A good replacement for broken cases but too fiddly in places
Rated as /5 on Apr 20 2007 by Mr C
Our eldest is on his third case for a standard DS. The hinge design on the original is a joke and breaks with minimal stress. The second eldest got a DS Lite for Christmas and it looked initially like it was a much better design with a very wide hinge.
I was wrong. There are two tiny parts on back of lid which are also very weak and after three months, one of the broke. I have to assume Nintendo do this on purpose to try and get extra sales.
The people in Hong Kong who do the replacement cases for standard DS are not doing a Lite one yet but I found an online gaming store in Canada selling the “Shock” cases. These are full DS Lite replacement cases including new transparent buttons.
They only cost USD$29 but the sods charged the same again for P&P to Ireland. Total cost was about €50 and arrived in about 10 days.
Having practice with the normal case, I expected no hassle with this and overall it wasn’t bad. However, the screen half came with the two parts clicked together and I damaged all the clips separating them.
The screen was a nightmare to re-fit as wires kept popping out all over the place. I’m also not convinced the hinge mechanism isn’t even weaker than the original.
I got it all back together but my worst fears were confirmed – there was too much damage to the screen cable and it will not start-up. I now need to find a broken one on eBay with a good top-half and do a cut n shut on the two DSes. Annoying.
I recommend this case if you have a broken hinge but not if you just want a snazzy replacement case as it is just too much effort.
URL given is for place in Singapore who seem to make them rather than the Canadian crowd.
