The One/Only Nintendo DS Discussion Thread Part IV: "I Finally Caved In" Edition

[Breakfast with Girls]

Thanks, <i>jerks</i>.

Keeping with the theme of this thread I finally bought a DS Lite today, in spite of the fact that I've been trying not to spend money. This is the first DS I've owned.

I also bought <b>Brain Age</b> and <b>Advance Wars: Dual Strike</b>. Both are really fun, so I'm sure I'll have to buy others. :mad:

Thanks. Thanks <i>a lot</i>.

[outer-edge]

I also bought <b>Brain Age</b> and <b>Advance Wars: Dual Strike</b>. Both are really fun, so <b>I'm sure I'll have to buy others.</b> :mad:

At $30-$35 a pop, how can you not?! :D

[grim_tales]

I'm pleased to say the mic on my Lite works perfectly! :)

[LorenzoL]

I'm playing NSMB endlessly on my new DS Lite and I have come to a realization that I'm a very poor gamer when it comes to this type of games. However, I still can't get enough of it. :D

[grim_tales]

I finally got past World 5-1 of NSMB, and am now on Bowser Jr.'s castle. That level is kind of annoying though, and I also hate 5-1 when snow keeps falling on your head.. AAARGH! :(

:D

[Dazed]

Ive just bought Brain Age and apart from it have trouble understanding me say the word "Blue", i love it. Ive mostly been playing sudoku on it (that game is addictive :) ).

So far i've got 4 games (NSMB, Advance Wars, Animal Crossing and Brain Age) and they are all unputdownable. Im very impressed with my lite. thanks for all who recommended it over the PSP.

[Dazed]

By the way, can anyone recommend a screen protector for the DS Lite?

Martin Fields overlays are some of the best there is.

http://www.doml.com

I got some for my lite and my blackberrry and am very happy. They usually get top marks for quality and the service is excellent.

I usually get an email saying its shipped a few hours after ordering and it arrives a week later (depending on customs).

[darkside]

gonintendo has a mention about the hinges cracking on the Lite and it has already happened to my Lite. Don't know if its even a big deal because it doesn't appear to be more than just cosmetic damage. My Lite still opens and closes fine and doesn't feel like its going to fall apart.
http://gonintendo.com/wp-content/photos/thumb_dslite_cracked.jpg

[ugabuga]

I bought NSMB, Metroid, Ultimate Spiderman so far. I have a credit at Walmart so debating on what should be next. I am stuck between Mario Kart, Castlevania, or Advance Wars ughh. All are highly rated....

[Anubis2005X]

I bought NSMB, Metroid, Ultimate Spiderman so far. I have a credit at Walmart so debating on what should be next. I am stuck between Mario Kart, Castlevania, or Advance Wars ughh. All are highly rated....

Castlevania, it's amazing...

[chess]

If you haven't played any of the other Advance Wars, get that one. Otherwise, I'd have to say Mario Kart, then Castlevania.

[Josh H]

I'd go with Castlevania. Next to NSMB, it's my favorite DS games so far.

Mario Kart is very fun as well. Advance Wars isn't my cup of tea as I hate strategy games, even more lite ones like this series.

[Michael Corvin]

gonintendo has a mention about the hinges cracking on the Lite and it has already happened to my Lite. Don't know if its even a big deal because it doesn't appear to be more than just cosmetic damage. My Lite still opens and closes fine and doesn't feel like its going to fall apart.
http://gonintendo.com/wp-content/photos/thumb_dslite_cracked.jpg

sonofabitch. I hadn't even noticed that. Mine has a similar crack. :(

[Josh H]

Mine hasn't cracked yet, but if it doesn't affect anything it won't bother me in the least.

[Drexl]

I bought NSMB, Metroid, Ultimate Spiderman so far. I have a credit at Walmart so debating on what should be next. I am stuck between Mario Kart, Castlevania, or Advance Wars ughh. All are highly rated....

Isn't Castlevania supposed to be OOP now? I would definitely wait on Mario Kart because that will be available for a long time.

[Josh H]

Yes, Castlevania is OOP and getting to be a little tougher to find.

[Detective Thorn]

Yes, Castlevania is OOP and getting to be a little tougher to find.

About 3 weeks ago I went to every store in town (that carries DS games) looking for a copy of that game but came up empty. Last week, 4 copies mysteriously showed up at Best Buy. I say mysteriously because it is no longer even listed on their web site.

There are still copies of the game out there, but not many.

[Outlaw]

Yes, Castlevania is OOP and getting to be a little tougher to find.

If this is the case then if you haven't picked it up and are a new DS Lite owner I highly recommend picking this one up if you can find it. Best Castlevania since Symphony of the Night IMO!

[RichC2]

My buddy found a copy of Castlevania: DoS at Rhino in Ocala.

I wound up getting a used copy (excellent condition) at EB during the Buy 2 Get 1 deal on used games. I agree it's the best since SotN and it's been the game I've played most on my DS (followed by Trauma Center, Ouenden, and NSMb), I haven't been hooked on a game like I was with Aria in ages, it ate my nights away (took me about 12 hours to beat the game with 97.5 - 98.5% completion (can't remember which)). DS Lite has been one of the best "entertainment" purchases I've ever made, Nintendo has my love all over again :).

The game popped up on the BestBuy.com top 10 sales list the week the DS Lite launched, it went from oblivion to #4 and seemed to confuse a few market researchers :). It seems to have been cleared out since then, though.

[grim_tales]

I got Astro Boy: Omega Factor for the GBA (supposedly thats hard to find) for £1.99 when I did some trade ins at Gamestation :) Great little platformer/shooter.

[chess]

Meh...I have minimal doubt that C:DOS will be rereleased, and current prices are getting out of hand. So unless you happen to see a copy at normal retail at a reasonably normal price, I'd look for something else. I don't know how available they are out there, but I just got the GBA Castlevania two-pack for $20 at Toys R Us. Either of the GBA Metroids would be an excellent substitute as well.

[Frenzy]

Well, now I'm back in DS land. I ordered from Amazon.de a DS Lite (white), Castlevania DoS and New Super Mario Bros. (ships within 3-5 weeks :eek: ). Hopefully that package will arrive tomorrow. :)

[chess]

I posted this in the storage thread, but thought I'd post here as well...

Found a damn near perfect DS Lite case at Circuit City the other day. It's a "dual folio" something or other and it holds the Lite, 9 DS games and 9 GBA games in their own little mesh slots. Manufacturer seems to be "Score" though some websites sell it as a Pelican. It's $9.96 at CC...a bit less online but probably more after shipping.

Mine is all black, but otherwise, looks like this:

http://cover6.cduniverse.com/CDUCoverArt/Games/Large/70805601043.jpg

I wish I could find a clearer picture of the inside to show how the games look inside, but it's really professional looking. The open "page" on the right holds 3 DS games over 3 GBA games, and the other zipper pocket has two more identical pages for a total of 9 DS and 9 GBA games. The Lite is well protected and the pocket on the far left holds the power pack, headphones, whatever.

It's a bit thick, but if you want to keep a lot of games handy and protected, it's a really nice case for $10.

[darkside]

I think that is the case I've been waiting for. I'll try and find it today.

[DJ_Longfellow]

So, whose DSLite is cracking....I guess it's pretty common with them.

http://i2.tinypic.com/1zyvjpf.jpg

[chess]

mine's still clean.

[Drexl]

Mine has the crack.

[mmconhea]

I have it but seems to be stil working fine and still sturdy.

[Noonan]

No break on mine yet...but I just purchased it about 2 weeks ago. We'll see how it holds up.

[Breakfast with Girls]

Meh...I have minimal doubt that C:DOS will be rereleased, and current prices are getting out of hand. So unless you happen to see a copy at normal retail at a reasonably normal price, I'd look for something else. I don't know how available they are out there, but I just got the GBA Castlevania two-pack for $20 at Toys R Us. Either of the GBA Metroids would be an excellent substitute as well.What, seriously? They had a couple copies at my Best Buy where I bought my DS Lite a few days ago. I guess I need to go pick that up over lunch if they still have some, seeing as how I own SOTN and all 3 GBA versions.

[kajs]

Meh...I have minimal doubt that C:DOS will be rereleased, and current prices are getting out of hand. So unless you happen to see a copy at normal retail at a reasonably normal price, I'd look for something else. I don't know how available they are out there, but I just got the GBA Castlevania two-pack for $20 at Toys R Us. Either of the GBA Metroids would be an excellent substitute as well.
Seen at Amazon today:
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Availability: This item will be released on September 19, 2006. You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it arrives. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

[daniel18]

If I weren't able find Dawn of Sorrow, I wouldn't sweat it too much since Portrait of Ruin will be released soon.

[The Bus]

I've got the crack. I'm sure it's cosmetic only.

[jediwicz]

A couple of weeks ago I dropped my DS Lite into a puddle. It bounced on it's edge, opened, and landed screen sides down in the water. I picked it up and it was fine. There's a little scuff where it hit the concrete but the screens were untouched. And my hinge is still intact.

[Icon769]

Is Castlevania really OOP. Looks like Amazon is taking preorders for it? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009Z3K9E/qid=1153283808/sr=11-1/ref=sr_11_1/104-7121353-4456704?n=468642

[Jeremy517]

A few OOP DS titles have gotten reprints lately. Maybe Castlevania: DoS is the next in line.

With the number of new DS owners due to the DS Lite, it seems like they'd be smart to re-release the OOP games.

[Frenzy]

The DS Lite and Castlevania arrived today. http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6990/dj2fw.gif

[ugabuga]

I think i will hold off on Castlevania. My local Blockbuster has it used for $30, but not sure if it comes with box and manuel.

[kajs]

Is there anywhere on the internet I could order the Opera Browser to ship to the US other than Lik-Sang and Play-Asia? Meaning, where it isn't $50.

[ugabuga]

Agreed I would like to browse the web on the DS, but they should charge no more than a few $ for it.

[grim_tales]

Completed the second castle on World 5 on NSMB - woo-hoo! :D
The boss is surprisingly easy, its getting there thats annoying, as I had a fire flower but lost it, tried to use my Mega Mushroom but it ran away before I could get it :(

[The Bus]

DS Browser in action (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbSq-tCHXmI)

[Michael Corvin]

DS Browser in action (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbSq-tCHXmI)

That would be kinda cool. Should be cheap though.

[Crizzar]

I think the browser comes on a cart that goes into the GBA slot which jacks up the price a bit

[chess]

Mario 3 on 3 basketball???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW0wv0ImcCo

I must've been asleep somewhere. This looks like a lot of fun.

[PixyJunket]

I think the browser comes on a cart that goes into the GBA slot which jacks up the price a bitIt's a DS cart with the browser and it has a separate RAM cartridge (on a GBA cart).

[kajs]

I don't understand why most people are complaining about the price everywhere I read about the browser. It costs as much as any other new DS game if you convert the price. Why should it be cheap? They still had to develop the software and manufacture and ship it, plus I can have a portable internet browser that I can use at wi-fi spots, that's worth more than $35 to me.

[rfduncan]

DS Browser in action (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbSq-tCHXmI)
That is so HOT! I'd pay $25 for that after a BB coupon. ;)

[Michael Corvin]

So what is everyone doing about this crack issue? Mine is now as large as in the pic above.

[RichC2]

So what is everyone doing about this crack issue? Mine is now as large as in the pic above.

Dunno, it appears to be a pretty limited issue thus far.

Weird too, since my DS Lite has been through hell.

[Josh H]

It seems to be just a cosmetic issue, and from the thread on CAG nintendo is charging $50 to replace it b/c of the crack so it's really not worth worrying about IMO unless you're really anal about the condition of your stuff. Especially since the replacement may well crack too.

[Drexl]

I put a little super glue on my crack (my DS's crack, I mean :)) just in case.

[darkside]

It seems to be just a cosmetic issue, and from the thread on CAG nintendo is charging $50 to replace it b/c of the crack so it's really not worth worrying about IMO unless you're really anal about the condition of your stuff. Especially since the replacement may well crack too.
I'm definitely not worrying about it. It doesn't seem to be getting worse or causing any issues with the hinge so I'm considering it a minor thing. I certainly won't make an effort to get it fixed as my screens are perfect and that is much more important.

[Frenzy]

I put a little super glue on my crack

I don't judge you.

[sdcrym]

I noticed mine was cracked last night. I'll probably just wait until the warranty is about to run out before I decide if I want to do anything about it.

[Breakfast with Girls]

I don't judge you.:lol:

[fumanstan]

Mario 3 on 3 basketball???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW0wv0ImcCo

I must've been asleep somewhere. This looks like a lot of fun.

This is up at Comic Con. I tried it out and wasn't too big of a fan of the controls.

[fumanstan]

I also used their download station to try out March of the Minis, and wasn't too impressed. The controls seemed to be a bit difficult in guiding the little mario's, but maybe that will be tightened up. Fun little distraction, but I didn't think too much of it altogether.

[ChrisHicks]

I caved in and bought one about 2hrs. ago. I picked it up with Brain Age. now I'm on the lookout for other games.

[chess]

Just a retraction...

A few pages back I offhandedly dismissed the GBA/DS Castlevania series. I couldn't have been more wrong. I did it based on my limited Castlevania experience on GBA (Circle of the Moon) and on the old ones (namely 1 and 4) not holding up for me. I've since picked up the Harmony/Aria Double Pack, and it's a hell of a one two punch. I haven't put it down since I started.

Granted, they are essentially Super Metroid rip offs, but that doesn't stop them from being top notch games in terms of control, challenge, and presentation.

I'll definitely be picking up Dawn of Sorrow on rerelease.

[Michael Corvin]

Update on the ebay fiasco. A few days ago I check Myebay and notice that the seller of my two games has been suspended. Shit. Was it a money grab, listing a bunch and running? Was he actually trying to sell bootlegs and not get caught? I was certain I wouldn't see any games , but they showed up the other day. :up: Kudos for him still shipping after ebay closed him down.

Bootlegs aside, they seem to work okay. :shrug: I guess next time I pay a few extra bucks & stick to half.com. :)

[Crizzar]

Might want to give Toys R Us a shot.

I have one by my house and one near work and both have had multiple copies of Sorrow available. With Best Buy and Circuit City, people seem to have forgotten that Toys R Us sells video games too.

When I was in today for the Animal Crossing downloads, I saw that they've also recently done a price drop on Sonic Rush to 19.95.

Just a retraction...

A few pages back I offhandedly dismissed the GBA/DS Castlevania series. I couldn't have been more wrong. I did it based on my limited Castlevania experience on GBA (Circle of the Moon) and on the old ones (namely 1 and 4) not holding up for me. I've since picked up the Harmony/Aria Double Pack, and it's a hell of a one two punch. I haven't put it down since I started.

Granted, they are essentially Super Metroid rip offs, but that doesn't stop them from being top notch games in terms of control, challenge, and presentation.

I'll definitely be picking up Dawn of Sorrow on rerelease.

[dcswirl]

Spotted Trauma Center at Best Buy tonight. Just a heads up.

[chess]

Might want to give Toys R Us a shot.

I have one by my house and one near work and both have had multiple copies of Sorrow available. With Best Buy and Circuit City, people seem to have forgotten that Toys R Us sells video games too.

When I was in today for the Animal Crossing downloads, I saw that they've also recently done a price drop on Sonic Rush to 19.95.

Nah...it's pretty rare that I pay full retail for a video game...and I have so many DS and GBA games to finish, it's not even funny. TRU is actually where I picked up the GBA Castlevania 2-pack for what it's worth. $20 well spent.

[chess]

So what are the hidden gems out there for DS?

My other and I had a great time the other night playing downloaded head to head with her $10 copy of Puyo Pop Fever. It's a really cool twist on an already fun little puzzler.

I'm also really enjoying Ultimate Spider-Man...though I hate the timed levels where you have to figure out what the hell you're supposed to be doing. Still, the controls are tight and the presentation is top notch.

[Jeremy517]

Spotted Trauma Center at Best Buy tonight. Just a heads up.

Overstock has it for $25.

Perhaps the re-release came a little earlier than expected?

[Josh H]

Nah...it's pretty rare that I pay full retail for a video game...and I have so many DS and GBA games to finish, it's not even funny. TRU is actually where I picked up the GBA Castlevania 2-pack for what it's worth. $20 well spent.

Just for a heads up, aside from the 2 pack, I've never seen any of the 3 GBA castlevanias, or the DS castlevanias below retail aside from release week prices at Best Buy or Circuit City. They tend to not press a lot of copies, and generally sell them all at retail. Maybe with the re-release of DoS it will be different though.

[killershark]

Has the re-release of Dawn of Sorrow been confimed? If so do they have a date?

[chess]

Has the re-release of Dawn of Sorrow been confimed? If so do they have a date?

The only place I've seen a date is on Amazon...September 19.

I went ahead and preordered...can always cancel later if I find a deal or something.

[Crizzar]

Overstock has it for $25.

Perhaps the re-release came a little earlier than expected?

Atlus' press release had said that they would have Trauma Center in stores by the end of July.

I know Amazon had listed an Aug 22 release (or something) so that's cool. It can be frustratingly tough at times, but is a damn cool game.

[Liver&Onions]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cObgYpacR3g

Zelda DS being played on a Lite... looks super sweet.

[chess]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cObgYpacR3g

Zelda DS being played on a Lite... looks super sweet.

Old school Zelda with Animal Crossing/Canvas Curse controls...looks interesting...maybe a bit awkward. Fortunately, it looks gorgeous and I have complete faith in Nintendo getting the controls right.

[killershark]

The only place I've seen a date is on Amazon...September 19.

I went ahead and preordered...can always cancel later if I find a deal or something.



Are they adding anything to the game or is it a straight out reprint?

[Josh H]

Just a straight reprint.

[Nazgul]

Might want to give Toys R Us a shot.

I have one by my house and one near work and both have had multiple copies of Sorrow available. With Best Buy and Circuit City, people seem to have forgotten that Toys R Us sells video games too.


I saw at least 4-5 copies of Sorrow this weekend in OKC at a TRU. I snatched one up pretty quickly. :)

[Brewc]

Nazgul, wanna pick up an extra copy and trade to me?

[chess]

I saw at least 4-5 copies of Sorrow this weekend in OKC at a TRU. I snatched one up pretty quickly. :)

My closest TRU was pretty well picked over when I dropped by for their clearance sale a few weeks back. I did get the Castlevania Two Pack and Fire Emblem though...and my fiance picked up Puyo Pop Fever.

At any rate, it's no big deal to wait for me. I still have to get through Harmony of Dissonance, which I'm enjoying quite a bit...and Aria of Sorrow, which I just started to sample a bit...AND Symphony of the Night, which I've had for years and just can't seem to get into. I may even get a used copy of Circle of the Moon, even though it looked horrible, and I hated the card system.

Plus it will be going for $25 used again before you know it. :shrug:

[LorenzoL]

I was able to find Fire Emblem at Future Shop today for $9.95. Based on the reviews, I think I won't be disappointed on this purchase.

[chess]

I was able to find Fire Emblem at Future Shop today for $9.95. Based on the reviews, I think I won't be disappointed on this purchase.

Great deal, especially if it's the first one. If you like it, I'd recommend Shining Force...the remake of the Sega Genesis game...and Advance Wars, obviously.

[Outlaw]

I was able to find Fire Emblem at Future Shop today for $9.95. Based on the reviews, I think I won't be disappointed on this purchase.

I'll agree, you won't be disappointed with Fire Emblem. It's awesome! Great story and characters.

[outer-edge]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cObgYpacR3g

Zelda DS being played on a Lite... looks super sweet.

The controls look smooth. I was worried about that, but it looks good so far.

[outer-edge]

Great deal, especially if it's the first one. If you like it, I'd recommend Shining Force...the remake of the Sega Genesis game...and Advance Wars, obviously.

I've seen Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones for $15 at Toys R Us as well.

[LorenzoL]

Great deal, especially if it's the first one. If you like it, I'd recommend Shining Force...the remake of the Sega Genesis game...and Advance Wars, obviously.
I'll agree, you won't be disappointed with Fire Emblem. It's awesome! Great story and characters.
Thanks guys. Yes, is the first Fire Emblem and not the Sacred Stones.
I saw it two days ago for $19.95 but didn't buy it. After reading the reviews and checking online prices, I realized that I was passing up on a good deal. So I went yesterday, to get it and saw that they reduced the price even further to $9.95. :D

However, they are still selling Sacred Stones for $39.99 on all of the stores near me.

[chess]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq7f6qcZqeM

Video of Clubhouse Games in action. :drool:

[DVDChris]

looks pretty fun. I totally want to play the bowling game.

[tsinbad]

The deal at Overstock.com (http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/637571) for the DS Lite + Tetris bundle pushed me over the edge. Now just have to wait for it to show up at my door.

[ChrisHicks]

The deal at Overstock.com (http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/637571) for the DS Lite + Tetris bundle pushed me over the edge. Now just have to wait for it to show up at my door.

I knew it. only 5 days after I get one and pay full price this pops up. just my luck.

[Decker]

Picking up the Costco bundle. DSL + New SMB + Case for $165.99. Yeah, it's not a great deal (basically it's getting the case and accessories for 99 cents), but Costco's unlimited return policy seems like a good idea if I ever break it or change my mind about the system. Besides I already bought and returned one DSL from BB at launch, managing to keep Brain Age in the process, so it seems I can be pretty indecisive about this system.

[LorenzoL]

I finally finished Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. It only took me nearly 3 years to finish this game.

This game wasn't as fun as the PS1 version and most times, it felt tedious and annoying especially the Law system. For the PS1 version, I made sure I got all of the rare items and job classes but for the Advance, I wasn't compelled to do the same.

I have completed 138 Missions and I don't know if I'll ever complete all 300. We'll see.

[SunMonkey]

Picking up the Costco bundle. DSL + New SMB + Case for $165.99. Yeah, it's not a great deal (basically it's getting the case and accessories for 99 cents), but Costco's unlimited return policy seems like a good idea if I ever break it or change my mind about the system.

Anyone notice the Sam's Club bundle? DS Lite + New SMB + random skin = $179.99. :lol:

[JimmySRU]

what are the unlockables you get on Mario Kart DS when you win the 150 cc grand prix

[Crizzar]

4 more carts for each character

[chess]

I finally finished Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. It only took me nearly 3 years to finish this game.

This game wasn't as fun as the PS1 version and most times, it felt tedious and annoying especially the Law system. For the PS1 version, I made sure I got all of the rare items and job classes but for the Advance, I wasn't compelled to do the same.

I have completed 138 Missions and I don't know if I'll ever complete all 300. We'll see.

It didn't really maintain my interest AT ALL...but I can't really say why since I usually like that sort of game.

I just found the Fire Emblems and the Advance Wars much more engaging...hell, I'd imagine playing Shining Force again would have been better.

[Chris_D]

I gave up on FFTA after 5 hours. The battles were so slow, very frustrating. Had a lot more fun with the ps1 game.

[fumanstan]

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3604

Headset.

[Breakfast with Girls]

I finally finished Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. It only took me nearly 3 years to finish this game.

This game wasn't as fun as the PS1 version and most times, it felt tedious and annoying especially the Law system. For the PS1 version, I made sure I got all of the rare items and job classes but for the Advance, I wasn't compelled to do the same.

I have completed 138 Missions and I don't know if I'll ever complete all 300. We'll see.Interesting, it was one of my favorite games for the GBA. I spent about 115 hours on it over the two weeks immediately following its release. Basically, I didn't move away from the TV the entire time (Game Boy Player). I thought the law system was annoying until you began to get cards that allowed you to exploit it for your own benefit. FWIW, I loved the original as well.

By contrast, I still haven't finished Castlevania: Circle of the Moon or Metroid Fusion (even though I own and haven't played the next three Castlevania games and Metroid: Zero Mission). I think the games are good--after all, I continue to buy them--but somehow I can just never motivate myself to find the few hours here or there to finish them.

[chess]

Just finished Harmony of Dissonance...not the most challenging game in the world...but completely awesome. :up: Once I found the right combo of attire and magic, it was pretty much a cakewalk. I was rolling with the cross and the wind book through pretty much the whole game...and once I got the cloak that saved magic and the amulet that replenished magic, I was pretty much just walking around surrounded by a blender of blades.

Anyway, on to Aria of Sorrow. At first blush, it looks gorgeous, but I'm a bit bummed that they took the shoulder button controls from HoD away. I really got in a groove sliding both ways, and it's a tough adjustment.

[chess]

By contrast, I still haven't finished Castlevania: Circle of the Moon or Metroid Fusion (even though I own and haven't played the next three Castlevania games and Metroid: Zero Mission). I think the games are good--after all, I continue to buy them--but somehow I can just never motivate myself to find the few hours here or there to finish them.

I hated Circle of the Moon, but Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission, along with at least Harmony of Dissonance, are SPECIAL games. If they ever put Super Metroid out for the GBA/DS, I don't think I'd ever need another console...that or my head might explode.

[PixyJunket]

Metroid Zero Mission is my favorite GBA game of all time.

Oddly enough, back when they were coming out I considered Metroid Prime "Quake III with a Samus Model Pack" and Metroid Fusion as the only "true" Metroid. Then.. they came out. Fusion, while a good game, is definitely the black sheep of the series with its forced linearity and retarded story sequences. Prime, on the other hand, when I was FINALLY pushed into playing it (in small part to some members here) ended up costing me about $300 and is single-handedly responsible for me being back into gaming after I had dropped out in the PS1/N64 era.

[Josh H]

I loved Fusion aside from the Nightmare boss battle and the dumb story sequences.

I loved Prime as well, though got frustrated with the boss difficulty as well. Prime 2 I gave up on around 16 hours in at the spider ball boss. The bosses were even worse than in the first prime, and I was just having no fun spending hours on each boss.

Yes, I know I suck at games. :p

[LorenzoL]

Interesting read about the success of Nintendo recently, thanks in large part to the DS and DS Lite.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/TheStreet/NintendoHitsTheNextLevel.aspx

[RichC2]

Anyone know if Zelda DS will force Stylus play or if theres a gamepad option?

[Michael Corvin]

From the videos floating around it looks like it is a stylus game.

[Goldberg74]

Interesting read about the success of Nintendo recently, thanks in large part to the DS and DS Lite.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/TheStreet/NintendoHitsTheNextLevel.aspx
Dang.

[Homer Simpson]

Interesting read about the success of Nintendo recently, thanks in large part to the DS and DS Lite. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/TheStreet/NintendoHitsTheNextLevel.aspx
The DS has so many amazing games I can't even play them all. If I could ever put down Animal Crossing I'd get into more of them. It's going to be a tough job for MS to take away from the DS as the PSP seems to be finding out. I'd love to buy a PSP, but I'll only do it if there is a compelling game for it and nothing has caught my fancy yet.

[darkside]

Even if MS does a portable gaming system, I don't expect a direct DS competitor. I expect an iPod like device that can also play some games from Live Arcade.

[Josh H]

The launch of the DS Lite has helped Nintendo open a lead over Sony PSP in America -- 590,000 vs. 220,000 in June. But more importantly, DS is now clobbering PSP in Japan -- 260,000 vs. 35,000 in the latest weekly data.


It warms my heart to see the "underpowered" "gimmicky" system with "subpar" graphics kicking the shit out of the PSP now, after having to listen to all the Sony loyalists and graphics whores hyping the PSP for so long.

[LorenzoL]

I'm holding the DS Lite responsible for getting me back into the gaming world after not playing any video games for close to 3 years.

In other matters...

What would you suggest that I use in order to clean my DS Lite screen without damaging it? After just a month of use, I noticed that it has collected smudges and dust.

[Josh H]

Lens cleaning clothes are your best bet if you want to be 100% safe.

I tend to just use my t-shirt to lightly dust it off, then after it's free of dust rub a bit harder to get rid of smudges, fingerprints etc.

[LorenzoL]

Lens cleaning clothes are your best bet if you want to be 100% safe.

I tend to just use my t-shirt to lightly dust it off, then after it's free of dust rub a bit harder to get rid of smudges, fingerprints etc.
Thanks. I think I have the lens cleaning cloth somewhere in my room.

[Michael Corvin]

I use a microfiber cloth I got with my sunglasses.

[Superboy]

Any screen cleaner like Monster Screen Cleaner is good. I generally use a can of compressed air to blow away large bits of dust/debris that can scratch the screen during the wiping process, then use a lens cleaner. I do the same thing for my PSP.

Anyone else here really surprised at what a runaway hit the NDS is? against the PSP I thought it was going to be a success, but not at the rate it is today. I think mainly because Nintendo went really far in creating games that sold the system - i don't think that's going to happen anytime soon with the PSP. Most of the really good games are either inferior PS1/2 ports or they're going to be released for another system. I have a friend who was really anxious to play Lumines but couldn't justify buying a system for it - and it's being announced for the PS2/Xbox360. You can't see Meteos or Nintendogs doing the same. Seems like every month there's growing excitement for the DS, and more negative coverage of the PSP.

[Josh H]

I didn't expect it to do this well either. I figured the GBA would keep going strong, and the PSP would do better than the DS.

Very happy to have been proved wrong, and see the system offering new and fresh games making a killing over the one feature 95% ports, spinoffs and rehashes.

[PixyJunket]

If anybody out there is a fan of Tales games and/or hack-and-slash RPGs I'd highly recommended checking out Summon Night: Swordcraft Story for GBA. It came out about two weeks ago and I've been enjoying the hell out of it. It's even great for 15 minute sessions since you can easily just fight monsters and collect materials for crafting as opposed to simply trying to progress the story.

[joeblow69]

Nintendo sure does rock. They've agreed to replace my DS lite because of the stupid hinge crack and 1 bad pixel! I thought they'd give me the runaround since it's an import, (and they did say usually they don't do warrenty work on imports) but they're sending me out a prepaid UPS box tomorrow! WOo hoo!

[Michael Corvin]

I didn't expect it to do this well either. I figured the GBA would keep going strong, and the PSP would do better than the DS.



I'm sure that is what the majority thought as well.

[LorenzoL]

The Century's Top 50 Handheld Games according to Next Generation:

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3557&Itemid=2&limit=1&limitstart=0

This is how they came up with the list:
Here are some notes on how this list works.

- Stats, ordering and research: thanks to game publishers, retail analysis sources and NPD data.
- Games are ranked purely by units sold. This tends to favor games released earlier, rather than later, and games which have spent a long time at a lower price point have also done well, but we wanted to reward longevity and popularity across all audiences, not just hardcore – a particularly important criterion for the large child-oriented sector of the handheld market.
- For the Pokemon and Super Mario Advance series, only the top selling SKU is represented on the list. This was to prevent these two franchises from choking the upper echelons of the list – apparently, people buy a lot of them.
- This list is for the U.S market only.
- This list only features games released since the introduction of Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS.

[lordwow]

:thmbsdwn:

How can you limit the Super Mario Advance series but let all of the Nintendogs appear? Ugh.

[Josh H]

:thmbsdwn:

How can you limit the Super Mario Advance series but let all of the Nintendogs appear? Ugh.


That is incredibly stupid as the Mario and pokemon games are totally unique games while the nintendogs are all identical games just differing in what breeds are unlocked at the outset.

[Joe Molotov]

They should have split the Mario Advance games and combined all the Spongebob, Disney, and DBZ games.

[Chris_D]

Finally got my hands on a ds lite while in tokyo, although ds lites are still usually out of stock in most stores.

No new games for now, but I noticed most of my brain age scores have gone up. I would put this down to a more comfortable touch pen, and maybe slightly better fidelity on the touch screen. Also the brightness on the screen is hugely appreciated. No chance of me going back to the ds brick.

[CreatureX]

New info from the YI2 box art. Baby Wario is revealed and the game appears to have some Nintendo Wi-Fi modes! :D

http://www.infendo.com/uploaded_images/YI2_Boxart-738864.jpg

[Michael Corvin]

What's with Yoshi mooning the camera?

[Goldberg74]

Update... still haven't got a DS Lite yet.

Stay tuned.

[Michael Corvin]

I finally tried out a download station at Target yesterday. Pretty cool. Downloaded Meteos since I love puzzle games.

Quick question for the Meteos owners. Are there different modes or is this it(launch pieces into the air)? Difficulty levels? I thought this had some buzz around it, it just seemed kinda 'meh to me.

On the demo I was able to get around 53,000 pts and level(?) 425. Not sure what that number is on the top screen.

[joeblow69]

I finally tried out a download station at Target yesterday. Pretty cool. Downloaded Meteos since I love puzzle games.

Quick question for the Meteos owners. Are there different modes or is this it(launch pieces into the air)? Difficulty levels? I thought this had some buzz around it, it just seemed kinda 'meh to me.

On the demo I was able to get around 53,000 pts and level(?) 425. Not sure what that number is on the top screen.
I think the 425 is the number of meteoi you sent off the screen. That's pretty much all there is. In the full version, there's a planet attack mode, where you go from planet to planet, and each planet has different graphics. Also, the meteos represent different elements on differnet planets, and by getting rid of the elements, you can unlock certain things (new planets, powerups, songs, etc)

[pinata242]

I think the 425 is the number of meteoi you sent off the screen. That's pretty much all there is. In the full version, there's a planet attack mode, where you go from planet to planet, and each planet has different graphics. Also, the meteos represent different elements on differnet planets, and by getting rid of the elements, you can unlock certain things (new planets, powerups, songs, etc)
Different planets also have different gravities I think, meaning you have to make some bigger chains to launch out of orbit. It has been a while since I played that though.

[Michael Corvin]

Thanks guys. Looks like a baragin bin title for me.

Other news, I saw there is a new version of Lode Runner coming out for the DS. :up:

[Josh H]

Finally picked up WarioWare Touched and started playing it.

It's a blast like the other games in the series. I'd held off on picking it up as it had never dropped in price, and the reviews said it wasn't as good as the original or Twisted.

Got it in a trade here, and have to disagree with those reviewers. It's just as fun as the others. Probably more so than the first, but a little less interesting than twisted as the motion sensor is a bit more fun to play with than a touch screen.

Highly reccomended to DS owners wanted a quircky pick up and play game. And I reccomend it over the somewhat similar (but vastly inferior IMO) Feel the Magic.

[Josh H]

Too lazy to look and see if this has been posted earlier in the thread...

I was looking for a case that was small and had somewhere you could stick the game carts as I have a long flight next week. I found this one at Target for $9.99 (seems to be that price everywhere) and I'm quite pleased with it.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a368/josh1114/EC_ALS_NDSL80.jpg

It is pretty well padded, you can play the DS without taking it out of the case if you like, and it has a zippered pouch (that is still padded some) on the back that you can stick a few game cards in.

Suits my purposes, and is well worth the $10 IMO.

They had it in a variety of colors, I went with Navy blue. Also had red, light blue, black, tan, green among others.

[Josh H]

New Castlevania: PoR footage from ComicCon.

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/4703

[CreatureX]

New Tingle RPG Japanese commercial:

http://touch-ds.jp/mediagallery/st49.html

This game looks fun. I hope NOA brings it over! :)

[pinata242]

New Tingle RPG Japanese commercial:

http://touch-ds.jp/mediagallery/st49.html

This game looks fun. I hope NOA brings it over! :)
I'd get it, looks great.

[Goldberg74]

Tickling Tingle with a stylus?

Sounds fun!

[Michael Corvin]

:lol: I was sent a poll from Nintendo asking about a Tingle game. dozens of questions basically asking the same thing. It all boiled down to a big "no."

Tingle has to be the most annoying character ever created. We are talking on par with Jar-Jar. This is another instance where Nintendo could have created some hot new IP but instead slap some random existing character into it for marketability. Most times I don't care but on occasion, like this, it bugs me.

[chess]

So I came across World Championship Poker on clearance and took a flyer on it the other day. In short: :up:

I expected it to be a port of the amazingly craptacular GBA version with some touch screen gimmicks, but it appears to be a port of the pretty darn good PS2 version instead. The AI isn't bad at all and the interface is workable by touchscreen or with the A/B buttons. In short, if you want to play hold em', hi-lo, stud...on the go, it's a pretty good pick up.

I got a ridiculous deal on it combined with Madden 2005 for $7.50, but it's worth more IMO. Somebody has a copy on half.com for $5.

Actually, Madden was much better than I expected too, with graphics/AI on par with PS1 or so.

[chess]

Finally picked up WarioWare Touched and started playing it.

It's a blast like the other games in the series. I'd held off on picking it up as it had never dropped in price, and the reviews said it wasn't as good as the original or Twisted.

Got it in a trade here, and have to disagree with those reviewers. It's just as fun as the others. Probably more so than the first, but a little less interesting than twisted as the motion sensor is a bit more fun to play with than a touch screen.

Highly reccomended to DS owners wanted a quircky pick up and play game. And I reccomend it over the somewhat similar (but vastly inferior IMO) Feel the Magic.

I just finished Twisted, which I had a good time with, and I'm playing Feel the Magic now. I actually think I like Feel the Magic a bit more. It certainly doesn't have as many games, but it has a charm all its own and doesn't quite grate on my adult sensibilities the way Wario does. I also love the art design.

[Joe Molotov]

:lol: I was sent a poll from Nintendo asking about a Tingle game. dozens of questions basically asking the same thing. It all boiled down to a big "no."

Tingle has to be the most annoying character ever created. We are talking on par with Jar-Jar. This is another instance where Nintendo could have created some hot new IP but instead slap some random existing character into it for marketability. Most times I don't care but on occasion, like this, it bugs me.

OMG, I can't believe you did that. Tinglephobe. :sad:

http://touch-ds.jp/mediagallery/st49.html

Click the link above, and bask in the awesomeness that is Fresh Tingle's Rose Colored Rupee Land. I hope you're happy. When this doesn't come out in the US, you will be held personally responsible. :|

[Michael Corvin]

I hope you're happy. When this doesn't come out in the US, you will be held personally responsible. :|

:lol:

direct all your hate mail to twilightzonemailbox @ yahoo.com

[Josh H]

Have to agree with Michael. Tingle is just so damn annoying, it would be damn tough for the gameplay to overcome that.

The only thing I can think of that would be worse would be a game with Gilbert Gottfried in the main role. :D

[PixyJunket]

Mario Hoops videos.. looks pretty good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gytyQmwe1XM&eurl=

[Josh H]

Mario Hoops does look pretty fun.

Will it have WiFi? The Mario Sports games get old fast in single player, and I don't have friends with DS's.

[eau]

Polarium DS is now $9.99 at BB.

[chess]

Mario Hoops videos.. looks pretty good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gytyQmwe1XM&eurl=

Agreed. This video is a bit more descriptive of controls and whatnot...and gives the disappointing news of no online play. :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMuh8oqB4gw

[Josh H]

No online play, no sale for me.

Pretty lame, as the Mario Sports games would be ideal games for online play.

[RichC2]

I got to play a bit of Star Fox Command today.

I actually like it a great deal, tho I can see a lot of people hating it.

The big issue is the levels are no longer on rails, you fly around in open areas killing enemies and collecting the spikey coin things, at least that's been what I've done so far. There is a reasonable amount of variety though, and the visuals are actually pretty nice. I love the control scheme and think it works perfectly, though if you couldn't stand Metroid Prime Hunter's touch pad controls, I could see it being a bit of a problem.

The game was in pure Japanese (which I know none of) so I probably missed quite a few things, but so far it's quite an enjoyable game. The "Command" Parts were confusing at first (you are given a radar-style map, and have to direct where your individual team members go and protect your main ship), but are a nice addition overall.

[LorenzoL]

Over the weekend, I got a used Golden Sun: The Lost Ages for $5 and later in the week, I'm getting both Breath of Fire II and Phantasy Star Collection for $25. It seems like a good deal.

I also borrowed Castlevania: DOS and so far, I'm enjoying the game inmensely.

[Draven]

After selling my first DS due to lack of games and my PSP because it...well, sucked :) I finally picked up a DS Lite for last night.

Also got Brain Age and New Super Mario Bros to start. Might pick up World Championship Poker and Animal Crossing this week as well. I was up FAR too late playing Mario and my wife and I are already competing for lowest Brain Age, so I'd have to say the system is totally worth it.

I also got that 9.99 case up there - works great.

[Setzer]

Thanks to the Overstock.com goof, that lasted for about an hour this morning, I scored Deep Labyrinth for $14.89, which is about the most I would have paid for it anyways.

[Michael Corvin]

Alright. I'm caving in and changing my opinion about Meteos. After about a week of keeping the demo on my DS, I'm hooked. Unfortunately I can't find a single store in this city that carries it, new or used.

I guess I will have to hit up half/ebay for it.

[Breakfast with Girls]

I got to play a bit of Star Fox Command today.

I actually like it a great deal, tho I can see a lot of people hating it.

The big issue is the levels are no longer on rails, you fly around in open areas killing enemies and collecting the spikey coin things, at least that's been what I've done so far. There is a reasonable amount of variety though, and the visuals are actually pretty nice. I love the control scheme and think it works perfectly, though if you couldn't stand Metroid Prime Hunter's touch pad controls, I could see it being a bit of a problem.Star Fox Command :drool:

[chess]

Hmmm...this looks promising.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db4g12HsIrg

[clappj]

Hmmm...this looks promising.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db4g12HsIrg


1944?

;)

[Decker]

Hmmm...this looks promising.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db4g12HsIrg
http://www.atariage.com/includes/scaleim.php?path=/2600/carts/c_RiverRaid_front.jpg&nwidth=200 ?

;)

[pinata242]

Another LGC from Joystiq. Haven't found a corraborating source yet.
One other minor announcement -- Europe gets the gloriously pink DS Lite on October 27th.
:(

[LorenzoL]

Another LGC from Joystiq. Haven't found a corraborating source yet.

:(
The rumour is that we are getting the pink and black DS Lite next month in North America.

http://randomnintendo.com/?id=1426

[pinata242]

Well then, allow me to turn that frown upside down :)

[LorenzoL]

The rumour is that we are getting the pink and black DS Lite next month in North America.

http://randomnintendo.com/?id=1426
It's official. Nintendo has confirmed that the black (Onyx) and pink (Coral Pink) will be released in North America on September 13th.

http://press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=10115

[LorenzoL]

I'm currently playing Castlevania: DoS and I'm puzzled by Hammer and Yoko's shops.
How do I go about in buying the items or fusing the souls to my weapons? Do I need to complete certain events in order to go to the store and buy/fuse the weapons?

I been there once and talked/activated the cut scenes and now everytime I visit the shops, nothing happens.

[Setzer]

It's official. Nintendo has confirmed that the black (Onyx) and pink (Coral Pink) will be released in North America on September 13th.

http://press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=10115

AWESOME!!

I just cancelled my Play-Asia pre-order for their black version and saved $100 in the process. :up: :up:

[RichC2]

I'm currently playing Castlevania: DoS and I'm puzzled by Hammer and Yoko's shops.
How do I go about in buying the items or fusing the souls to my weapons? Do I need to complete certain events in order to go to the store and buy/fuse the weapons?

I been there once and talked/activated the cut scenes and now everytime I visit the shops, nothing happens.

The shops are just that, shops, walk up to them - talk to them and buy stuff.

To fuse weapons, you need the right weapon + the right souls, when you select a weapon, you will see the name of the souls you need to the right of it. Each time you upgrade, you lose x number of souls, and get a more powerful weapon in return. That more powerful weapon can be upgraded as well, and the process repeats I believe up to 5 times per upgradeable weapon.

I was a little confused by it at first, but by the time you're actually collecting a lot of souls, it makes sense, and works great.

[LorenzoL]

The shops are just that, shops, walk up to them - talk to them and buy stuff.

To fuse weapons, you need the right weapon + the right souls, when you select a weapon, you will see the name of the souls you need to the right of it. Each time you upgrade, you lose x number of souls, and get a more powerful weapon in return. That more powerful weapon can be upgraded as well, and the process repeats I believe up to 5 times per upgradeable weapon.

I was a little confused by it at first, but by the time you're actually collecting a lot of souls, it makes sense, and works great.
Thanks about the info in regards to fusing the weapons.

In regards to Hammer shop, that's what I thought it was but everytime I walk into it, it does nothing. I can't talk to Hammer and buy items. I don't know what it is. Very strange.

[Supermallet]

It's official. Nintendo has confirmed that the black (Onyx) and pink (Coral Pink) will be released in North America on September 13th.

http://press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=10115

Just got an email at work (EB Games/Gamestop) that we will be pre-ordering these.

[PerryD]

Finally new colors being released. We are a 3 DS family, and I only picked up one DS Lite waiting for new colors to be released.

I will probably wait until closer to Christmas as Nintendo tends to have limited edition store specific colors around then (like last years Teal and Pink DS at Target and TRU).

[darkside]

My wife is already sold on the pink one in Sept. Guess she will sell her current Nintendogs pink DS.

[Supermallet]

Pre-orders are happening now at EB Games/Gamestop. Just a heads up. We also got promo boxes of the new colors, and the pink is beautiful. I almost feeling like giving WhoGirl my imported ice blue to buy the pink. :D

[chess]

My little guy broke his DS Lite yesterday. :(

Somehow he managed to crack the bottom screen. My guess is that he left it on his bedroom floor and accidentally stepped on it. He honestly doesn't seem to know how it happened, and he's mildly autistic, so it's tough to be too mad at him.

At any rate, I'm torn about whether I should send the thing off to Nintendo to get it fixed or maybe just sell it on ebay and use the money toward another one for Christmas. It looks like they go for $50-60 on ebay. That combined with the $80 they charge to repair it would get a new one...unless I'm missing something.

I figured that combined with our penny bucket would get him pretty close to $100 and I'd just let him save his allowance for a month or so as a lesson to be careful with his stuff.

I also thought I might give him a deal on my Lite and look into one of the new colors for myself. :D I really love the white, but it looks to me like the parts without clear plastic are going to get pretty dingy (or maybe even yellow) over time.

[Goldberg74]

I knew if I waited long enough, they'd come out with new colors.

Sadly, I have to wait until Christmas to get mine.

[Michael Corvin]

Is there any official word on a DSLite Rumble pak? Or should I scour ebay for the regular one?

Finally found a copy of Drill Dozer for $7.50. Time to see if it lives up to the hype.

[sureAV421]

Thanks about the info in regards to fusing the weapons.

In regards to Hammer shop, that's what I thought it was but everytime I walk into it, it does nothing. I can't talk to Hammer and buy items. I don't know what it is. Very strange.

walk up to him and hit up.

[LorenzoL]

walk up to him and hit up.
D'oh! Now I got it. Thanks.

[Anubis2005X]

How much are stores like Gamestop giving for trade-in? That black DS lite will be mine!

[PalmerJoss]

I just got done playing with Starfox and I gotta say, I'm really liking it. The control scheme takes some getting used to as it's primarily ALL touchscreen baesd. The graphics aren't so hot, but I love that you can record your own voice and the system mixes it up to voice the characters in the game. The dogfights are a lot of fun, and I can't wait to take it online and try it out there. I'd definitely recommend this if you were a fan of the series back on the SNES.

[Drexl]

I just got done playing with Starfox and I gotta say, I'm really liking it. The control scheme takes some getting used to as it's primarily ALL touchscreen baesd. The graphics aren't so hot, but I love that you can record your own voice and the system mixes it up to voice the characters in the game. The dogfights are a lot of fun, and I can't wait to take it online and try it out there. I'd definitely recommend this if you were a fan of the series back on the SNES.

I'll have to try it some time. I didn't like SM64DS at all. Because that game was designed around an analog stick, the touchscreen control was frustrating and made the game much more difficult. Since this game was designed for the touchscreen the begin with, it should be good.

[Supermallet]

The Starfox controls are far more intuitive than I thought they would be. At first I was annoyed at the all touchscreen controls, but now they feel like second nature.

[chess]

How much are stores like Gamestop giving for trade-in? That black DS lite will be mine!

You'd do much better selling your current one here or on ebay. I may actually be in the market for another one myself sometime soon...unless I decide to go black too.

[Breakfast with Girls]

My little guy broke his DS Lite yesterday. :(

Somehow he managed to crack the bottom screen. My guess is that he left it on his bedroom floor and accidentally stepped on it. He honestly doesn't seem to know how it happened, and he's mildly autistic, so it's tough to be too mad at him.Get him a pink one as punishment. ;)

[chess]

Get him a pink one as punishment. ;)

Ironically, I actually like the pink...but my fiance hates it. :shrug:

Odds are he'll get my white one and I'll get either another color...or possibly another white if the right deal comes along.

[Supermallet]

Played some more of Starfox...it's almost impossible to get three players for a Battle Royale. And the whole "strategy" portion of the game is getting exceedingly annoying. They should have made it more like the old style Starfox, the whole strategy angle is poorly implemented, especially the fog of war.

[RichC2]

I like the strategy portions, so far it's been pretty straight forward and a nice break from the action. It should be easier to get into online games in the upcoming days as more people actually get the game.

[Supermallet]

I just wish they had a "Do a battle now" option.

[Joe Molotov]

New DS Sales Chart...I mean Japanese Sales Chart, July 21-27:

01 NDS FF3 - 503.051 / NEW
02 NDS NEW SMB - 65.556 / 2.901.264
03 NDS Rune Factory - 42.210 / NEW
04 NDS Brain Age 2 - 41.784 / 3.073.195
05 NDS Cooking Navi - 37.326 / 384.045
06 NDS Tamagotchi 2 - 30.504 /430.933
07 NDS Mario Basketball 3on3 - 30.355
08 NDS Animal Crossing WW - 30.023 / 3.149.131
09 NDS Brain Age - 22.866 / 2.736.150
10 NDS English Training - 17.465

1. Nintendo DS Lite 　163.274
2. PlayStation Portable 　29.945
3. PlayStation 2 　21.829
4. GameBoy Advance SP 　2.719
5. GameBoy Micro　 1819
6. Xbox 360 　1197
7. Nintendo GameCube　 837
8. Nintendo DS　 410
9. GameBoy Advance 　14
10. Xbox　 12

Courtesy of NeoGAF

[Supermallet]

Is that units sold or yen spent?

[Joe Molotov]

Is that units sold or yen spent?

Units sold. If it was in Yen, that'd be like one copy of each game.

[Supermallet]

:lol: Very true.

[eatntae]

Saw this over at CAG:

http://www.nintendo.com/bestbuyds/

If you have a MyNintendo account and you register your Nintendo DS, then you are eligible for a buy 2 DS games get 1 free offer at bestbuy.com

Here's the actual link to the bestbuy page (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat100000050022&type=category) however I think the link only works if you follow it from Nintendo's site after logging in.

[mrpayroll]

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/the-mysterious-nintendo-ds-mp3-player-198316.php

The Mysterious Nintendo DS MP3 Player

http://www.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2006/09/DSMP3.jpg

Nintendo's set to release an official MP3 player for the Nintendo DS, making it not only a game machine and a web browser, but a music playing device too. The above picture was seen in a brocure from the Leipzig Games Convention in Germany.

We suppose this is close enough to an official announcement, but there will probably be an even more official announcement from Nintendo soon. The specs:

For Nintendo DS (to be inserted into slot 2) and Game Boy Advance hardware

To store music you need SD cards. Up to 2 GB cards are supported, this equals to 500 songs (best sound quality)

Choose between different skins (including one with Mario)

The interface shows all important information

The unit itself features another headphone port

The tentative price and release date are 29.99 Euros ($38) and October 8, respectively. – Jason

[pizzamousechips]

Saw this over at CAG:

http://www.nintendo.com/bestbuyds/

If you have a MyNintendo account and you register your Nintendo DS, then you are eligible for a buy 2 DS games get 1 free offer at bestbuy.com

Here's the actual link to the bestbuy page (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat100000050022&type=category) however I think the link only works if you follow it from Nintendo's site after logging in.

If only it worked on preorders. There are so many good games coming out in just a few months, this would be more than worth it. But I have everything I want that's out already.

Thanks anyway.

Oh, and why isn't this topic stickied?

[pizzamousechips]

Alright. I'm caving in and changing my opinion about Meteos. After about a week of keeping the demo on my DS, I'm hooked. Unfortunately I can't find a single store in this city that carries it, new or used.

I guess I will have to hit up half/ebay for it.

Lol a week! I did the same, except only for about two days. I caved in and bought it at a nearby Fry's. It's a great game.

[UncleGramps]

Just picked up Star Fox Command this morning. I only had time to play through the training bits and the first real mission, but I'm pleasantly surprised by it so far. The control scheme is pretty intuitive, and much better than that of Metroid Prime Hunters in my opinion, mainly because there are less physical buttons that you have to press in SFC. Once I'm home, I think I'll try out the voice sampling feature just for laughs, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of the single player mode and giving multiplayer a shot.

[Michael Corvin]

I am loving Drill Dozer. It reminds me a lot of the original Mega Man series(which is a good thing). Just the style of play, animations and music just makes it seem like Capcom is behind it.

[LorenzoL]

Last night, I finished Castlevania: DoS with a 100% completion of souls/enemies and stage area. It took me close to 35 hours. Very enjoyable game and I'm thinking of picking up the other Castlevania Gameboy Advance games.

[mmconhea]

My white DS Lite broke and Nintendo is being great about it -sending me a pre-paid mailer to ship it back. I'm having a tough time without it. but on the plus side it's giving me the excuse to buy the new black one next week.

[Etrigan]

Greetings!
Just a heads up to those interested in such things.
I went to EB/Gamestop to reserve a black DS lite (had 70.00 in credit for trading in the original blue one),and asked if the following offer would still be good on wed...

Nintendo DS Lite Coral Pink and Onyx Upgrade Offer

Get the Nintendo DS Lite Coral Pink or Onyx for $69.99 when you trade-in an original Nintendo DS Lite or get it for $99.99 when you trade in a GBA SP.*

He looked it up in his book,and told me yes-but this applied to the original DS system,when I told him I'd be trading in the white lite,he said there was a different offer for that-and that they'd give you 80.00 dollars in credit for the lite.

I'll see if it's true come wed.as always YMMV.

[chess]

Last night, I finished Castlevania: DoS with a 100% completion of souls/enemies and stage area. It took me close to 35 hours. Very enjoyable game and I'm thinking of picking up the other Castlevania Gameboy Advance games.

I'm taking my time...probably about half way through, and I agree.

Except for those stupid seals. Am I the only one who has to hold his stylus in his mouth every time they fight a boss? It just feels like a tacked on DS functionality...with no real purpose other than to irritate me.

If you like this, you'll love the GBA Castlevania two-pack.

[grim_tales]

I'm playing DKC3 (GBA) on the Lite :) While its' still a fun game and was definitely a classic that I have fond memories of, it gets rather annoying at times. :( Unsurprisingly the resolution had to come down a little, maybe this is what makes it seem more punishing than the SNES version. :( Also one other complaint would be the controls don't seem as easy to get the hang of and the music, which isn't nearly as atmospheric as the SNES edition.

[LorenzoL]

Except for those stupid seals. Am I the only one who has to hold his stylus in his mouth every time they fight a boss? It just feels like a tacked on DS functionality...with no real purpose other than to irritate me.

I'm hoping that they are able to integrate the touch screen a little better into "Portrait of Ruin" because you are right, it does feel tacked on in DoS. What I really liked about this game was the soul system and the different abilities that it gives Soma. However, the process of getting the souls were a bit tedious at time. I lost count of how many times I fought "The Creature" in order to get his soul. I believe that was the most difficult soul in the game for me to get.

[Josh H]

Yes, the seal system was incredibly lame.

I hope they drop that from the next one. It doesn't need to use the touch screen at all infact. Just using the second screen for a map that's up all the time was enough use of the DS for me, as that was incredibly helpful.

[PixyJunket]

Nintendo was pretty much forcing touch-screen use on the first wave of titles, understandably so since that was the big new feature, so there's more than a couple of the first year titles that have kind of awkward touch screen support (Nanostray is another).

[LorenzoL]

It doesn't need to use the touch screen at all infact. Just using the second screen for a map that's up all the time was enough use of the DS for me, as that was incredibly helpful.
I, for one don't mind if they try to implement the touch in Portrait of Ruin as long as is done in a practical manner. I didn't mind the use of the touch screen in order to shatter the ice blocks or redirect the locusts when using the soul of Abaddon. I thought that was a nice touch.

[Josh H]

I, for one don't mind if they try to implement the touch in Portrait of Ruin as long as is done in a practical manner. I didn't mind the use of the touch screen in order to shatter the ice blocks or redirect the locusts when using the soul of Abaddon. I thought that was a nice touch.

I think it's just awkward in a 2D platformer as you're usually just using the D-pad and buttons, and it's lame to have to stop and get the stylus out to use it for a couple of seconds to do something like that.

The touch screen should be reserved for games designed around it (Warioware, Kirby, Meteos, mini-games in the marios etc.) not taked on to games that don't need its use IMO.

[GoVegan]

What I really liked about this game was the soul system and the different abilities that it gives Soma. However, the process of getting the souls were a bit tedious at time. I lost count of how many times I fought "The Creature" in order to get his soul. I believe that was the most difficult soul in the game for me to get.
How about if they made it like the C64 game Paradroid - like, you could choose whether or not to try to get a creature's soul and there would be some minigame-battle, with the difficulty dependent on the soul's rarity? I'm not sure if that type of system would work for Castlevania, but I'd give it a shot. I'd rather do that than kill the iron armor or whatever 800 times until it gave up it's soul.

[LorenzoL]

I think it's just awkward in a 2D platformer as you're usually just using the D-pad and buttons, and it's lame to have to stop and get the stylus out to use it for a couple of seconds to do something like that.

The touch screen should be reserved for games designed around it (Warioware, Kirby, Meteos, mini-games in the marios etc.) not taked on to games that don't need its use IMO.
I see your point.
I believe from what I read of the early previews for the new Castlevania DS game is that one of the uses for the touch screen will be in order to switch between two characters.

How about if they made it like the C64 game Paradroid - like, you could choose whether or not to try to get a creature's soul and there would be some minigame-battle, with the difficulty dependent on the soul's rarity? I'm not sure if that type of system would work for Castlevania, but I'd give it a shot. I'd rather do that than kill the iron armor or whatever 800 times until it gave up it's soul.
Unfortunately for people who like the soul system, they are getting rid of it in the new game.

[Josh H]

I never did much with the soul system. Never tried to get them all, and really didn't use them much. Generally just equipped some that just boosted stats and that was it aside from the main souls that give you new moves etc. that you need to get to some areas.

[chess]

I love the soul system and I probably use them more than I do my primary weapon. That's probably my favorite thing about the 2D Castlevania games...how much you can adapt the game to your own style.

Other than the silly "seal" thing, I love what they've done with Castlevania on the DS. I really like the ability to switch entire sets of weapons/souls on the fly. I have mine set up with Melee weapons/souls on one and range/indirect weapons souls on the other. With the map on the second screen, I almost never have to use the menus.

[PixyJunket]

My God, this is just unfair.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3
Developer:Square Enix
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: September 11, 2006
Genre: Sports

Mega Man ZX
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: September 12, 2006
Genre: Platformer

Cooking Mama
Developer: Taito
Publisher: Majesco
Release Date: September 12, 2006
Genre: Action

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Developer: Chunsoft
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: September 18, 2006
Genre: RPG

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
Developer: Tose/Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Release Date: September 19, 2006
Genre: RPG

Contact
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: Atlus Software/Marvelous Interactive
Release Date: September 19, 2006
Genre: Adventure

Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
Developer:NST
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: September 25, 2006
Genre: Puzzle

Clubhouse Games
Developer: Agenda
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: October 9, 2006
Genre: Compilation

Magical Starsign
Developer: Brownie Brown
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: October 23, 2006
Genre: RPG

Scurge: Hive
Developer: Orbital Media
Publisher: SouthPeak Interactive
Release Date: October 24, 2006
Genre: Action Adventure

Children of Mana
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix/Nintendo
Release Date: October 30, 2006
Genre: Action RPG

Pokemon Ranger
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: October 30, 2006
Genre: Adventure

Elite Beat Agents
Developer:
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: November 6, 2006
Genre: Music

Yoshi's Island 2
Developer: Artoon
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: November 13, 2006
Genre: Music

Final Fantasy III
Developer:Square
Publisher: Square Enix
Release Date: November 14, 2006
Genre: RPG

Lunar Knights
Developer: Konami JPN
Publisher: Konami
Release Date: November 2006
Genre: RPG

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Release Date: November 2006
Genre: Action Adventure

Kirby: Squeak Squad
Developer: HAL America Inc.
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: December 4, 2006
Genre: Platformer

[pizzamousechips]

My God, this is just unfair.
...

That's a lotta games. My wallet is gonna kill me.

[pinata242]

Do you guys think Santa honors "Pay off my credit card" on a wishlist? If so, I'll have no problem stocking up, otherwise I'm going to have to pick and choose carefully.

[Josh H]

Do you guys think Santa honors "Pay off my credit card" on a wishlist? If so, I'll have no problem stocking up, otherwise I'm going to have to pick and choose carefully.

:lol:

I'm in the same boat...sort of. No CC debt, but limited funds. The bigger problem for me is limited time for games for the next year or two.

I'm definitely going to be more selective than I'd like.

I'll definitely get Castlevania, and almost assuredly (i.e. unless reviews are negative) get Yoshi's Island 2 and Zelda.

The rest I'll probably pass on for now and pick up some time down the road when there is a lull in games.

Need to decide about the Wii too. Too much Nintendo goodness this fall.

[darkside]

Yikes. I'm unfortunately going to have to skip some of those I want and put them off for next year. Between that and the Wii launching I will definitely have a lot to catch up on next year. It may be time to trade in some of the stuff I picked up cheap at Circuit City for preorders.

I definitely want:

Mario Hoops 3-on-3
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
Contact
Clubhouse Games
Children of Mana
Elite Beat Agents
Final Fantasy III
Lunar Knights
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Kirby: Squeak Squad

[sailor_moon]

I'll be picking up these, as well as Harvest Moon - which comes out the same day as Cooking Mama:

Cooking Mama
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
Contact
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
Children of Mana
Elite Beat Agents
Yoshi's Island 2
Final Fantasy III
Lunar Knights
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

That's ... so many games. And so many GOOD games. I honestly can't wait.

I just preordered the pink ds lite from Amazon, (it had been off the site for the last couple weeks) so if you want one go place your order now in case they pull it again. You gotta love no tax + free shipping + 1.57% discount. :)

[Outlaw]

I'll be picking up these, as well as Harvest Moon - which comes out the same day as Cooking Mama:

Cooking Mama
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
Contact
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
Children of Mana
Elite Beat Agents
Yoshi's Island 2
Final Fantasy III
Lunar Knights
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

That's ... so many games. And so many GOOD games. I honestly can't wait.

I just preordered the pink ds lite from Amazon, (it had been off the site for the last couple weeks) so if you want one go place your order now in case they pull it again. You gotta love no tax + free shipping + 1.57% discount. :)

shit! I thought the past year my wallet was hurting, I bought almost all DS games exclusively and enjoyed them immensley. I am getting all of those too! So many games to get! Mega Man ZX looks really good too.

I've already got Rocket Slime preordered and got the special keychain that comes with it :). That game is my top priority right now, I never thought we'd see this series in the US and now in just a few weeks it'll be here!

[pinata242]

Love all the support for DQ! Hopefully this'll get S-E's attention so we can get the next Monsters game as well.

[Goldberg74]

Today I took my wife's NES edition GBA SP (that she put through the wash last year -- but it works perfectly) into EBGames and preordered the Pink DS Lite for her for $99.99. I traded in a bunch of old GCN games to get the $10 per three games, and got enough trade-in credit to get the Gamer's Edge Card (for the 10% bonus trade-in credit), the DS Lite and the New Super Mario Bros game (used) straight out (and a balance of $80+ left on the card for future purchases).

We are finally getting a DS Lite!!!!!!!

Whahooooo!

:banana:

... and we have Brain Age, Animal Crossing, Texas Hold 'Em, and the New SMBros waiting to be played!

[Lee Harvey Oswald]

I got a $15 off at Circuit City so I'm finally going to get one. There is no expected price drop for the system in the very near future is there?

I could get the system for $115 so a price drop probably wouldn't be lower than that anyway.

This system does play GBA games, correct? I thought I'd pick up some of those up first since they are priced around $20 and I don't usually pay more than $20 for a game.

[clappj]

This system does play GBA games, correct?

Yes, it has a GBA game slot.

[Decker]

This system does play GBA games, correct? I thought I'd pick up some of those up first since they are priced around $20 and I don't usually pay more than $20 for a game.
Just a suggestion : Why not get one or two DS games that are really great (I'd recommend New SMB or Animal Crossing : WW) rather than twice as many GBA games that don't look as good or play as well on the system? I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed going that route instead.

[LorenzoL]

Wish List:

- Mario Hoops 3-on-3
- Cooking Mama
- Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
- Contact
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
- Clubhouse Games
- Magical Starsign
- Children of Mana
- Elite Beat Agents
- Yoshi's Island 2
- Final Fantasy III
- Lunar Knights
- Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

Realistically, I will only buy 2 of the games above upon release (Final Fantasy III and Castlevania: PoR). I will eventually get the others, someway, somehow...

[Drexl]

Just a suggestion : Why not get one or two DS games that are really great (I'd recommend New SMB or Animal Crossing : WW) rather than twice as many GBA games that don't look as good or play as well on the system? I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed going that route instead.

Yeah, what he said. There are some games you can get for $20, like Brain Age. If you look around you can find some games for under $30.

In case you didn't know, for some reason, portable games don't go down in price like the console games, especially if they're desirable games. They often just go OOP without the price ever dropping except for sales at certain stores. Nintendo just a few months ago started doing price drops on a few GBA games, and one of those games (Super Mario Advance) had been out for nearly five years!

Maybe now that there are PSP Greatest Hits, Nintendo will follow suit, but I wouldn't be surprised if that didn't happen.

[darkside]

Took advantage of the EB trade in deal tonight. My wife traded her old GBA SP for the Coral Pink DS Lite and will sell her Pink Nintendogs DS. I also traded in 9 DS games and somehow ended up with $100 in store credit. The stuff I traded in was mostly from the Circuit City sale so there was no way it was worth $100 in store credit, but I took it. Sounded like the guy combined the extra $10 deal with an extra 10% for my Edge card, an extra 10% for preordering games and probably a typo somewhere.

I preordered Pokemon Mystery Dungeon for my son and Dragon Quest Rocket Slime and FFIII for myself. Keychain was kind of cool. Goes with the keychains I got from DQVIII.

[Lee Harvey Oswald]

Just a suggestion : Why not get one or two DS games that are really great (I'd recommend New SMB or Animal Crossing : WW) rather than twice as many GBA games that don't look as good or play as well on the system? I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed going that route instead.

Are you saying GBA games don't play as well as on the DS as it does the GBA? Or just saying the DS games are better.

There are a lot of GBA games I want to play too. A lot of the Mario games in particular and the Capcom mini mix game thats coming out. So it's not just because it's cheaper.

[darkside]

GBA games play fine on the DS, but there is a small border since the resolution of the GBA is lower. I think the comment was just on the DS having a better library, but I actually disagree. The GBA has a ton of A+ titles.

[Goldberg74]

Took advantage of the EB trade in deal tonight. My wife traded her old GBA SP for the Coral Pink DS Lite and will sell her Pink Nintendogs DS. I also traded in 9 DS games and somehow ended up with $100 in store credit. The stuff I traded in was mostly from the Circuit City sale so there was no way it was worth $100 in store credit, but I took it. Sounded like the guy combined the extra $10 deal with an extra 10% for my Edge card, an extra 10% for preordering games and probably a typo somewhere.

I preordered Pokemon Mystery Dungeon for my son and Dragon Quest Rocket Slime and FFIII for myself. Keychain was kind of cool. Goes with the keychains I got from DQVIII.
I preordered the Red Version (GBA) of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon for my son for Christmas and got the little guide. I got the extra 10% for preordering that to. The receipt looks really strange when you see everything added up like that. But I loved how big the $$$ looked. ;)

All in all today I traded in 15 GCN and 8 GBA games. Added it all up and I made way more than I would have on eBay.

[Chris_D]

The small border is a bit annoying, but also you quickly miss the sleep mode that all the DS titles support. A small number of gba games do support convenient almost anywhere saves (like ff4), but not all. Also, if you have a ds lite, then the gba cartridge protuding out makes jamming it into the average pocket not as nice.

[Decker]

Yes, I was referring to several of those factors. Namely the border, the cartridge sticking out, the lower quality graphics and also the inability to use the two screens or touch screen features. Not saying there aren't good GBA games, there are (Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Advance 2 and Namco Museum among my favorites), but the nice thing about the DS playing GBA games is that it's backward compatible to play the GBA games you already own and love -- I'd still recommend getting something that will be better representative of what the DS can do. I mean you wouldn't buy a Wii and then get a GC game for it simply because it can be played on the system, would you?

[Goldberg74]

I mean you wouldn't buy a Wii and then get a GC game for it simply because it can be played on the system, would you?
But that's the beauty of it right? ;)

[fumanstan]

Yes, I was referring to several of those factors. Namely the border, the cartridge sticking out, the lower quality graphics and also the inability to use the two screens or touch screen features. Not saying there aren't good GBA games, there are (Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Advance 2 and Namco Museum among my favorites), but the nice thing about the DS playing GBA games is that it's backward compatible to play the GBA games you already own and love -- I'd still recommend getting something that will be better representative of what the DS can do. I mean you wouldn't buy a Wii and then get a GC game for it simply because it can be played on the system, would you?

If I never had a GC and wanted to play the game, I don't see why not.

[pinata242]

Never had a PS1 and when I got a PS2 the first games I played were PS1 games I missed out on. Why would anyone ignore a previous library of games when available just because they weren't designed for the current system?

[chess]

Just a suggestion : Why not get one or two DS games that are really great (I'd recommend New SMB or Animal Crossing : WW) rather than twice as many GBA games that don't look as good or play as well on the system? I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed going that route instead.

I wanted to chime in on this yesterday, but just never got to it.

I would say that New Super Mario Brothers, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time, and Advance Wars DS are the best games currently available for the DS from either library, so I agree to some extent. However, I'd say that the rest of the top 20 or so games for the DS are GBA games...including:

...of the top of my head, so I'm sure I'll forget something

Metroid Fusion
Metroid Zero Mission
Castlevania Aria of Sorrow
Castlevanio Harmony of Dissonance
Zelda: Link to the Past
Zelda: The Minish Cap
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario World
Yoshi's Island
Advance Wars
Advance Wars 2
Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland
Kirby: Amazing Mirror
Drill Dozer (You heard me...)
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem 2
Mario Golf
Mario Tennis
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga

And it's not my bag, but the GBA had all the Final Fantasy you could ever want and several other good RPGs...not to mention Pokemon

You would be ABSOLUTELY INSANE to ignore a library like that!!!

[chess]

Yes, I was referring to several of those factors. Namely the border, the cartridge sticking out, the lower quality graphics and also the inability to use the two screens or touch screen features.

None of these things really matter in regards to whether a game is a good game or fun to play.

Not saying there aren't good GBA games, there are (Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Advance 2 and Namco Museum among my favorites),...

See above...all AAA titles IMO. Also note that the best games for the DS are mostly sequels of GBA games with relatively minor touch screen bits tacked on.

...but the nice thing about the DS playing GBA games is that it's backward compatible to play the GBA games you already own and love -- I'd still recommend getting something that will be better representative of what the DS can do.

A fair recommendation if you care about the system. I don't. I just care about the games, and I would humbly recommend going to half.com and stocking up on the cream of the GBA crop.

I mean you wouldn't buy a Wii and then get a GC game for it simply because it can be played on the system, would you?

If I didn't already own a GC, I absolutely would. You can get some absurdly good GC titles for $10 shipped these days. So if I had never owned a GC and I had a choice between a new $50 Wii title and 5 games like Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, Mario Sunshine, Eternal Darkness, and Resident Evil 4...well, that's just a no-brainer.

[Josh H]

I see Decker's point. When I buy a new system, I want to play new games, with better graphics/features etc. to justify my purchase to myself.

To someone buying a DS, I'd reccomend getting a couple of the top DS games AND a couple of the top GBA games. Then they get the best of both worlds. :D

[darkside]

Anyone else picking up Cooking Mama? My wife was thinking it would be a good title to pick up when she gets her DS Lite, but I wasn't sure how the reviews were. Seemed kind of cool for a $20 title.

[Lee Harvey Oswald]

I'm a casual gamer who now has more time to play. A good game is a good game and looking at the list of DS games there are only a couple that I want, NEW SMB being one. So, I thought I'd load up on GBA games b/c there are more games for that system I want to play, but there are a couple of DS games I will consider getting in the next few months as well. I like platforming games the most and the GBA seems to have a lot more to choose from.

And yes, I plan on getting a wii...and I'm already planning on which GC games I'll get for it. I will also get the SMB wii game and the new Sonic as well, if the reviews are good.

I've never really played any of these systems, so I want the option of being able to go through a library of the two systems on one system.

They may not utilize the touch screen or better graphics, but the gameplay is the ultimate test on whether or not a game is good. I prefer a lot the old school 2d platformers over some of the last gen games I've played. So, I'm not a graphics "snob" and the touch screen is only good if it brings innovation as opposed to only using it b/c its there and a gimmick. It needs to add something to the gameplay experienced.

[Josh H]

Super Princess Peach is another great 2D platformer for the DS that you should consider.

[UncleGramps]

Anyone else picking up Cooking Mama? My wife was thinking it would be a good title to pick up when she gets her DS Lite, but I wasn't sure how the reviews were. Seemed kind of cool for a $20 title.
The UK and Japan versions seem to have gotten some not-so-great reviews: http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/931435.asp. I think I'll rent it, since the big complaint is that it's repetitive. Sounds like it's fun, but not for a long time.

[Goldberg74]

Went to EBGames today and picked up the pink DS for the wife.

Now she's down on the couch playing Brain Age.

I won't see her for awhile now. :(

But maybe she's so happy with me that tonight... um... maybe... :hump:

[jeffdsmith]

Anyone else picking up Cooking Mama? My wife was thinking it would be a good title to pick up when she gets her DS Lite, but I wasn't sure how the reviews were. Seemed kind of cool for a $20 title.

Came out today:
http://ds.ign.com/articles/732/732332p1.html

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/726/726941/cooking-mama-20060821045839369.jpg http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/726/726941/cooking-mama-20060821045838103.jpg

Gamespot gave it a 4/5 for whatever thats worth. (Not much :)) I'm excited for the game.

[UncleGramps]

Gamespot gave it a 4/5 for whatever thats worth. (Not much :)) I'm excited for the game.
I've got over $20 worth of GameCrazy credit burning a hole in my pocket, so I think I'll pick this up tomorrow even if the reviews aren't stellar. Seems quirky enough to hold my interest, and if I get bored of it I can always sell or trade it. :)

[Tracer Bullet]

Lots of people were posting about Phoenix Wright a couple of months ago. Is $29.99 a good price for it?

[PixyJunket]

Cooking Mama! I'll see about picking that up when I go to Fry's for Lego Star Wars II.

[Michael Corvin]

Lots of people were posting about Phoenix Wright a couple of months ago. Is $29.99 a good price for it?

Didn't they just do another print run of it?

[Tracer Bullet]

Didn't they just do another print run of it?

No idea. It's in stock at a few places, so I imagine so.

[PixyJunket]

I think this makes the fourth or fifth printing of that game.

Maybe Capcom will finally ship more than 1,000 of them this time. :lol:

[killershark]

Any idea if costco is getting the black DS? I only see the white one on their site.

[jdpatri]

Saw this over at CAG:

http://www.nintendo.com/bestbuyds/

If you have a MyNintendo account and you register your Nintendo DS, then you are eligible for a buy 2 DS games get 1 free offer at bestbuy.com

Here's the actual link to the bestbuy page (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat100000050022&type=category) however I think the link only works if you follow it from Nintendo's site after logging in.


...has anyone been using this deal? I officially give up. I waited until yesterday to put my order together... thinking that I could add Mega Man ZX and Mario Hoops as both came out on the 12th. Even though the Best Buy website indicates Mario Hoops is "in stock" at all stores, it's backordered on the website and won't allow me to include it as part of the deal. And Mega Man ZX isn't even on their website at all. Argh.

[The Cow]

...has anyone been using this deal? I officially give up. I waited until yesterday to put my order together... thinking that I could add Mega Man ZX and Mario Hoops as both came out on the 12th. Even though the Best Buy website indicates Mario Hoops is "in stock" at all stores, it's backordered on the website and won't allow me to include it as part of the deal. And Mega Man ZX isn't even on their website at all. Argh.
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=477108

[UncleGramps]

Aw mang...I went to a GameCrazy, a Target, a Gamestop, an EB, and a Wal-Mart on my way home, and nobody had Cooking Mama. Has anyone seen this game in the wild yet?

[darkside]

My wife had trouble finding a copy today. She got an EB to put one on hold since they say they are getting in two copies tomorrow. She did get her pink DS and I have to admit its pretty cool.

[Goldberg74]

She did get her pink DS and I have to admit its pretty cool.
Pink it was love at first sight, yea
Pink when I turn out the light, and
Pink gets me high as a kite
And I think everything is going to be all right
No matter what we do tonight

:D

[PixyJunket]

Aw mang...I went to a GameCrazy, a Target, a Gamestop, an EB, and a Wal-Mart on my way home, and nobody had Cooking Mama. Has anyone seen this game in the wild yet?The GameStop I went by after work said they'd have it tomorrow..