DS Download Station is an in-store demo service launched by Nintendo in early 2006. As the name implies, these are stations that can be used to download game demos and trailers to a Nintendo DS. The range of a Nintendo DS Download Station is approximately 65 feet. The games can be downloaded by going to DS Download Play on the Nintendo DS's main menu and choosing the DS Download Station (if in range). From there it would load a simple menu & loader application to facilitate loading the demo of the player's choice. The demos remain on the DS until the power is turned off.
The download station is actually nothing more than a standard retail DS hidden inside a sealed box with a special DS Download Station cartridge inserted in it. The cartridge acts as a server for customers to download new game demos or videos. When Nintendo releases a new demo cartridge to retailers they simply load the cartridge into the DS locked in the sealed box. A DS Download Station can distribute only one game at a time, but send the demos to up to 15 DS systems simultaneously.
The US and European version of the DS Download Station are completely different than the Japanese version. The Japanese version uses 3 PCs, each connected up to an Internet connection. The difference in design was due to most retail locations in the US do not have an available Internet connection, and therefore, a self contained solution was necessary.
Thus far, there have been seventeen different versions of the DS Download Station, with each version different in terms of content between North America, Europe, and Japan. These downloads are actually physical game cartridges for the Nintendo DSes that deliver the downloads. Although the cartridges are not for resale, some have appeared on various online auction sites.