I'm passing on COM for now. I am fully into Magical Starsign and still have Mystery Dungeon and Contact to play and FFIII paid for. I ended up cancelling my FFXII preorder as well simply because I don't have time and need to catch up. However, all these games will probably get played next year when its slow again.

Most of the way through Chapter 2 of PW now. Mia, your old boss, is still making regular appearances. At this point I wish she would (pseudo game 1 spoiler). Her tips are usually obvious and fairly unnecessary.

Still my standard comment would be, if you liked the first, you can't really go wrong here.

I'm still playing Children of Mana (level 27, over in the middle of Mana Tempest), and I'm loving every minute of it. It may be a dungeon crawler, but it's the best damn dungeon crawler I've played in years.

is Super Mario 64 DS worth picking up? i've really had the urge to play that game again, and was wondering if the differences are all that exciting?

Otherwise, im just gonna wait and download the original SM64 on the Wii's Virtual Console...

-NiCK

I found the controls on SM64DS to be annoying. There's some new depth added to the game, but I don't think anything that offsets that. I'd say just get the VC version.

The only thing I liked about SM64DS was the new minigames. Get this one on the VC.

Yeah, the controls annoyed me to death. The wriststrap sucked, and using the D-pad was just weird. It almost felt like Nintendo made the characters a little more floaty, or maybe it's just been so long since I played it on the N64 that I don't remember it on there.

So yeah, if you're going to get the Wii, just wait to get the VC version since you'll be able to use the GC pad, if you have one.

yea, i cant imagine using the D-pad... seems like it would almost hurt after a while. anyway, thanks for the tips... i'll wait for the VC.

-NiCK

Darn, guess I was the only one that enjoyed the game, heh. But I gotta agree, d-pad sux0rz. I think I just enjoy being able to play it anywhere, and that it's a very good looking game (in my opinion) for a handheld. If I could make some sort of joystick for the system it would be totally sweet. IMO, of course.

Bummer.. nobody is having a sale on Final Fantasy V.

Don't see one for III either. Guess I will stick with my EB preorder.

I have 4 DS games on my to-get list for the rest of 2006:

- the new FFIII remake
- the new Castlevania game
- the new Kirby game
- the new Yoshi game

Why do the best games have to be sequels and remakes?

goin into Best Buy this week to take advantage of their B2G1 on Touch Generations games.

Probably going to pick up Tetris DS, True Swing Golf, and either Magnetica or Elite Beat Agents...

Should be a fun night.

-NiCK

Magnetica and Tetris are great. Not much touch screen action in Tetris though.

Magnetica can be brutal. I just started playing it again this week.

yea, i dont think im going to mind the lack of touch screen action for Tetris... itll be a nice change of pace compared to the frantic WarioWare i just finished.

As for Magnetica, i think im leaning towards that one as well... but i keep hearing nothing but good things about EBA's... so hopefully they have a demo for me to try out.

True Swing Golf is just a no brainer for me.

-NiCK

Picked up Elite Beat Agents at Costco last night, thanks to a tip on CAG. I imported Ouendan a while back before EBA was announced, and while I enjoyed it quite a bit, I felt that having unrecognizable music hurt the replay value a little. EBA retains the style and humor of Ouendan, but the Western-friendly song selection really adds a lot to it. Sure, there are some stinkers (Sk8er Boi ) but the bulk of the songs are incredibly fun to play. So far my favorites are September, Material Girl, and You're the Inspiration. Even songs that I don't like on their own (such as YMCA) are fun to play because of the beat patterns, and so far none of the songs are annoying enough to keep the gameplay from being enjoyable. I would highly recommend this one to anyone with a decent sense of rhythm.

how many of you guys have experienced dead pixels on their DSLites? my brand new black DS Lite has one and it is driving me crazy...

is there anything that can be done?

-NiCK

I was interested in FFIII back when all the awesome 3d screens were coming out, but on hearing that the gameplay mechanics and story content hasn't really changed from the original ffIII nes means I'm no longer interested. I played ffIV on the gba and was disappointed at how the characters and story just didn't stack up to the modern ff games (ps1 and later). I guess you have to be a fan of the original games.

Since its brand new just exchange it for another one.

i guess i should clarify... i've had it for about 2 weeks now. Bought it at Target...

With the reciept in hand, would they straight up exchange it for a new one? if i explain the dead pixel? If its within 30 days? It couldnt be that easy... could it?

Ha sorry, i just have no idea.

-NiCK

If that doesn't work, Nintendo actually has a GREAT warranty for dead pixels:

[source]

Yeah, I just got my DS Lite fixed, they are pretty good about it, only a six day turn around form when I shipped it (they sent the box after calling them, took two days) until got it back all spiffy and new.

Targét will exchange it with no issues.

Thanks alot everyone

-NiCK

1UP just gave this game a 9/10. Better yet, they mentioned they're using a new script compared to the PSX one (which was really outdated). Another RPG to get that I don't have time for, but I'm still buying it anyway .