Can somemone tell me a little about a DS?

[britfish]

I am thinking of buying one for DD for her 6th birthday. We have a leapster and she doesn't use it much so I am not completely sold on trying something new. I have seen a few on craigslist but I don't know much about the differences between DS and DS lite, and the accesories. Can someone give me a quick tutorial on what I need and what I should be looking for. Also let me know how your 6 year olds likes it (or doesn't).

 

[lovintennessee]

I just ordered one for my ds and he will be six this year. He loves his sister's so I got tired of the fighting. Both will have ds lites. I did not buy the dsi because of the huge price difference. Plus my kids already had cameras. I got my ds lite off the dell.com website for $99 and I did buy the extended warranty just in case. I believe Walmart has a deal through May 2 that you get a $30 gift card for any ds or dsi (not dsi xl) purchase.

 

[britfish]

so the difference between the ds and the dslite is a camera? Also, are there games in it or do I have to purchase games?

 

[3boymthr]

Actually, there are a couple more differences than that.

In addition to a camera, the DSi also has internet/wifi capability.

One of the big drawbacks in my mind of the DSi - it can't play GBA or GBA SP games - which it sounds like you don't have any of those game so that may not be a big deal for you, but sometimes you can pick up used GBA games for $1 and this adds a little variety to their game playing arsenal. I may be wrong but the screen on the DSi may also be slightly larger.

OTH - while it doesn't have wifi/internet or a camera, the DS lite does play GBA games and has the advantage of being less expensive.

Both systems can talk to each other - My two youngest both have DS lites and can play multi player games together without a cord and can send messages to each other via picto chat.

You will have to purchase games. The base systems only have picto chat pre-installed. There are a couple of versions with one or two pre-installed games but they are more expensive systems. The games are little tiny chips about the size of an SD card and run about $15 to $40 depending upon the newness and popularity of the game. You can pick them up less expensively at Gamestop as used versions - really the way to go as you can save a lot of money this way. I do recommend buying a little case to keep the games in as they are easily lost. We got our case along with a car charger and case and extra stylus for $15 at gamestop.

 

[bjscheel]

The difference between a DS and a DS Lite is at least size. A regular DS is getting pretty old. People that have a Lite may just call it a DS though. The difference between a DS Lite and a DSi is the camera, among other things. The DSi is the latest and greatest. We just have the DS Lite.

You will need to buy games. I think it was DD8's 6th birthday or near it when she got one. It was a good purchase. It keeps them busy in the car. We have three and play together.

The DS will come with a charger and an extra stylus. I highly recommend getting screen protectors- you can buy them for iPhone or whatever, they don't have to be specifically DS protectors. We got a car charger because so many times they are going dead on the road. We also bought a bunch of extra styluses on eBay. Some of our original ones were getting loose and not staying in the holder. They were cheap, came from China or Hong Kong but I took a chance and they work great. They fit snug like they should. So now we have like 40 or 50 extras in a rainbow of colors! You won't need to worry about that for a while though...

As for games, she liked the Disney Princess Magical Jewels, Build-A-Bear, Disney Bolt, the Petz games, Mario Kart, Tinker Bell.