Advice on which Nintendo console to buy for sons birthday?

confusedmummy

My son wants a Nintendo console for his 5th birthday and my mum has agreed to buy him one. I am trying to research which is the best (she is going to buy one of the little ones that were originally Nintendo DS).

Anyway, can anyone answer these questions and generally give recommendations on which console they think is best;

Which of the DS series consoles is best to get in terms of price and buying games (new or second hand games)?

Can games made for one of the earlier consoles e.g. Nintendo DS be used on the newer ones (Nintedo 3DS)?

Are any accessories essential?

Any other tips or recommendations when buying would be welcome!

Price for console alone should be no more than £150 new.
Thank you!

awacko

I personally would try and get a cheap DSI - the 3DS is not recommend for children under 6 because the 3d aspect can sometimes cause them problems. Also there are loads of cheap non-3d games out there. As he is only 5 , a cheap 2nd hand one might be better just in case there are any accidents with it.

paul2468

Buy the dsi xl, well worth the money and the large screen is a bounus, steer clear of the 3d model, bad strain on young eyes, If you dont mind 2nd hand cash convertors have them at a good price, that goes for the games as well.

robyn1991_2

DS lite's are very cheap pre-owned and good for young-uns!

The only real difference is that they don't have a camera. But they take Ds game cartridges and also gameboy advance cartridges which is great as I think you can get those pretty cheap too.

My mother in law recently bought one for her 5yr old grandson, as he would wreck a fancy new one and wouldn't appreciate the features.

vickynleon

we purchased the ds xl for my son for christmas, chose this because he has bad eyes and has to wear a patch so thought it would help, it seems much better for younger kids save them straining their eyes, only purchased a few games for my son as they can be quite expensive if you choose character ones but you can get alot of cheaper games about that are just as fun.

Beetlemama

robyn1991 wrote: »

....they take Ds game cartridges and also gameboy advance cartridges which is great

My son has an old DS and he got a 3DS for Christmas, we now have two on charge since the 3DS won't play his GBA games.

I'd go for an older second hand one, you can pick up old DS and GBA games for around a fiver in the gamer shops, new 3DS games are the same sort of price as proper xbox/PS3 games, £25+, which limits them to birthdays and special occasions, whereas he can save his pocket money a couple of weeks and buy an old console game second hand.

The 3DS is a most triumphant gadget, it goes on the internet wirelessly and you can take it out for walks and it "meets" other 3DS's and adds the owners as friends, but it's really more of an older kids toy, for straight playtime the old console is perfectly adequate. Besides, Dill doesn't really like the 3D aspect and rarely has it on.

Since he's only 5, I would say get the old unit second hand, so far we have managed to avoid killing any of ours, but it's an expensive accident for a very little guy to try and avoid having, at least if you pay £50 for it and he drops it downstairs it's not the end of the world. If he loves it and does great with it, you can always upgrade at future birthdays/Christmases.