Accessories for the Nintendo DS

Although the secondary port (Slot 2) on the Nintendo DS may be used to play Game Boy Advance cartridges, Nintendo primarily designed the port in order to enable a wide variety of accessories to be used for the system. Other accessories, such as the headset, use the headset port on the bottom of the system.

Rumble Pak

The Rumble Pak was the first official expansion slot accessory, which comes in the form of a Game Boy Advance cartridge. When plugged in and used with compatible games, the Rumble Pak vibrates to reflect the action, such as when the player loses a life or bumps into an obstacle. It was originally released in North America and Japan in 2005, bundled with Metroid Prime Pinball or as a separate accessory. Since then, an updated version has been released for the DS Lite, which is about 1 cm shorter to prevent it from protruding out of the console.

Nintendo DS Browser

In 2006, Nintendo released a version of the cross-platform web browser Opera for the DS system, which can use both screens together to present a single tall view of the page, or can use one screen as an overview, with a zoomed portion appearing on the other screen.

Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector

This USB-flash-disk-sized accessory may be used as a wireless access point for the Nintendo DS and Wii, by plugging it into a broadband-connected PC's USB port to create a miniature hotspot. This can enable up to five Nintendo DS units to connect to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service through the host PC's Internet connection. This device is currently only compatible with Windows XP.

Nintendo MP3 Player

The Nintendo MP3 Player was released in Europe in December 2006, which enables owners to play songs stored on a SD memory card. The add-on uses an 8-bit style GUI, which enables users to select and play songs, which are displayed on one of the screens.

Nintendo DS Headset

This official headset for the Nintendo DS, released in September 2006, features one earphone and a microphone and is compatible with all games that use the internal microphone. The device plugs into the headset port on the bottom of the system, which is a combination of a standard 3.5mm headphone connector and a proprietary microphone connector.