http://nintendoage.com/forum/ -Sqooner http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=188415 2019-08-29T22:17:46 -05.00 OptOut 5 http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=188415 2019-08-21T21:12:04 -05.00 OptOut 5 Originally posted by: ProtonX

They are there to help DS consoles that have slightly bent pins. They simply act as guides.


I noticed that on the leading edge of the cart the strands connect to the plastic shell to create a series of small ridges that do correspond to the gaps between each pin in the connector. (See the photo to get what I mean.) These would seem to help align the cart in the DS properly, and fortunately they have not been affected or impeded by the strands breaking off. I'm not sure if the strands themselves would be necessary for guiding DS games into proper contact with the pin connector, I would assume that the ridges and remaining strands on this particular cart would be sufficient to do that? ]]> http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=188415 2019-08-21T10:48:12 -05.00 OptOut 5 http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=188415 2019-08-21T04:35:02 -05.00 OptOut 5
Initially, I was concerned that perhaps the strands acted as some sort of necessary guide-rail for either the cart itself or the pin connector inside the DS. However, the flimsiness of the strands combined with the fact that the pin connector never actually touches them quickly ruled out this possibility. I then figured perhaps there was an electronic purpose to the strands, separating the pins on the cart, but the strands are neither integrated into the PCB nor even attached to it, and there is already a space between where each pin is printed anyway, so again this seemed ridiculous.

So, what are they for? Other than being a relatively neat design feature, functionally they would seem to act as a sort of finger/foreign object guard for the pins. Obviously the DS was designed for use in a wide range of environments and by a wide range of people, particularly children. So, the plastic strands simply prevent stubby, jelly-coated little fingers from prodding the pins! The guard is also sufficient, it would seem, to prevent ease of access by q-tips, so lesson learned!




Oh, and if anyone was wondering, the game I broke the strands off is Ecolis: Save the Forest, which I picked up for around 2.50 on a recent trip to the UK. So, no great loss!   ]]> http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=188415 2019-08-20T04:59:58 -05.00 OptOut 5