radioheadrule83
Banned
On Thursday morning, my Nintendo DS arrived! I got it later than loads of other people on the Nintendo boards who ordered the same day as me, which was quite annoying, but I still got it over a month early:
Got the Nintendo DS + Super Mario 64 DS (American version) + Metroid Prime: Hunters (Demo) + Wario Ware Touched! (Demo) + a Nintendo DS t shirt for £130, under full and proper warranty with Nintendo VIP reward card points.
Inside was all the usual manuals and epilepsy warning crap, along with a small Nintendo DS "touch me!" poster. Underneath the slogan is a finger seemingly bursting through the page a lá the new advertising campaign. On the back:
Looking foreward to that, whatever it is.
Here's the t-shirt:
On the back it's got the Nintendo DS logo and VIP written underneath that.
Mario 64 DS
What the HELL were people moaning about? This is a pristine port with much more than just the original included! Any level is doable with one of the three control methods.. and you can switch between those on the fly simply by pressing select. The normal mode actually works pretty well with the usual D-pad & buttons. The touch screen analog is fantastic. I won't say it's perfect cos I know that it's not, but it can definately be made to work even better than this -- and this is pretty good. For example: it's a bit annoying the way the target (virtual analog) moves under your finger, it'd be better if it stayed stationary at one point on the screen... but otherwise its great! The only move that can be tricky to pull off is the forwards>backwards somersalt, but a quick adjustment of the camera can make that easier. Starting with Yoshi and having to rescue the other characters is great too. I love the way they have their own abilities etc. As for the graphics -- I showed this around work today, and everyone agreed that it looked far nicer and slicker than the Nintendo 64 version. More than one person used the words "crisper"/"sharper".
They were impressed by the single player mode alone. When they read the manual regarding multiplayer - stating that a good connection will download the component in 30 seconds they were gobsmacked. Naturally in showing them the DS, a few of the more well-read gamers brought up the fact that they'd heard the PSP was coming and had better graphics, played movies yadda yadda yadda. But every single person I showed Mario 64 and these mini games to, suddenly seemed to want an NDS regardless of whatever the PSP can do. The second they started flinging their own bombs, rolling snowballs, drawing trampolenes etc.. they were sold. And it's not like they haven't seen the PSP in person either. It's in all of our import shops in Liverpool. So that was good to hear.
Metroid Prime: Hunters Demo
I was actually a little disappointed with this. I know its a multiplayer demo -- sadly I haven't had the chance to play with the only other guy I know who got a DS thanks to Nintendo Europe's deal. So all I've played is the single player. The full game could do with more puzzles, unless the intention is that it should be one large run & gun game. The 5 or so minutes that it takes to get to Dark Samus are absolutely brilliant, but ultimately they are fleeting. On the positive side, this thing looks fan-fucking-tastic in motion. The framerate, as with all three of these games, is exactly the speed it should be. The stupid jelly metroids seemed a bit cheap, but when you start meeting the other creatures, rolling about in morph ball, switching to missiles, and blowing the crap out of metroids -- all with a stylus -- it just sells you on Nintendo DS first person shooters completely. I hope there are a lot more! The tiny intro movies and music are great too!
Wario Ware: Touched! demo
Along with the Mario 64 minigames, this showed how fun drawing things, rubbing, swiping, and poking the screen could be. If you've never played a Wario Ware game before, there are several main characters. Each of the characters has their own abundance of minigames and minibosses for you to play through. On this demo card, it's a selection of Wario's minigames only. You don't see the other characters' games at all - which is a shame really. I'd of liked to have shown the famous microphone games to people. But what is on here is nothing short of class! There were people at work today who've never played a Wario Ware game before, and it was cool to see them have the same surprised reaction I had when I played one: laughing and panicking while they try to do the games. My sister played this and Mario 64's Rec Room for 4 HOURS last night. Which I was cool with because I was catching up with 24. She never plays games. Not normally. She's always liked the Mario Kart games, and she likes Donkey Konga and Wario Ware on the gamecube but not in any kind of serious play-for-more-than-5-minutes kind of way.
All in all, I'm ultra happy with my system. I can't wait for more games to come out (as seems to be the feelings of American owners). Here's hoping the drought is brief.
Bring on: rumored Red Alert 3, Final Fantasy III, Crystal Chronicles, Four Swords, Mario Kart, New Super Mario Bros, Kirbys magic paintbrush, Yoshi Touch & Go, Metroid: Hunters, Wario Ware Touched!!! Let me draw on my vehicles in NFSU2 and any future F Zero titles. Track editors would be sweet in such games too. A Mario Paint style game would freaking own. Get me Sim City / Theme Park / Rollercoaster Tycoon style games stat! Give me Point and Click adventures on the move! LucasArts, that means YOU! Secret of Mana, Splinter Cell, Pokemon PD, and every other decent name on the release list... I want it all!
I'd totally forgotten how amazing Mario 64 was as well. For shame! *hangs head*
*goes back to playing*
Later!
Thom
Got the Nintendo DS + Super Mario 64 DS (American version) + Metroid Prime: Hunters (Demo) + Wario Ware Touched! (Demo) + a Nintendo DS t shirt for £130, under full and proper warranty with Nintendo VIP reward card points.
Inside was all the usual manuals and epilepsy warning crap, along with a small Nintendo DS "touch me!" poster. Underneath the slogan is a finger seemingly bursting through the page a lá the new advertising campaign. On the back:
Looking foreward to that, whatever it is.
Here's the t-shirt:
On the back it's got the Nintendo DS logo and VIP written underneath that.
Mario 64 DS
What the HELL were people moaning about? This is a pristine port with much more than just the original included! Any level is doable with one of the three control methods.. and you can switch between those on the fly simply by pressing select. The normal mode actually works pretty well with the usual D-pad & buttons. The touch screen analog is fantastic. I won't say it's perfect cos I know that it's not, but it can definately be made to work even better than this -- and this is pretty good. For example: it's a bit annoying the way the target (virtual analog) moves under your finger, it'd be better if it stayed stationary at one point on the screen... but otherwise its great! The only move that can be tricky to pull off is the forwards>backwards somersalt, but a quick adjustment of the camera can make that easier. Starting with Yoshi and having to rescue the other characters is great too. I love the way they have their own abilities etc. As for the graphics -- I showed this around work today, and everyone agreed that it looked far nicer and slicker than the Nintendo 64 version. More than one person used the words "crisper"/"sharper".
They were impressed by the single player mode alone. When they read the manual regarding multiplayer - stating that a good connection will download the component in 30 seconds they were gobsmacked. Naturally in showing them the DS, a few of the more well-read gamers brought up the fact that they'd heard the PSP was coming and had better graphics, played movies yadda yadda yadda. But every single person I showed Mario 64 and these mini games to, suddenly seemed to want an NDS regardless of whatever the PSP can do. The second they started flinging their own bombs, rolling snowballs, drawing trampolenes etc.. they were sold. And it's not like they haven't seen the PSP in person either. It's in all of our import shops in Liverpool. So that was good to hear.
Metroid Prime: Hunters Demo
I was actually a little disappointed with this. I know its a multiplayer demo -- sadly I haven't had the chance to play with the only other guy I know who got a DS thanks to Nintendo Europe's deal. So all I've played is the single player. The full game could do with more puzzles, unless the intention is that it should be one large run & gun game. The 5 or so minutes that it takes to get to Dark Samus are absolutely brilliant, but ultimately they are fleeting. On the positive side, this thing looks fan-fucking-tastic in motion. The framerate, as with all three of these games, is exactly the speed it should be. The stupid jelly metroids seemed a bit cheap, but when you start meeting the other creatures, rolling about in morph ball, switching to missiles, and blowing the crap out of metroids -- all with a stylus -- it just sells you on Nintendo DS first person shooters completely. I hope there are a lot more! The tiny intro movies and music are great too!
Wario Ware: Touched! demo
Along with the Mario 64 minigames, this showed how fun drawing things, rubbing, swiping, and poking the screen could be. If you've never played a Wario Ware game before, there are several main characters. Each of the characters has their own abundance of minigames and minibosses for you to play through. On this demo card, it's a selection of Wario's minigames only. You don't see the other characters' games at all - which is a shame really. I'd of liked to have shown the famous microphone games to people. But what is on here is nothing short of class! There were people at work today who've never played a Wario Ware game before, and it was cool to see them have the same surprised reaction I had when I played one: laughing and panicking while they try to do the games. My sister played this and Mario 64's Rec Room for 4 HOURS last night. Which I was cool with because I was catching up with 24. She never plays games. Not normally. She's always liked the Mario Kart games, and she likes Donkey Konga and Wario Ware on the gamecube but not in any kind of serious play-for-more-than-5-minutes kind of way.
All in all, I'm ultra happy with my system. I can't wait for more games to come out (as seems to be the feelings of American owners). Here's hoping the drought is brief.
Bring on: rumored Red Alert 3, Final Fantasy III, Crystal Chronicles, Four Swords, Mario Kart, New Super Mario Bros, Kirbys magic paintbrush, Yoshi Touch & Go, Metroid: Hunters, Wario Ware Touched!!! Let me draw on my vehicles in NFSU2 and any future F Zero titles. Track editors would be sweet in such games too. A Mario Paint style game would freaking own. Get me Sim City / Theme Park / Rollercoaster Tycoon style games stat! Give me Point and Click adventures on the move! LucasArts, that means YOU! Secret of Mana, Splinter Cell, Pokemon PD, and every other decent name on the release list... I want it all!
I'd totally forgotten how amazing Mario 64 was as well. For shame! *hangs head*
*goes back to playing*
Later!
Thom
