Topic: Games compatibility

Hi, old guy here and in need of informed help.My two daughters now have the DSi, having already owned the DS. Some of their games are working, some are not.None of the games we/they have are pirated.
Your suggestions will be welcome.
ta.

As far as I know there shouldn't be an issue with compatibility. I have games I've had since I had my original DS and they work fine on DSi.

Are all your games from your region. I've read the DSi is region locked, correct me if I'm wrong, so if the games aren't from the same region as the DSi then they won't work

I can think of only two things really. One is that GBA games aren't compatible with the DSi, but I assume you knew that already.

The other thing is whether your games use Wi-Fi or not. In that case, if you want to play them online again, you have to transfer the Wi-Fi data from the old DS to keep your Wi-Fi records intact. You can set that up in the WFC Settings menu that all Wi-Fi games have, and if you get stuck, there should be step-by-step instructions in the WFC manual that comes in the case of any Wi-Fi enabled DS game.

I don't actually own a DSi, but those are my best guesses from your description.

If the games worked on the DS, they should work on their DSis no problem -- the region-lock is only for DSiWare and DSi-only retail games. in my experience, however, counterfeit games (or the one i unwittingly purchased, at least) will not work on the DSi. If the games you bought for them that are not working were bought over the internet (especially via eBay), i would say there's a good chance you accidentally purchased a few counterfeits. sorry, dude.

The DSi is not region locked (for DS games, DSi-only games are). I know because I have a number of Japanese games.

Chances are either the game or hardware is faulty, or the game is pirated.

Don't buy anything Nintendo on eBay from anyone selling from Hong Kong, the capital of counterfeit games.

Outrunner - love your Rom.quote
Thanks for the help thats coming in, i'll actually have to check with the missus, which ones were purchased on ebay and if they are the culprits. They have a lot of games but i'm not sure which %ge are from ebay, i don't think it's that high, but I'll need to find that out from a higher power

It should work. DS cartridges should work on any DS system regardless of region. Only downloadable DSiWare games are region-locked but you won't have any difficulties there as you should only be able to get those from the download service that corresponds to your DS' region.

Yeah, DS carts aren't region locked. I have many NA and EU carts and they worked fine on my JP DS Lite. I have Japanese versions of the first 3 Phoenix Wright games and they work fine on my NA DSi.

Try giving the carts and slot-1 a blow before putting the cart in. Could be dust!

It's simple - The Dsi is iffy with games from different regions. I say iffy because, sometimes I've got lucky and US versions of packaged games have worked. But other times, they haven't. And on ebay, most of the games you can buy for the best price tends to be from US Region.