DS Fanboy

Super Smash Bros. Rumble in the DS jungle

Posted Jul 5th 2008 8:00PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: Homebrew, Video

Building your homebrew project off an already popular franchise has the danger of raising expectations too high for your low-budget production, as was the case with Super Mario Galaxies, a 2D shoot-em-up interpretation of Nintendo's grandiose 3D platformer. Though Super Smash Bros. Rumble has the potential to one day be a satisfactory portable alternative to Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it still has a long way to go!

So far, the demo includes only a solo mode, a few stages, and Mario as the lone playable character. Fuzzy, the game's 19-year-old programmer from Germany, seems to have a lot planned for the project, however, as he already has a WiFi button in place and waiting for online support.

Just a quick suggestion -- maybe choose another typeface for the top-screen logo on the menu screen? Though it's resident blogger David Hinkle's favorite typeface, Super Smash Bros. designer Masahiro Sakurai would never sully the series with Hobo.

[Via GamerTell, GBAtemp]

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Being a Wordmaster won't cost much

Posted Jul 5th 2008 6:02PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Sales

It's not often that a game goes on sale before it's even released, not that we're complaining. If you enjoy word games, then, you might want to consider picking up Wordmaster at Amazon. Although the MSRP is $19.99, Amazon is currently offering the game for $13.99, which is as budget as it gets for a new release.

The title doesn't even come out until July 15th, but you can preorder now if you want to secure the game for cheap. As for what Wordmaster is? Well, think Lingo or Jotto, only on the DS.

On a side note, you can also pick up Petz: Hamsterz 2 as Amazon's "Deal of the Day" for $11.99. Um, woot?

[Via CAG]

Source: Wordmaster for $13.99
Source: Petz: Hamsterz 2 for $11.99 (today only)

Another Week in Europe

Posted Jul 5th 2008 4:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Another Week in ...

In a week when Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift and Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword failed to penetrate any of Europe's charts, the locals instead turned to the non-game. Ubisoft's My Health Coach: Manage Your Weight (My Weight Loss Coach in North America) was the highest-ranking new DS entry on the continent, with a TV campaign ensuring it reached 27th in the UK. Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What To Eat? also enjoyed a more successful second week, rising eight places in Britain and just squeezing into Ireland's top ten.

Next week, Europeans welcome the arrival of Bakushow and Arkanoid DS, and will hopefully not stave off the newest Space Invaders. Let them take you over, puny Earthlings! Heck, they'd run this planet better than us anyway.

As far as serious chart contenders go (because let's face it: none of the aforementioned three are going to sell in the bajillions), the two latest Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games are hitting stores. Expect some top ten finishes from those.

Continue reading Another Week in Europe

Electrifying Elebits screens

Posted Jul 5th 2008 2:00PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: Screens

If you haven't had a peek at Elebits: The Adventures of Kai & Zero, then poke your nose into our gallery and have a look around. Instead of motion-controlled hunting and grabbing, the sequel to the Wii game is taking a much more traditional approach. While we weren't terribly surprised by the shift to a top-down action/RPG style, we're still happy to report that it looks pretty cute, if not quite as original as the first game.

We'll likely see a lot more of Kai and Zero during E3.

Gallery: Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero

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Gonk! New Dragon Ball DS screens arrive

Posted Jul 5th 2008 12:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Screens, Imports

Courtesy of Famitsu, we're treated to new screens of Namco Bandai's Zelda-like Dragon Ball DS game, and they're GONK-heavy. It seems that every time Goku strikes an enemy, a GONK sound effect appears. Is that just one GONK per combo, or does each hit meet with its own GONK?

Dragon Ball DS has two GONKing combat modes: hand-to-hand, in which Goku can carry out five-hit combos and activate the Kamehameha wave by rubbing the screen with the stylus; and staff, in which Goku can manage multiple enemies with his magical extending staff. Both combat modes are controlled with the stylus.

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DS Daily: Please stop making games for (blank) genre

Posted Jul 5th 2008 10:30AM by Candace Savino
Filed under: DS Daily

Do you know how many DS games there are? Let us get out our calculators ... with our instruments we've reached the conclusion that the total is a lot. You heard it here first.

What genre, though, do you think needs to take a break from the DS? Whether it's because there's a glut of such titles or because you hate that type of game, which genre do you think needs to be abandoned for a while?

DS Fanboy Lite: June 28 - July 4

Posted Jul 4th 2008 11:59PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: DS Fanboy Lite

Reviews? Original content? Weird and wacky spins on DS news? We've got it all, and this week, we've even got extras. Don't fight, fanboys -- there's plenty to go around, and these are happy times. It's a holiday, we're looking at Chrono Trigger ... things are good.

Community

DS Fanswag: Space Invaders Extreme, Arkanoid, and a paddle to play 'em with
Because we had to start a Space Invaders giveaway today. How could we not?
Homebrew paint application adds Guitar Hero controller support
Finally, we can move beyond Accordion Hero.
DS Daily: The next great remake
Let your voice be heard.

Features

DS Fanboy Review: Civilization Revolution
A whole lotta game squeezed into a tiny package.
DS Fanboy Review: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2
Blood, drama, and a little science fiction -- now with difficulty levels.
DS Fanboy Review: Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard
Heroes of kicking your ass is more like it.
Collecting & Obsessing: Game & Watch
Collectors, a retrospective, and a lovely bit of gaming history.
Limited Edition lust: A visual journey
A journey through things we want to spend money on.
Promotional Consideration: Nester's return
If this doesn't make you feel old, really, nothing ever will.
Bury the Shovelware: Homie Rollerz
Just as bad as when we reviewed it -- hell, maybe worse.
Gaming to Go: Meteos
On a scale of one to quickplay, Meteos is right up there.

News of note

Wind of Nostalgia keeps sounding better and better
It's beginning to look a lot like Skies of Arcadia. Even the names are rhythmically similar!
Future R4 firmware to sabotage clones, brick DSes?
Suddenly, M3 Real, CycloDS Evolution, and others just got better.
Chrono Trigger: new DS features unveiled, in U.S. this year
YES, YES, FOR REALLY REALS, YAY!
Bonus content planned for Judgment, Ecclesia connectivity
Finally, a use for Castlevania Judgment.
Gamefly: Japanese and Chinese Coaches, Princess Debut this fall
At last, your language trainer has come along.

Princess Maker 4: Implicitly erotic parenting sim coming to DS

Posted Jul 4th 2008 10:30PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: Screens, Imports

Gainax's (Neon Genesis Evangelion) Princess Maker series seems harmless at first, a cute "life simulator" in which you raise an orphaned girl to womanhood. The dominant/submissive undertones in the games aren't obvious until you realize the absolute control you have over every aspect of your devoted ward's life.

You can train her in combat to have her fight at the Harvest Festival, put her on a diet so that she can wear fashionable outfits, or send her to work at a bar to raise her "Sinfulness" stat while lowering her "Morals."

Depending on your guidance, your daughter can grow up to be the queen, lead an army, or marry the butler. If you raise her wrong, however, as we assume many gamers will do intentionally, she could become the king's concubine, work as a sleazy barmaid, or even marry her adoptive father!

Originally released for PCs and the PSP in 2006, Princess Maker 4 is also coming to the DS with a Special Edition subtitle this September in Japan. Publisher Cyberfront has a few improvements and additions planned for the port -- three new endings, stat details moved to the bottom screen, and, of course, touchsceen support.

According to the official site, using your stylus, you can "pat your daughter's head, pinch her cheeks, and etc." Etc., indeed. Try out a very brief and somewhat NSFW demo after the post break!

See also: More Naughtiness on the Nintendo DS

Gallery: Princess Maker 4

Continue reading Princess Maker 4: Implicitly erotic parenting sim coming to DS

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Special Edition Lite, stickers, and ... global issues?

Posted Jul 4th 2008 9:00PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: News

What better way to celebrate Independence Day than by putting the faces of governmental figures on a sticker? The real story behind the above isn't quite that hilarious, actually. Late last month at the G8 foreign ministers' meeting in Kyoto, this beautifully redone DS was spotted, alongside stickers bearing the faces of the ministers. All that's missing is a sticker on the DS, though frankly, that Lite is way too pretty to muck up with stickers.

We'd probably do it anyway, though, for the lulz.

Gallery: Limited Edition Lites: A History of Sadness

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Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 6/23-6/29

Posted Jul 4th 2008 7:30PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Another Week in ...

Oh, Japanese gamers, how we love you -- after all, only you would buy 150,000 copies of Derby Stallion in one week. Such sales were enough to put this DS horse racing sim into first place, above Band Brothers DX and even the Wii's Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. Besides Derby Stallion and Band Brothers, another DS title that made it into the top ten was Higurashi no Naku Koru ni Kazuna, a murder mystery visual novel.

The beauty of it all is that this DS software success managed to propel DS hardware into second place, barely skating past the Wii:

PSP: 58,861 (490)
Nintendo DS: 48,884 (12,285)
Wii: 48,480 (7,443)
PlayStation 3: 17,973 (2,363)
PlayStation 2: 7,673 (1,327)
Xbox 360: 5,104 (2,549)

To see sales numbers and rankings for the top ten games, just click past the break.

Continue reading Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 6/23-6/29

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Friday Video: Alternate history

Posted Jul 4th 2008 6:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Friday video

This week, everybody freaked out (justifiably) about a port of a thirteen-year-old game. Since we can't manage to think about anything else, we thought we would all sit back together for some Chrono Trigger content today, and celebrate our independence from having to keep another system hooked up.

This animated scene was added to the last enhanced port of Chrono Trigger, made for the PlayStation. Square Enix doesn't seem to have a problem putting FMV on the DS, so we'll probably see it in the new version as well. Hopefully the other new feature from that version -- interminable loading times -- won't also be implemented.

Go back in time to five minutes ago so your popcorn will be ready right now!

Delay: Shuffle Dungeon

Posted Jul 4th 2008 4:30PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News, Imports

Away: Shuffle Dungeon has already been announced as a PAL release (and sort of announced as a North American release), even though the Japanese version of the game isn't out yet. AQ Interactive, Virgin PLAY, and (probably) Xseed should be able to give us firmer Western release dates for the dungeon crawler now, because the delayed Japanese game finally has its own date. Of course, that date is even later than the vague "summer" named in the last delay statement.

AQ Interactive announced the final (probably) release date for Japan yesterday: October 16, right in the middle of the "fall" release window Virgin PLAY planned for Europe. Unless AQ Interactive is planning a simultaneous worldwide release, we expect the late release will cause the European version to get bumped into next year. The U.S. version still has yet to be officially unveiled.

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WRUP: Cuts like the very first time edition

Posted Jul 4th 2008 3:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: What are you playing?

The big release this week is none other than Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2. After giving it a thorough play, we found it to be an overall great title. With Europe getting Space Invaders Extreme and Arkanoid DS this week, we imagine you folks are going to be playing those?

How will you fill your free time this weekend?

Gallery: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2

DSVision's virtual store lacks virtual goods

Posted Jul 4th 2008 1:30PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Downloads, News, Imports

According to Spencer over at Siliconera, the DSVision store isn't all it's cracked up to be. The launch of the service has left him wanting, considering there are only 30 items available in the online store, with users expecting much, much more from the launch of the service.

He does admit that the pricing is favorable, however. Episodes of television shows are only $2, with digital manga fetching $3 per chapter. The books on available on the service range from free for a trial to $6 for a 1,000-page novel.

Did any of you bother to import it?

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DS Fanswag: Space Invaders Extreme, Arkanoid, and a paddle to play 'em with

Posted Jul 4th 2008 12:00PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: Meta

We've got an ultimate game pack up for grabs with this latest DS Fanswag! One lucky reader is going to walk away with Space Invaders Extreme ($19.99), Arkanoid DS ($19.99), and an import paddle controller (in white; $29.99), and all for the low, low price of a comment.

What do you need to do to win? Well, since it's almost time for E3, tell us what you hope will be announced at the show! You may enter once per day and the contest will run through Sunday, June 13th; that night, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, entries will close, and we'll choose one winner in a random drawing. To enter, you must be 18 or older, and a current legal resident of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec). Have questions? Check the official rules.

Next Page >

Name	Date
Civilization Revolution	July 8
Final Fantasy IV	July 22
Gauntlet	July 22
Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns	July 22
New International Track & Field	July 22
Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness	August TBA
Elebits 2	August TBA
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Criterion working on Burnout Paradise planes Hayter discusses MGS film, Kojima creative differences Gameplay video shows first part of Silent Hill: Homecoming	Forum post of the day: Faith in healing The Creamy GUI Center: Big bag blowout Wanna be friends with a murloc?
Airplanes in Burnout Paradise? Burnout's Cagney update delayed a few days MK VS DC new screens, plus "Brutalities"	Thunder Force striking again? Mod plays NES in a NES cartridge Another Week in Europe
Super Smash Bros. Rumble in the DS jungle Being a Wordmaster won't cost much Another Week in Europe	PSP may have helped police catch multiple murderer Phantasy Star Portable demo details, DLC announced PSP caused teen to shoot another teen
Live outside in Sunny Day Sky Will Fallout 3 be banned in Australia? We'll trade you a Heavy for two Demomen . . .	Ana Ivanovic Appears on August FHM Cover Another Win Goes to Busch in Crazy Finish UFC 86 Classic Slugfest: Forrest Griffin Beats Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson

Super Smash Bros. Rumble in the DS jungle

Being a Wordmaster won't cost much

Another Week in Europe

Electrifying Elebits screens

Gonk! New Dragon Ball DS screens arrive

DS Daily: Please stop making games for (blank) genre

DS Fanboy Lite: June 28 - July 4

Community

Features

News of note

Princess Maker 4: Implicitly erotic parenting sim coming to DS

Special Edition Lite, stickers, and ... global issues?

Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 6/23-6/29

Friday Video: Alternate history

Delay: Shuffle Dungeon

WRUP: Cuts like the very first time edition

DSVision's virtual store lacks virtual goods

DS Fanswag: Space Invaders Extreme, Arkanoid, and a paddle to play 'em with

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Bury the Shovelware: Homie Rollerz	Bury the Shovelware
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