The Top 10 Nintendo DS Soundtracks
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in DS, Features, Reader Poll | 8 Comments
Highlighting the best soundtracks on the Nintendo DS might just be my favourite entry in our month-long series of DS-related articles. Not because it’s easy to write about soundtracks after dropping music class in high school, but because it turned me on to all the best music on the console. Shout-outs are in order to whoever put down the DS game adaptation of the animated movie Robots, which is the only thing more forgettable than the movie itself. The soundtrack, however, happens to be this amazing synth pop score, which turned out to be composed by the developer of Escape Goat! Well anyway, Robots didn’t come remotely close to making the list, but here are the DS soundtracks that did:
The Top 6 DSiWare Titles
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in DS, DSiWare, Features, Reader Poll | 3 Comments
The big (only?) selling point of the DSi was the existence of DSiWare, a collection of downloadable games available for purchase. From cheap, simple titles like Pyoro and other re-released WarioWare games to larger titles that were a bit too niche for a retail release like Wayforward’s Mighty Flip Champs, there was a fair bit worth playing on the service, so I thought it was worth highlighting the best it has to offer – or at least the games you readers claimed to be the best. I personally have minimal experience with DSiWare, only discovering a handful of games through the 3DS eShop, which is why other editors, namely Austin, are giving me a hand in writing this up.
I had initially planned to do all these lists as a “top 10” since it’s the tenth anniversary of the Nintendo DS, but since the DSi has only been out for six years let’s streamline things a bit. Yes, that’s the reason that only six games are on it and not because there were only a few entries that completely dominated the poll.
More: best of ds, Cave Story, dsiware, flipnote studio, highlight, nintendo ds, photo dojo, shantae, top
The Top 10 Most Visually Appealing Nintendo DS Games
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in DS, DSiWare, Features, News, Reader Poll | 14 Comments
One of the big selling points of the Nintendo DS was its ability to render things in both 2D AND 3D. Wow! I mean sure developers could pull off polygons on the Game Boy Advance, but they probably shouldn’t have.
Like the jump from the 16-bit to 32-bit/64-bit consoles, the games on the DS contained a mix of art styles that don’t all hold up particularly well, but there are certain titles that overcome the low resolution of the console and deliver an experience that looks pretty darn nice. Consider this the top 10 least ugly games on the console, as voted by you:
Have Your Say! The 10th anniversary of the Nintendo DS
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in DS, DSiWare, Features, Reader Poll, Reader Poll | 16 Comments
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a decade since the Nintendo DS hit store shelves. From its humble beginnings an experimental “third pillar” to the existing GameCube and Game Boy Advance, the DS grew to become both Nintendo’s most successful console in terms of sales and the best-selling handheld of all time. The two screens and stylus controls might have been initially dismissed as a gimmick, but thanks to a great lineup of games everyone from existing fans to casual users seemed to be sold on that touch screen. Predating the boom in mobile gaming, software like Brain Training and Nintendogs helped to bring a new audience to the console. Heck, even my Grandma owns a DS!
What started as a truly terrible launch lineup (well, Super Mario 64 DS and Feel the Magic: XX/XY were okay) grew to an absolutely massive library of titles with something for everyone. Sure, there was a lot of shovelware, but it seemed like everyone from Atlus to Zoonami were backing the console. Nintendo’s New Super Mario Bros. and Pokemon games might have dominated the sales charts, but the DS became home to a number of more off-beat series like Phoenix Wright, Trauma Center, Etrian Odyssey and Dementium. I’d argue the Nintendo DS had the best third-party support of any Nintendo console since the NES, and this time Nintendo weren’t bullying publishers with oppressive, restrictive contracts!
But let’s get down to business; we’re running a bunch of DS-related features throughout the month and we need your feedback. If you remember our Big Huge NintendoEverything Wii Send-Off from 2012, you can expect something along those lines, with a series of top-arbitrary-number lists and other things. So please fill in our handy dandy voting form and help us in celebrating the best the DS had to offer.
More: best of ds, highlight, nintendo ds, top
[Review] Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, New Nintendo 3DS, Reviews | 11 Comments
System: Nintendo 3DS (what a shock)
Release Date: October 3, 2014
Developer: Sora Ltd/Bandai Namco Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Author: Patrick
The long-awaited fourth entry in Nintendo’s crazy crossover series is finally out, but it finds itself on a curious platform – the 3DS. A multiplayer fighting game is a strange fit for the portable console, but this new instalment retains the addictive style of fighting and throws in a few new ways to battle. Even on the 3DS, the frenetic pace of previous entries is still present (to an extent – this ain’t Melee) and Smash is still very much an experience accessible to both newcomers and seasoned players, with plenty of weird Nintendo references, of course. As a sequel, the game promises more of everything: more characters, more items, more assist trophies, more stuff to collect… the problem is that in some cases Smash on the 3DS feels like a lesser game than the ones that’ve come before it. Make no mistake, the game is still an incredibly enjoyable time, especially with a few friends, but the series makes the jump to the 3DS with a couple of compromises.
More: 3DS, highlight, review, Smash Bros., top
[Famicompendium] Super Robot Wars D
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in Famicompendium, Features, GBA | 5 Comments
So lately I’ve been hooked on a little game called Destiny. Like many others, I got sucked into its futuristic world and addictive gameplay of upgrading weapons to shoot down waves of aliens. Sure, sometimes fights take far too long, but it’s still quite impressive for a Game Boy Advance game. Yep, Super Robot Wars Destiny (D for short) is one interesting strategy RPG and a good jumping-off point for discussing the Super Robot Wars series as a whole. Hope you like giant robots!
What makes the Super Robot Wars titles fascinating to me is the way in which they mix together various robot-centric anime characters and storylines into one cohesive crossover game. In other words it’s officially sanctioned fan-fiction masquerading as a strategy RPG. Confusingly, two of the GBA entries in the series were released in the US with the Japanese title “Super Robot Taisen”, probably to avoid any legal issues with a certain similarly named TV program (real talk: a strategy RPG featuring the likes of Sergeant Bash and Sir Killalot would be awesome). Despite featuring the same gameplay mechanics, these “Original Generation” games were centred entirely on original characters free from any messy anime licenses, which is probably why they never clicked with me. Sure, taking turns leading militias of mecha into battle with each other is a decent enough premise for a game, but the thrill of seeing the likes of Gunbuster and Gurren Lagann team up and be faithfully adapted to an RPG form is the big draw of the series for me. I can’t think of any equivalent in western media that doesn’t involve teaching kids about the dangers of marijuana. The Super Robot Wars games are those rare licensed games that are not only perfectly playable, but totally get the appeal of the source material and adapt it in interesting ways.
[Famicompendium] Cave Noire
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in Famicompendium, Features, GBA | 4 Comments
Okay, so I know that I teased that I’d be writing about a different game in the last column (which was posted five months ago, holy crap) but there’s a reason for that. Turns out that a game that’s essentially “Style Savvy but also a dating sim” isn’t all that unique when Nintendo ended up adding boyfriends to Style Savvy anyway. So instead I chose to write about one of my favourite Game Boy titles in celebration of the handheld’s 25th anniversary (which was three months ago, holy crap). Yep, that chunky handheld sure gave us plenty of timeless experiences like Link’s Awakening, Mole Mania, and Revenge of the Gator’s title screen, but today I want to focus on a lesser-known classic for Nintendo’s monochromatic machine, an early Japanese dungeon crawler called Cave Noire published by Konami way back in 1991.
More: cave noire, famicompendium, Game Boy, highlight, Konami
[Review] Sayonara Umihara Kawase
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, Reviews | 3 Comments
System: Nintendo 3DS eShop
Release Date: April 24, 2014 (EU)
Developer: Agatsuma Entertainment
Publisher: Agatsuma Entertainment/Natsume
Author: Patrick
Sayonara Umihara Kawase’s title might suggest a farewell to this series, but for most players it’s more like a welcome to this bizarre world full of freakish fish and perilous platforming. While the first two Umihara Kawase games never left Japan, they managed to become cult classics thanks to their mix of unforgiving but addictive gameplay and some good old-fashioned weirdness. As a return to the series’ distinctive tone and action, Sayonara Umihara Kawase initially seems geared to hardcore fans, but it also manages to serve as a more gentle introduction to its unique style of platforming —before throwing players into the deep end of a pool full of acid.
As far as I’m aware there aren’t any major differences between the European version, which I played, and the Natsume-published North American version. Well aside from the fact that it was re-titled to “Umi’s Odd Odyssey”, because Natsume just have to alter the name of everything they localize. Just be glad they didn’t call it Legend of the River King Gaiden or Spanky’s Quest.
Sayonara Umihara Kawase heading to Europe next week
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, News | 0 comments
Developer Agatsuma Entertainment have launched an official English website for their quirky “Rubbering Action” game (their words, not mine), showing that Umihara Kawase will be swinging onto the eShop in Europe and Oceania. The part that’s as unexpected as a giant tadpole giving birth to frogs is that the game will be out as soon as the 24th of April. As suggested by a pair of classifications earlier in the year, Agatsuma Entertainment will be self-publishing the title in these regions, though it’ll be digital only like the American release. Sayonara Umihara Kawase will be priced at 24.9€ and we’re waiting on pricing information for other regions. Seems a little pricey for the nichest of niche games, but if it’s anything like the previous games in the series (which I wrote a bunch of words about), it should be worth a look. Agatsuma are also referring to the game as “UmiharaKawase”, which I will not stand for. Next they’ll be calling it “Yumi’s Odd Odyssey” or some nonsense.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U screenshot (4/7/2014)
Posted on 10 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in Images, News, Screenshots, Wii U | 6 Comments
Another week, another update to the Super Smash Bros. Miiverse page. Today director Masahiro Sakurai showed off the return of the Metroid assist trophy. Sakurai posted:
An insatiable, unidentified extraterrestrial is targeting a certain peaceful town…!
