Pretty good, but not the best of its type !?

I purchased this for my son a year or so back, and it has been through a few childrens hands, and my own ofcourse, as I have been addicted more than my son.

The graphics are pretty good considering the size of the small almost 4 inch screens, but it does occasionly get a little confusing with the two screens at times depending on what game you are playing, so avoid racing games unless you can actually fix your eyes to just one screen, which I have a tendancy to want to look at the top screen and forget about my car on the bottome one, but you could say that is a personal thing.

There ofcourse are so many different games to chosse from like any console, and for all ages also. Mario party 8 I have found more than addictive, and so has my son. Grand theft auto is ok, but ofcourse you cannot play that around children. I have also got classics like Mortal combat which the verison I have also comes with a tetris style game that is very fun with a top screen battle between the player you chosse and the other charactors who hit each other as you place your blocks.

The stylus that you use for a lot of the games can come slightly loose after a while so I would suggest you buy some form of case for it, so that you can store it in the case instead of the hole on the DS itself so little hands to not forget that it is there, and it drops out of the console, and ofcourse have to buy an extra couple of them just incase, as it is annoying to find out that someone has lost the only stylus you have.

The battery life is pretty good, although if you are a real gamer who likes to play for more then an hour and a half, then ensure you keep both a house charger, and a car charger for the DS handy.

You may also want to get some screen protectors for it, as the screen can get greasy pretty quickly. I am not sure if nintendo have brought out any form of cleaning fluid themselves, but I am sure most mothers or fathers will know that window cleaner will do the trick, but make sure you do not spray it on directly, but on a piece of kitchen towel/paper and gently wipe it clean.

There are accessories galore, and I am sure any good retailor will stock cases, screen protectors etc as well as the actual DS itself. The console is not perfect, and I would suggest that you pay attention to the kids if more than two DS's are owned, as thier is a blue tooth function that allows two players to play certain games, and allow them to instant message each other. I have seen arguments happen within second whilst baby sitting, because my son and one of the children I baby sit can't get thier own way during a game. 

If you're short on money, and don't want to pay full price for a game I suggest you either find a branded store near you that have sales on games, or sells pre-owned copies of games. Also if you're not sure about a game you can ofcourse google it, or rent it out from a branded movie, and game rental store to ensure that you or your children like it. BLockbuster is pretty good for this.

If a game is not loading properly after a few months of having the console it may have some dust in it or one of the games may have dust in it, so a careful blow here and there will hopefully dis-lodge it, but if it doesn't work as soon as you get it home, then take it straight back.

I am no gaming expert, but this console is pretty good for younger kids to start off with in my opinion, and you can find a lot of learning games for this console also so you do not have to worry about your childs brain getting fried by some of the sillier games designed for pure fun.