The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handhelds and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com.
Make the most out of what little warmth the autumn months haven't stolen yet. Grab your portable system, find a place outside where no one can bother you while you play, and enjoy these dwindling days when you can still afford to leave your coat at home. These weeks never stay still for too long, and before you know it, Halloween is long forgotten and there's no more Thanksgiving dinner to look forward to. Evenings creep in at 6PM, and the cold -- oh, the cold!
You spend an extra minute shivering in your car while waiting for the engine to warm up, visible puffs of breath fogging up the windows until the damn defrost finally starts working. Chips of snow sneak into your shoes somehow, despite your best defenses, melting and leaving your socks wet. Week nights are spent staying in and watching television, and you walk around the house with a comforter draped around you like blanket royalty.
So play with your DS outside now, while you still can!
Though Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift doesn't officially hit Japanese stores until tomorrow, forumers at the GBAtemp community have already managed to procure a copy and are working on translating its squiggly words. The motivated group has deciphered an impressive amount of cutscene conversations and menu items, overlaying shots from the SRPG with English text.
Even in its early state, this picture guide will be a huge boon to interested importers without any Japanese reading skills. Considering that Square Enix has yet to announce its plans for bringing Final Fantasy Tactics A2 to the states, this fan-backed effort may be the best way to play the game for a while.
If you've had a nasty run-in with an Octorok recently, or got in a scrape with a Stalfos, then there's only one thing for it, dear reader: you need Lon Lon Milk, and you need it fast.
And right now, your nearest vendor is none other than Etsy user tiffanybell, whose Lon Lon Milk Bottle charms come packed with heart-filling, nutritious* Lon Lon Milk.
If it's one thing we can't stress enough, it's that Contra 4 is the kind of game that can change your outlook on things. It can alter your state of consciousness and very much improve your love life. It can give you the moon and the stars and also fill in scratches on your car. This game can give your life meaning.
So, we were glad to read GamePro's article on their top five lesser-known titles at E For All. Why? Because their best game in the piece was none other than Contra 4.
Nintendo wants Japanese subway riders to read more e-books, apparently, as these giant ads for software DS Bungaku Zenshuu are popping up in the Tokyo underground. The above Shibuya advertisement shows that Nintendo is committed to the Genius Sonority-developed title, which hit Japanese retail shelves last week.
Would you find an e-book reader helpful on your DS?
Craftster forum member N0A made this adorable fluffy bunny case to hold her DS Lite. Amazingly, according to her, it only took "a couple of hours." That's a higher cuteness-to-time ratio than we've seen since the prairie dog video. It looks useful, too-- that fluffy-soft material should keep the DS well-protected within the bunny's-- well, not mouth, actually, more like PEZ-style neck opening.
Also found on Craftster today: this irresistible case from endlessly_intricate, featuring an embroidered image of Invader Zim's GIR. Not only does the images look great on the front of the case, but endlessly_intricate made one more crucial design innovation-- a taco! Is there anything tacos can't do?
There's no denying it: our wallets and purses are in for an absolute beating this Christmas, with quality DS titles coming thick and fast. So what better way could there be to save your pennies for Contra 4 or any of the DS' other forthcoming delights than with this Mario Coin Block Bank?
This charming piece of merchandise, constructed entirely from Perler Beads and contact cement, was whipped up by Etsy user lostmitten, who's charging $12 for the coolest coin bank in town. Oh sure, it's $2 less for the same block sans coin slot, but slots don't grow on trees, people. Sheesh.
We were eating some Reese's Pieces the other day, and they were, you know ... okay, but we couldn't help thinking that they were missing something integral to the candy-eating experience. We couldn't quite decide what that was, but now we know: a tiny kite. With Pokémon characters on it. It's so obvious now!
Unfortunately, this package no doubt includes, instead of Reese's Pieces, those tiny Smartie-esque things that are in all Japanese candy toy packages. But the little Pokémon Diamond and Pearl kites are pretty cool for when you need an emergency kite. Which is all the time, right?Next time you come upon a pleasant breeze, you can hold your tiny kite aloft, yell "Kite! I choose you!" and then carefully unroll the string as it possibly floats into the air.
When two beloved things like Contra and the DS collide, it's hard not to feel giddy all over. As the release date for Contra 4 gets closer and closer, we thought there was no way that our lust for this game could grow even stronger.
Well, as it turns out, we were dead wrong.
Upon viewing an image of this NES classic in LEGO form, we were forced to schedule endless sobbing into our daily routines until Contra 4 is released. Since we'll be able to play the original game on our Contra 4 carts, we wonder if we'll be thinking of LEGOs now as we take advantage of that glorious feature.
As an added bonus, skinny coder's flickr gallery has pictures of other NES classics that he made in LEGO form, including Duck Hunt, Castlevania, Metal Gear, Excitebike, and Bionic Commando. We absolutely recommend checking them out. Which "LEGOed" classic is your favorite?
Not only has Eiji Aonuma followed Shigeru Miyamoto as producer of the Zelda games, but he's followed Miyamoto in autograph style as well. Compare Miyamoto's autograph (left) with the thing Aonuma scribbled on this crimson-and-black DS, given to a Link costume contest winner at the Phantom Hourglass launch. Both Nintendo luminaries feature two big circle things in their autographs, even though Miyamoto signs his name using the Roman alphabet and Aonuma signs in kanji.
Congratulations go out, of course, to the winner, a GoNintendo reader named JulianK, one of the few people for whom Link cosplay had positive consequences.
The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handhelds and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com.
Is that who we think it is, plopped over there by the steps and playing a DS? You'd think he'd have one of the newer models, right? And doesn't he look a lot "portlier" on TV?
Just in time for Halloween, Atlus has added something to the download section of the Touch Detective 2 1/2website: masks! Now you can make your own paper representation of one of the game's iconic characters. We can hardly think of anything more unsettling when it comes to cheap Halloween getups. Skip past the jump to see how the masks look in versions far smaller than your face.
However, the masks will probably not be enough to win you one of the prizes in the Atlus Halloween Costume Contest being held on their official forums.
We didn't think it possible to design a more reviling clone of Sonic the Hedgehog than Shadow, but as you can see above, someone actually managed to do it, and much to our surprise, it isn't Sega's fault (this time). The grotesque beast was sighted in the shoe section of a department store in China, chasing down children and frightening them into buying new sneakers. He holds his prey down with his giant left hand, forcing them to look straight into his menacing, pitch black eyes until they acquiesce.
Yesterday's stylus featured in our DIY-recycling round-up looked so sweet, we thought we'd talk about it a little more. We use a variety of styli for interacting with our favorite touchscreens; sometimes (when we can find it) we use an extendable stylus, but it's still awfully skinny. That pen-width notion may be worth looking into. Of course, there are other options, but most are lacking a wonderful magic word: free.
Would you prefer a fat stylus? Do you already use one? Or is the skinny version just fine with you?
You know what the Xbox 360 is missing? The Legend of Zelda, that's what. No worries, though; it looks like one faceplate-maker is here to save the day with this custom job designed to spruce up any 360. Even the greatly-feared RROD has to look a little better when framed by this baby.
For our tastes, we'd prefer something with a little less bronze and a little more gold, but overall, this faceplate is pretty nice -- and as of press time, you can pick it up on eBay for a mere $19.99, plus shipping. That's not a bad deal if you feel a driving urge to take your fandom to other systems.
Also, whoever is making those shield crests has got to love the modding community -- they'reeverywhere!
Just in time for Halloween, Atlus has added something to the download section of the 
