The System Software

The DSi sports a brand-new menu system, finally replacing the venerable DS menu that debuted with the classic system back in 2004. But it's more than a face-lift; the menu sports new functionality as well.

When you enter the DSi's menu (and you can jump back to it at any time by tapping the power button; the system only turns off if you hold it down), you'll see a long row of icons, each representing a piece of software you can run. By default, these are:

  • System Settings
  • Game Card
  • Nintendo DSi Camera
  • Nintendo DSi Sound
  • Nintendo DSi Shop
  • DS Download Play
  • PictoChat

There are 39 slots in all, including the above items—32 are free on a system out of the box. What you'll be filling these boxes with is DSiWare, available from the Nintendo DSi Shop. Nintendo has stated they'll be offering titles at free, 200, 500, and 800+ price points, payable of course in Nintendo Points, the new moniker for Wii Points. Unfortunately, the DSi Shop isn't up just yet in the U.S.—Nintendo will lift the curtains on that April 5—so we can't give you any hands-on reports for that. In the meantime, you can read more about what's coming direct from Nintendo.

Navigating through the menu is done with either the d-pad or the touch screen. You can rearrange the items on the menu with either method, to put your favorite apps right up front. The menu remembers the last software you launched, and goes right back there the next time you turn on the DSi or exit to the menu. The top screen will show a random star-tagged (more on the next page) photo from your onboard photo album—but it must be stored in internal memory, not on the SD Card.

System Settings is similar to the Wii's system management menu, right down to the look. Curiously, you can't navigate it with the d-pad and buttons. Inside here you'll find the usual complement of profile settings (your name, birthday, favorite color) as well as date/time settings and touch-screen calibration. The newly-reskinned (and, thanks to the speakers, newly-blaringly-loud) alarm clock is tucked away in here as well. There's also a smattering of new things.


Language and Country settings are available here. In the American DSi we have, languages are limited to English, French, and Spanish, and the country list is pretty much everything you'll find between North and South America plus a few others.

Data Management isn't actually on our new unit just yet—it'll appear when we've first updated in order to access the DSi Shop, it seems—but here you'll be able to do some rudimentary movement of software and save data between your DSi's internal Flash memory and an SD Card.

System Update will, as you might imagine, go online to see if there's a firmware update available. The DSi Shop isn't usable without at least one update. Format System Memory is also available in case you want to take that particular drastic step.

Internet settings include the original DS's three Wi-Fi configuration slots (limited to WEP security) as well as three new DSi-specific slots that will only work with DSi software—these add WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK in both AES and TKIP varieties. I was impressed upon the value of having these in the system menu when I had to search for a WFC-compatible game in my collection in order to have my old WFC configuration sent over to the DSi. (This works perfectly, by the way.)

On the subject of wireless, there's now a Wireless Communications switch. As we mentioned before, wireless can be enabled or disabled entirely; if disabled, games will be unable to establish any wireless communications. Contrary to popular belief, this shouldn't affect battery life in non-wireless games. It appears to be a switch for situations like flights where you need to definitively disable your system's wireless function. The system's radio isn't actually active unless the light is blinking.

Finally, there's a Mic Test for verifying that your microphone is, in fact, working. Not much to talk about here.

Back on the main menu, DS Download Play and PictoChat—both options from the original DS—make reappearances. Both also look nearly identical to their DS counterparts, right down to the rather dated DS system menu look. PictoChat does gain one new piece of functionality, though; tapping the pen icon toggles a rainbow-pen functionality which draws lines in an array of colors. These colored strokes show up on old DS systems, as well.

But the real stars of the show are the new Camera and Sound apps.