Nintendo DS Specs

Official Nintendo DS specifications!

Here it is my friends, the OFFICIAL specifications sheet on the Nintendo DS from somewhere inside of Nintendo of Japan! Yesterday, sites all over the Information Superhighway reported that the new portable console from Nintendo would be called the "Nitro" . This was later rvealed to be nothing more than the original codename of the product in the early stages of development, and the tentative name of the new console remains "DS" as announced over a month ago.

But now we have the specifications of the console right under our noses -see the table and picture below for exact specifications, and we think that it's fair to say that the DS looks like a snazzy piece of gadgetry. Although people will make the inevitable comparisons with Sonys' Playstation Portable system, Nintendo would probably be quick to remind critics that this is a new concept and designed as an addition to the GBA and GameCube, this is NOT Game Boy Advance 2 or Game Boy Advance Superior or anything like that.

Okay, so now the bit you're interested in: The DS Portable will have two processors; an ARM 9 running at 67 MHz and a ARM 7 sub-processor clocking in at 33MHz; a main memory of 4 MB; it will be capable of over 250,000 colours; 120,000 polygons per second in 3D; A pixel count of 30 million per second. Also, it will be featuring the touch-screen interface touted not so long ago as merely a rumour: there's the proof.

Unsurprisingly, the DS Portable will feature wireless technology for gaming with friends and the A, B, L, R, "Start" and "Select" buttons typical of the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. The possibility of also putting in "X" and "Y" buttons is also mentioned. So we can assume that this will most likely have a control interface similar of that to the GBA in terms of design -or even possibly reminiscent of the SNES four-button configuration.


Specs:

CPU Main processor ARM946E-S (67MHz)
Cache: 8KB data 4KB
TCM : 32KB data 16KB
Sub processor ARM7TDMI (33MHz)

Memory Main memory 4MB
ARM9/ARM7 32KB (2 times 16KB)
ARM7
Work RAM 64KB
VRAM 656KB

LCD Display two screens of 256x192 pixels (RGB)
Colors maximum of 262,144 colors

2D graphics
Engine BG 4 layers maximum
OBJ 128 objects maximum

3D graphics

Engine Coordinate conversion maximum of 4M / second
Polygon drawing capability maximum of 120K polygon s
Pixel drawing capability maximum of 30M pixels/second

Sound 16 channels (ADPCM/PCM)
Microphone input

Wireless communication IEEE802.11 protocol

Input device Touch screen / panel
'cross', A, B, R, L, Start, Select (X and Y are under examination)

Electric power control Sleep mode (with WakeUp by radio signal possible). Electric power control of the 2D engine, rendering engine, (unknown) engine and LCD possible.


I still believe the PSP will beat out the DS because of Sony's game lineups, and Nintendo's kiddy-like gaming.

The possibility of also putting in "X" and "Y" buttons is also mentioned.

Have you seen the hardware? It has X and Y buttons.

I'll put up the prototype in a second.

EDIT: Here it is.

I would probably get this, but I've never been a big fan of handhelds. I'll stick with a GC, and the new console from Sony when it comes out.

Perrin Kaplan has confirmed that the prototype is basically the finished product. She said that there might be one or two tiny little changes, like maybe making the case a tad smaller or adding a second speaker on the right side of the screen. But, what you see there is essentially the final unit.