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Beginners > Shopping for a DS

#171567 - Matthias - Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:09 am

I've been very interested in developing for the DS, but I was wondering what DS should I buy? (The reason I want to buy a new DS is because of the Black Friday deals.) What would be the best for development? I hear the DSi has some problems with independent development but then I also hear that a Nintendo DS Lite can't use SD cards without adapters? I thought DS Lites could use SD cards like any other DS.

Can anyone clear this up for me? I'm quite confused and quite new at the moment. :P

#171568 - Sektor - Sun Nov 29, 2009 6:36 am

The DSi is the only DS that has an SD slot but homebrew developers haven't figured out how to access it yet.

No matter what DS you buy, you will need to buy a flashcart (they are so cheap now, some under $11 including postage). Most of the slot-1 (DS slot) carts have microSD slots for loading your homebrew.

Most flashcarts work on the original DS and the DS Lite but some aren't compatible with the DSi and even the ones that have been updated for DSi will only run in DS mode.

Buy a DS Lite if you want to save money and if you plan to do something with the GBA slot. You can run DS homebrew on it fine with a flashcart.

Buy a DSi if you like the built-in web browser, want to run DSi games, don't care about GBA. You can run DS homebrew on it with a flashcart but if you update the firmware, you might find that one day your flashcart is blocked. You might also be able to run DSi homebrew one day but now it's very limited.
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Last edited by Sektor on Sun Nov 29, 2009 11:19 am; edited 4 times in total

#171569 - wintermute - Sun Nov 29, 2009 11:02 am

Where did you get the idea that a DS could read SD cards without an adapter? Only the DSi can do that.

As for independent development on the DSi, most of the new DSi compatible cards work for running DS mode homebrew but obviously there's still a risk that Nintendo could block them again with a new firmware update. Right now there are no available cards which can run homebrew in DSi mode.
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