Ahh yes. The DS: Medium Large

Definitely stands for DS: Maybe Legal

This looks like the world's greatest happy meal toy.

as soon as I saw that 'hinge' I was like "Oh no, they put a GBA-SP into a DS shell?!?"

I didn't even know there was a difference between a DS and a DS lite except for the shell. I actually got a DS lite back when I was 7 and I never knew the regular DS was even a thing.

Its like someone slammed a Nintendo DS to the DS Lie

Seems like a great way to keep original DS models with cracks in the body out of a landfill. We need more enterprising like this!

DS phat: are you sure we should do this? im bulky and you're smooth ds lite: it's okay nobody's gonna find out 9 months later:

Reminds me of a similar thing with the Dreamcast in which a Chinese manufacturer took old stocks of the systems, put them into new shells that had LCD screens built-in for use of traveling, and called it the Treamcast

That boxed DS-repack gets more traveling than most people in 2021

"Let's see if my dogs are still alive!"

I remember hearing about a DS from McDonald’s then it got canceled because Nintendo said it wasn’t going to sell well.

Welcome back to another episode of "why the hell does this exist?"

One of the few Fake Consoles that actually works as intended.

“Let’s see if my dogs are still alive” Not saying we need an Out Of Context compilation, but this needs to go in a quote book or something.

I knew it was the original DS from the hinge! It would be funny if it was red and green colored for the ML to mean something.

That is actually a really good idea, such a shame they didn't upgrade the screens, you'd think with the bigger shell there's space for bigger screens - DS Lite XL :D

There's a thread on GBATemp from 2013, must be at least older than that.

This is a great concept. I'm surprised this sort of reshell of the og DS isn't more common. I'd have probably gotten this instead of something like the DS Lite. If there was a better screen mod as well this would be great.

Honestly, it looks like what could be a prototype for the DS Lite, until they released a more updated version being the DS Lite

The ML in DSML probably stands for mega large

Wow! That's so weird but cool! Imagine this was released in an alternate universe!

That is INCREDIBLY bizarre and I want to know why these exist.

You find some of the coolest stuff!! I'm so curious why this thing exists (but at the least you're definitely right it's an ODS in a new shell)

If they sold the shell separate I'd be interested tbh

When a DS and a DS Lite, love each other VERY MUCH....

that a refurb board in that ml version there, and what the marker is indication of. could possibly also had been a way to repurpose broken systems where the shell just wasn't salvageable for some reason, and just combined the internal parts that still worked from two or three other broken ones into the working ones. would probably make the most sense financially actually because the alternative in that case is no profit. EDIT: otherwise i don't think they necessarily just converted a bunch of perfectly working older ds models just into the newer shell. even at the time it wouldn't had made a ton of sense. the old original models have enough value where it wouldn't be worth the gain just putting a working one into a new shell for no reason, so i'm sure there was some reason we don't know.

Oh the nostalgia. I remember playing the DS Major Lag back in 1765

ML stands for Manos Largas. That's Spanish for large hands. This was a special version of the DS created for the Mexican market to be sold to kids suffering from Large Hands Disease, thus the larger footprint.

5:06 It's existed for a while. Found a GBATemp thread from January 2013 when I was doing research on it. (And going off of some of the posts in the thread, there were other forum threads that had mentioned it already)

Looks like it might be a functional prototype for the appearance. I always liked the original DS cuz the gba carts fit flush. I want one of these badly now

The XL was too big so they got a medium large instead

there were so MANY versions of the entire DS lineup but now this just adds to the bunch xD

I think it's a really cool shell. I would love to transfer an DS board into it. Would make a nice conversation piece.

I was happy to see you had no problem opening up the other Nintendo DS for comparison, great job. 👍

Considering the Logo printed on it has the „i“ circle of the DSi it had to be made sometime after 2008

So cool to learn of these unheard of versions man. Really enlightening!

Years ago I meant to pick this up from AliExpress but just never pulled the trigger because I was sure it would be real!

I enjoyed the video. Thanks for having this reshelled ds featured on your channel.😍

DS Main Land (China). I'm actually wondering if there might be market for kits like this, for unhinged/damaged OG DS's.

I actually really like the original ds model. It looks futuristic. It would've been awesome if they made a new 2ds/3ds xl but with the ds design and backwards compatibility for gba/gbc/gb games.

"if you haven't seen a DS lite in many years" made me feel old lol

I think ML might stand for “made lite” or something, considering its just a standard ds in a lite looking shell

It's like a mix between the first three DS models.

I search this and find out it been out for 8 years. Seem like they been exchanging the shell for years. Saw that the red is new colour though

A man who will examine a piece of tech to discover what it is, even going so far as to take it apart to look at the motherboard and compare it to an original. And he looks and sounds like a young Jacob Rees-Mogg. You are definitely in my top five now sir. Right alongside LGR, 8-Bit Guy, and Technology Connections.

"This devive may not cause harmful interference" "devive: To deprive of life; render inert or unconscious." Dang.

The ML reminds me of the DSi XL with a gba slot just like they wanted before they removed it to reduce chost

I honestly never thought someone would make a custom DS that was an original DS inside a custom shell to make it look like a DS Lite.

Same energy of me learning that 3DS XL is called LL in Japan

To be fair, quite often Japan does XL as LL, when talking about clothing sizes. But then sometimes they do XL too. It's kinda confusing. Signed, an XL / LL -sized clothes-wearer.

actually quite impressive. they found a way to make an old ds look fresh. although the shell looks kinda cheap.

There was a certain revision of a DS Phat that lets you install the DS Lite firmware so you have the different brightness settings. Google it.

“no-one’s covered any sort of videos on it” 8 year old video popped up about it as third result searching for ‘ds ml’ on youtube lol

I managed to get my hands on one of these yesterday. Another proud purchase for my collection. Now all it needs to be perfect is waiting for the day IPS screens are made for the DS systems, because like Game Boy Advance, these systems could really benefit from them.

What about making a custom version of this? Any way to replace the original screens with something bigger? Maybe from the DSi XL if the motherboard allows for it? I love the Idea of the Gameboy Macro, but hate that the GBA carts aren't flush with the console. A custom Gameboy Macro ML would fix that with or without the screen replacements. Just spitballing.

I think this thing looks really cool, to be honest. It reminds me a lot of the DSi XL, looking about the same size. I would probably own one, if given the opportunity. How's the speaker quality on it? I couldn't hear it too well in the video.

Good god that plastic shell is grotesquely thin. You can see the screen border and speaker cups behind the top shell lol

I think they had bunch of the circuit boards left over. Sold them, and the buyer made an injection mold plastic case with slightly different specs to throw them into.

That is indeed some impressive work. Kudos for recycling there.

I knew exactly what it was when I saw that hinge, that's actually really awesome. and if it doesn't cost much at all to buy these weirdly genuine DS's you could actually shell swap it back to an original for a fraction of the price the DS actually costs.

Eliot you really finding the most strangest things EVER. I had no idea that this exists.

That's interesting. And thanks for showing the charger port. I got a 3 in 1 USB charger for Nintendo systems, and it was all 3 DS models, I'd just only seen the original ones once or twice, and never had a good look. That is a neat idea to just add a new shell to customize it. Side note, would you ever do a video on different kinds of GB/GBA cartridges and attachments and how they work on some of those different ones? I have a fan translated version of Mother 3, and it's really hard to make it work on a DS Lite since it's on a bootleg cartridge, but my original GBA runs it fine. I'm just wondering how strict different models are on bootlegs and fan made games. I remember hearing that certain colours of cartridges wouldn't work on certain Nintendo home consoles, can't remember which one, but it would be a neat experiment.

Personal thought, giving that NDSL was officially sold in China (the iQue DSL), it's possible that before that was a thing, a version of original DS was planned and probably got into test production, but was ultimately scrapped because DSL become a thing. Either there was some stock shells or the mold that wasn't got used was found and reused, and now there's this weird shell. Otherwise it's hard to imagine who got such a big dedication to model this rather accurate mold.

I have an original DS which has the same screen brightness and brightness settings as a DS Lite. I had to flash a custom firmware to do it and only some original DS models will work with this firmware.

Does the mic work? DS lites I’ve had (and one I have rn) the mic would break after not very long. It’s annoying because some games you can’t progress w/o the mic, like the last case of ace attorney for example. Or Wario ware etc

"lets see if my dogs are still alive" I love how he just casually says that

This may look like a knock off or third party DS But then you realize that it's officially licensed, produced and made by Nintendo

I have an original DS with a beat up shell and it needs a new battery and screen... I'd love to have a shell like this to just swap it all into!

What tipped me that this was an OG DS was the hinge, that thing shattered on mine and I had to super glue it back together

Hello everyone! My New 2DS XL have a lot of scratches and the top of the volume has broken. Does anyone know a site from which to get some spare parts? PS: I'm from Romania

I unexpectedly find myself one of those eagle-eyed people. And I want one.

When I saw the hinge, I thought of the original DS. Like maybe it's the in-between of the DS and DS lite. That size doesn't bother me though, my hands are big

My circle pad cover on my Nintendo 2ds melted and snapped in half, how much a Nintendo repair cost, and where can I buy a 2ds circle full repair kit

I really want to get this instead of the device I have right now

Your videos are the reason I've gotten into retro moding and repair. I've learned so much from your videos. Thanks for the hobby.

This reminds me of the situation when the iPhone X came out with the double camera and glass back, and quickly Chinese companies startet to create replacement shells for older iPhone models to make them look like the iPhone X from the back.

Thank you for not building up suspense and just getting to the point.

DS ML is a third party shell for original DS that makes it like lite

When he said "It doesn't say Nintendo somewhere on here" my first thought was: Chinese DS version. Like, DS without Nintendo. And without Nintendo knowing

does anyone have a link for them? I would unironically love to get one of these lol

To be fair, this would be a amazing shell replacement for a cheap way to replace perished and broken shells or for thoses that dont like the shape of the original ds and want it to look more like a ds lite...

bruh I can't get over how small the screens are

Someone should sell these shells. The Original DS gets no love compared to the DS Lite. Especially for GameBoy Macros.

to be fair, there is ALOT of ds and ds lites with broken hinges so this is actually in my opinion a good idea

Reminds me of one of those rare DS for handicap accessibility. Just larger with ports for remapping the buttons.

I would hazard that ML meant Modern Lite since it's using a new shell and presumably new parts.

Imagine how many unseen consoles or console prototypes of now released consoles we’ve NEVER SEEN 🤭

Son:Mom can I get a ds? Mom:you have a ds at home Ds at home:

When I saw the hinge at the start, before you properly showed it off, I guessed it may be an original DS in a Lite style shell.

It's the missing evolutionary step between the DS and the DS lite

I actually really like the idea of this! I always had a problem with the DS lite because the GBA cart would stick out, and I had a problem with the original DS because of its design. This is like a good inbetween. I think a good idea would to sell the shells on there own as a mod kit. If you coupled that with the later revisions of the first DS that uses IPS screens, for me that would be the ultimate original style DS! Thoughts? Edit: apparent an IPS phat DS doesn't exist and it's somthing I think I made up in my head lol but I still think a mod kit for this would be pretty cool

I'm probably just gaslighting myself, but I swear I heard about these shells about a decade ago, when a used game shop was chatting with me about the failing hinges on the standard DS. He said that it was like a DS Lite that took HGH.

The DS Miller Light edition. Nice.

He needs to make a kit to make one of these from an og DS!

Brings back memories from my old DS lite

this is the real DS-LIE

"if you've never seen a ds lite before" ouch

I think ml might mean middle as it’s a in between size to the xl and lite model

I vaguely remember hearing about this. It only released in Asia. It's called ML because it stands for "Mega" large instead of the usual "xtra" large because that's usual for Asia. It was only in production for a little bit. That's all I remember if my memory serves me correctly. I could be completely making this up in my brain. I don't know.