An Introduction to the DSTT Card For the Nintendo DS
Cartridges known as Nintendo DS cards as well as the newer Nintendo DSi cards were first made to let users of these Nintendo handheld consoles play not only games, but music and movies as well.
Many of the newer DS cards carry the ability to play a host of homebrew software as well as be able to read PDFs and eBooks.
The DSTT was one of the first cards ever to be produced for the Nintendo DS and DS Lite, and as a result was extremely popular.
It was the second card to ever be produced behind the famous R4 card, otherwise known as the R4v2 or the R4-0815.
The DSTT was the first ever DS card to utilise the "games-menu" system in its user interface.
Instead of making the user select from three options at a startup menu screen, the DSTT card would simply display a list of all the multimedia files and games straight away upon loading.
This gave users the ability to quickly and effectively select what they wanted to play on their Nintendo DS console.
This kind of system is less beneficial to advanced users who may wish to use their DS for other uses such as a Game Boy Advance emulator and so on, but great for basic users or gaming enthusiasts who play the same type of games (or media) regularly.
The DSTT has very good dimensional control, and is slightly lighter than the original R4 card.
Failure rates on the DSTT are extremely low as shown in the review conducted by GBATemp in 2007 when the DSTT was first released.
Like the R4 card, the DSTT initially used a spring mechanismi to keep the DS card in the console, but after a few months when the manufacturers realised this increased the failure rates of the cards, they began to opt for a push-slot instead, which worked quite well because there were fewer mechanical components on the card that could fail.
Since the Nintendo DSi and DSi XL consoles were released, the DSTT team has released a sister card called the DSTTi which is compatible with the newer Nintendo consoles as well.
Because of this, the DSTT still enjoys firmware support to this day as it can take the same firmware that the DSTTi uses.
This is one aspect of the design of the DSTT that has been done very well; other cards such as the original R4 fell into disuse because firmware was not updated anymore after a year or two.
However, the DSTT team has a vested interest in keeping the software up to date due to the sales of the newer DSTTi - thus the original DSTT benefits from this.
The DSTT also holds a very strange crown: it is the fastest loading DS card of all time! This is primarily because it's only slightly faster than the original R4, and as cards became more complicated software had to keep pace and thus slowed the loading time of the cards.
In summary, the DSTT was one of the first ever cards to be produced for the Nintendo DS and DS Lite console, and continues to be popular thanks to a team that is still updating the firmware and compatibility for the card.
It loads quickly and is an ideal choice for any regular DS or DS Lite console user who wants a card that is simple to use and reliable.
Many of the newer DS cards carry the ability to play a host of homebrew software as well as be able to read PDFs and eBooks.
The DSTT was one of the first cards ever to be produced for the Nintendo DS and DS Lite, and as a result was extremely popular.
It was the second card to ever be produced behind the famous R4 card, otherwise known as the R4v2 or the R4-0815.
The DSTT was the first ever DS card to utilise the "games-menu" system in its user interface.
Instead of making the user select from three options at a startup menu screen, the DSTT card would simply display a list of all the multimedia files and games straight away upon loading.
This gave users the ability to quickly and effectively select what they wanted to play on their Nintendo DS console.
This kind of system is less beneficial to advanced users who may wish to use their DS for other uses such as a Game Boy Advance emulator and so on, but great for basic users or gaming enthusiasts who play the same type of games (or media) regularly.
The DSTT has very good dimensional control, and is slightly lighter than the original R4 card.
Failure rates on the DSTT are extremely low as shown in the review conducted by GBATemp in 2007 when the DSTT was first released.
Like the R4 card, the DSTT initially used a spring mechanismi to keep the DS card in the console, but after a few months when the manufacturers realised this increased the failure rates of the cards, they began to opt for a push-slot instead, which worked quite well because there were fewer mechanical components on the card that could fail.
Since the Nintendo DSi and DSi XL consoles were released, the DSTT team has released a sister card called the DSTTi which is compatible with the newer Nintendo consoles as well.
Because of this, the DSTT still enjoys firmware support to this day as it can take the same firmware that the DSTTi uses.
This is one aspect of the design of the DSTT that has been done very well; other cards such as the original R4 fell into disuse because firmware was not updated anymore after a year or two.
However, the DSTT team has a vested interest in keeping the software up to date due to the sales of the newer DSTTi - thus the original DSTT benefits from this.
The DSTT also holds a very strange crown: it is the fastest loading DS card of all time! This is primarily because it's only slightly faster than the original R4, and as cards became more complicated software had to keep pace and thus slowed the loading time of the cards.
In summary, the DSTT was one of the first ever cards to be produced for the Nintendo DS and DS Lite console, and continues to be popular thanks to a team that is still updating the firmware and compatibility for the card.
It loads quickly and is an ideal choice for any regular DS or DS Lite console user who wants a card that is simple to use and reliable.
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