DS specs?

[OB1]

Nintendojo has posted what may be leaked DS specs, translated by Nathan Heckle, who goes to my local university.

It would appear that through a leaked "Nitro" document we may very well have before us the technical specs for Nintendo's DS, which basically confirms it to be a portable Nintendo 64. While still an unsubstantiated rumor, the file appears to be legit. Click the image below for a look at the full sized document.


NITRO Function Summary


CPU Core

Main Processor: ARM946E-S (67 MHz)

Cache: 8 kilobytes for instructions, 4 kilobytes for data

TCM: 32 kilobytes for instructions, 16 kilobytes for data

Sub Processor: ARM7TDMI (33 MHz)


Memory

Main Memory: 4 megabytes (8 megabytes in the debugger)

ARM9/ARM7 Shared: 38 kilobytes (16 kilobytes x 2)

ARM7 Internal Work RAM: 64 kilobytes

VRAM: 656 kilobytes

LCD

Screen Size: 256 x 192, RGB pixels, two screens

Number of Colors: 262,144 (18-bit color)


2D Graphics Engine (A, B)

Backgrounds: Up to 4 layers

Objects: Up to 128 sprites


3D Graphics Engine

Coordinate Conversion Ability: Up to 4 million vertices/second

Polygon Drawing Ability: Up to 120,000 polygons/second

Pixel Drawing Ability: Up to 30 million pixels/second


Sound

16-channel ADPCM/PCM (Up to 8 channels of PSG can be established)

Microphone Input

Wireless Communication

Original protocol based on IEEE802.11

Input Device

Touch-panel

Digital-pad, A, B, R, L, Start, Select (X and Y are under examination)

Power Control

Can deal with sleep mode (wakeup is possible at a chosen time interval or due to wireless reception), 2D engine, rendering engine, geometry engine, and the LCD's power control.

There you have it; make of it what you will. Major props to Nintendojo contributor Nathan Heckel for his translation of the text.

Woo, a microphone input! Wait... a mic? I think that's supposed to read headphone input. I'll ask Nathan if I see him tomorrow.

[Dark Jaguar]

I dunno if this is genuine of course. It's VERY easy to fake something like that. That in mind, considering Nintendo's infamous ability to keep a secret, I won't believe it yet.

However, why not make comments as though I do? :D

Microphone input? They haven't done that since the Famicom's second controller, and that was removed on the remake because not a single game used it, in fact a few used a seperate microphone attachment over using that.

[Great Rumbler]

Touch-panel?! Awesome!

The specs look somewhere around N64 levels.

[OB1]

If Nathan is at the MST3K thing tomorrow I'll ask him if he meant headphone input.

[Great Rumbler]

I'd think that headphone input would be more likely, unless...wireless phone?

[OB1]

I don't know, but I'm going to make him feel really bad about it if that's the case. :D

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah headphone would make more sense... and this could be fake or real. "Nitro" is the real codename for the DS, but I don't know if something like this could leak so early... but still it does look plausible. As you say, it looks a lot like a portable N64... except with two screens, one of them a touchscreen. :)

My only question is this: no analog stick?

[Dark Jaguar]

I won't worry about it because of how easy it is to fake that. Considering that it looks just like N64 specs, anyone could just type up N64 specs and send them out.

I'll say more if this is confirmed.

[A Black Falcon]

IGN believes...

http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/497/497843p1.html

[Sacred Jellybean]

In Mr. Grieves!

[Great Rumbler]

A portable N64 would be cool. *waits for Mario 64 port*

[OB1]

*waits for Mario 64 DOUBLE SCREEN port*

[Great Rumbler]

You know it!

[big guy]

oh man, they should remake mario 64 but integrate luigi into the game and rework it so that both mario and luigi cooperatively play through a level when you link up two DSes...that'd be so awesome. i mean, they'd have to rework the levels a little, but if they were willing to, i'm sure they could do it and make it awesome...it is nintendo afterall.

[big guy]

and before anyone else says it, they probably won't do that because it is nintendo afterall and they like to release essentially straight ports.

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, they probably wouldn't do something like that, but ya never know!