The "Official" Nintendo DS Launch Thread (NSF56k)

Tenguman said:
ARG! wtf?!! dead pixel!
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I've been hearing a lot of this dead pixel talk lately... I wonder if the PSP's large screen will suffer from this... being an Apple Powerbook fan I've seen many dead pixel threads.
 
it's fucking nuts. right there on the touch screen too

EB says they can do a swap, but it'll be a couple of weeks before new one comes in. I'm going to call Nintendo directly.
 
I always saw dead pixel threads on the GBA SP threads over at IGN. I've owned multible GBA/GBA SPs and I've never had a problem. Maybe Europe looks after their stock better?
 
Impressions from a fence sitter who jumped onboard...

First of all I should note that after seeing pics and videos I had about as close to ZERO hype for the DS. What actually pushed me to buy it was the ability to play GBA games on a backlit screen which is a much nicer (ie colorful, sharper) LCD than the SP's frontlit screen. I'll just say that for that alone it was worth it. The screens are absolutly beutiful except for one dead pixel on the bottom screen.

I'm going to sum up Pro's and Con's for the system and 3 games I have:

DS System------>

Pro's
------------
-More comfortable to hold than the SP
-Buttons, Dpad, LR triggers all have much better feel to them and the Dpad doesn't 'click' like on my SP
-Screens are great, colorful, like a mini LCD monitor. Not to mention the text is super clear even with tiny fonts
-Sound is very very nice (see Madden below)
-Graphics - this is what surprised me the most by far. Video's let alone screenshots don't do the thing justice AT ALL. All the shimmer you see in the video's is virtually non-existant. The screen is just so sharp and nice it's just really hard to see what is there. I will say that the video's on the net seem to magnify the pixelation and shimmer about 10x of what you actually see on the screen itself. Textures get highly detailed (given the screen res) and most don't even pixelate when close. (some sort of selective mip-mapping here?)

Con's
------------
-One dead pixel on the lower screen, probably gonna bug me enough to exchange it.

Mario 64----->

Everybody's talked about this to death so I'll just say that IMO it looks great and controls fine with the pad. I would have like the 'run' mode to be defualt instead of holding Y but oh well. Lots of little texture touchups from the original and looks more natural (grass, ground). All the texture shimmer on the castle fly-by videos is virtually non-existant in the actual game. Seems like Nintendo needs a better vid-cap system for reviewers.

Madden 64----->

If you like the idea of handheld play-anywhere football I definalty recommend this. Imagine PS1 style graphics but all the bells and whistles of the console version including...

accelerated clock, custom cam angles, tokens, madden cards, season, wireless play, custom AI, player cards, stats, hot routes, line shifts, coach playbooks, pan the fied prior to the snap with LR buttons, etc...etcc...

I swear I was surprised as shit at the amount of stuff in here. The whole thing plays super smooth, the replay cam in moveable while the play runs, and the game actually plays surprising good even on rookie! Manning ate me up with a hurry-up offense, 1:30 left to halftime. Player injuries, they bring the chains out to measure. Really surprised at the amount in here.

Now the music!! Holy sheet.. They even crammed some tracks from the console versions in there and they sound kick ass. Very nice surpise. I hope enough people buy this so we get another version in '06

Metroid Demo ----->

Again, game looks way better than the videos and silky smooth, Took me about 15 minutes to get used to the stylus 'mouse look' but once you let go and just use the stylus like your mouse it becomes second nature. Definatly looking forward to this one when it ships.

Conclusion ---->

So where does this leave me? Well I went from not giving a rats ass figuring I'd eventually get one next year to now being happy I didn't listen to my instincts. I admit I'm a graphics whore and the videos just about killed the hype I had for the DS after E3. Then when Nintendo was slow releasing new stuff a week from launch it just about killed any interest in the system ( Im suspicious like that ).

Summary: Great little system , especially if the Big N stays away ports. Will I buy a PSP next? Of course... I'm still a graphics whore :)
 
Dead pixels are bound to happen. Nothing is perfect. Remember the DC launch? Defective games! I remember stories about when production started on the EE for PS2 that a lot were defective and unusable. And I remember threads about the SP launch and dead pixels. Just send it back to Nintendo, they will fix it for you and you'll be all set.
 
I'm a weak bastard. I went to the Brooklyn Target (Atlantic Avenue) and picked up the 2nd to last NDS (now sold out), last Mario 64, and one of 5 remaining Feel the Magics. Everything else is sold out now.

DEAD FUCKING PIXEL. Right on the top screen.

ARGH.

Dunno WHEN they'll get new ones.
 
First thing I did was to check for dead pixels. The NES GBA SP I bought months back had THREE of those things on the screen. :\
 
whats the class on the LCD panels? (Should say somewhere in the manuals). Cause some classes (Class 2 I think), you don't qualify for return unless there are at least 4 dead pixels.
 
naz said:
I've been hearing a lot of this dead pixel talk lately... I wonder if the PSP's large screen will suffer from this... being an Apple Powerbook fan I've seen many dead pixel threads.
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Unfortunatly I'd almost garuntee that the PSP will have dead pixels. This is coming from someone who owns a $750 Sony LCD monitor with 5 dead pixels, 1 Clie PDA that came with 3 on a 3.5" screen, and a previous Clie that had 2. Just seems to be a fact of life with LCD's.

From what I remember, Sony has a policy with the Clie where they all have to be within an inch of each other for them to replace the screen. So in effect you could have 30 dead pixels on a 3" screen but if they are far enough apart it's still considered in-spec and not covered under replacement warrenty.
 
Just got back from EB with my DS, Mario 64, and Feel the Magic. The latter was interesting, but i wanted something with more substance, so i started up Mario 64.

Shortly after starting the game up, i thought "So this is what Mario 64 looks without filtering". It's extremely noticeable at the beginning with the picture of Peach. With that out of the way, the game looks much better than the screenshots would have you believe. And put me down as another believer of the thumbstrap. i was initially against them from my years of PDA use and encounters with thumb styli, but it works so well. i can see some people not working with it too well, but once you've mentally mapped out the screen, it's very fluid. i tried the default D-pad and it just felt completely wrong. It wasn't bad per se, or even unresponsive, but it just didn't feel fluid enough. And the stereo effects (like the birds chirping outside the castle) in the game are really good. The DS speakers create a really good soundfield, and i can't wait to hear them put to use in other games.

i'm really going to love playing Mario 64. i could never get into the N64 version when it was out, so this is like a completely new game for me.

And GBA games do look noticeably sharper on the DS. One downside is that you can't put the system into standby by closing it.
 
aoi tsuki said:
Just got back from EB with my DS, Mario 64, and Feel the Magic. The latter was interesting, but i wanted something with more substance, so i started up Mario 64.

Shortly after starting the game up, i thought "So this is what Mario 64 looks without filtering". It's extremely noticeable at the beginning with the picture of Peach. With that out of the way, the game looks much better than the screenshots would have you believe. And put me down as another believer of the thumbstrap. i was initially against them from my years of PDA use and encounters with thumb styli, but it works so well. i can see some people not working with it too well, but once you've mentally mapped out the screen, it's very fluid. i tried the default D-pad and it just felt completely wrong. It wasn't bad per se, or even unresponsive, but it just didn't feel fluid enough. And the stereo effects (like the birds chirping outside the castle) in the game are really good. The DS speakers create a really good soundfield, and i can't wait to hear them put to use in other games.

i'm really going to love playing Mario 64. i could never get into the N64 version when it was out, so this is like a completely new game for me.

And GBA games do look noticeably sharper on the DS. One downside is that you can put the system into standby by closing it.
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Downside? WHAT WHAT WHAT?
 
I would love to be telling everyone how excited I am playing on my new DS, but alas Import Madness are playing silly buggers.

To anyone who cares to listen - Import Madness suck!


Anyway - Keep the impressions coming - GAF my own personal hype machine !!
 
kitchenmotors said:
Downside? WHAT WHAT WHAT?
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Fixed. You can't go into standby by shutting the system when playing GBA games.

Edit: Oh man... the minigames. These are as addictive as Wario Ware. Nintendo should

There's also an option in the pause menu the option for stereo, surround, or headphones. It's not true surround, it just widens the soundfield from what i can tell. But it's pretty effective.
 
Tenguman said:
it's fucking nuts. right there on the touch screen too

EB says they can do a swap, but it'll be a couple of weeks before new one comes in. I'm going to call Nintendo directly.
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Same with me, I was able to swap it once and went from 3 dead pixel in the middle of the top screen to one dead pixel on the top right corner of the top screen. Unfortunately they had no more so I have to wait for a restock to get a new one (not big problem) but the one my brother got from Target is perfect.

Oh well the DS still is lots of fun.
 
I just called Nintendo and they are going to replace it with one without dead pixels on it....so we'll see. Going to be a week though :(

The dude on the phone was really helpful though.
 
OK some more impressions after getting a bit more of play time.

1.) The thumb strap is a godsend. Nintendo probably should've included one of those little trackballs that you see on laptops, but the thumb strap makes Mario 64 DS feel a lot more like Mario 64.

2.) Metroid Prime Hunters is really, really cool with the thumb strap. Touchscreen + thumb strap > dual analog. In a funny way I feel like the thumb control may be superior in some ways to even mouse aiming. The thing I'd like to see NST work more on is making it easier for you to spin around without having to take your thumb off the screen.

Metroid Prime Hunters is IMO the killer app for the DS.

3.) Which of the launch games use the microphone?

4.) The auto-sleep mode is awesome. It's hillarious, when you go close your DS while playing Mario 64 DS, it'll automatically slide into "sleep" and you'll hear Mario say "Bye bye!" in that Italian accent as you're closing the unit :lol.

5.) The Super Mario Sunshine music in Mario 64 DS tropical stage! That's awesome.

My only big gripe with the system now is the texture filtering. Man, I wish Nintendo had not gotten cheap there.
 
soundwave05 said:
OK some more impressions after getting a bit more of play time.

1.) The thumb strap is a godsend. Nintendo probably should've included one of those little trackballs that you see on laptops, but the thumb strap makes Mario 64 DS feel a lot more like Mario 64.

2.) Metroid Prime Hunters is really, really cool with the thumb strap. Touchscreen + thumb strap > dual analog. In a funny way I feel like the thumb control may be superior in some ways to even mouse aiming. The thing I'd like to see NST work more on is making it easier for you to spin around without having to take your thumb off the screen.

Metroid Prime Hunters is IMO the killer app for the DS.

3.) Which of the launch games use the microphone?

4.) The auto-sleep mode is awesome. It's hillarious, when you go close your DS while playing Mario 64 DS, it'll automatically slide into "sleep" and you'll hear Mario say "Bye bye!" in that Italian accent as you're closing the unit :lol.

5.) The Super Mario Sunshine music in Mario 64 DS tropical stage! That's awesome.

My only big gripe with the system now is the texture filtering. Man, I wish Nintendo had not gotten cheap there.
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To answer Question #3, Feel the magic uses the mic, and its pretty cool. Some of the mini games has u blowing out a candle with it, or blowing a gust of wind to move your sailboat to save your girl, or yelling at it, so she will notice you over the band playing.

The only thing I dont like so far about the overall design of the system is the Stylus. It is to small. I feel like they made it for midgets.

I need to get into Super Mario 64, and try Metroid, but man Feel the Magic is just awesome.
 
Feel the Magic is one of Sega's best games in years, and one of my games of the year. Holy shit, is it awesome. I don't care how long it is, it's amazingly fun and hysterically funny. ARGH, so good. UGA clearly has some talented folks outside of Mizuguchi. And Sonic Team didn't screw it up! Lurv.

*Edit* - By the way, if any of you guys that have dead pixels bought a system at EB, CALL THEM IMMEDIATELY and tell them you're having a problem. The company actually thought ahead, and stockpiled a small batch of the systems in case of defectives. Just call, tell them, and they'll contact their regional manager to get you a new one within a few days.
 
Tenguman said:
I just called Nintendo and they are going to replace it with one without dead pixels on it....so we'll see. Going to be a week though :(

The dude on the phone was really helpful though.
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Do you have to mail it to them then they mail you a new one?
 
signet said:
Do you have to mail it to them then they mail you a new one?
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Basically yeah. They give you a Fedex number, you pack the system (and the system only) and go to a fedex location. With that fedex number, they'll have a label already made. You send it off, free of charge, and Nintendo will get the system. Then they'll send another one or repair your old one (if it can be repaired easily).
 
who else drooled over this pic ?

nintendo-ds-launches-in-the-us-20041121033502783.jpg
 
Yeah, I'd really like to unlock some new characters in Mario soon. I'm probably just not on the right world or something.

Mostly I'm happy, but I have a couple of gripes. I wish Mario's controls were slightly more sensitive when using the touch screen. Or ideally, a sensitivity changer in the options. It's not so bad as it is, I'd just prefer it.

I don't know about the jumping in Metroid. I never miss a jump in the GC games (unless I'm being stupid), but I'm missing them in First Hunt. It also doesn't always register my double tap. Apart from that though, it controls well. Hopefully other FPSs on the system can just not have jumping in them and it'll be great.

Haven't had a chance to try anything wireless yet. In fact I'll fire it up now and check if anyone close enough has one. Seems unlikely, but I'll try.
 
Tenguman said:
I just called Nintendo and they are going to replace it with one without dead pixels on it....so we'll see. Going to be a week though :(

The dude on the phone was really helpful though.
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Do you have to send them your DS first, or are they sending a new one with a return label? What number did you call to get this done, I need to call right away in the morning.

Edit: Nevermind, didn't read far enough down.
 
I got my first DS at midnight at walmart, they got 19 in stock and when I left there were 6 remaining.

Got home, 2 dead pixels RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER!!!! grrrrr.. BTW, there was something else wrong with this DS, the sound/speakers were messed up. They sounded like they were blown, really scratchy audio.

So, I went to bed, got up early, went straight back to walmart, and exchanged it. At this point they had 2 DS left, after my exchange they had 1.

Got home, crossed my fingers, and no dead pixels. Sounds ace too.
 
All this dead pixel talk had me worried. But luckily, mine is okay.

Bought Feel the Magic and Mario. Both are really good for reasons already stated.

I want to buy another game or two. Should I stay away from Spiderman and/or Asphalt GT, or are those okay? Any impressions?
 
everywhere here was sold out except for best buy. picked up a DS, mario 64 and feel the magic late in the afternoon with absolutely no problem.

best part? the cashier forgot to ring up mario 64 and feel the magic. $60 in free games? oh yes.
 
The dead pixel shit is annoying as hell....and just by how many people have gotten them in this thread-- it seems to be a common problem

Anyway...aside from that I REALLY love that little thumb pad. Mario 64 takes a while to get used to, but eventually you'll train your thumb to use it well. Controls almost as good as an analog stick IMO.
 
When I got to EB around noon, I was right at the tail end of the line. I was one of the last people to get my system during the morning rush, though they had many, many left. Some people who preordered late were being turned away, but told that new systems would arrive within a week.

What I found interesting was that although other games like Feel the Magic and Mario were clearly disappearing from the shelves, the huge rack of Spider-Man 2 didn't even have a DENT in it. I wonder if they'll end up taking a bath on it or what.

I had to try and pick up another system for one of my editors in the UK. I thought it was a lost cause, but I swung by Virgin (no systems on sale, but one of the employees had got one from EB and was showing it off to his envious coworkers), then CompUSA. Amazingly, there were four systems stuck in the GBA section of CompUSA's glass case. They didn't have any games or anything, just a few systems. And the clerks had no idea what I wanted.

"I'd like a Nintendo DS please."
"What's that?"
"That, right there. The DS."
"Is that for the Game Boy?"
 
Spiderman is great, 2.5d sidescroller beat'm up with some nice eye candy. If you like the older GBA Spiderman games or are a fan of the sega cd Spiderman game you'll love it.


Asphalt GT is a nice little racer, kind of like burnout-lite. Not as impressive as mario or Spiderman but well worth $30.
 
Picked up the DS from EB earlier today with Mario and Feel the Magic. Haven't tried out Feel the Magic yet, but here are my impressions of the Mario:

Graphics: It looks like the N64 version with PSX image/texture quality. There's noticeably more detail in the models, and everything runs very smoothly. No complaints here.

Sound: Like the graphics, this is very close to the N64 game.

Gameplay aka the Thumb Nub: Using the touch screen takes a lot of getting used to. Sometimes my thumb will hit the left/top/bottom edge of the touch screen, which causes problems. Sometimes my thumb wobbles a little, which will make Mario go from running to walking very quickly. Doing flips (pushing the opposite direction + jump) is next to impossible for me right now. But though all this, the touch screen is still way better than using the d-pad. Nintendo really needs to put some thought into the touch screen movement, not simply emulate an analog stick. Hopefully they realize this and do some major play-testing to make sure this touch screen solution works better next time.

Mini-games: Some of these are pretty neat. I like the "Love me/Love me not" flower; it's so simple and cheesy but I got a kick out of using the stylus to do it. Other games like the slingshot, line drawing, and where's waldo clone were pretty cool and hint at some possibilities for future DS games. Slingshot and Bouncing Mario in particular made me think that someone could do a really funky vertical shooter with DS.
 
fail to see what the fuss was about with mario 64 control.. using the thumb pad and the touch screen it controls well enough.. no, nowhere near as perfect as the thumbstick on the n64, but good enough, and as good I reckon as the psp would control...
 
signet said:
does Mr. Driller have 1 cart err card multiplayer?
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Yes.

And can I point out that ALL ALONG I SAID THE TOUCHSCREEN CONTROL FOR MARIO 64 WAS FINE, IT JUST TOOK SOME GETTING USED TO? Oh my God, how frustrating are you?

Not you specifically, signet, everyone.
 
Ok, so another gripe I have is with the thumbstrap. Is there a correct way to wear it? I feel like its so hard to move my characters in Super mario DS and Metroid. Anyone have any suggestions?
 
Xellos said:
Picked up the DS from EB earlier today with Mario and Feel the Magic. Haven't tried out Feel the Magic yet, but here are my impressions of the Mario:

Graphics: It looks like the N64 version with PSX image/texture quality. There's noticeably more detail in the models, and everything runs very smoothly. No complaints here.

Sound: Like the graphics, this is very close to the N64 game.

Gameplay aka the Thumb Nub: Using the touch screen takes a lot of getting used to. Sometimes my thumb will hit the left/top/bottom edge of the touch screen, which causes problems. Sometimes my thumb wobbles a little, which will make Mario go from running to walking very quickly. Doing flips (pushing the opposite direction + jump) is next to impossible for me right now. But though all this, the touch screen is still way better than using the d-pad. Nintendo really needs to put some thought into the touch screen movement, not simply emulate an analog stick. Hopefully they realize this and do some major play-testing to make sure this touch screen solution works better next time.

Mini-games: Some of these are pretty neat. I like the "Love me/Love me not" flower; it's so simple and cheesy but I got a kick out of using the stylus to do it. Other games like the slingshot, line drawing, and where's waldo clone were pretty cool and hint at some possibilities for future DS games. Slingshot and Bouncing Mario in particular made me think that someone could do a really funky vertical shooter with DS.
Click to expand...

You really need to play Feel the Magic. Its the best of the bunch right now for me. I am glad I got it.
 
aparisi2274 said:
Ok, so another gripe I have is with the thumbstrap. Is there a correct way to wear it? I feel like its so hard to move my characters in Super mario DS and Metroid. Anyone have any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Uh... don't forget to tighten it?
 
I picked up Madden,

The graphics are pretty bad. The models look like PSX quality but the game runs smooth.
In any case I think the use of the touch screen is actually pretty good in this game. Looking at both screens to access the big picture is pretty natural and definitely adds to the gameplay.
 
I am not having the impassable control problems that many of the early reviews/impressions had with Mario 64, so I can say I am enjoying the game tremendously..

however Feel the Magic was by far the best launch game.. severely underrated on every site, and had Wario Ware come out as a launch title Feel the Magic would still stand on its own. Easily the most memorable game I have played in years, and that isn't even talking about the gameplay.

The woman's playing Urbz.. She says she really likes it.. It basically seems to be like the GBA Sims, only longer (well, I only read that last part). But she says it is identical to GBA Sims.

And to say it one last time, GBA games look gorgeous on this thing.. I've tried a bunch so far and the DS is BY FAR the best way to play single player GBA games. Particularly games like Fire Emblem, Golden Sun, and Castlevania COTM are stunning... and Puyo Pop (got me free puyo head in Feel the Magic).

seismologist said:
The graphics are pretty bad. The models look like PSX quality but the game runs smooth.
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this is what I don't get... so what.. it looks like PSX... out last version of madden on a handheld looked like SNES, so we are making progress, right?
 
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