Posted Dec 29th 2007 2:30PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News
SNK Playmore's Japanese website has updated with a series of artworks celebrating the upcoming new year. In addition to the various King of Fighters and Samurai Spirits character portraits, two of SNK's 2008 DS games are featured: Metal Slug 7 and Doki Doki Majo Shinpan Duo.
Surprisingly, it's Metal Slug 7's artwork that brings cheesecake to the New Year's party. Although the young girl in the pictured Doki Doki Majo Shinpan Duo card seems to have left about 70% of her skirt at home, Metal Slug 7's Eri manages to both wear less clothing and have adult proportions.
Compulsive collectors like us should note that these images will only be available until the 17th. For our part, we've got the two DS-related images downloadable in their full resolution after the break. As for the rest, if you don't get them now, you'll no doubt be looking for them on Google Image Search at some point.
Are you one of the four roguelike fans out there? If so, and if you also can't wait for Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer's February release, why not play NetHackDS or Powder -- two recently-updated homebrew dungeon crawler ports -- in the meantime?
While NetHackDS has the edge in terms of "graphics" and name recognition, Powder has the advantage of being immediately playable in an emulator, so even if you don't have a flashcart, you can still enjoy the addictive game ... if you consider dying a dozen times while trying to figure out how to live longer than five minutes enjoyable.
Thanks to Alisha's helpful gift guide, you knew the perfect game to get for those not-so-special people in your lives this holiday season. Yet, while we just know that Hamsterz and the like are horrible, not many people who write for or visit this site can admit to actually playing those games. That's why we're asking today about the worst game you've played for the DS this year. We've heard about some games that you regret purchasing, but would you consider these games to be the year's worst for you, or just games not worth buying?
And if you've somehow managed to successfully restrict yourself to good games, one of them still has to be the worst, so which is it? Still, we suspect that the majority of you have either bought, rented, or borrowed a title this year that was just downright awful, so out with it, please.
Just as with our beloved DS Lite, DS Fanboy Lite is like the original, but smaller. Sleeker. Only not necessarily better. Herein you can see some of the best we've had to offer in the last week, encapsulated for your reading ease.
This kid is undeniably excited about receiving a DS and games for Christmas -- you can tell by the frantic gyrations and leaping about -- which is why we can't understand why they are all flung to the floor after a moment of celebration. We can only guess that's what happens when you give a child a "senior edition" DS Lite. Oh well. The mysterious dichotomy of excitement and flinging makes for a fun moment in our weekly video spotlight.
[Update: Aww, the video has been removed. What a way to spoil our fun!]
With Japan yet to be treated to its first compilation of casino games on the DS, Success Corp is planning to bring SuperLite 2500 Tokyo Odaiba Casino to the region next February. At first glance, there's nothing particularly notable about the title, with the usual casino suspects all present: poker, slots, bunny girls, blackjack, and roule -- wait, bunny girls?
Yep, it turns out that Odaiba comes with a rather unusual hook: the ability to dress up the game's casino hostess in a range of costumes that can be purchased once you've won enough virtual medals in the game. Indeed, further research indicates that said outfits are the only reward for playing through the game. Is this the vital ingredient that would have brought success with the lonely male demographic to western casino titles? Dear reader, we shall never know.
Take a gamble and make the jump for shots of a further five outfits.
We thought this minigame in the Fist of the North Star DS game was awesome enough to warrant its own post. As the latest screenshot update on the official website illustrates, Raoh's storyline is playable in addition to Kenshiro's.
This follows outside of the main game as well, with this Raoh-spotting minigame. We've seen someweirdminigames in our tenure as DS fans, but this one may manage to be the freakiest yet. Given a selection of four details from manga panels, you are asked to pick which depiction of Raoh features Raoh crying over his brother Toki. That's actually not the whole of the game; it's a wireless multiplayer trivia game, which is a neat addition. Still, for us it's always going to be the crying-Raoh game.
Lest you think Raoh is weak, we should tell you why he's crying over his brother Toki: it's because he has just punched Toki almost to death, and is about to punch him all the way to death. You'd cry too.
Have you kids seen Juno, the latest film from director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking)? It's a coming-of-age tale about an eccentric 16-year-old managing her unexpected pregnancy, and, in spite of its Dawson's Creek-esque dialogue and unrealistic plot, it's also a pretty good film, in our opinion.
Considering the ubiquity of the Nintendo DS, it didn't surprise us to see the handheld make a cameo in the movie, but the particular setting in which the DS appeared was a surprise -- an abortion clinic. A teenage receptionist taps away on her portable while handing medical forms to the titular character, right before offering her a complimentary boysenberry-flavored condom. "My boyfriend wears them every time we have intercourse," she praises. "It makes his junk smell like pie."
What could she have been playing on her DS, greeting and offering condoms to people all day while the women who've come in to get their "problems" fixed sit anxiously in the waiting room? Probably not Imagine Babyz!
That's not the only time video games come up in Juno, either! Halfway through "Anyone Else But You," a song by The Moldy Peaches that plays several times during the film, one of the singers croons out the famous Konami code. How awesome is that? There's also a shortened version sung by Juno's stars, Michael Cera and Ellen Page, on the official soundtrack; it's totally wizard. You can hear the original track and watch a trailer for Juno right after the break.
Yet another scan has popped up for Rune Factory 2, as the game is coming out next week in Japan. There's still no announced plans to bring the title elsewhere, but even if there were, we probably won't see this game in English for another year.
If you're oh-so-patiently (grumble) waiting for the game like we are, check after the break for one more teasing scan.
The boxart for Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword may have failed to impress us, but we should have guessed that the game had another trick up its proverbial sleeve. Remember this sword stylus stylus that we coveted like thy neighbor's wife? Now it can be yours, scabbard and all, with a preorder at your local EB/GameStop (or online here).
We've come to the conclusion that we must have this preorder bonus. Playing your DS with a sword is the way of the ninja, after all.
Over the past few months, we've all grown used to digesting statistics and factoids that sum up the DS's dominance in Japan. That's not to say we've grown tired of them, however, so here's another pretty sweet stat: over the holiday period, the DS whooshed effortlessly past the lifetime sales of Sony's PlayStation 2.
That's according to Japanese sales tracker Media Create, which got its abacus out to calculate that the DS has now shifted 20,954,157 units, compared to 20,901,468 PS2s. What's even more impressive is how quickly Nintendo's handheld has pulled off the feat -- let's not forget that Sony's console has been on the Japanese market for an extra four and a half years. A hearty "Congrats!" to you, Nintendo.
2007 is almost over, and the end of the year brings joyous tidings of List Season. It's the time for taking stock of the last 12 months of gaming, and trying to make sense of it by putting things in numerical order. Join DS Fanboy for our best-ofs, worst-ofs, and other categories-ofs.
We cranked up our review quotient in 2007 (and hope to do even more in 2008!), but we still can't review everything that comes out, to our chagrin. We wouldn't have time for anything else! However, we did try to hit a wide variety of titles this year, from the biggies like Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and Phantom Hourglass, to some smaller titles, like WordJong and Duck Amuck. We even worked to review some more off-the-wall things, like the Nintendo Fan Network at Safeco Field -- you know, in case you happened to find yourself in the Northwest with a hankering for a day of DS and baseball.
Atlus released a few new images for March's Drone Tactics, the English-language version of Konchuu Wars (Insect Wars) that has us so very excited. This past year has been very strong for strategy on the DS, and it looks like 2008 is shaping up similarly. We're certainly not complaining; commanding an army of badass mech insects sounds just as much fun as, say, an army of pink squirrels. Maybe we just like armies. When it comes to this army, you can see some of the specific units on the Drone Tactics site, and for the new screens, head on past the break.
Yesterday's attendance at Game Night was slim pickings, as not many of you bothered to log in to the chat and throw down in some games. Now, we've chalked it up to it being the holidays, but we're wondering if a change is in order to help bring in some new meat. So, do you think we should change the day? Change the time? Let us know in the comments and we'll discuss it!
We tried building a city on rock 'n roll, but it turns out that the citizens prefer stuff like pipes and roads. So, though we're horrified to learn that Starship misled us, we're going to start Sim City 2 with a plan to build a city on actual good ideas about city planning. And thanks to the opening of the Sim City 2 DS site, we can start pre-planning now, as we look at the neat new options available. Will we build (and subsequently ruin) a Renaissance-era European city? A prehistoric settlement? A Sim Edo-era Japan? Or will we end up with two squares of grass and a lapsed budget, like always?
Luckily, we're much more successful at building galleries. Check out the screens to see all the new historical settings to be found in Sim City 2 DS!
Thanks to Alisha's 
With Japan yet to be treated to its first compilation of casino games on the DS, Success Corp is planning to bring SuperLite 2500 Tokyo Odaiba Casino to the region next February. At first glance, there's nothing particularly notable about the title, with the usual casino suspects all present: poker, slots, bunny girls, blackjack, and roule -- wait, bunny girls?
We thought this minigame in the Fist of the North Star DS game was awesome enough to warrant its own post. As the latest screenshot update on the official website illustrates, Raoh's storyline is playable in addition to Kenshiro's.
Have you kids seen Juno, the latest film from director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking)? It's a coming-of-age tale about an eccentric 16-year-old managing her unexpected pregnancy, and, in spite of its 
The boxart for Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword may have 
2007 is almost over, and the end of the year brings joyous tidings of List Season. It's the time for taking stock of the last 12 months of gaming, and trying to make sense of it by putting things in numerical order. Join DS Fanboy for our best-ofs, worst-ofs, and other categories-ofs.
Atlus released a few new images for March's 
We tried building a city on rock 'n roll, but it turns out that the citizens prefer stuff like pipes and roads. So, though we're horrified to learn that Starship misled us, we're going to start 
