The latest information about Chrono Trigger's new DS-specific features originates from a pretty unusual place: the port's Japanese Toys R Us product page. At least, that's according to NeoGAF's duckroll, who wouldn't seem to have any reason to lie. However, the information does not appear on the product page now, which means that it was probably removed.
Duckroll reports that the game allowed you to breed and train around 50 monsters in the game's previously unspecified "Arena Mode," with the goal of battling them and winning rare items. You can even fight your friends via (probably local) wireless.
From more mysterious sources come details of two new dungeons: "Dimensional Distortion," in which players must travel through time, changing The End of Time as they complete segments, and "Dragon's Sanctuary," in which players must complete a number of quests within the dungeon and across different time periods.
Ports are tricky. Indeed, the DS's big brother gets a lot of flak for hosting PS2 ports with tacked-on waggle. Yet, if the original game is good and a reasonable amount of bonus content is added, we generally give the game a pass.
But things get even trickier when discussing the retro-port. I touched on this at the end of the Petz Dogz Fashion post, but it's worth restating: would you pay full retail price for an exact copy of your favorite retro game? As the Super Mario Advance series proved: yes, you will. Apparently, identical or near-identical copies of older games at standard market prices can still sell extremely well. It'll be interesting to see how successful the Chrono Trigger port will be (my prediction: very). It'd be especially nice if we could determine how many of those purchasing the game have never played it before (my second prediction: not very many). Information such as this would allow us to determine what effect -- if any -- retro-ports have on the current state of gaming.
Examining Myst for the DS has been on my queue for quite some time. The reason for the delay was simply because I was unsure if it was fair to put it under the spotlight since I never played the original. But upon deliberating the sentiments above, I realized the DS port of the 1993 graphic adventure would be the perfect opportunity to put the question to a litmus test.
Celebrating the one-year anniversary of Knytt Stories's release for PCs, homebrew programmer rrc2soft has released a video for his DS port prototype of the freeware game. in case you've never had the pleasure of playing the original game, it's a neat 2D platformer from Nicklas "Nifflas" Nygren with a heavy emphasis on atmosphere and exploration. instead of graphics and combat.
As with the PC release, Knytt Stories DS looks to be a collection of short adventures starring Juni, an agile character that can learn several abilities, such as a double jumping and wall climbing. Rrc2soft also hopes to eventually allow you to download and play through user-created levels, a feature we've already seen implemented wonderfully in StillAliveDS.
The clip only shows the tutorial level, but expect to see more as development continues!
Have you noticed that Chrono Trigger looks awfully familiar? Okay, you have, and most of you don't care (because it's Chrono Trigger we're talking about here, after all) ... but that begs the question of whether or not we want to watch Chrono Trigger videos.
The answer? Of course we do. It's Chrono Trigger we're talking about here, and it's coming to the DS! Bring on the videos! We have the three latest right here. Not enough for you? If you're really desperate for new-old content and can't wait for the game's release, then we recommend watching a speed run and reading the game's script.
We didn't even know that we wanted Black Tiger ported to the DS, but now that programmer Alekmaul has revealed that he's working on a homebrew emulator for the Capcom arcade game, we are all over this business like hair on the floor of a barber shop. Really, it's quite disgusting.
Alekmaul hasn't revealed much about the project, except that it's coming this September sporting a 60 fps frame rate, likely without any sound due to technical difficulties implementing the audio. For now, you'll have to settle with the screenshots below!
If this is your first time hearing about the game, Black Tiger was originally released to arcades in 1987 before later being ported to various home computer systems and game compilations for the PSP/PS2/Xbox 360. Designed to be the spiritual successor to Ghosts 'n Goblins, the game stars a barbarian on a quest to slay three dragons.
Rumored M.I.A. since former publisher Strategy First canceled all of its DS titles, the Jagged Alliance port for the DS has returned with a release scheduled for 2009! Have a look at the game's soldiers of fortune in the gallery below!
Strategy First is still helping Cypron Studios (Command and Destroy) handle development for the project while Empire Interactive, as GameFly predicted, is taking over publishing duties. So long as this eventually ships, that's fine with us!
For those of you who were to busy playing console releases to mess with PC titles in the mid-to-late 90s, the Jagged Alliance series comprises of tactical RPGs featuring player-controlled squads of mercenaries, each unit possessing different skills and personalities. Think of it as X-COM, but with more character and less aliens.
On a negative note, as excited as we are to see this PC classic finally coming to the DS, the port's graphics, though more detailed, somehow manage to look less appealing than the graphics from the original Jagged Alliance for DOS, which was released in 1994!
Wow, we sure called this one. Like the rest of the game, the boxart for the DS version of Chrono Trigger is very similar to the original. Of course, in some cases, less (effort) is more, and this just may be one of them. Was there any way Square Enix could have improved on Chrono Trigger's boxart?
Technically, you could have seen almost every screen of Chrono Trigger that a magazine or website would be able to share, on account of the game having been released for several years. If it's not an image of the map/interface screen found on the touchscreen, or of the new dungeon, then it's basically a screen of a Super NES game.
However, you may be able to infer from the fact that we are publishing this post that we consider Chrono Trigger awesome enough for us to share screens with you no matter their age. Besides, even after twelve years, it's still a very nice-looking game.
Posted Jul 25th 2008 10:00PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: News
The Japanese release date for Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia might not seem like useful information to you readers out west, but the desperate, Castlevania-starved gamers among you will at least now know the exact day their import copy will begin its trans-Pacific journey towards their hands -- October 23rd, 2008.
Furthermore, considering that the US release for Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin was only three weeks after Japan's, we also now have a general idea of when Order of Ecclesia will see its stateside release -- mid-November.
Perhaps the publisher will keep the promise it made back in March to aim for simultaneous worldwide releases with its new titles? It's unlikely, but we can dream ...
Square Enix hasn't said anything official about the release date or pricing of the Chrono Trigger port yet. We held out hope for a budget price, since it's a port, and since the $20 price point for Arkanoid DS and Space Invaders Extreme, both new games, proves that Square Enixcan charge less than $40 for a game now and then.
Not this time, apparently! According to a Gamestop listing (which is even linked from the site's front page), Chrono Trigger will come out December 1 at the familiar $40 price point. Not that Chrono Trigger isn't worth $40. Just ask eBay!
We can only put up with tiny scans and crazy Japanese writing for so long before we go Chrono crazy. Thankfully, we've nabbed a select number of high-quality screens and created a genuine, bonafide, one-hundred percent awesome Chrono Trigger gallery.
Again, they look pretty much identical to the original SNES version, but remember that for a good portion of the world, there never was a first time around for Chrono Trigger. New to some, old (yet inspiring) to others -- but either way, it's a kickass batch of images from one of the greatest games ever made.
We posted a trailer a few days back that let us bask in the glory that is Chrono Trigger DS, and it was wonderful. There was just one, teensy weensy problem, though -- it was in Japanese.
Yet, now you can enjoy the trailer in English by watching the video above, or head on over to the official (North American) website to see it in higher quality. Normally we'd say it's not worth the effort for a few text changes here and there, but then again, we're not normally writing about Chrono Trigger DS.
We recommend that those of you who find yourselves chronically obsessed with Chrono Trigger sit down and give it a watch.
The DS version of Chrono Trigger is an almost direct port of a thirteen-year-old SNES game, with nary a pixel out of place. In other words, a quick visit to Google Images should be enough to see what we're getting on our handhelds later this year, but we're still going to link these Chrono TriggerFamitsu scans because guess what: it's frakkin' Chrono Trigger on the DS.
Hit up Gamekyo for the full scans, and let's hope we see more of the second screen and/or the Wireless Play mode in the next batch.
Yasunori Mitsuda is probably just as excited about Chrono Trigger as you are. If that name doesn't ring a bell, those of you who've played the original SNES title might know his work -- he composed most of the soundtrack, after all.
Mitsuda's reaction when he heard about the remake ... er, we mean, port? "Finally!" That pretty much sums it up in one word. In an interview with 1UP, he told the gaming site, "I had the music for the Nintendo DS version stay as close as possible to the SNES original, so I think you'll like how it turns out. Whether you're playing for the first time or reflecting on the past as you go, I hope all of you enjoy it." It sounds to us like the music is almost as similar to its roots as the rest of the port, but that's one element that's completely timeless in our eyes to our ears. To find out more about Mitsuda and the Chrono Trigger soundtrack, though, we recommend checking out 1UP's interview with the composer.
Do those of you that played the game remember the music in it at all? Or was that one aspect that's evaporated from your brain over time?
Making sure that you get the message -- the message being "Chocobos are really cute; buy our Chocobo games" -- Square Enix has posted trailers for its two recently revealed fall-bound Chocobo titles, Cid and Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon: Maze of Time DS+ and Chocobo and the Magic Storybook: The Witch and the Girl and the Five Heroes.
As you might be able to tell in the promotional clip and the game's title, Cid and Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon is an enhanced port of Chocobo's Dungeon (released in the U.S. for the Wii this week) with more focus on Final Fantasy regular Cid. Given the nature of roguelikes, this DS release doesn't look like that much of a "downgraded" experience compared to the Wii version!
The Chocobo and the Magic Storybook clip isn't nearly as epic, but if you're enough of a Chocobo fan to have read this far into the post, you'll likely want to watch it anyway. Jump past the break for more of the flightless, chubby bird.
The latest information about Chrono Trigger's new DS-specific features originates from a pretty unusual place: the port's Japanese Toys R Us product page. At least, that's according to NeoGAF's duckroll, who wouldn't seem to have any reason to lie. However, the information does not appear on the product page now, which means that it was probably removed.
We didn't even know that we wanted Black Tiger ported to the DS, but now that programmer Alekmaul has revealed that he's working on a homebrew emulator for the 
Rumored M.I.A. since former publisher Strategy First canceled all of its DS titles, the Jagged Alliance port for the DS has returned with a release scheduled for 2009! Have a look at the game's soldiers of fortune in the gallery below!
The Japanese release date for 
Square Enix hasn't said anything official about the release date or pricing of the 
