that are complicated, elaborate, and not the "pickup-and-play" variety. In other words, if you are looking for a gaming experience that is as close as you can get out of your PS2, then the PSP is for you. The popular games available for it tend to be more "grand" in scale than the ones for the Nintendo. And yes, the graphics are better. Also, if you want multimedia capability, then seriously consider the PSP. The PSP library does not have as much variety. But then again, if you do not want variety in your gaming, then that should not matter. If you are looking to play games during those random moments that we sometimes get, then seriously consider the DS Lite. An example of random free time is arriving to work fifteen minutes early and spending that time playing a short casual game in your car, at the parking lot. There are many games in the DS library that would be perfectly suited for such a situation. Somehow, I don't think Metal Gear Solid would be a good choice to be playing while waiting at the doctor's office! For that, you would want a game that you can start and stop very quickly. If this is what you have in mind, then the DS Lite (at least for now) would be a better choice. There is a shortage of casual games for the PSP right now. Although that could change in the future. Basically, it would really depend on how you want to use your gaming device. Some games are better for those random gaming time than others. And it just so happens that there are more such games in the DS library. Which console would be better for your child? I would say that depends on the age of the child. For a younger child, say under 12, I would give the DS Lite the edge. Again, more variety of games available. The DS Lite has plenty of light-hearted games that are very suitable for younger children. An older child might prefer the PSP to play the more mature games, such as the GTA series. Another factor to consider is the cost of ownership. The PSP will have a higher cost of ownership due to the fact that you will need to buy a memory stick. Also, a replacement battery for the Sony is twice as expensive as the one for the DS. That's an important consideration if you're buying for a child. Do you own a PS3? If so, the PSP might be a better choice for you since they are designed to work together. Game developers might decide to take advantage of this interoperability and make use of it in future games. For this reason, I will keep my PSP. I cannot comment as to the interoperability between the DS Lite and the Wii, since I do not own a Wii. At the moment, I am playing Elite Beat Agents on the DS Lite. The graphics and the presentation are certainly not up to the standards of the likes of the latest GTA or MGS for the PSP. But is the game any less entertaining? Definitely not. And the DS touch screen really make video gaming accessible even to people who have never tried them in the past. My advice is to consider your needs carefully before making a purchase. The same advice holds true if you are deciding between the PS3, XBox360, and the Wii.

Bought it used, and has some scratches here and there on the device itself but not on either screen. For its age it’s actually pretty well-intact. I was super happy to get this and play games from my childhood again

I got my original NES for Christmas back in 1987. I can still remember the excitement that I felt the first time I hooked up the cables and pressed that power button. My first game was Metroid and to this day is probably one of my all time favorites in the video game genre. I bring up this memory because the DS Lite is as exciting and innovative as the NES was for me nearly twenty years ago. Here's why: First, it is compact, sleek, fits my hands perfectly, and above all, has a back light. The backlight settings are very helpful as in a dark room, lowering the brightness is key! The very brightest setting, which I only used once, was bright enough, and still allowed for a decent amount of game playing before I needed to recharge the batteries. Second is that this console is very powerful. It does not feel sluggish or low end simply because it is portable. The first Gameboy suffered from that terribly. The DS Lite is capable of running very complex games! Besides the style, power and physical feature set, the biggest draw for me, as I alluded to in the title, is that this system allows me to enjoy many games both old and new. Whether I'm playing New Super Mario Bros or the classic Super Mario Bros. the DS Lite makes it possible. I suppose I should mention the touch screen. It's very responsive and does add a level of complexity to several DS games! Very clever on Nintendo's part. Overall it was worth the wait of trying to buy one of these! It is great fun, and is now a part of my travling staples.

In good condition. Thank you!

WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!! Possibly the worst description of a product ever. The company sold this to me saying that it is in very good condition there is minimal wear such as scratches or whatever, which would be expected. However, I open the box, charge it....more like try to charge it, and the charging port in the device is broken...luckily it arrived with a little bit of juice left in the battery, so I insert a game and what do you know the card reader is broken too! I tested the card reader with multiple games (8 to be exact) and not a single one came up as being inserted. Knowing there's a Gameboy cartridge slot, I decide to test that and what a surprise that doesn't work either! Replay One didn't even take off all of the stickers from the original owner, not that it's a big deal but it just shows how little they did in terms of refurbishing this "lightly used" machine....I'm just so happy I spent my money on what is essentially a brick with speakers. Awful product, awful company. DO NOT BUY!

Perfect like new!! he loved his gift and works perfectly

Console en très bon état, les jeux fonctionnent bien aussi bien les jeux ds que les cartouches advance. Très satisfaite.

10 out of 10 would recommend

The state of the console is incredible with manuals and original box I even receive a pouch to store console

Prodotto consegnato con un giorno d'anticipo ed in ottime condizioni! Benché non fossi inizialmente soddisfatto del colore, ci ho fatto gradualmente l'abitudine e mi ritengo davvero soddisfatto. Non sono presenti graffi né all'esterno né all'interno della console, gli schermi sono intatti e funzionanti. Arrivato assieme al caricatore (perfettamente funzionante) ed il gioco. L'unica cosa che mi ha leggermente deluso, è stato proprio quest'ultimo, che non era granché. Trattandosi, però, di un extra, non ci ho dato molto peso. Sicuramente raccomandato!

Está muy bien conservada y funciona de maravilla. Mi hijo está feliz con ella