With a name that’s all too indicative of the economic crisis, Chinavasion’s handheld emulator is officially called the “Multi-platform handheld gaming entertainment station“, but as the description states, is often “lovingly called the Delightfully Small (DS)”.

True, true. And if the trend of modern electronics technologies stands firm here, good things come in small packages. The “DS” is capable of emulating NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy Advance and Neo Geo games, all stored on a SD card. Given the average size of a game ROM (if memory serves me, Chrono Trigger - one of the largest and most detailed games for SNES - was a bit over 4 megabytes), even a 1GB stick can hold a ton of games. Round that out with a 2.8″ QVGA screen, mini USB connectablity, video out (!), FM radio (!!), voice recorder and stereo speakers, and you have yourself a pretty powerful portable media station.

Of course, some issues beg answering, such as the awkward placement of the earphone jack (perfect for stabbing your right palm), the four face buttons (genesis had 6, no?), the tiny tiny screen which may cause immediate blindness while playing the more text-intensive games, and the fact that even the pure processing power of the PSP still yields less-than-perfect emulation of the supported systems, one has to wonder if the “DS” is all that it’s cracked up to be.

Still, for only $88, one might just find it worthwhile to find out for themselves…

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