Talk to me about Nintendo DS

[karen624]

I am clueless. I have two young girls and this is just not in my realm of knowledge at the moment. She has a leapster which she loves, but I think she and my husband would both enjoy this. He is a big gaming junkie. I was thinking of getting one to surprise both of them for the plane ride since he will be sitting with her.

1. What age can they play with this? my daughter is 5.
2. What games might she like?
3. Is the ds or ds lite better?
4. What else do I need to know?

 

[mjkacmom]

The ds is very old - my dd12 has one she got years ago. The dsi is the new version of the ds lite, and it's very cool. I wish I didn't get my 6 year old twins the ds for Christmas, and waited until the dsi came out in April, since now they're stuck with the old version. Most of the games require reading, but after you tell them what it says, they pick it up pretty quick.

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

We are a family of 6 and we own 5 DS lites LOL. We are a big gaming family so we all have to have our own, except the baby of course.

1. What age can they play with this?
My 4 year old hase been playing for awhile now.

2. What games might she like?
They have several games for littles. My son likes all of the lego games(bat man star wars indiana jones) They have disney princess games, build a bear, littlest pet shop. I have never read anything to my son, he figured it out on his own.

3. Is the ds or ds lite better?
We are perfectly happy with the lite. I havent looked into the new dsi at all though.

 

[disneysuncat]

The regular DS is a bit heavier (not much) and not as easy to find since the DS lite came out. My daughter got hers when she was 5 or 6 (she's 9 now.) She got me the DS lite for this past Christmas. (I have trained her well, lol.) The DS lite is lighter weight, brighter screens, and holds the stylus MUCH better than the original DS. A huge vote here for the DS lite.

That said, the newest of the new DSi is now out, just came out a month or so ago. The DSi also has a built in camera, and you can edit your photos, use fun effects on them, etc. You can also access games from the Nintendo Channel to your DSi if you have a Wii. One thing that DSi does NOT have, that the DS and DS lite do, is the slot that allows you to play older Game Boy Advance games.

I am an old-school gamer, started with ATARI. (man I am OLD.) My daughter started playing when she was 1.5 and she kept taking the controllers out of my hand. So our game favorites may be beyond someone just starting out in the Nintendo world. However, I'll give a few that I think might be good for her. Let's see, Nintendogs is a lot of fun, you have puppies you take care of, walk, get accessories for, etc. Cooking Mama is great, you make different recipes, heck I even like this one. I would also suggest a classic....Super Mario Brothers. It really introduces someone to the basic platformer game, and while it does get harder as the levels go up, your husband would also have a bunch of fun teaching her how to do it.

There are TONS and I mean TONS of older Game Boy Advance games that can be played in the DS and DS lite. Several are on par with games your daughter may have played on Leapster, or are a good progression from Leapster to the Nintendo systems. You can find Game Boy Advance games VERY inexpensive used at GameStop stores. The reason I am saying this, is that's a good way to get a bunch to get her started, to see what kind of games she prefers.

We play all kinds of games, and in addition to our DS handhelds, we have Playstations, Xbox 360, Wii. I try not to ever count how many games, because then I think about how much money I've sunk into it all and I feel queasy. BUT, the reason I am saying this is....my favorite game, absolute favorite, and one of my daughter's favorites...is Animal Crossing. We have it for GameCube, Wii, and we each have one for our DS. You live in a town, have animals for neighbors, earn money by fishing or digging up fossils, fix up your house, etc. It's an ever-changing game with new neighbors, seasons, events for different times of the year, etc. It's an absolute BLAST and I would highly suggest getting this game. Since my daughter and I both have them for our systems, we can go into each other's town, too. The one for the DS is called Animal Crossing Wild World.

You really can't go wrong with a DS of any kind. There are games for everyone. One thing that makes us mad about some games is when they say they are "geared for girls" or something, like a GIRL can't play "regular" games? Or they have to be easy and fluffy? (Obviously I take offense at this being a gamer from the start.) My daughter has had a subscription to Nintendo Power magazine for a few years, and BOY does she get mad when she sees stuff like that. She's beat about 95% of the games she has, and that includes Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess. She still will enjoy playing things that are lighter as well. And now I am officially rambling.

ANYWAY, there are plenty of DISNEY games too, so that would be a lot of fun for the trip.

 

[karen624]

Thanks for all the info. I probably should let DH look into it when he gets back from sea next week, and just surprise him with "hey we should go get one of these for the flight" and then he can decide if he wants the lite or dsi.

Bill is an "old gamer" as well. We have an atari console with the roller ball and everything, plus some other old systems.

 

[baz212]

My DS5 and I both have a DS lite. He got his for Christmas this year, and his favorite games are New Super Mario Brothers and Mario Kart. Like another poster said, they have a build-abear and a disney princess game. You can get board games too like clue, perfection, mousetrap, and aggravation all on one cartridge.

One thing about the DSLite v.DSi is if you want to play the Guitar Hero on tour games, they only work on the DS and DSLite. Some games can like New Super Mario and MarioKart can also be played 2-player with only one cartridge, so your DH and DD could play against each other.

All DS's have a program called Pictochat that is like IM for the DS. DS5 and I enjoy doing that. We used it to practice patterns and letters when he was learning that at school too.

 

[rodeo65]

You've had lots of good advice as far as which unit and having your DH's input is a great idea. I know mine likes to be involved in anything to do with electronics.

Both my DS8 and DD6 have had their DS's since they were 5. DS is much more into the fighting / warrior games than DD. She tends to go more for hunting, adventure type games. Having said that, I once picked up a $5.00 "throwaway" game from a bargain bin somewhere. DS was getting a game he wanted for a birthday and we still try to give the non-birthday child a little gift to open when birthday child opens theirs. It was a Crayola colouring game that also had a treasure hunt componenet to the game. She LOVES it and is still her favorite game to this day.

Depending on your child's temperment you can determine whether leveled games or continuous play are better. For DS, he loves the challenge of beating levels and advancing in the game. DD gets easily frustrated and prefers to have various areas to go to and not be stuck trying over and over to beat a level before she can advance in the game. When faced with that, she usually just shoves it at her brother and says "do this for me".

 

[AshtonsMom99]

We have all three versions in this house....lol...the DS, the DS lite and the DSi...my son got the first one at 5.....progressively gotten more age appropriate games as he is now 10...we are hopefully turning in the older versions to Game Stop for credit soon, we don't need all three systems...

 

[letsgoagainsoon]

DS5 has been playing with a DS since about 2. He loves it. He also has a Leapster which is pretty cool, but the games are so much better for the DS and there are so many more to choose from.

I'm not sure about all the features with the new one, but I do know that they don't play the older games, we buy quite a few used games from Gamestop, to save some money, so if that's important to you, keep that in mind.

 

[sydprincess]

I would definitely get it for them- they will love it!! It will keep them occupied for hours, and the games are so fun.

My DD6 (going on 7) has had hers for 3 years and unfortunately, has grown out of it a bit. She asked for (and is getting ) a laptop for her upcoming birthday. The older they get, the more pricey the items are that they ask for. Enjoy this stage while it lasts!

 

[ChristaDeVil]

My 8 yo. has had his DS for about a year now (It's a DS lite), but before that, he had a Game Boy Advance for a couple of years. I like it because he can play his GBA games as well as his new DS games. I like the range of games. You can always find discount or used games for it. He also has a PSP, and it's a little harder to find games for. I actually play his quite a bit. So much that I am wanting one of my own! I think your family will enjoy it!

 

[irene_dsc]

Ds got his DS lite last year for Christmas, in preparation for our WDW trip, actually. He was 6.5. His little sister borrowed it enough that dh promised her one for when she turned 5 - so she got one earlier than I'd been planning. Naturally, I bought it about 24 hours before the DSi came out, so the guys at Gamestop were trying hard to convince me to hold out for the DSi, lol. I have to admit, the absolute final deciding factor on staying with the DS lite was that the new ones aren't available in pink yet! Dd had been asking for pink for so long that I knew she'd be disappointed if I got her a blue or black DSi - even if it had a camera inside!

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Pokemon games yet. Those are a definite favorite in our house - dd has Pokemon Platinum and My Baby Girl - guess which one she plays 95% of the time? She gets too nervous to do the battling, but ds and I enjoy that - she likes all the other stuff to do. It is definitely an addictive game, however - there are way too many different things you can do, and trying to train up each Pokemon can take time. Lots of fun, though.

 

[renae3]

Can anyone tell me if there are any educational games? We love the leapster because all the games are educational.

 

[ljcrochet]

I'm go glad to see this. My girls just got ds lite for their 4th birthday. I need to get them some games, so any good game for my girls?

 

[meghanlea]

My DD just turned 5 in April, and got one for CHristmas. She got a leapster last year before our Disney trip and loved it so I was hesitate about getting her another gaming system. Well we broke down and got her one, while it does not have "educational" games as the leapster she has learned how to some what read from it. She still plays with the leapster but the DS is her fav thing in the world. She recently became "grounded" from it for a weekend and you would of thought we told her the world was comming to an end, . We use to let her take it to bed with her, well it sat on her shelf, so she could play it in the morning when she woke up till her brother got up (they share a room adn he is 5). However one night i saw this light glow under the door at 1am and she was up playing it. She had not been to sleep yet, which she does stay up late on occassion anyway, but I worried about school nights and her sneaking it. So now we keep it with us and we put it in her room before we go to bed so she still has it in the morning.

 

[mom2faith]

I have the DS Lite and DD4 is just starting to get interested in it. I am actually going to pick up 2 games tonight that I found used - High School Musical and Dora Saves the Princess both for $15 total!! YEAH!!

My only problem with the games I have so far is the reading, but DD still ikes to pretend to play, so I let her. I am hoping that with these new games she can actually play and then we will get her her own system before our trip.

Amy

 

[LPNmom]

My DD7 and DD11 love their DSlite they got for christmas..and I liked it so much I got one for my birthday. We love playing games together like battleship, sorry, pictochat (?sp). I can wait to use the DS on the plane!