Nintendo DSi

Nintendo DSi
Also known as: iQue DSi (CN) Developer: Nintendo Publishers: Nintendo (INT), iQue (CN) Released in JP: November 1, 2008 Released in US: April 5, 2009 Released in EU: April 3, 2009 Released in AU: April 2, 2009 Released in KR: April 15, 2010 Released in CN: December 15, 2009 This console has debugging material. This console has regional differences. This console has revisional differences. This console has anti-piracy features. This console has a development article This console has a prototype article

This game/console's online features are no longer supported. While this game/console's online features were once accessible, they are (as of March 31, 2017) no longer officially supported and online-exclusive features may be documented as now-unseen content.

To do: Check for more unused content.

The Nintendo DSi was Nintendo's half-generation upgrade version to the Nintendo DS. It added tons of new features, such as a Wii-like main menu, two cameras (and an app to go with them), a sound-recording app, a digital store for minor releases (some of which not so minor), real-time brightness change, WPA-1 and -2 wireless networking, and all of the features you would find on a regular DS. Well, if you ignore the lack of a GBA slot and artificial annoyances...

While hardly a commercial failure, relatively few software appreciatedly took advantage of its improvements compared to the Game Boy Color; the stopgap console only lasted for a few years before being succeeded by the Nintendo 3DS, yet continued to have very high profile releases for a couple of years owing to both the DS line's inertia and its successor's slow uptake.

Sub-Pages

Development Info

Prototype Info

Hidden Button Combinations

To do: How do region-locked DSi-exclusive and enhanced games react to this combo?

Like the DS and 3DS, the DSi has a hidden button combination which is not documented in the DSi's instruction manual. There are two requirements which must be met in order for this combination to work:

• The system must not be set up. If the device has already been set up, it must be formatted so it boots into the setup screen.
• There must be a DS game inserted.

By holding A + B + X + Y + R while powering on, you can force a DS game to boot regardless of setting up the system. You will not be able to connect to a Wi-Fi network in this state. The system username, message, birthday, and alarm clock info will default as blank, and the system's favorite color will be set to color 15, the last option.

Debug Font

There's a leftover debug font titled debug/DebugFont.NCGR. However, there's no reference to the filename in the code. The uppercase is identical to the font used in the FDS version of The Legend of Zelda, with an added shadow.

Regional Differences

There's some minor language changes to each system menu. Notice how the US and Japanese versions have anti-aliased font, while the Korean and Chinese versions do not.

Europe/US/Australia	Japan	Korea	China (iQue)

Europe/US/Australia	Japan	Korea	China (iQue)

Europe/US/Australia	Japan	Korea	China (iQue)

For DSi systems, the option for changing the DS language is only present in US and European firmware. Japanese, Korean, and Chinese models of the DSi do not have this option and default to their respective language if available (or English for non-Chinese models).

Revisional Differences

Ver. 1.0

Original preinstalled software version for Japan.

Ver. 1.1

Released at launch for Japanese region systems.

• Adds the DSi Shop.

Ver. 1.2

Released on December 18, 2008 in Japan only.

• Revisions were made for distribution of paid DSiWare.

Ver. 1.3

Released on March 26, 2009 in Japan and was the preinstalled software version for North America and Europe.

• Adds a "Search for Software" feature to the DSi Shop.
• In the Nintendo DSi Sound application, the sound effects made by pressing L and R now match the music volume setting.

Ver. 1.4

Released on August 9, 2009 for Japan, North America and Europe.

• Adds a feature that allows photos to be uploaded directly to Facebook. (For North America, Japan, Europe, and Australia only)
• The Internet browser was updated.
• The speed of viewing photos in the DSi Camera application was improved.

Versions 1.4, 1.4.1 (Released on September 7, 2010), 1.4.2 (Released on May 10, 2011), 1.4.3 (Released on June 29, 2011), 1.4.4 (Released on March 22, 2012), and 1.4.5 (Released on December 11, 2012) each had various stability fixes that targeted the use of DS Flash cartridges and DSiWare exploits. Ver. 1.4 was the preinstalled software version for China and Korea but the version number was a .1 number ahead and applied to each subsequent version release. Ver. 1.4.4 also resolved connection issues while using the Facebook upload feature. Ver. 1.4.5 is the latest release.

Anti-Piracy and Region Lock

While the DS does have some protections against game card dumping and unauthorized cards (which, by the start of 2007, were for most intents and purposes solved problems), the updateable DSi put up much more of a fight:

• The unmodified DSi (or 3DS in DS/DSi mode) blocks game card hotswapping outside of the main menu, by turning off power to the card slot.
• DSi ROMs could not be accurately copied with contemporary dumpers.
• All software intended to run on the DSi (regardless of whether it uses any DSi features) must have its header signed by Nintendo to be accepted, with a whitelisting database being used for older DS releases. Flashcard and cheat device manufacturers were forced to copy one off a licensed release, combined with a variety of methods—some of which were countered by system updates adding checks that could not be emulated by contemporary products—to redirect execution to the desired code.

(Source: FAST6191)

• For DSi software, inside the header is a list of hardware-enforced permissions; most notably, by Nintendo policy no consumer-facing title had both Slot-1 and eMMC/SD access. There's also a list of system regions on which the title is welcome.

(Source: [1])

• While some exploits were found during the console's heyday, the only one found in a digital title (Sudokuhax) was artificially crippled and also resulted in the title's delisting within approximately 3 hours, while gamecard-based ones are inconvenient to setup for negligible utility. The only true DSi flashcard, the CycloDS iEvolution, had poor compatibility in DSi mode. It took until 2018 for a usable full-access persistent exploit (Unlaunch), a few months more for an entrypoint to install it solderlessly (Flipnote Lenny), and another year for a different one not requiring optional software (Memory Pit).

This region lock was a huge source of confusion to concerned buyers, due to multiple factors:

• First and foremost, it only applies to DSi software: while easy to determine with the appropriate knowledge (the product code printed on the label and the back cover starts with TWL as opposed to NTR, and DSi exclusives have a white shell too), this wasn't widely understood at the time.
• Oceania (A, after the version number) is a separate region from the traditionally paired Europe (E), yet most releases have either none or both of these regions enabled (and the 3DS fully recombined them again).
• Finally, after all of that, The Pokémon Company thought it had enough: all non-Japanese versions of Pokémon Black and White and their sequels are enabled on all non-Chinese [sic] consoles!

Curiously, the DSi is immune to the region check of Chinese DS software.