Third party DS Lite rumble pak
In the US, the only DS rumble pak currently available is the one sized the same as the old GBA carts. If you want the slimmer, nicer DS Lite rumble pak that won’t hang out the end of your DS Lite, you have to import it for about $24 (USD), not including international shipping.
Now the company eWin has a DS Lite rumble pak available for just $10, and they claim it is more pleasant and quieter than Nintendo’s pak. In addition, they offer white, black, or pink paks so you can match them to the color of your DS Lite.
There is a list of games supporting the rumble pak over on Wikipedia.
Check out a portion of the review after the jump.
“The rumble coming from the official pak is not very intense, and also doesn’t particularly feel like how you’d expect the rumble to feel. It just feels like the DS is “buzzing”. It doesn’t really “rumble” as such, and I felt the feedback more annoying than enjoyable.
The official Nintendo rumble pak produces quite a lot of noise. When the rumble is being used, the cartridge emits a buzzing noise, quite unlike the noise found in regular controllers with rumble.
Now, when I tested the eWin rumble pak, I was quite surprised at the difference…
The rumble feature in the eWin rumble pak feels very different; tested in the same situations in various games; the feedback felt more like what you’d expect compared to that given by the Nintendo pak. While still not silent; the noise that the eWin rumble produced was a lot quieter than the official pak.
Now don’t expect rumble on the same level as console game controllers (except PS3 *snigger *). The rumble is a lot less intense for obvious reasons, and is delivered in much shorter bursts.
As for battery life differences, it would be impossible to test this accurately without playing a game in exactly the same way on both cards for hours on end. Suffice to say; I’m not going to be doing that! Personally I wouldn’t be surprised if the eWin consumes more battery as it feels more powerful and is a 3rd party product. If anyone out there has tested battery life differences or notices a sharp difference when using either, please let me know!
I can definitely say that the eWin rumble pak produced rumble that was a lot more enjoyable and quieter in comparison to the Nintendo rumble pak.”
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Thanks for picking up on this, Kat. I play a few games (Elite Beat Agents, Metroid Prime Pinball) with the official rumble pak and it is ridiculous how loud it is, particularly in comparison to the amount of rumble it produces. This alternative looks good to me. With the Nyko Charge Station for Wii (assuming that will ever hit the market), it’s looking like Nintendo’s dominance of accessories on their consoles could really be coming to an end, and I have no problem with that.