Important Importables: Testing import DS styluses

If you own a DS, then chances are at one point or another, you’ve been burned by the standard stylus that came with it. It’s happened to the best of us.

Perhaps you reached into the stylus slot one day, only to find that it slipped out when you weren’t looking and you now need to use your fingernails to play your favorite game. Maybe your hands were a bit slippery, and the tiny pen flew from your grip and made a bid for freedom. Or you could just be one of the many who succumbed to stylus-induced hand cramps.

Japan has a wide variety of DS stylus alternatives available, all designed to (hopefully) make gaming easier. So today, Important Importables tests four DS stylus options, in the hopes of finding one which will make gaming easier.

Name: Animal Crossing DS Stylus
Company: Yujin
Price: $2.49 at Play-Asia (when it was in stock)
Comfort: Very easy to use, and comfortable. Its a good thickness and length. Plus, its cute.
Durability: Initially it wasn’t too bad. The stylus portion is very sturdy. The same can’t be said for the character on the top. Rosy (the blue cat who lived on top of my stylus) started getting bent from being carried in purses and such. So I retired the stylus after 2 weeks, because I was afraid the character might fall off.
Portability: Doesn’t fit in the DS or DS lite stylus slots, but comes with a little string attached to the cap so you can attach it to the DS. The cap fits pretty snuggly on top of the stylus, so unless there were extreme conditions, I doubt the stylus would fall off.
Size: Three inches long, about a centimeter wide.
Availability: Maybe you’ll find one on eBay. These were gachapon (capsule toy) style styluses, and this style is no longer made. If you search online, you may find one. Or, if you don’t mind not getting an Animal Crossing design, keep checking Play-Asia. There have been Mario, Pokemon and Legend of Zelda themed Yujin styli released, and you may be able to find one of those.
Overall: 6.5/10 – It gets points for its appeal and price, but frankly isn’t durable enough or portable enough.

Name: Touch Pen Attachment DS Lite
Company: Hori
Price: $5.99
Comfort: Its incredibly comfortable to use, once you place one of the included styli in the holder. Its exactly like using a normal pen. It also has a nice grip material where your fingers rest, so you’ll have a good grip.
Durability: It is very well made, and easily lasts a long time. Plus, it comes with two styli that you can place inside of it, so if one wears out, you just replace it.
Portability: Its the size of a pen, so I suppose its portable. It is also very easy to loose. Especially if you carry a purse or backpack. You can toss it in, and then not find it for three days, pulling out normal pens when you’re looking for the touch pen.
Size: Get a normal pen out of your desk – yup, it’s like that.
Availability: Very easy to find.
Overall: 8/10 – Probably the best stylus accessory you can find for your DS. It is easy to use, comfortable and durable. There’s no real way to connect it to the DS itself, but that’s no big loss.

Name: Touch Pen Long DS Lite
Company: Hori
Price: $4.99
Comfort: It depends. If you don’t mind the thinness of the typical DS stylus, and just wanted it to be a bit longer, then it is okay. If you have trouble holding onto a typical DS stylus, you won’t like this.
Durability: I felt like I always had to be careful with it. The center area which allows the stylus to expand feels flimsy – like it could bend or break if I wasn’t careful when using this stylus. It never actually did break on me, but it was an annoyance.
Portability: When this DS stylus collapses down, it can fit into the DS lite stylus slot, a definite plus for this accessory.
Size: It can be the size of a normal DS stylus, or expand to be about twice the length of a normal DS stylus. It is the same width as a normal DS lite stylus.
Availability: Very easy to find.
Overall: 4/10 – It didn’t really improve upon the original DS lite stylus. Yes, it can become longer, but it other than that, its the same thing you’re already using.

Name: Touch Pen Knock Metal – The Legend of Zelda
Company: Takara Tomy
Price: $8.99
Comfort: Its like using a normal pen, so its pretty comfortable. Its all plastic (ignore the metal in the title), and is easy to use.
Durability: Pretty well made. A nice feature is that the stylus tip is retractable, so you don’t have to worry about it being damaged if you toss this into a purse or bag.
Portability: Its the same situation as the Hori Touch Pen Attachment – its the size of a pen, so you can toss it in your bag or pocket and have no problem carrying it. Since it can’t attach to the DS at all, you may have trouble immediately finding it, but that’s no big deal.
Size: The size of a normal pen, and about the same size as the Hori Touch Pen Attachment.
Availability: Pretty easy to find at the moment. Branded merchandise tends to go quickly though, so if you want one now, don’t wait a few months before you finally buy it.
Overall: 8/10 – Basically its like the Hori Touch Pen Attachment, so you could go either way. If you want the colorful design and retractable tip, and don’t mind paying more and losing the finger grip, then get this stylus.

COMING NEXT WEEK: Important Portables “borrows” a friend’s copy of Hoshizora no Comic Garden for a review.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last week Important Importables discussed the pros and cons of each version of Princess Maker 4.

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