We'll be the first to admit it -- we don't listen to most DS games. Unless the music and effects are really great (or essential), we've usually got the sound turned down, and rarely break out headphones. Oddly, we often treat console games the opposite, listening to the music or sounds whether or not they're compelling. Maybe it's just too easy to relax with the iPod while spending time with the DS, or maybe DS games just aren't always as immersive (there can be drawbacks to short-burst gaming, after all). Do you do the same? Fill us in.
DS Daily: The sound
We'll be the first to admit it -- we don't listen to most DS games. Unless the music and effects are really great (or essential), we've usually got the sound turned down, and rarely break out headphones. Oddly, we often treat console games the opposite, listening to the music or sounds whether or not they're compelling. Maybe it's just too easy to relax with the iPod while spending time with the DS, or maybe DS games just aren't always as immersive (there can be drawbacks to short-burst gaming, after all). Do you do the same? Fill us in.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
6-23-2008 @ 1:30PM
Dig said...
Ever since I found OverClocked ReMix and started listening to chiptunes I found listening to all the music in every videogame an essential experience. I've even found that if I am hankering to play one game but have to keep the sound turned off (GBA SP in a library) I would switch to a game whose music/sound is more repetitive and annoying.
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6-23-2008 @ 2:29PM
Holden said...
The World Ends With You simply craves blaring sounds - the music's too damn good.
However, the best game of them all, Picross DS, really got so good because it lends itself really damn well to plugging in your own music. Layer down the in-game jams and keep the sound effects, and then throw some seriously thick Punk (I reccomend the Undertones or perhaps Ultravox) over the whole thing. I could listen to music without doing anything else, so throwing in the game makes for an incredibly addictive experience.
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6-23-2008 @ 2:56PM
Mertruve said...
I always play with headphones - the DS sound system just rocks ^^
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6-23-2008 @ 3:28PM
Hoshi said...
No way o.o I love listening to the music of the game, it's part of the experience!
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6-23-2008 @ 3:28PM
animeman_59 said...
Games that you should listen to on your DS:
Final Fantasy Revenant Wings
The World Ends With You
Advance Wars Days of Ruin
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow
Castlevania Portrait of Ruin
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan
Listen to these games and do whatever they tell you. Sometimes they give out real sound advice.
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6-24-2008 @ 5:31AM
SephFinale said...
I just bought a pair of Sony MDR-XD200 headphones. Not so great for the DS...but I always listen to my game's music. Unless I'm just messing around on Pokemon.
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6-24-2008 @ 3:57PM
TJF588 said...
I don't have a DS (what little I use my sis's for is FFII, which'll apply to the following), and my SPee is releagted mostly to FFIVA, Zero Mission, and WarioWares these days (along with some FFI&II and G&WG4, maybe KHCOM). With FFIV, since background music starts from the beginning after each battle, that tends to be turned off (I mostly grind for whatever reasons) -- FF's not exactly renowned for its menu blips anyway -- but Zero Mission is alright, though the blasts and such might not be the best, and music & noises (esp. low health and/or Mother Brain/Robot Ridley) will either get annoying or play on my tensities, so it'll end up low. Most stuff ends up low, anyway, just because of the force of the sound. WaroWares are usually alright (don't really like Mona Pizza's main parts enough), and the modern Game & Watch games have prett nice music.
I guess my norm is to have the volume low if I don't mind, or the volume off if it's reptitive, annoying (for whatever reasons), or I just don't wanna hear it. There's also the matter of if I'm listening to something else, but if anything important or for-the-first-time's goin' on in a game,I like to have the sound on, so as to get the whole of whatever's happening.
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6-24-2008 @ 5:27PM
Morning Toast said...
I love video game sound and music. If anything I turn it UP on most games, DS or otherwise. But with a lot of the DS games I've played the music is repetative crap. It just is. Games like Space Invaders Ex. is a good example of good music that works: it's good music, for one, and it adds to the experience but you're not entirely focused on it.
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6-24-2008 @ 7:10PM
yost said...
I just about always have the sound on ... it's part of the game for me ....
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6-26-2008 @ 5:25AM
supa_s said...
I guess it depends on the game. I usually play Arkanoid DS w/ the sound truned down because it gets annoying very quickly
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6-27-2008 @ 2:24AM
aj said...
I play a game with the sound up for the first hour or so I play with it. Mostly out of respect for the work that the composer and sound designer does for the game.
Most games for the DS, I find, don't really have that good of a sound or music quality to them anyways. But there are some real gems out there....I love Etrian Odyssey II's music and sound, for some reason. And Final Fantasy III just feels more Final Fantasyish with the sound cranked up.
But don't hook your DS into a pair of really nice speakers like I did once. It won't be as cool as you think it will be.
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