My first impressions of the Nintendo DS
I haven't used a handheld gaming system since the Game Boy so when someone gave me a DS for free I figured I would try it, especially since I have Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass sitting here with no way of playing them. I figured people would find it interesting to hear about my struggles and confusion. Here are the games I've tried, out of my small library since I don't really shop for systems I don't own.
1. A Link To The Past
Since the system also plays Advance games I thought I'd start with something I'm very familiar with and a game I've finished many times already. I started playing and for some reason I couldn't pick up pots. That's weird but maybe this version of the game plays slightly different. I played through until I had to pick up the bush to enter the first dungeon before I got my sword and I still couldn't pick up the bush. I tried every button combination until I finally realized that R is the button that picks things up. Why did they change that? The DS has exactly the same button layout as a SNES controller, why would they change that? Then I tried to swing my sword with Y and that didn't work, the sword has been changed to B! Da fack? This made the game unplayable for me, it's hard to believe they would mess that up. I looked around in both the system settings and the game settings but couldn't find anywhere to map the button layout differently.
2. Megaman Battle Chip Challenge
I'm comfortable with the NES Megaman series so I thought this would be good to try. I started up the game and just kept reading through dialogue between on-screen characters, I literally read converstations back and forth for over 10 minutes and I hadn't even played the game yet. Why is there so much text, is this a game or a book? Seriously, is it just a comic that you're supposed to read through or does it eventually turn into a game? I got so tired of reading that I shut it off before I found out.
3. Marvel Super Hereos
Next I thought maybe I should try an actual DS game so I tried this thinking it would be great to slash through some enemies with Wolverine but all that happened was it took me through some sort of training where it showed me how to play the game but the game never happened. I finished the training and then it just started the training again. I tried another character and it just took me through the training for that character. I couldn't figure out how to start playing the game. Why is it so hard to just insert a game and start playing?
4. Ninja Gaiden
This game seemed to start after a short dialogue but for some reason none of the buttons worked, I couldn't fight back, I just got my ass kicked. I tried again and randomly pushed every button but nothing happened, my character didn't move at all. Is this game broken? If I wasn't able to move around in A Link To The Past I would have taken the system apart to see if something was disconnected. Another game down.
5. Transformers
This game turned out to be okay, it immediately showed me how to navigate the weapons and I was happy the buttons were working. I went through all the initial training which seems to be a theme with DS games and when I started getting into fighting enemies and playing the game, I decided I was tired and would come back to it later. I couldn't find a way to save it so I assumed it would just auto-save like on the Playstation 2 so I just turned it off. The next time I turned it on there was no saved game and I had to start over. Da fack? How do you save?
That was my first day and I had one more game to try, Spirit Tracks, but I needed a long session to be able to devote the proper amount of time to trying that one out. The next day I had a 3 hour drive as a passenger so I decided to give it a try then.
6. The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
There was some dialogue again (why is there always so much text?) but the game started and again none of the buttons worked. Left / Right and Y / A did nothing while up / down and X / B just swapped the top and bottom screens. What is wrong with the buttons? I started hammering buttons and tapping random parts of the screens until I realized that you actually have to touch the screen where you want Link to walk.......da fack? Why is it like this? I don't understand, you have a directional pad right under your thumb, why not use that? It astounds me they would make that decision, and what about the second screen, what's that for? The best I could figure after 1-2 hours of playing is that it shows you the map. Besides the map, it was completely useless and for every other Zelda game prior to this one, it was completely acceptable to have the map accessable with a button, there's no need to dedicate a screen to it. However, after playing the game for that long I did get used to the stylus movement style and it actually turned out to be a great game so far, I'm really enjoying it. I'd still prefer buttons though.
1. A Link To The Past
Since the system also plays Advance games I thought I'd start with something I'm very familiar with and a game I've finished many times already. I started playing and for some reason I couldn't pick up pots. That's weird but maybe this version of the game plays slightly different. I played through until I had to pick up the bush to enter the first dungeon before I got my sword and I still couldn't pick up the bush. I tried every button combination until I finally realized that R is the button that picks things up. Why did they change that? The DS has exactly the same button layout as a SNES controller, why would they change that? Then I tried to swing my sword with Y and that didn't work, the sword has been changed to B! Da fack? This made the game unplayable for me, it's hard to believe they would mess that up. I looked around in both the system settings and the game settings but couldn't find anywhere to map the button layout differently.
2. Megaman Battle Chip Challenge
I'm comfortable with the NES Megaman series so I thought this would be good to try. I started up the game and just kept reading through dialogue between on-screen characters, I literally read converstations back and forth for over 10 minutes and I hadn't even played the game yet. Why is there so much text, is this a game or a book? Seriously, is it just a comic that you're supposed to read through or does it eventually turn into a game? I got so tired of reading that I shut it off before I found out.
3. Marvel Super Hereos
Next I thought maybe I should try an actual DS game so I tried this thinking it would be great to slash through some enemies with Wolverine but all that happened was it took me through some sort of training where it showed me how to play the game but the game never happened. I finished the training and then it just started the training again. I tried another character and it just took me through the training for that character. I couldn't figure out how to start playing the game. Why is it so hard to just insert a game and start playing?
4. Ninja Gaiden
This game seemed to start after a short dialogue but for some reason none of the buttons worked, I couldn't fight back, I just got my ass kicked. I tried again and randomly pushed every button but nothing happened, my character didn't move at all. Is this game broken? If I wasn't able to move around in A Link To The Past I would have taken the system apart to see if something was disconnected. Another game down.
5. Transformers
This game turned out to be okay, it immediately showed me how to navigate the weapons and I was happy the buttons were working. I went through all the initial training which seems to be a theme with DS games and when I started getting into fighting enemies and playing the game, I decided I was tired and would come back to it later. I couldn't find a way to save it so I assumed it would just auto-save like on the Playstation 2 so I just turned it off. The next time I turned it on there was no saved game and I had to start over. Da fack? How do you save?
That was my first day and I had one more game to try, Spirit Tracks, but I needed a long session to be able to devote the proper amount of time to trying that one out. The next day I had a 3 hour drive as a passenger so I decided to give it a try then.
6. The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
There was some dialogue again (why is there always so much text?) but the game started and again none of the buttons worked. Left / Right and Y / A did nothing while up / down and X / B just swapped the top and bottom screens. What is wrong with the buttons? I started hammering buttons and tapping random parts of the screens until I realized that you actually have to touch the screen where you want Link to walk.......da fack? Why is it like this? I don't understand, you have a directional pad right under your thumb, why not use that? It astounds me they would make that decision, and what about the second screen, what's that for? The best I could figure after 1-2 hours of playing is that it shows you the map. Besides the map, it was completely useless and for every other Zelda game prior to this one, it was completely acceptable to have the map accessable with a button, there's no need to dedicate a screen to it. However, after playing the game for that long I did get used to the stylus movement style and it actually turned out to be a great game so far, I'm really enjoying it. I'd still prefer buttons though.
Comments
Edit, nevermind
I was trying to say what they said, just a lot slower
Another tip, several DS games have alternative controls, such as "X" is used to open up the menu screen rather than "START".
Also, if you're ever having trouble figuring out how to save, don't forget to try and tap the touch screen to see if that opens up a menu allowing you to save.
I have a couple DS games I highly recommend that I hope you try out. I'll list more if you want me to (and GBA games too for that matter - megaman battle network series is awesome btw, not the chip thing that you played though). Here are 3 to check out though:
1) Dragon Quest Monsters Joker (very good game, especially if you like pokemon)
2) Dragon Quest Heroes Rocket Slime (Very good game that's pretty unique and fun. Short game length, with not much reading, so I think you'll like this one)
3) Advance Wars Dual Strike (Many people will agree this is one of the best tactical strategy games out there. If you like fire emblem, check this out. It has some different, but good mechanics.)
None of these use touch screen controls as the primary way of moving stuff around, meaning you can play the entire game without using the touch screen.
I haven't used a handheld gaming system since the Game Boy so when someone gave me a DS for free I figured I would try it, especially since I have Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass sitting here with no way of playing them. I figured people would find it interesting to hear about my struggles and confusion. Here are the games I've tried, out of my small library since I don't really shop for systems I don't own.
1. A Link To The Past
Since the system also plays Advance games I thought I'd start with something I'm very familiar with and a game I've finished many times already. I started playing and for some reason I couldn't pick up pots. That's weird but maybe this version of the game plays slightly different. I played through until I had to pick up the bush to enter the first dungeon before I got my sword and I still couldn't pick up the bush. I tried every button combination until I finally realized that R is the button that picks things up. Why did they change that? The DS has exactly the same button layout as a SNES controller, why would they change that? Then I tried to swing my sword with Y and that didn't work, the sword has been changed to B! Da fack? This made the game unplayable for me, it's hard to believe they would mess that up. I looked around in both the system settings and the game settings but couldn't find anywhere to map the button layout differently.
I haven't read past your LTTP criticism but...
You seemed to know this is a GBA game. Did you consider the fact that GBA had no X/Y buttons?!
I hope you used the actual stylus.
I haven't used a handheld gaming system since the Game Boy so when someone gave me a DS for free I figured I would try it, especially since I have Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass sitting here with no way of playing them. I figured people would find it interesting to hear about my struggles and confusion. Here are the games I've tried, out of my small library since I don't really shop for systems I don't own.
1. A Link To The Past
Since the system also plays Advance games I thought I'd start with something I'm very familiar with and a game I've finished many times already. I started playing and for some reason I couldn't pick up pots. That's weird but maybe this version of the game plays slightly different. I played through until I had to pick up the bush to enter the first dungeon before I got my sword and I still couldn't pick up the bush. I tried every button combination until I finally realized that R is the button that picks things up. Why did they change that? The DS has exactly the same button layout as a SNES controller, why would they change that? Then I tried to swing my sword with Y and that didn't work, the sword has been changed to B! Da fack? This made the game unplayable for me, it's hard to believe they would mess that up. I looked around in both the system settings and the game settings but couldn't find anywhere to map the button layout differently.
I haven't read past your LTTP criticism but...
You seemed to know this is a GBA game. Did you consider the fact that GBA had no X/Y buttons?!
I actually had no idea, I've never seen an Advance before. I didn't know that until I read some of the replies here, weird they would port a SNES game to a system with only 2 action buttons.
Y was your item. B was your sword. A was grab/throw/pick-up/dash.
This is the best first DS game for anyone:
Yeah I know, it's a port of Super Mario 64. For those who don't know, it adds an extra 30 obtainable stars to the main game and a bunch of great touch-screen mini-games that were later included in New Super Mario Bros. Super Mario 64 DS is a great port that makes excellent use of every feature of the DS, it's an amazing showcase title and was the single best DS launch game. I should know, I was there.
So funny that you didn't use the touch screen for Ninja Gaiden (or Zelda ST, at first). It's a DS! Nearly all the good games make extensive use of the touch screen!
I hope you used the actual stylus.
Next, I suggest popping in Elite Beat Agents, furiously mash the d-pad for a few minutes and then toss it in the pile of "broken games"
If you just want to try out that touch screen, grab a stylus and Wario Ware Touched.
Yoshi's Island DS is a great example of a game that doesn't use the touch screen functionality (at least not much), but still uses both screens very effectively.
New Super Mario Bros. is a great example of a game that focuses the game play on one screen only, but uses the second screen for inventory/status effectively.
So funny that you didn't use the touch screen for Ninja Gaiden (or Zelda ST, at first). It's a DS! Nearly all the good games make extensive use of the touch screen!
I hope you used the actual stylus.
Next, I suggest popping in Elite Beat Agents, furiously mash the d-pad for a few minutes and then toss it in the pile of "broken games"
LOL! Easily my favorite game on the system. The thought of it being misinterpreted like that is pretty funny.
I agree that Super Mario 64 DS is what you wanna play if you're trying out the DS for the first time.
If you just want to try out that touch screen, grab a stylus and Wario Ware Touched.
That's easily the worst Wario Ware game. It was a HUGE step back from Wario Ware Twisted. It was the first one off-loaded to another developer (Intelligent Systems, IIRC; normally my favorite) and it seems that they missed what made Wario Ware good: the randomness... not just in setting, but in player response.
By organizing the micro games into tiers based on how they are played it removed ALL of the fun of quickly figuring out each one. I remember literally closing my eyes when I got to the tier of blowing games and still beating it without even seeing a single one. If I'm playing a tier full of micro games based on spinning with the stylus then I already know how to respond to every one no matter how weird the setting is. Where's the fun in that?! I can't remember all the categories but I had more fun with the toy box than I did with the actual game.
In short, categorizing by tapping, slicing, spinning, blowing, pressing A, etc just takes all the surprise out of it. I never played Wario Ware D.I.Y. but it's also for DS and there's just no way it could be worse, especially after seeing that the improved GC/Wii party games.
Hmm. Touched was my only Wario Ware experience. Guess I have some options now for new games I'm likely to enjoy.
You'll probably love the original and Twisted. The unlockables are awesome! I recently played Dong Dong on the original and it's just as fun as it was back then (2p vs using the shoulder buttons). Mewtroid on Wario Ware Twisted is just awesome.
I know that this is a DS thread but the OP is also familiarizing himself with other handhelds as a result. The DS isn't the best for Twisted because of the large clamshell design (awkward when rotating). The SP is small enough that the clamshell doesn't get in the way much, but it still plays better in a GB micro. The original GBA isn't ideal because the game forces you to move the screen which typically isn't visible from most angles due to reflection.
This makes me want to crack open my sealed D.I.Y.
DIY is my favorite DS game, but the actually mini games that it comes with are not that great... the only play mechanic is tapping, which will be quite a disappointment if you are used to having a wide variety. For me, 100% of the enjoyment comes from creating my own mini games.