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Hands-on: Contra 4

Posted Jul 14th 2007 5:49PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Reviews

Contra 4 is, for better or worse, a new Contra game. It looks and plays just like Contra games before it: it's classic 2D side-scrolling action gameplay, with a notoriously difficult 1-hit KO system. Of course, would Contra fans have it any other way?

Those worried that the Nintendo DS would not provide the hardware capable of offering a decent looking Contra can rest their fears: the sprites are fairly impressive, with a good amount of detail and animation. The game's action takes place over both the top and bottom screens on the DS, but it seems like interaction with the top screen is fairly minimal at this point. That's a good thing: if too many things were firing from the top, the player would certainly be at a serious disadvantage. The game promises a lot of vertical platforming, which certainly sounds exciting to us. The new grappling hook helps players get to higher areas faster ... but didn't seem too consequential to gameplay. Maybe they can take a few pages from Bionic Commando?

The legions of Contra fans have a lot to be excited about, but for everyone else, there isn't much new to appreciate about this DS-exclusive sequel. We're sure that it'll be a good game, but without any noteworthy gameplay additions to the game, we can't say that we're too heavily excited for it.

DS Fanboy Favorites: Andrew's top five

Posted Apr 20th 2007 11:00AM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Features, Meta

Continue reading DS Fanboy Favorites: Andrew's top five

Partial songlist for Ouendan sequel revealed [update 1]

Posted Apr 11th 2007 1:00PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News, Imports

A partial songlist for Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 can be found in this week's Japanese gaming magazines, and we can't help but get giddy over some of the choices. The Platformers reveals the following songs:

• Mihimaru GT - "Kibun Joujou"
• Homemade Kazoku - "Shounen Heart"
• smap - "Bang! Bang!!"
• Ayaka - "I Believe"
• Kimura Kaela - "Real Life Real Heart"
• Flow - "Okuru Kotoba"
• Sukima-Switch - "Zenryoku Shonen"
• Checkers - "Oh, My Julia"
• Yaida Hitomi - "Go My Way"
• Hirai Ken - "POP STAR"

The Platformers website provides samples for each song, for those interested in getting a small taste of what's to come. The game's release is not too far away: May 17th, so importers will want to get their pre-orders in ASAP, before the other cheerleading-obsessed gamers do.

[Thanks, Imran!]
[Update 1: Minor stylistic corrections.]

Ouendan scans of new and returning characters

Posted Mar 18th 2007 3:30PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Screens, Imports

Cheerleading won't come easy in the upcoming sequel to everyone's favorite portable music game. The troupe of opposing ouendan are designed to be prettier and more charming than the gang you control. Of course, you won't let their beautiful heads of hair get in your way: you're going to out-cheer them, and put them in their place. Jeux-France has new scans of Ouendan's long-titled sequel, and not only do you get to see the new rival group you'll have to cheer against, you'll see a familiar, returning character go through yet another ordeal. (Japanese people sure have it rough, don't they?)

Careful examination of the scans reveals that one of the levels seems to take place in space (pictured). Zero gravity cheerleading? Sign me up!

See also:
The making of Ouendan & Elite Beat Agents

Spectrobes takes over Nintendo World Store this Saturday

Posted Mar 8th 2007 10:55PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Fan stuff

The Nintendo World Store in NYC doesn't have parties too often, so when one happens, you have to take note. Disney's Spectrobes will be taking over the store: you'll get a chance to meet Kentaro Hisai, Spectrobes' producer, play in a Spectrobes tournament and try to win a custom DS.

The party begins at 11AM this Saturday.

GDC 07: Legend of Zelda impressions

Posted Mar 8th 2007 6:30PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Features

DRAW! That's probably the best way to describe the experience of playing Phantom Hourglass, the upcoming Wind Waker sequel. The demo at this year's GDC was multiplayer-only, and had you going against one other person in a Zelda version of Capture the Flag (the Flag being pieces of the Triforce, of course). There were two sides that you played as: either as Link, or as a villian trying to stop our beloved cel-shaded hero. As Link, you had to make your way through a maze, search for pieces of the Triforce, and bring them back to your "base." Easy enough, right? Well, there's one catch: the Triforce is crazy-heavy, and your movement will come down to a crawl, making you quite an easy target. A Nintendo representative explained a technique that makes the process slightly easier: pick up the Triforce piece, and then throw it afar. By tapping on the Triforce again, Link will automatically run forward, picking up the piece.

While it's usually fun to play as the Chosen Hero of Time, Phantom Hourglass' multiplayer mode was much more fun when playing the villain. In this mode, you have three controllable characters on an map. By drawing a line from the character, you'll be able to control where they move. If they run into Link, the boy loses, and the round ends. Drawing paths, attempting to corner off Link, feels incredibly empowering. It certainly brings a smile to have all three of your characters slowly trap Link into a corner, making him await certain doom.

It certainly was an amusing demo. However, controlling Link was simply not fun. Moving him through stylus control instead of using the face buttons seems clunky and imprecise. I'm hoping that the single player will incorporate more of the drawing elements from playing as an enemy, as they were very satisfying. Nintendo already has the graphics down: it looks beautiful. With just a little more work on the controls, Phantom Hourglass may become a truly excellent addition to the Zelda franchise.

GDC 07: Pokemon Pearl impressions

Posted Mar 8th 2007 5:30PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Features

The Pokemon machine just doesn't stop. Pokemon Pearl was available at GDC on a pretty pink DS Lite, and while no one was looking, I got to get my hands on it. While the Pokemon franchise isn't known for its graphics, the first thing I noticed as a long-time Pokemon fan was how improved the graphics have become. The screens may not show it off too well, but the game features much better character sprites in the game world. Looking at the aliasing issues in the game, it appears that the world may even have a psuedo-3D engine behind it as well. Unfortunately, the battles haven't received as nice of a makeover: they still look incredibly primitive, even by GBA standards: the uninspired battle animations certainly don't leave a good impression.

Other than the cosmetic changes, it doesn't appear as though the world of Pokemon has changed too much. Like previous iterations of the franchise, this version introduces even more pocket monsters to capture ... but not much else. The game doesn't stray far from the original Pokemon formula: classic elements, such as being forced into a fight when spotted by a rival trainer, are still retained in this latest update.

Strangely, use of the touch screen seems conspicuously absent. Of course, with other titles like Pokemon Ranger trying to take the franchise in a different direction, maybe it's best that Pokemon remains unchanged for its next major DS release.

GDC 07: Miyamoto keynote reveals design inspiration

Posted Mar 8th 2007 1:31PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News

Shigeru "The Man" Miyamoto has just finished speaking at the GDC in San Francisco. A massive crowd waited for the famed Nintendo designer to discuss the inspirations behind his game designs. See how Mii evolved from early NES concept, and read about a brand new Wii channel that Miyamoto is working on. The full Nintendo Wii/DS Fanboy liveblogging transcript is available after the break.

Continue reading GDC 07: Miyamoto keynote reveals design inspiration

GDC 07: The making of Ouendan & Elite Beat Agents

Posted Mar 8th 2007 12:11AM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News

The gaming community has embraced iNiS' incredible DS music games, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! and Elite Beat Agents, much to the surprise of game designer Keiichi Yano. His panel at the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco featured an incredible large audience that filled the presentation room. All kinds of people, from gamers, to developers, to prominent members of the gaming press, all attended the session to show their support of this small development team.

Yano-san went into incredible detail about the inspirations behind the game, the process of working with Nintendo, and gave us some delicious images from the upcoming sequel.

Continue reading GDC 07: The making of Ouendan & Elite Beat Agents

GDC 07: Makeup and Japanese housewife sims

Posted Mar 7th 2007 3:00AM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News

Forget being a lawyer. Or a surgeon. Two new games from Studio Nocturne, a Thailand game development team, are going to make you experience the horrors and trials of being a Makeup Diva and a Housewife Superstar. Ai Housewife Superstar appears to be a celebration of pre-suffrage femininity: various mini-games will take you through what looks to be quite the Cinderella story.

More exciting was Makeup Diva, and not just because of the mysterious (and unexplained) Nintendo Wi-Fi logo featured on the game's poster. The game has you preparing the ultra-glam looks of faux celebrities. One of the game's developers spoke about a much-too-timely addition to the game: a certain celebrity must recover from a head shaving gone wrong--and only the Makeup Diva can save the day! Each of the scenarios will attempt to parody famous people and movies: "It's a lot like Mad TV," one of the representatives said.

The concept is certainly exciting, but hopefully the game will deliver the gameplay to make a truly insane, fun experience. Writing of Phoenix Wright caliber would do wonders for a game as quirky and unique as this one. Hopefully, we'll see more of Makeup Diva (and Housewife Superstar) in the future.

DS Fanboy lands in GDC: what to expect

Posted Mar 6th 2007 2:55PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: News

Jetlag won't stop this intrepid blogger from giving you the news you want. Live from San Francisco, DS Fanboy will be giving you the latest GDC news, straight from the show floor! We're going to update constantly throughout the week, so stay tuned. Here are some highlights from what we have planned:

• Thursday, 1:30PM PST: Shigeru Miyamoto keynote speech
• Live from the GDC Expo show floor: new products on display!
• From Ouendan to HELP!: a rare behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! and Elite Beat Agents.
  
• Reflections of Zelda: behind-the-scenes info from the Eiji Aonuma.

Stay tuned to DS Fanboy for your DS-related GDC coverage. Don't forget to also check out Joystiq for even more.

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