Nintendo DS - Greatest portable gaming system ever?

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Neo Rasa
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Post by Neo Rasa »

That's exactly why it's like the classic Sonic games in its structure. If you just held right in the older Sonics you'd get killed fast.

Dawn of Sorrow is a MUCH better game on the Aria of Sorrow. The plots for both are pretty stupid to me though. :P

Jump Superstars is a huge amount of fun. It's like Super Smash Bros. but in 2D. You can have a team of people that you switch between instead of just one fighter. You manage the team with the touch screen. Each character has different comic book panels that represent them. The "playable character" version of them is the biggest panel type, there are smaller types that, when selected, make the character restore your playable characters' life and other things.

So you have to assemble the panels to give yourself the characters you want with the right amount of support stuff if any. Some of the panels let you do crazy tag-team moves and such.

The backgrounds are of course super-inspired by the various Shonen Jump-published comics. And you can "ring-out" someone by knocking them out of the panel. :lol:

If you don't know Japanese there's a good enough faq on Gamefaqs that you'll need to get through the training missions and a few of the others where success has specific requirements, other than that it's very easy to play.

Like the Otogi games there are some bonus objectives you can complete to unlock more stuff too. Typicall this involves getting through a fight without blocking, only using light attacks, only combos over a certain amount of hits, etc.
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Dylan1CC
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Post by Dylan1CC »

Vexorg wrote:Burnout Legends got a 3.5 from IGN. Of course, I stopped buying EA games entirely a year ago after they picked up the NFL exclusive license, so I could care less.

I'm probably going to go pick up Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time tonight... I don't see anyone else with this here yet, so I'll post a few impressions when I get it.
That's one area the PSP owns the DS in: serious racing games. I own Legends PSP and it is incredible, would never think to touch the DS rev.
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tsunami0ne
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Post by tsunami0ne »

sethsez wrote:
tsunami0ne wrote:Any Mario game where you never died throughout the entire game.
Oh, like Yoshi's Island?
Bingo. Now combine the lazy uninspired level designs of Kirby.
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BrianC
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Post by BrianC »

tsunami0ne wrote:
sethsez wrote:
tsunami0ne wrote:Any Mario game where you never died throughout the entire game.
Oh, like Yoshi's Island?
Bingo. Now combine the lazy uninspired level designs of Kirby.
That's not possible. The level designs of Kirby aren't lazy or uninspired, especially not Kirby's Adventure or Kirby's Dreamland 2.
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Dylan1CC
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Post by Dylan1CC »

Seth:

I think you mean Yoshi's Story, not Island. Sarcasm aside, Story is the lazy one that dares you to kill yourself on purpose. Island has ace design and tough enemy placement all the way. Plus the extra challenge levels are incredible (do I really need to say any of this?)

edit: And I dunno about level design but any Kirby game is at least better than Yoshi's Story N64.
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BrianC
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Post by BrianC »

Dylan1CC wrote:Seth:

I think you mean Yoshi's Story, not Island. Sarcasm aside, Story is the lazy one that dares you to kill yourself on purpose. Island has ace design and tough enemy placement all the way. Plus the extra challenge levels are incredible (do I really need to say any of this?)

edit: And I dunno about level design but any Kirby game is at least better than Yoshi's Story N64.
I agree that Yoshi's Island has great design, but I think sethsez was trying to say that a game can be very easy and still have great design.
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Dylan1CC
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Post by Dylan1CC »

^^^^

Ah, I see. edit: But I still don't think YI is easy. It offers at least the same amount of challenge as SMW.
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dave4shmups
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Post by dave4shmups »

I definately do not think that the DS is the greatest handheld system ever.

I recently traded mine in, along with the games I had for it,for a Cube Game Boy Player. and am glad I did. The DS touch screen is the most low-grade piece of crap hardware that I've ever seen come out of Nintendo. I found it to be very unresponsive at times-the stylus either didn't register well enough, or I had to press down extra hard, at the cost of possibly damaging the screen. Thank goodness that didn't happen, or I wouldn't have even been able to turn it in. And the best games for it, IMO, don't even use the blasted stylus-Castlevania DS, Sonic Rush, Nanostray, etc.

And GBA games don't look that great on it-the colors look pretty dull compared to the latest GBA-SP. I just love Nintendo's handheld policy at this point: "This one's the brightest yet! No, no-wait! Now THIS one's the brightest GBA ever!". It's ridiculous.

PSP all the way-it's getting an incredible Capcom collection, and a shmup collection with Gradius I-IV, plus Gaiden. Surely there will be more to come along those lines, plus the already great domestic library that the PSP has.
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Post by FatCobra »

dave4shmups wrote:I definately do not think that the DS is the greatest handheld system ever.

I recently traded mine in, along with the games I had for it,for a Cube Game Boy Player. and am glad I did. The DS touch screen is the most low-grade piece of crap hardware that I've ever seen come out of Nintendo. I found it to be very unresponsive at times-the stylus either didn't register well enough, or I had to press down extra hard, at the cost of possibly damaging the screen. Thank goodness that didn't happen, or I wouldn't have even been able to turn it in. And the best games for it, IMO, don't even use the blasted stylus-Castlevania DS, Sonic Rush, Nanostray, etc.

And GBA games don't look that great on it-the colors look pretty dull compared to the latest GBA-SP. I just love Nintendo's handheld policy at this point: "This one's the brightest yet! No, no-wait! Now THIS one's the brightest GBA ever!". It's ridiculous.

PSP all the way-it's getting an incredible Capcom collection, and a shmup collection with Gradius I-IV, plus Gaiden. Surely there will be more to come along those lines, plus the already great domestic library that the PSP has.
Eh, to each his own I guess. I prefer innovation and fun games to fancy graphics and watered down ports of PS2 games however. Maybe if a kick-ass shmup were to come to the PSP, I'd buy one.

Let's not turn this into a handheld war, mm-kay?

:EDIT: Didn't notice the Gradius collection. Now that sounds tempting.
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Post by Neo Rasa »

I'd say the domestic library's only great if you like racing games.
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FatCobra
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Post by FatCobra »

Neo Rasa wrote:I'd say the domestic library's only great if you like racing games.
Which can also be found on the PS2 and Xbox, and not so watered down.

Of course, the PSP versions are protiable, so it's a tradeoff. It's pretty the much the same deal as with the GBA SNES ports. You'd get a watered-down verison of an old game that you can carry around.
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sethsez
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Post by sethsez »

Dylan1CC wrote:Seth:

I think you mean Yoshi's Story, not Island. Sarcasm aside, Story is the lazy one that dares you to kill yourself on purpose. Island has ace design and tough enemy placement all the way. Plus the extra challenge levels are incredible (do I really need to say any of this?)

edit: And I dunno about level design but any Kirby game is at least better than Yoshi's Story N64.
No, I meant Island. It's an absolutely fantastic game, no doubt, but it's also easy as hell. Story was simple to the point of stupidity of course, but Island didn't really ever provide a challenge. Didn't keep it from being brilliant, though.
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Post by Neo Rasa »

FatCobra wrote:
Neo Rasa wrote:I'd say the domestic library's only great if you like racing games.
Which can also be found on the PS2 and Xbox, and not so watered down.

Of course, the PSP versions are protiable, so it's a tradeoff. It's pretty the much the same deal as with the GBA SNES ports. You'd get a watered-down verison of an old game that you can carry around.
A lot of those racing games aren't exactly "portable" though unfortunately. Midnight Club 3 as an example, the load times are completely rediculous. And it's ported from the PS2 version which I'd argue they didn't even playtest.
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Dylan1CC
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Post by Dylan1CC »

sethsez wrote:
Dylan1CC wrote:Seth:

I think you mean Yoshi's Story, not Island. Sarcasm aside, Story is the lazy one that dares you to kill yourself on purpose. Island has ace design and tough enemy placement all the way. Plus the extra challenge levels are incredible (do I really need to say any of this?)

edit: And I dunno about level design but any Kirby game is at least better than Yoshi's Story N64.
No, I meant Island. It's an absolutely fantastic game, no doubt, but it's also easy as hell. Story was simple to the point of stupidity of course, but Island didn't really ever provide a challenge. Didn't keep it from being brilliant, though.
Not even the additional challenge stages? Wow.

That reminds me, I need to get YI GBA since I heard that has new stages not in the SNES rev.
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Post by Vexorg »

I'm still trying to find Yoshi's Island, but at this point I'm thinking I'd be better off just waiting on the Revolution to grab it. I picked up Super Mario World GBA version, and it didn't really make the transition to GBA all that well. The screen resolution is lower, the music is off, and they added annoying voice sound effects that weren't in the original SNES version and add nothing to the game.
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Post by BulletMagnet »

Dylan1CC wrote:Not even the additional challenge stages? Wow.
I, of all people, have managed to score a 100 in every stage in the game, extras included, several times over (my brother kept erasing my file, grr...) which pretty much means that an epileptic chimpanzee could do as well or better, heh heh.
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BrianC
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Post by BrianC »

Vexorg wrote:I'm still trying to find Yoshi's Island, but at this point I'm thinking I'd be better off just waiting on the Revolution to grab it. I picked up Super Mario World GBA version, and it didn't really make the transition to GBA all that well. The screen resolution is lower, the music is off, and they added annoying voice sound effects that weren't in the original SNES version and add nothing to the game.
What is the big deal with the screen resloution? It's not like the game is ultra pixelated or super blurry. It's not like too much of the screen was cut off either. The screen resloution being lower is a given for GBA games, but it's not a port killer. Nintendo kept the detail intact and made the game so it would be playable on the small screen. When these componsations are made, I feel that resloution isn't as issue.

The music isn't as good as the SNES version, but I still found it to be very good. It's not tinny or poorly done like music in certain Acclaim GB games. The voice effects add nothing to the game, but IMO, they are just there and don't detract from it either. The actual gameplay is intact and, IMO, it's subtly improved due to the ability to play as Luigi (which does add to the game) and the fact that Yoshi coins are kept track of with a checklist.
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Post by Valgar »

So in the end, we should just play the SNES originals.
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sethsez
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Post by sethsez »

Valgar wrote:So in the end, we should just play the SNES originals.
I can't play the SNES originals on the bus, on the plane, or lying down in bed. You're ignoring the portable aspect which is a pretty big reason anybody would bother buying these.
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Post by BIG »

The DS is definitely cool,but I still enjoy playing with my PSP a tad more.

I haven't touched my DS ever since I bought SW:Battlefront II,Socom:FtB,and GTA:LS :lol:

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BrianC
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Post by BrianC »

sethsez wrote:
Valgar wrote:So in the end, we should just play the SNES originals.
I can't play the SNES originals on the bus, on the plane, or lying down in bed. You're ignoring the portable aspect which is a pretty big reason anybody would bother buying these.
And I can't play the SNES version of Super Mario World with the SMB2J style Luigi, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts with remixed levels from older games, SMB3 with the vegatables from SMB2, or a full remake of the classic Mario Bros (even if it has been used too many times and in Mario and Luigi, a game that isn't a SNES port) on SNES either.

I can't wait to get DS for Christmas. I'll be getting some imports for it too.
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Post by Specineff »

No system can be great without shmups. [/close minded]
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Post by Neo Rasa »

I do wish the SNES to GBA ports had the option to play the games in their original form. It's weird seeing Like-Likes in the light world Lost Woods in Link to the Past and stuff like that. Especially with all the voices they added in to the ports from more current games.

Resolution has never been a massive issue, though it really stands out if you play on the Gameboy Player on a big screen. :D

It IS a port killer in Contra: The Alien Wars EX though, that port is horrendous.
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Post by Neo Rasa »

Specineff wrote:No system can be great without shmups. [/close minded]
Gradius Galaxies looks great on my DS. :D
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Post by jp »

Specineff wrote:No system can be great without shmups. [/close minded]
Nanostray? ;)


Haven't a few more been announced?
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BrianC
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Post by BrianC »

Neo Rasa wrote: It IS a port killer in Contra: The Alien Wars EX though, that port is horrendous.
Yeah, I'm glad Konami's other SNES ports to GBA, Goemon 1 & 2, turned out much better. Konami did a great job moving status information and fitting as much screen as possible on the GBA. There are times I wish Goemon 2 could have more screen showing, but that was actually a problem with the SNES game too. Still an excellent game despite this, though.
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Post by Moogs »

I think the GBA port of A Link to the Past is the only SNES-to-GBA port that doesn't have butchered sound; it's pretty much a carbon copy of the original. The only factor that ruins it is the qulaity of the GBA's speakers.

This is why the headphone jack on the DS is such a blessing.
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FatCobra
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Post by FatCobra »

Neo Rasa wrote:
Specineff wrote:No system can be great without shmups. [/close minded]
Gradius Galaxies looks great on my DS. :D
I second that. Does anyone else here find the SP2's screen at little to bright and blurry?
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BrianC
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Post by BrianC »

I can't wait to see what Steel Empire looks like on the DS. I ordered it from play asia a few days ago when it was still on sale for 24.90. It's back up to 52.90 now. Yikes!
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