DS Lite To Drop Below $100 Starting Sunday

Nintendo's popular DS Lite portable will be available for $99.99 in the U.S. starting on Sunday, June 5 as the company begins highlighting million-selling DS Mario titles with new red packaging. The DS Lite has been available for $129.99 since its June 2006 launch, $20 less than the price of the original Nintendo DS at its late 2004 launch. The download-capable DSi and larger DSi XL both dropped in price by $20 -- to $149.99 and $169.99, respectively -- last August, and are not affected by this latest price reduction. The new DS Lite price comes as Nintendo starts to transition away from the Nintendo DS line, which has sold nearly 49 million units in the U.S. over its lifespan, and towards the backwards-compatible Nintendo 3DS, which launched in March to disappointing sales. In announcing the price drop, Nintendo also unveiled new red packaging for the following Mario-centric DS games, all of which have sold at least 1 million total units in the U.S. through April according to NPD data: * New Super Mario Bros.: 9.25 million * Mario Kart DS: 7.4 million * Super Mario 64 DS: 4.34 million * Mario Party DS: 3.27 million units * Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story: 1.98 million * Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!: 1.01 million