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Nintendo DS-TV-Out Restoration Project

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Re: Nintendo DS-TV-Out Restoration Project

#2
I'd bet this was a feature to support their in-store kiosks where people could play a DS and see the output on a TV. It'd be a lot cheaper and easier to pull some DS machines off the production line and reflash the firmware than to engineer entirely new units just for the kiosks.

Re: Nintendo DS-TV-Out Restoration Project

#3

I'd bet this was a feature to support their in-store kiosks where people could play a DS and see the output on a TV. It'd be a lot cheaper and easier to pull some DS machines off the production line and reflash the firmware than to engineer entirely new units just for the kiosks.

I don't remember there being DS kiosks with TVs attached, but DS devkits did support external displays so maybe it's a remnant from those

https://cdn.retrorgb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/10100846...

Re: Nintendo DS-TV-Out Restoration Project

#4
post #3

I'd bet this was a feature to support their in-store kiosks where people could play a DS and see the output on a TV. It'd be a lot cheaper and easier to pull some DS machines off the production line and reflash the firmware than to engineer entirely new units just for the kiosks.

I don't remember there being DS kiosks with TVs attached, but DS devkits did support external displays so maybe it's a remnant from those https://cdn.retrorgb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/10100846...

The article says that the devkits used different circutry.

Re: Nintendo DS-TV-Out Restoration Project

#5
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't remember there being DS kiosks with TVs attached, but DS devkits did support external displays so maybe it's a remnant from those https://cdn.retrorgb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/10100846...

The article says that the devkits used different circutry.

That'll teach me for rushing to post a cool photo before reading the article :)

Re: Nintendo DS-TV-Out Restoration Project

#6
post #3

I'd bet this was a feature to support their in-store kiosks where people could play a DS and see the output on a TV. It'd be a lot cheaper and easier to pull some DS machines off the production line and reflash the firmware than to engineer entirely new units just for the kiosks.

I don't remember there being DS kiosks with TVs attached, but DS devkits did support external displays so maybe it's a remnant from those https://cdn.retrorgb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/10100846...

They were definitely out there, I remember playing some DS kiosks at Target. This circuitry is specifically for the later DS lite models that came out in the later days of the DS line: https://consolevariations.com/variation/kiosk/nintendo-ds-ki...

Re: Nintendo DS-TV-Out Restoration Project

#9

I just wish I picked up a DS. The prices for them now is ridiculous.

I bought a couple of Nintendo DS Lite consoles at the beginning of the corona virus but found these to be too small to be enjoyable so I bought a Nintendo New 3DS XL instead. The New 3DS XL was pretty decent. I played quite a few games and finally sold the New 3DS XL as well as the DS Lite consoles that I had bought.

Something worth keeping in mind is that if like me you don’t intend to keep them but only want to play with them for a few months, then I suggest you do like I did, stay on the lookout for a while to get a feel for how much people are asking and how much people are paying, when you then later find one at a decent price you will know that the price is decent. You buy it you play with it for a while and then you sell it for somewhere around what you paid for it. Try asking for a higher price first. But even if you sell it at a small loss, you (hopefully) got entertainment value out of it and it was worth it.

I was extra lucky with mine because after I bought the New 3DS XL, someone listed quite a few DS games and a couple of 3DS games that they were giving away for free in a neighboring city to mine. So I went and picked up 12 or 14 games or thereabouts, that was given to me for free. Maybe 2/3 of the games were low quality games that I only played a little, but there were some gems too. And when I sold the DS consoles I bundled the games with them, distributing the games I liked and the ones I did not like so much evenly. And still not asking much more for most of the consoles, just a little extra. And this way it also became a good deal for the buyers that bought them from me.

I probably would have held onto the New 3DS XL if I could afford to, but realistically even if I hadn’t needed the money I feel that I was done with it, and was not planing on devoting more time playing it in the near future. Better then to sell it to someone else. I get the money and they get to enjoy it.

Re: Nintendo DS-TV-Out Restoration Project

#10

I just wish I picked up a DS. The prices for them now is ridiculous.

I bought a couple of Nintendo DS Lite consoles at the beginning of the corona virus but found these to be too small to be enjoyable so I bought a Nintendo New 3DS XL instead. The New 3DS XL was pretty decent. I played quite a few games and finally sold the New 3DS XL as well as the DS Lite consoles that I had bought. Something worth keeping in mind is that if like me you don’t intend to keep them but only want to pla…

The 3DS line has a bit of an unfortunate side-effect that, by default, it stretches the display of original-DS games with some pretty unsightly artifacts from a non-integer scale. The workaround is to hold Start+Select on launching the games, displaying them at the original 1:1 pixels, but then there's a large black border and the size of the game's display is also unsatisfying small.

For sure, if you can only pick up one console, a 3DS XL or 2DS XL is a good option. If you can pick up two consoles, I believe the DSi XL is an excellent complement. Large screens with the same native resolution as the original DS. By playing games on the DSi XL, you get a comfortable and large display of original-DS games and no artifacts from a non-integer scale.

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