What the hell is a DS Lite you say? Well, it’s a handheld video game system from Nintendo. The successor to the Gameboy Advance. The regular DS was released about a year and a half ago. And last month, a smaller and more compact version called the DS Lite was released.
The DS sports a touch-screen which makes it’s games very unique and fun. It’s button setup is similar to a Super Nintendo controller; four face buttons, two shoulder buttons, and a select/start button.. The DS also has a slot for your Gameboy Advance games. For those who still gripping your original Gameboy and Gameboy color games, you’re pretty much out of luck as the DS does not support them.
I’ll end there with the infomercial. Last month I picked up the DS Lite along with several other games, seven total by the end of the month. The games are great, and the DS Lite size is perfect. It can fit nicely in a back pocket (I doubt anyone would want to carry it that way) or slips easily into a hand bag or backpack.
There are several games I play regularly and it’s a pain having to switch the carts out back and forth. So here comes the ‘friends’ part. A third-party manufacturer developed a product called an M3adapter. It’s basically a flash cartridge that plugs into the GBA game slot. This flash cartridge holds an SD card for data (games, music, pictures, other files) storage.
The picture above shows the DS Lite, an M3 Adapter, a Mini SD, and a PassMe card. The PassMe card is the same size as a DS game, but its purpose is to bypass the DS system and boot up directly off the M3 adapter.
The directions are easy. Just slide in the PassMe card into the DS game slot. Then take your Mini DS card and slide that one into the M3 adapter. Then take the M3 adapter and plug it into the GBA game slot and that’s it. Just turn it on and you’re good to go.
Yes, I know that M3 adapter sticks out a little. It’s something you’ve got to learn to live with.
When you boot up you are greeted with the PassMe Welcome screen along with some usual warnings and discretions.
The M3 Adapter has a built in Media Player type menu. From here you can select the media you want to play.
Here’s a closer look.
I’ve already gone ahead and loaded my Mini SD with DS games that I already own (of course) as well as some Gameboy Advance games. If you look closely you can see an NES folder. And YES, you can play the old NES games on the DS.
And here we got the Mario Kart DS running of the M3 adapter. It’s pretty awesome.
Besides having the M3 adapter sticking out a bit, this setup is great for those, like me, like to play different DS games regularly and don’t want to carry all your game carts with you and having to swap them out each time. The total cost of the M3 adapter, PassMe card, and the 2GB Mini SD cost me about $160. It’s definitely worth it.