Topic: Nintendo DS: Under the Hood

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Someone has leaked pictures of the E3 model, sans the casing.  Pictures confirm that GBA SP power adapters are DS-friendly.

A few days ago, GameCube-Europe posted interesting screens of the E3 Nintendo DS’s innards and stress testing.

The biggest tidbit of news is a photo of the Lithium-Ion Battery, which confirms what many observant Nintendo fans suspected when they studied the floor model: the DS’s power port is indeed compatible with GBA SP power adapters.  This will surely come as a relief to gamers in European and other PAL territories interested in importing the system this year.  The battery can be fully charged in three hours, and has a life span of 500 cycles.

The story’s other photos are more interesting than anything else, featuring the system’s exposed motherboard and the product hooked up to test equipment such as a logic analyzer and a large power supply.  

[Thrakkerzog]

The board identifier is NTR-CPU-X2A.  NTR?  Nitro?  Any guesses?

[Shift Key]

Nitro. The article actually says that.

[Thrakkerzog]

whoops!  I was just looking at the pretty pictures!

[ssj4_android]

I imagine the retail DS's will all have NTR in their product number thing also, since gamecube kept DOL.

[Nephilim]

this was the the e3 model, which im guessing some game dev worker, thought lets take some pics...kinda pointless now

[Caustic Saint]

What I don't like about these pics is the lack of a GBA link port. Since they're using GBA compatability as one of the selling points, shouldn't it have a link port?

[odifiend]

Because its wireless...  and I mean Nintendo did release a wireless GBA adapter.  I think it is what us fans want.

[KDR_11k]

So no dual screened FFCC controllers, eh?

[ATimson]

Unless they release a wireless Cube adaptor....

[Ian Sane]

"Because its wireless... and I mean Nintendo did release a wireless GBA adapter."

The wireless GBA adapter is a worthless piece of sh!t that only works with games programmed for it.  They should add a link cable slot to the DS.  Even if they tweaked it so you could play all GBA games wireless you wouldn't be able to link a GBA to a DS (at least not for non-wireless adapter supported games).  This isn't a make-or-break feature but I hate design oversights.  If WE can spot a problem THEY should be able to spot it too.

[odifiend]

'The wireless GBA adapter is a worthless piece of sh!t that only works with games programmed for it.'

I know it.  Sarcasm is my best defense against insanity.