The Nintendo DS

[Bijo]

Anybody here likes Nintendo, specifically the DS? Anybody has a DS? Some would argue it's only for kids due to the games' looks and such, but they could be very wrong. It's very well known that Nintendo's been the master of gaming, and have been very innovative throughout the time, which is the case with the DS.

I got one though I hardly play it, but with the coming of Zelda The Phantom Hourglass I might pick this thing up once again. Ah, the joy of Nintendo I've had in the days. The NES, the SNES, etc.

Seriously, what hand-held console has the innovation the DS has? What hand-held or game company is so refreshing as Nintendo('s), steering, influencing, and forcing game developers to invent good innovative gameplay?

Personally, I've always liked the approach of Nintendo (including the Wii), not focusing on graphics and mere horsepower, but on gameplay, innovation, reduction of energy used, design, creativity, etc. The PSP doesn't really allow you to blow into the device and having it associated with an actual gameplay element, heh heh.

Not that I want this thread to be a "VS." between Nintendo and Sony, but-- Well, actually I wouldn't mind :P


[rantish]
Sony is the amateur game console designer wannabe who goes for raw horsepower technology, and no/hardly innovation. The only new things added were more power, while the basic designs of their consoles stayed the same. For many it didn't matter, 'cause certain series came out anyway (Final Fantasy, Tekken, etc., etc.).
But you'd think that after all this time Sony would've done their homework, right? If it weren't for those popular series that appeared on the PS, what would it have been now?


I think there must be a good balance between a console's capabilities and designs, and the game developers' capabilities and designs. Nintendo is the creative one doing their part in this, while Sony lags behind like a couple of schmucks, while Microsoft is making big bucks 'meantime.
[/rantish]

[frogbeastegg]

There are quite a few DS owners here, and PSP owners too.

I’ve got a black DS Lite. Love it. Also got a black PSP, and I enjoy that too. I'm not a supporter of any company these days, but Nintendo will always have a special place in my heart after 6 systems, while Sony have produced two systems I really like and two I'm not interested in (admittedly my interest in the PS3 might pick up when the price halves and some good games are on it). I was sceptical about both handhelds, and ignored both for more than a year after their UK launches. Then I wound up buying a DS, followed a couple of months later by a PSP.

The DS I mainly blame on Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. That was the game which snagged my attention and got me looking to see if there were four other games I had an interest in (I never buy a system without a minimum of 5 games I want). It didn't help that I got chance to play on one of my work colleague's DS while I was mulling over the prospect of getting one. I didn't think the touch screen and dual screen set up would be used correctly by many companies; it also felt gimmicky and unnecessary.

The PSP I nearly completely blame on Fragony and his Locoroco topic. It sounded interesting, so I looked up a bit more about the game. I watched a movie of the game in action, and the stupid song got stuck in my head. That song must be mind altering - after a week of endlessly humming it I was hunting for another 4 games. A couple of days after that I was rolling little blob monsters around their world and singing along.

I find both systems have some great games on, and both have a lot of crap I wouldn't touch with a six foot stick. Both have innovation, both have fun pick up and play titles, both have deeper titles. Yet within that they are different, and the best games work to each system’s unique strengths. Lumines uses the PSP's superior sound and screen to produce a puzzler which wouldn't work nearly as well on the DS; Meteos uses the touch screen and dual screens to make a puzzler which wouldn't work nearly as well on the PSP. Incidentally, those two games are the only 'puzzle' games I've ever liked; never could stand tetris, columns, et all.

As for the future, there's an equal amount I'm looking forward to on each system, again in different flavours. Perhaps tellingly, most of those things have one foot in the past - I want the revival of the point and click style game on the DS, and the remakes and ability to buy and play PS1 games on the PSP.

Being a miserable kind of frog, however much I like Nintendo and their innovation, I do have to admit that a great many games makers don't use the likes of the Wii and DS to make new types of games, or to reinvent old types. They use them to make bad ports of generic games, and to play home to all sorts of half-baked ideas. Sony get their fair share of innovative games too: ico, shadow of the colossus, locoroco, lumines, every extend extra, rez ...

You know, I prefer having two good handhelds, for the same reason I could never go back to being a one-console frog: it provides far more variety, and when one’s in a quiet spell there’s usually something on the other.

[Kekvit Irae]

I love my DS. But there's really only one DS game I ever bought: Advance Wars DS. It's quite good, but I keep my DS with me for a much sharper image when I play GB and GBA games (and it does have a better image display than the GBA). I also like my PSP because of the number of games that are fun on there. Metal Gear Ac!d 2, Me & My Katamari, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, etc.

[Samurai Waki]

I generally play my DS more than my PSP. The games seem just a little more fun, and I like the dual screen system. My latest purchase was New Mario, which I've been playing non stop since my appendicitus.

[Phatose]

I've got a DS. Essentially the last bastion of 2d gaming. The good castleroids, the MMZ/ ZX (though I wasn't quite a big a fan of those as the CVs), Mario & Luigi. Lots of great games. Some real scrubs, too - but you get right down to it, most games for any system, console, handheld, or pc - are outright garbarge.

[Xiahou]

It's odd that this topic comes up today- I just dusted my DS off again when I bought Elite Beat Agents on a whim... It's a fun & funny game, but very shallow (like you couldnt have guessed that).

There's really a ton of good games out there for the DS that no one mentioned yet... New Super Mario Brothers, Conact, Trauma Center, Brain Age, MarioKart, Castlevania DoS and PoR... the list goes on. I love my DS, I just wish I had more opportunity to use it.

[Fragony]

Got DS and the PSP, both great machines but I prefer the DS. PSP has terrible batterylife, screen makes up for it though, and the library is shaping up nicely. The thing is is that it just doesn't make sense as a handheld, you will have to keep it home because of the terrible battery's, and there you can play the same games on your tv.

[doc_bean]

I love my DS.

[Bijo]

It's odd that this topic comes up today- I just dusted my DS off again when I bought Elite Beat Agents on a whim...

That's because I'm a telepath, and I can read your mind from afar I knew you were going to dust off your DS.

[BDC]

DS always gives me cramps with it's d-pad and controls. The PSP's nearly-but-not-quite PS2 graphics annoy me, they are good enough for devlopers to just produce a cut-down PS2 version (which runs badly), rather than create something from the ground up that actually runs well.

All about the GBA Micro. Perfect lay out, perfect size. :)

[CybrGamr]

I also have a black PSP and a Black DS Lite. I find there are games on each I like.

The DS is great for RPG and Strategy titles. Old GBA and newer DS RPG's like the Final Fantasy series (1 through 6 can all be played on a DS) and Zelda. A new Dragon Warrior will be coming out for the DS. Age of Empires II was decent for the DS. The Fire Emblem series for the GBA is well done, as is Advance Wars. The system itself is compact and quite sharp looking. I have an issue with the D-Pad on mine that diagonals are hard to make work correctly (which is not an uncommon issue I have found out). But I still enjoy the system very much.

I also have a small handful of games for my PSP that have made the purchase worthwhile. Marvel Ultimate Alliance features 2 characters specific to the PSP version (Hawkeye is one of them). Hot Shots Golf is awesome for a quick play when you have 15 minutes. Dungeon Seige II was done very well on the PSP. X-Men Legends is also fun to play. I love the modern look of this system. I have a screen protector on it to protect against scratches, and that is my biggest fear with the unit. You can download movies to it and mp3's as well, so it really is a full entertainment deck (with a large memory card in it).

Living in a house with two kids who play video games means I can't always get onto a system (even though I bought them...) so I find I use my handhelds. We also travel some during the year so I have those to take with me. They were worth the purchase to me.

[Sir Boo]

i've wanted a DS for ages but after getting the Wii this winter the DS has kind of been phased out of my mind. However hopefully soon i will be again interested in the small shell of nintendo goodness

[Quintus Of Pompeii]

I Love My DS Lite. And My Nummer Eins Game New Super Mario

[Bijo]

The DS I mainly blame on Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

I've recently picked up my black DS lite again to play Phoenix Wright for the first time. Damn! It's a good game (though sometimes a bit unclear and vague). And it's kinda funny too, heh heh.

[Xiahou]

Since buying EBA, I've really been getting in to my DS heavily again. Lately, I've been playing it more then the Wii.

At first, EBA didn't really grab me, but over the last few weeks, I really started to get into it and enjoy it for what it is. Additionally, I also picked up the awesome "Izuna" and even more recently bought the highly addictive "Custom Robo: Arena"- a pretty cool 3D fighter, with huge online multi-player potential.

I came really close to getting a PSP- it's new price is $169 and FYE has an additional $30 mail in rebate. But, I still don't see any must-have games other than LocoRoco and the battery life is still a problem for me.... so I decided to buy myself Custom Robo instead, which apparently was a good call since I've been playing it constantly.

Anyone else been making any DS finds?

[frogbeastegg]

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. I'm playing the PSP version, but there's a DS edition. Both have the same content, but are tailored to take advantage of the strengths of the host system.

It's addictive. It's had more playtime than any other DS or PSP game I own.

[Fragony]

I came really close to getting a PSP- it's new price is $169 and FYE has an additional $30 mail in rebate. But, I still don't see any must-have games other than LocoRoco and the battery life is still a problem for me.... so I decided to buy myself Custom Robo instead, which apparently was a good call since I've been playing it constantly.

It has gotten a lot of good titles lately, for it's current price it's a steal.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I bought Hotel Dusk recently, and I'm enjoying it a lot. It's got a really nice old-school point and click vibe to it, and the art is excellent. It's not perfect-there is a lot of reading, which I imagine some people would find very dull-but if you like adventure games, it's a decent buy.

[Xiahou]

From the sounds of it, I definitely need to look into PuzzleQuest at some point. Sounds like a winner. I've also considered buying Hotel Dusk on several occasions. Lunar Knights is another game that looked really good to me. It really seems like there are just too many good DS games out there right now... and I still have a mess of others that I havent finished yet either.

[Monarch]

Personally, I've always liked the approach of Nintendo (including the Wii), not focusing on graphics and mere horsepower, but on gameplay, innovation, reduction of energy used, design, creativity, etc.

Its an interesting point that because the Wii has a remote that has you jumping around your living room like a loon, people label it as innovation. Personally I play games to relax, often at night and the last thing I'd want to be doing is jumping around. So this is personal taste, but to me the Wii simply looks like for a week or two you'd think it'd be awesome, but then you'd get tired of swinging the controller to play golf...I mean just go and play golf

Its also worth pointing out ps3 controller does have technology a bit like the wii in it, for instance in driving games you tilt left and the car goes left. I feel this is a better balance than the loony acrobatics the Wii has you doing. Oh n btw I'm a xbox fan, played it alot at my mates and I'm getting ones after my exams in a month or two.

Why? Because...I personally see the "revolution" of console gaming as online, where the Wii finishes last. Now I know what you might say, hows it a revolution pc has had it for years. Well not quite like on consoles. Everyones harmoniously linked on consoles, with pc you need all kindsa different programs like xfire, teamspeak etc just to get things going. Everyones on something different, some use ts and some use ventrilo, many games don't support voip on pc.

I think ps3 is too "overpowered"...with blue ray the price is too much and all the casual gamers have gone for the 360 with many of the competitive ones getting a 360 because it came out so early.

I think the Wii should have woken up to online more.