Mailbag From Aug 1, 2006 |
Obviously if the unit becomes broken during use (scratched screen, cracked casing or display due to a fall) the company will charge for the repair or replacement.
-- Craig
I purchased the original DS which came with a copy of Mario Kart DS and enjoyed the hell out of it, though I eventually stopped playing after a while and moved on.
After purchasing a DS Lite, I surfed the IGN Boards and someone claimed that occasionally while playing Mario Kart, the kart would stop accelerating, as if the DS Lite didn't recognize that the "A" button was being pressed down.
So I put my copy of MKDS into my brand-new 'Lite and after a few hours of playing, I noticed the same effect, especially when racing against my brother (who kept the original DS) in more intense races than any one could have against an AI opponent - when pressing firmly down on the "A" button in the heat of a race, the kart would sometimes suddenly stop accelerating until I let go and hit "A" again. MKDS is the only racing game I have for DS, but I imagine this happens in other racing games where "A" has to be kept held down.
This never in the hundreds of hours I spent playing MKDS happened when I played on the original DS.
Julian
Fellas. You missed one thing. How easy it is to scratch the touchscreen playing hectic touchscreen games like warioware. Now trust me, Im as gentle with the stylus as Im gentle helping grandma out of her wheelchair. I read all the manuals. But still, I got a couple of big, beefy, butt-ugly scratches on my touchscreen thanks to those games. Right now it's only cosmetic and doesnt really affect the games. You think Nintendo would fix this? After all it is their stylus causing these problems!
Ryan
I had actually just exchanged my DS today for a cosmetic defect I've noticed only on mine. Since day one I was able to see the back lites for the bottom screen shine through the plastic right above the gba slot. The reason for this, I discovered was due to the plastic being slightly separated from the actual casing causing a small gap for the light to shine through.
Jason
One unimportant, yet common problem with DS Lite that hasn't ben listed is the loose volume slide bar. I also seem to loose plastic above the GBA slot. Like I can push it up and down. Dunno if that one counts.
Vaztor
I had a problem with my DS Lite shutting off for no reason. At first I thought I was not charging it long enough. So I left it on the charger for a full day. Shortly after I started playing my game it would shut off. The problem started to get worse. I would turn it on and it would turn back off automatically. I decided to take it back to Target and exchange it. I have not had this problem with the new one. At least not yet.
Michael
Now don't get me wrong, the Lite is easily the best gaming device I have purchased since the SNES. With the wealth of killer apps and the free wi-fi, I couldn't be happier with this wonderful machine. I have noticed, however, that the half of the unit that has the top (non-touch) screen has shifted or tilted the slightest bit clockwise from its original position. An easier way for me to describe the minimal change (which is purely aesthetic and doesn't effect gameplay) is that when I close the two halves onto eachother, the top one doesn't quite align with the bottom properly. No biggie, but I figure others might see this happening to their Lite.
Joe
My black DS lite has a problem with the x button that manifests itself when playing NSMB. When Mario has a fire flower and I am holding down the x button to run, every now and then (about once per level) he will fire off another fireball as though I've let go and re-pressed the button. Sometimes when I press it he will fire off two fireballs as though I've pressed the button twice. This never happens on my original DS. Further investigation revealed that if you keep the button pressed but move your thumb to the edge of the button and back, it registers that as a new button press. This is mildly annoying as you need to hold x to carry a shell - now you can't be sure that Mario won't spontaneously let it go whenever he feels like it!
Ben
After using the DS lite for over a month of constantly opening it and closing it the top screen started to blink. It got to a point where the top screen would blink out completely. It eventually degraded further and the top screen would stay white unless i clicked it fully open. After a little while the top screen died completely. It would stay solid white. After calling nintendo of america they confirmed that this happens to about 1% of all DS lites where the top screen connector comes loose. They just have to reseat the top cable.
Richard
My DS Lite has some of the problems you listed. It has the crack on the hinge, and the shifting touch screen. But one other problem I've been having since I bought it is that a lot of the time, it won't read the game cartridge. Sometimes I have to re-insert the game 10-15 times before it will read it properly. The games play fine on my normal DS, so the cartridges aren't the problem. Should I contact Nintendo and see if I can get a replacement?
Brandon
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