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First off, the way I see it, the DS is an investment, no matter which one I get. I know that by the time I am dont with the system alone I will have spent about $250, I am resolved to do so since DS will be the last handheld I'll by for about seven or eight years. Anyway I've put alot of thought into this, as you will see from this post, and have narrowed it down to the fact that there are five main factors to consider when choosing which DS model to get, such as.

Color
Size
Lighting
Buttons
Accessories/fit.

Anywho, I have looked into the matter and found two sites that sell several DS Skins for both systems and have decided that it makes since to only by a couple of skins. My GBASP has never been without its Incredible Hulk faceplate and looks great because of it. (Even though the out side is scratched.) The DS skins cover the system completely.

Anywho, with the resolve to get a skin for the system, color is no longer a factor.

Size wont matter to me because I plan on getting a carrying case for the whole thing and its accessories but either way, my favorite outfits have big pockets that the DS should fit in just fine, while the MAJORITY of my wardrobe would be better accomodated with a smaller DS—meaning the DSLite.

I will ofcourse by extra sytluses of which ever size is most comfortable for me, DS or DSLite. So styluse wont be reason to buy a system for me. I think that I have medium sized hands so…I guess it wont be to devastating to use either DS’s size. I may even MAKE a few styluses of my own. I know that the sytluses will only fit the system their made for. Cue that handy dandy carrying case.

I have pretty okay eyes but dont see details well upclose (I’m farsighted) so unless you can get a light and magnifyings attachment for the DS original, the DSLite would be better for me until I can get some more glasses in a month.

I have only “played” the DSlite. I had it for about two minutes at the community center, it belonged to some little girl. The whole time another kids was bugging me so I really didn’t experience the button layout much.

So I need feed back on the button layout and response of both systems. I read once that one of the systems has weaker controls then the other (I think I read that the Lite has weaker controls) If someone could help me with this I would be appreciated

I plan on modding the darned thing to play Media and everything with one of these little beauty’s EZ-FLASH3 4GBIT DEV CART. I know this will work with the original DS, but what about the DSLite?
Does anyone know if it will?

NOTE: The EZ-Flash cart will take me a while to acquire so for the first eight months or so, I will only be playing games on my DS.

So then, I have resolved my own issues with both Color and Size

But I still need someones opinion on the Buttons and the fit of accessories. I know the DSLite has its own size of accessories and cant use the original DS’s equipment. So how do you get media on your DSLite? DO you have any problems using the D-pad on the DSLite--in any specific games?

Are there any games that specifically benefit from the DSLites better lighting such as
Metroid?
Mario Kart?
AC:WW?

What about the controls for these systems on the above mentioned games?

i like the ds lite better than the "fatty" For one the touch screen breaks easy on the fatty and the peice that hold the top screen can break too and with the ds lite the peice is more stronger.

The ds lite stylus also doesn't fall out as easily.

I personaly perfer the old DS, though i do have to give the lite props for screen brightness, the old one can take a beating. the things i dont like about the lite are the way the advance games stick out. plus the overall smaller size would make it prone to being lost (at least in my case)

There really aren't any differences between the DS and the DS lite. I myself have both, but I'll be giving my old one to my cousin in a few months. The lite happens to have adjustable backlight settings that can be changed in the system start up thing, to save power, since there are less brighter settings that work just as fine. The lite is also lighter and smaller, so it would make more sense if you had a lite if you always have one in your pocket. The thing that I like about the lite is that the stylus is way bigger than the one that comes with the original DS, which is pretty ironic in my opinion.

They both cost the same, so I'd say if you had to choose between the two, I'd go with the DS lite.