Nintendo DS Classroom

The Nintendo DS(i) Classroom, known as v1.4J_kst in the DSi's System Settings is a specialized DSi version used in Japanese schools. This version contains many differences from a retail unit, including some applications exclusive to this version of the DSi.

"DS in the Classroom"

On June 9th 2009, Nintendo announced they will partnership with Sharp System Products to create a Nintendo DSi for use on Japanese schools for Japanese children in elementary schools, junior high schools and high schools. Simply codenamed Nintendo DS Classroom, the unit would promise that teachers can use the DS Classroom on their PC so it will communicate with Nintendo DS's with a DS Classroom cartridge or with Nintendo DSi's with the DS Classroom app installed as DSiWare.

A diagram of how the system would work.

Furthermore, Nintendo goes on to say that Sharp System Products would work on 60 applications offering a variety of subjects, such as languages, math, history, and more. 30 applications would be for elementary schools, 20 for junior high schools and 10 for high schools. The system would then launch on February 2010 in Japan, but would be first showed off at the New Education Expo 2009, held in Osaka on June 17th and June 18th.

However, after the expo, in August 2009, Nintendo announced that the DS Classroom application would be exclusive to Nintendo DSi, despite an image of a cartridge being shown on the diagram. NTR-Classroom equipment was never released, but a DS Classroom cartridge was listed in an official Nintendo DS Master List.

Nintendo DS Classroom application

The DS Classroom application opens up as a Nintendo Zone-looking UI and it will start searching for computers connected over the same Wi-Fi connection. Up to 50 people can join in. The application would work as interactive tests made by the teacher and the teacher would be able to view scores and rankings, similar in a way of Kahoot and Nearpod.

A "yes" or "no" quiz using a circle and a cross.

On the top is the question, on the bottom is the PC software recieving the answeres.

A teacher would install the Nintendo DS Classroom PC software and create a quiz. These quizzes can have a variety of questions about anything, with the teacher being able to add examples and images as well.

(Re)discovery

A NAND dump was made by Nintendo devkit collector Voodooween around May 2019. An image of the unit was included.

Around July 2019, an official Nintendo DS Master List surfaced showing that the NTR version of the Nintendo DS Classroom application does exist as a rom file, just never released. However, the PC software for the Nintendo DS Classroom application remains lost.

General differences

Besides the system menu version, there are differences on the system menu as well.

• The unit has a sticker on the back giving instructions to the Nintendo DS Classroom application.
• The Nintendo DSi Shop is not present, preventing students from buying DSiWare.
• The internal NAND comes bundled with the software selected by the school, as well as the Nintendo DSi Browser, Flipnote Studio v2.1 and the Nintendo DS Classroom application.
• The “Data Management” option is gone from the System Settings, preventing students from copying application data to their SD Cards.

Image of the unit, with instructions on the back. Only "DSi LL" units were made.

The system menu version is v1.4J_kst, instead of v1.4J.

List of applications

With Sharp System Products offering 60 applications, there's only 3/60 of applications found at the moment.

Icon	Title	Genre	Type of school	Title ID	Description	Notes
	ニンテンドーDSきょうしつ Nintendo DS kyōshitsu	Multiple	n/a	000300044b50454a	The Nintendo DS Classroom application.	See page.
	ジーニアスパーソナル わえい　らくびきじてん Jīniasupāsonaru waei raku-biki jiten	Language	Junior High	000300044b44354a	A Japanese dictionary showing explanations in English.	Application was available on the Nintendo DS in the form of "Rakubiki Jiten DS".
	ジーニアスパーソナル えいわ　らくびきじてん Jīniasupāsonaru eiwa raku-biki jiten	Language	Junior High	000300044b44334a	A Japanese and English dictionary, being able to show sentences as well. This applications is in some conditions similar to Dictionary 6 in 1 with Camera Function.	Application was available on the Nintendo DS in the form of "Rakubiki Jiten DS".
	めいきょうこくご らくびきじてん Mei kyō koku go raku-biki jiten	Language	Junior High	000300044b44344a	An application for showing abbreviations and the meanings of them. Most of these consist of English abbreviations.	Application was available on the Nintendo DS in the form of "Rakubiki Jiten DS", also came bundled on every regular DSi LL.

Development Units

Around June 2023, multiple listings surfaced on Yahoo! Japan Auctions of development DSi's (non-LL). They had the classroom sticker on the back, as well as NandFiler, the ニンテンドーDSきょうしつ application, and some other applications that seem to be for testing the DSi hardware.

• 

  Front of the unit

• 

  Back of the unit, with the DSi Classroom sticker. The other units listed on YAJ had the same sticker but a different number (e.g. "K04", "K08")

• 

  Applications present on the unit

In September 2023, a Reddit user posted the following, with an image of the unit:

I am the previous owner. The only thing I know is that this console is in development mode, not in kiosk mode, the version is 1.3j and there are 4 icons on the console (like games). Of these, I found these icons the most interesting. 1 of the icons is for controlling the camera, different focus functions, etc. on one application it is full of one codes I don't even know what. It's hard to say what it is. Everything is software.

References

"Iwata Asks", talking about the Nintendo DS Classroom application

Images from the DS Classroom at the New Education Expo 2009

More Nintendo DS Classroom images