drone9
Marked Wolf
- Joined
- May 1, 2004
- Posts
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Nintendo DS; Nintendo’s recently released handheld might not be able to push out the nearly PlayStation 2–quality visuals of Sony’s PSP, but it offers unique functionality that puts it in a bizarre, innovative class of its own.
2,264 words
1 February 2005
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Volume 0; Issue 188
English
Copyright (c) 2005 ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission from Electronic Gaming Monthly.
The Basics
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: Currently available
Price: $149.99
Media: Proprietary 1-gigabit cartridges; also plays all Game Boy Advance Games
Online: Wireless functionality allows one DS to connect with 15 others over Wi-Fi hotspots
Nintendo’s recently released handheld might not be able to push out the nearly PlayStation 2–quality visuals of Sony’s PSP, but it offers unique functionality that puts it in a bizarre, innovative class of its own. Its dual vertically aligned screens baffle upon first viewing, but developers are already experimenting with creative, functional uses beyond simply displaying maps and subscreens. Likewise with the touch-panel input—we’re already seeing games that bend the rules of interactivity and control. The Nintendo DS assuredly feels new and different, but it remains to be seen whether gamers will warm up to its distinctive personality….
Castlevania
Konami • Fall 2005
The Basics: If you’re sick of Dracula always coming back from the dead in Castlevania games, you’re in luck—this upcoming Nintendo DS chapter in Konami’s long-running adventure series won’t disturb the Count’s turbulent slumber with another cop-out revival story line. A direct sequel to 2003’s phenomenal (and also refreshingly Dracula-free) Game Boy Advance Castlevania offering, Aria of Sorrow, this game picks up in the far-off year 2036—precisely 12 months after pretty-boy hero Soma Cruz successfully escaped his fate at the hands of Dracula’s followers. “There are those who were unhappy that Soma did not fulfill his destiny to become the reincarnation of Dracula,” explains Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi. “Among them is Celia Fortner, the founder of a cult that believes their God to be perfectly good; therefore the existence of perfect evil is needed.... She will do everything in her power to kill Soma.” Rather than wait around for a mob of crazed religious zealots to off him, Soma proactively ventures into the cult’s headquarters to face his would-be assassins. Unsurprisingly, he finds his way to a familiar castle....
The core Castlevania gameplay hasn’t changed much since Aria of Sorrow, which in turn borrowed heavily from Igarashi’s watershed PS1 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Soma still runs, jumps, and attacks from a traditional side-scrolling perspective, and rather than explore linear levels, you lead him through a labyrinthine map of interlocking areas, picking up items and ferreting out secrets. As in Symphony, the main character fights with a vast arsenal of different weapons—swords, spears, hammers, etc.—instead of the whip of old-school ’Vania hero Simon Belmont. Also, expect the return of Aria’s lauded Enemy Soul system: Instead of picking up old standbys like holy water and the axe, you bust out cool special attacks by equipping orbs randomly dropped by enemies. Every foe has one, but collecting them all requires serious dedication. “I have made several enhancements to Aria’s gameplay systems,” claims Igarashi. “There are many new unique weapons to wield, and we’ve increased the number of Enemy Souls you can obtain.”
The DS Difference: You needn’t have a degree in advanced vampirology to figure out how the DS’ second screen will function here. “The upper screen will display the player’s current status, along with their position on the overall map,” says Igarashi. In a game where you’re trying to remember precisely where you saw that previously unreachable platform, having a constant view of the castle layout will be a serious boon.
Igarashi’s plans for the touch panel aren’t quite as predictable: “Since it’s a pure action game, I did not want to mix the use of buttons at the same time as the stylus.” So, even though the main gameplay happens on the DS’ lower touch-panel screen, you’ll only have to finger your screen when using the new Magic Seal system (see sidebar on page 83).
Visually, Castlevania opts for a traditional 2D style, quelling gamers’ fears that they might have another blurry, blocky Castlevania 64 (Nintendo 64) to muddle through. “DS is a great portable for expressing 2D gameplay,” Igarashi explains. “I’ve noted that the DS has better graphical capabilities than, say, the PS1, and it’s up to us to push the limits of this new hardware.” The team also plans to make full use of the system’s vastly superior-to-GBA music capabilities. Noted series composer Michiru Yamane (the tunesmith behind the haunting Symphony of the Night score) will supervise the music production and pen a few key tracks herself.
Fans of Igarashi’s previous Game Boy Advance Castlevania titles would probably only lodge one complaint—the games are over too quickly. Eight or nine hours of feverish exploration and undead beatdowns, and you’ve probably scoped every nook and cranny of Drac’s spacious abode. The potential for wireless multiplayer action would graft some serious replayability onto this DS chapter. “I don’t want to have two Somas running around together,” says Igarashi. “But I’m hoping to find space for a versus mode if time allows.” And even if there isn’t room for that feature in this game, Igarashi promises to utilize the DS’ wireless functionality for Enemy Soul trading and the exchange of customized maps.
Nanostray
Majesco • Spring 2005
The Basics: Veterans of the 2001 Game Boy Advance launch might remember Iridion 3D, a traditional space shooter that wowed players with impressive streaming-video graphics. The same development team now brings its hardcore shooter action to the Nintendo DS’ dual-screen format. Nanostray offers similarly classic stick-and-move bullet-ballet gameplay, filling the screen with blazing special weapons and legions of enemy ships.
The DS Difference: Nanostray uses all of the DS’ specialized functions: The second screen displays your score, shows enemy radar position, and allows you to select your weapons by merely touching virtual buttons. Plus, you can wirelessly link up with a friend and tackle the game in two-player mode.
Animal Crossing
Nintendo • Spring 2005
The Basics: Mundane tasks like pulling weeds, rearranging furniture, and running errands magically become engaging when you’re doing them in a videogame. This DS sequel to the breakout GameCube hit threatens to gobble up untold hours of your free time—it’s tough to find the perfect curtains to match your snazzy throw rug.
The DS Difference: If you want to visit your friends’ towns in the GC Animal Crossing, you have to lug your memory card over to their console, but in this DS version you’ll be able to wirelessly connect and commune with fellow beasts on a wireless network.
Mario Kart DS
Nintendo • Summer 2005
The Basics: Mario and his cronies take to the track for another round of automotive mayhem, complete with all the powersliding and shell tossing you’ve come to expect from this genre-defining franchise.
The DS Difference: Predictably, the second screen doesn’t do terribly much other than display a map of the current track. It’s the promise of wireless multiplayer competition that truly sets this game apart from its karting forerunners. If someone can finagle a method of using wireless routers to get true Internet races going, we’re so there.
Super Princess Peach
Nintendo • Summer 2005
The Basics: Perpetually ditzy Peach finally catches wind of the women’s liberation movement, setting off to rescue Mario in her own side-scrolling action-adventure. Whether or not grown men will be able to stomach a game in which a sassy talking parasol constitutes your main line of defense remains to be seen.
The DS Difference: Oddly enough, the top screen displays nothing but a large, animated image of the Princess that reacts to in-game events as they occur—cute, but hardly functional. All the gameplay takes place on the lower screen, where you’ll be able to hop and bop with your trusty stylus.
2,264 words
1 February 2005
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Volume 0; Issue 188
English
Copyright (c) 2005 ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission from Electronic Gaming Monthly.
The Basics
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: Currently available
Price: $149.99
Media: Proprietary 1-gigabit cartridges; also plays all Game Boy Advance Games
Online: Wireless functionality allows one DS to connect with 15 others over Wi-Fi hotspots
Nintendo’s recently released handheld might not be able to push out the nearly PlayStation 2–quality visuals of Sony’s PSP, but it offers unique functionality that puts it in a bizarre, innovative class of its own. Its dual vertically aligned screens baffle upon first viewing, but developers are already experimenting with creative, functional uses beyond simply displaying maps and subscreens. Likewise with the touch-panel input—we’re already seeing games that bend the rules of interactivity and control. The Nintendo DS assuredly feels new and different, but it remains to be seen whether gamers will warm up to its distinctive personality….
Castlevania
Konami • Fall 2005
The Basics: If you’re sick of Dracula always coming back from the dead in Castlevania games, you’re in luck—this upcoming Nintendo DS chapter in Konami’s long-running adventure series won’t disturb the Count’s turbulent slumber with another cop-out revival story line. A direct sequel to 2003’s phenomenal (and also refreshingly Dracula-free) Game Boy Advance Castlevania offering, Aria of Sorrow, this game picks up in the far-off year 2036—precisely 12 months after pretty-boy hero Soma Cruz successfully escaped his fate at the hands of Dracula’s followers. “There are those who were unhappy that Soma did not fulfill his destiny to become the reincarnation of Dracula,” explains Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi. “Among them is Celia Fortner, the founder of a cult that believes their God to be perfectly good; therefore the existence of perfect evil is needed.... She will do everything in her power to kill Soma.” Rather than wait around for a mob of crazed religious zealots to off him, Soma proactively ventures into the cult’s headquarters to face his would-be assassins. Unsurprisingly, he finds his way to a familiar castle....
The core Castlevania gameplay hasn’t changed much since Aria of Sorrow, which in turn borrowed heavily from Igarashi’s watershed PS1 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Soma still runs, jumps, and attacks from a traditional side-scrolling perspective, and rather than explore linear levels, you lead him through a labyrinthine map of interlocking areas, picking up items and ferreting out secrets. As in Symphony, the main character fights with a vast arsenal of different weapons—swords, spears, hammers, etc.—instead of the whip of old-school ’Vania hero Simon Belmont. Also, expect the return of Aria’s lauded Enemy Soul system: Instead of picking up old standbys like holy water and the axe, you bust out cool special attacks by equipping orbs randomly dropped by enemies. Every foe has one, but collecting them all requires serious dedication. “I have made several enhancements to Aria’s gameplay systems,” claims Igarashi. “There are many new unique weapons to wield, and we’ve increased the number of Enemy Souls you can obtain.”
The DS Difference: You needn’t have a degree in advanced vampirology to figure out how the DS’ second screen will function here. “The upper screen will display the player’s current status, along with their position on the overall map,” says Igarashi. In a game where you’re trying to remember precisely where you saw that previously unreachable platform, having a constant view of the castle layout will be a serious boon.
Igarashi’s plans for the touch panel aren’t quite as predictable: “Since it’s a pure action game, I did not want to mix the use of buttons at the same time as the stylus.” So, even though the main gameplay happens on the DS’ lower touch-panel screen, you’ll only have to finger your screen when using the new Magic Seal system (see sidebar on page 83).
Visually, Castlevania opts for a traditional 2D style, quelling gamers’ fears that they might have another blurry, blocky Castlevania 64 (Nintendo 64) to muddle through. “DS is a great portable for expressing 2D gameplay,” Igarashi explains. “I’ve noted that the DS has better graphical capabilities than, say, the PS1, and it’s up to us to push the limits of this new hardware.” The team also plans to make full use of the system’s vastly superior-to-GBA music capabilities. Noted series composer Michiru Yamane (the tunesmith behind the haunting Symphony of the Night score) will supervise the music production and pen a few key tracks herself.
Fans of Igarashi’s previous Game Boy Advance Castlevania titles would probably only lodge one complaint—the games are over too quickly. Eight or nine hours of feverish exploration and undead beatdowns, and you’ve probably scoped every nook and cranny of Drac’s spacious abode. The potential for wireless multiplayer action would graft some serious replayability onto this DS chapter. “I don’t want to have two Somas running around together,” says Igarashi. “But I’m hoping to find space for a versus mode if time allows.” And even if there isn’t room for that feature in this game, Igarashi promises to utilize the DS’ wireless functionality for Enemy Soul trading and the exchange of customized maps.
Nanostray
Majesco • Spring 2005
The Basics: Veterans of the 2001 Game Boy Advance launch might remember Iridion 3D, a traditional space shooter that wowed players with impressive streaming-video graphics. The same development team now brings its hardcore shooter action to the Nintendo DS’ dual-screen format. Nanostray offers similarly classic stick-and-move bullet-ballet gameplay, filling the screen with blazing special weapons and legions of enemy ships.
The DS Difference: Nanostray uses all of the DS’ specialized functions: The second screen displays your score, shows enemy radar position, and allows you to select your weapons by merely touching virtual buttons. Plus, you can wirelessly link up with a friend and tackle the game in two-player mode.
Animal Crossing
Nintendo • Spring 2005
The Basics: Mundane tasks like pulling weeds, rearranging furniture, and running errands magically become engaging when you’re doing them in a videogame. This DS sequel to the breakout GameCube hit threatens to gobble up untold hours of your free time—it’s tough to find the perfect curtains to match your snazzy throw rug.
The DS Difference: If you want to visit your friends’ towns in the GC Animal Crossing, you have to lug your memory card over to their console, but in this DS version you’ll be able to wirelessly connect and commune with fellow beasts on a wireless network.
Mario Kart DS
Nintendo • Summer 2005
The Basics: Mario and his cronies take to the track for another round of automotive mayhem, complete with all the powersliding and shell tossing you’ve come to expect from this genre-defining franchise.
The DS Difference: Predictably, the second screen doesn’t do terribly much other than display a map of the current track. It’s the promise of wireless multiplayer competition that truly sets this game apart from its karting forerunners. If someone can finagle a method of using wireless routers to get true Internet races going, we’re so there.
Super Princess Peach
Nintendo • Summer 2005
The Basics: Perpetually ditzy Peach finally catches wind of the women’s liberation movement, setting off to rescue Mario in her own side-scrolling action-adventure. Whether or not grown men will be able to stomach a game in which a sassy talking parasol constitutes your main line of defense remains to be seen.
The DS Difference: Oddly enough, the top screen displays nothing but a large, animated image of the Princess that reacts to in-game events as they occur—cute, but hardly functional. All the gameplay takes place on the lower screen, where you’ll be able to hop and bop with your trusty stylus.
D plus LOTS of new ones. More multiplayer options would also be killer. The surgon games really interest me, but I can't read Japanese. 
