R4 Cards and Downloading Games to Your DS

If you own a Nintendo DS, you may have wondered if there's a way to download games directly to it instead of having to buy hard copies of them.  Well, much like the Wii homebrew method, it is possible to directly download and play games through your DS.

The first thing you need to do this is an R4 card.  This is an amazing little device that lets you unlock all kinds of possibilities with your DS, such as playing DVDs, downloaded movies, music, homebrew games, and downloaded games.  Ideally the R4 card you choose will have a micro SD card and flash drive, for maximum storage and speed.

Now, once you have your R4 card, the next step is to find a reputable download site.  Much like downloadable movies, you have to be VERY careful where you download games for your DS.  The web is crawling with pirated content and most of it contains viruses.  You don't want to infect your DS by downloading a corrupt file, so it's wisest to choose paid sites where you pay a one time membership fee or a fee per game, and then have access to safe, affordable downloads.

I recently purchased a DS for a friend as a Christmas gift and am doing the pre-work of setting it up for homebrew games and movies, so I chose Unlimited DS Downloads. 

Now, there are a couple things about this site.  It doesn't look like it's written by a native English speaker, since there are some strange syntax problems scattered throughout it.  However, I decided to go ahead and try it because I'd read good reviews and it was actually recommended to me by someone else.

Basically, once you sign up for the site, you pay a membership fee to get access to the downloads section.  There's an extensive selection of games, videos, music, etc. that's available for downloading to your DS.  You can download as much as you want, whenever you want.  It's basically like a game store for DS applications, only it's all online.

Featured games on Unlimited DS Downloads:

Visit Unlimited DS Downloads

The minor annoyances of this site are the awkward wording and annoying graphics (the fat guy running around in a cape, for example, is pretty darn cheesy).  However, the service is fast, dependable, and the customer support which is largely online (through chat) is excellent.  I actually tested it out because I had some questions after my initial signup, about how the membership plan worked, and got through to someone (again I don't think it was a native English speaker, but they were able to answer my questions quickly).

So the bottom line - Unlimited DS Downloads has some minor interface annoyances, but that can be overlooked because of the quick service, large selection of downloads, and efficient customer service.

The order screen of Unlimited DS Downloads:

Read more about Unlimited DS Downloads