Perhaps you've heard of N+. It's been covered only a teenybit here on DS Fanboy, so it's pretty unforgivable if this is your first encounter with the masochistic Ninja platformer. Masochistic may not even be a strong enough word, honestly. N+ has built up a reputation all across the vast internet as being ridiculously difficult, much like its web-based predecessor. Whether N+ is a solid recreation of the original N's gameplay is a somewhat controversial subject, but anyone who's given it a whirl can probably agree on one point: it is awesome for gaming on the go.
Your miniature ninja is blessed with amazing speed and skill, though it comes at a heavy price: a lifespan of precisely 1.5 minutes. As you might imagine, this makes N+ perfect for quick bursts of play, as you'll never spend more than a few minutes trying to clear a set of levels. Sound interesting? Stab that big button down there and come see why N+ is a beautiful thing indeed if you're looking for some quick ninja-flavored challenge in your daily commute.
The beach is awesome. The life of a game blogger is a difficult one, my friends, so it's nice to step away from the monitor, sink into the white sands and catch up on that glorious invention known as sleep. Such a relaxing week could only bring good things, and I'm incredibly pleased to say it did: it gave good David a chance to talk about Electroplankton, one of the DS's most eccentric titles, and it gave me a chance to give the Kirby series a go.
You can imagine my delight, then, to finally gets my sandy hands on one of the DS's premiere platformers, to see how one cute and cuddly pink ball can inspire so much adoration. Kirby has made a number of appearances on everyone's favorite handheld, but this week's edition of Gaming to Go will be focusing on the first time the prolific cake eater showed his face on the portable. Kirby: Canvas Curse, in case you haven't given it a go, is all about drawing. You'll use the stylus exclusively to fling our spherical friend through many different adventures, all of which are short, colorful, and an absolute blast to play. Want to hear more? Point your stylus at the big button down there and race on to the next page!
"Wha? Who is this impostor in my beloved column," you ask? Well, I kindly asked Matt if I could step in and guest write the column this week. Luckily, Matt is a fan of not working and allowed me to do so. I imagine he's sitting on a beach right now, complaining about the salt in his drink.
So, Electroplankton. Many of the longtime readers will know it's one of my favorite DS games. But, what's it all about? Well, it's a pick-up-and-play music game by Toshio Iwai, where you can create a variety of looped tracks for your listening pleasure. And utilizing the headphone jack, you can take your musical creations and export them to your computer or some other device for saving. For those who crave an overall goal or some end to work to, then Electroplankton might not be the game for you. The game may seem a bit shallow to those that aren't intrigued by the prospect of simply making music, but I assure you it's a charming and fun game, and one that is perfect for gaming on the go for any lover of the quirky and unique. If there's one thing you can say about Electroplankton, it's that there isn't any other game on the planet like it.
Tick tock of the clock ringing in your ears? Tell your timepiece to shove it! We live busy lives, but remember this: there's always time to game. Check back with Gaming to Go every week for the latest and greatest titles you should spend your precious few minutes with. And if you're looking for more original content from DS Fanboy (bless your heart), then check out our Point/Counterpoint feature and Bury the Shovelware.
With so many titles currently available for Nintendo's popular portable, a number of gems are all but guaranteed to be overlooked by the millions of players struggling through the DS's large library of games. Sometimes those unknown titles are examples of portable gaming at its finest, utilizing the stylus and touchscreen in ways both clever and fun. Sometimes they're not. Super Collapse! 3 toes the thick line between those two extremities, representing a puzzle game that's neither amazing or awful. It's simply good, through and through, a title largely unknown that can still be plenty of fun if you're willing to give it a go.
The Collapse! series of puzzle games has been around since 1999, though Super Collapse! 3 is the first title in the lineup to make the jump to the DS. Reviews generally suggest this incarnation does little to improve or mix up the basic gameplay of the series, though that's perfectly fine if you've never given the games a spin. I hadn't even heard of Collapse! until about a week ago, but what I've played since has been a pretty solid amount of fun, so why not come along with this week's edition of Gaming to Go and see if you might enjoy it too?
Remember checkers? How about chess? And blackjack? What about dominoes? And Shogi and Ludo and Hasami Shogi and Koi-Koi and -- ahem. Don't recognize those last few names? No worries! I didn't know them either. There's still time to learn, however, and this is where Nintendo's Clubhouse Games comes to party.
It contains 42 -- yes, 42 -- classic games for your enjoyment, running the gamut from bowling and billiards to Mahjong solitaire and Pig. An incredible amount of variety exists in this tiny DS cart, making Clubhouse Games one of the most involving titles the DS has seen in recent years. The mind-boggling amount of games also makes it ideal for this week's edition of Gaming to Go. Sure, I might not recommend starting up a game of chess on your next lunch break, but why not go for a quick game of Connect Five? Whatever your mood fancies, Clubhouse Games has you covered. Want to hear more? Click that big grey button there to see what you've been missing.
Tick tock of the clock ringing in your ears? Tell your timepiece to shove it! We live busy lives, but remember this: there's always time to game. Check back with Gaming to Go every week for the latest and greatest titles you should spend your precious few minutes with.
Mario Kart? An incredibly obvious choice, perhaps, but for one important reason: it's good. Very good. It's easily the best racer on the DS and one of the greatest titles in the handheld's library, if the review scores are any indication. But beyond the numbers and critical analysis rests the simple fact that Mario Kart DS is fun, fast, and very much worthy of your attention, especially if you're looking for motor madness just as enjoyable now as it was when the game raced onto shelves back in late 2005.
Sure, there's this newfangled Wii version making the rounds, but for all of its technological advances, Mario Kart Wii is lacking in one vital area -- you can't take it on the toilet. If that realization is all it takes to convince you to dust that tiny cartridge off and put it back in action, you're in the right place. Grab a few bananas and peel out* to the second page as this week's edition of Gaming to Go revisits a portable classic.
Tick tock of the clock ringing in your ears? Tell your timepiece to shove it! We live busy lives, but remember this: there's always time to game. Check back with Gaming to Go every week for the latest and greatest titles you should spend your precious few minutes with.
The premiere Puzzle Quest title debuted to generally positive reviews, many of which praised the unexpectedly compelling mix of Bejeweled gem-swapping puzzles and standard RPG elements. Any gamer who has given the title a whirl knows the critical claim doesn't come unwarranted, even with a few niggling things like cheating AI and a complete lack of closure. Those minor complaints are more than made up for with the mind-boggling amount of depth the developers crammed into the cartridge, transforming what could have been just another puzzler into an addicting little package still worth playing over a year since its release.
With the space-age sequel rumored to land sometime in October, now is as good a time as any to take a look back at the sword and stone puzzler that started it all. If you never bothered to pick it up, consider yourself thoroughly shamed -- but don't let the weight of your emotional guilt bring you down. Come along with this week's edition of Gaming to Go for one last reminder that sliding colorful stones around a board is a perfectly viable way to wage digital war.
Who knew Bizarre Creations had a hit on its hands when it created the original Geometry Wars so many moons ago? I certainly didn't, though that might be due in part to my complete lack of one of those other consoles. Since its original inception on Microsoft soil, the Geometry Wars series has seen a number of different incarnations, a particularly enjoyable one of which is available for everyone's favorite handheld.
Geometry Wars: Galaxies also saw a release on Nintendo's white waggle box, though the infinitely more portable version is what I'll be covering in this week's edition of Gaming to Go. Haven't experienced the geometrical madness yet? Come along and see why playing with shapes on a two-dimensional grid is far more entertaining than it sounds.
Elite Beat Agents built a reputation on many things: colorful characters, marvelous music, and, on later difficulties, the combination of soul-crushing challenge and those godforsakenspin markers. But look beyond that shiny veneer and you'll see above all an incredibly unique game, one that takes advantage of the DS's touch-screen capabilities arguably better than any other title on the system.
And it's a hell of a lot of fun. Give the game a spin for just a few minutes and you'll see what I mean, as part of Elite Beat Agents's charm is its bite-sized gameplay. Take one of the many songs for a ride and you'll get a glimpse of nearly everything the game has to offer, with the frantic tapping, circling, and groovy beats the title is known for. It's okay to dance with your DS. I don't judge.
Can you feel the music? Come along with this week's edition of Gaming to Go and see why exuberant dancing can solve all of the world's problems.
I like words. I even go so far to fancy myself as one of those indomitable writer types, wielding a pen for all things mighty and righteous and incredibly nerdy. It is with great reluctance that I write this particular column, however, for one simple fact: I suck at WordJong.
It's a simple game: clean interface, smooth gameplay, and a surprisingly entertaining mixture of classics Mahjong and Scrabble. The unholy union of these two titles brought about a gem of a game largely ignored by the DS-playing populace, though its relative obscurity might prove to be an advantage. It makes WordJong easier for all of you to track down, for one, but it also provides fewer people to compare my pathetic scores with. And that, my friends, is sweet.
Interested? Grab your handy dictionary and come along with this week's edition of Gaming to Go, wherein this columnist's crippling shame manifests itself in an overabundance of big words.
Remember Meteos? The vertical block sliding? The fast, frantic action, and the maddening tick-tock of the clock at the top of your screen? The sweeping, dramatic story of taking your alien ship into the heart of madness and bombarding it with pretty squares and blocks? The others don't understand. They couldn't possibly comprehend the bloody tears you shed for every planet lost along the way -- every warrior that stood 'til the end and mumbled something heroic in whatever freaky alien language they knew.
It's pretty intense, man. But let's talk about this game called Planet Puzzle League, shall we? It's pretty similar to Meteos, minus the ecstatic hyperbole I threw it out above. But don't let the dearth of heart-pounding plot deter you! Planet Puzzle League may forgo the charm of its extraterrestrial brother, but the title more than makes it for its lack of emotional impact with a wealth of gameplay options. It also has the distinction of being pretty much perfect for a gamer on the go, a fact which should make my job a hell of a lot easier and your wallet just a little bit lighter. Grab your penny bank, ladies and gents, and come along with this week's edition of Gaming to Go. The Puzzle League awaits.
Everybody loves minigames, right? Right! Sega loves them too, so much they just had to take those warm, fuzzy feelings and shove 'em into a DS cart. The title that came out is something of an anomaly in the DS's library: a stylish and entertaining minigame collection that, now four years after its debut, still doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. Want in on the weirdness? You may not understand what in the world you're playing, sure, but if rampant wackiness sounds like a great way to pass the time, Feel the Magic: XY/XX might be just what you need.
Yeah, it's more minigames, but most of them are entertaining enough -- or just freaking weird enough -- to warrant your attention. And they're all pretty snappy, too, so you could spend your time worse ways whenever you want to game on the go. Sure, you might get a few odd looks on the bus if anyone sees you saving fat people from a massive man-eating anteater, but what do you care? You've got sweet digital love to save, man, so you'd better come along with this week's edition of Gaming to Go and brace yourself for the madness.
Nobody likes minigames, right? Nintendo's stellar sales have attracted far too many of them, unfortunately, resulting in some pretty bitter words about the white waggle box's expanding library of games. Everyone's favorite handheld has also seen its fair share of minigame collections over the years, only a handful of which are worth your time and money.
Bomberman Land Touch! 2 is one of those proud few. That's a pretty debatable point, I'm sure, given the game's paper-thin plot and utterly forgettable soundtrack, but the title does have two redeeming qualities: rockin' multiplayer and a surprisingly solid collection of minigames for you to blast through.
I don't even like minigames, honestly, so it's a little puzzling that I've spent over nine obsessive hours playing what Bomberman Land Touch! 2 has to offer. Want to be equally confused? Come along with Gaming to Go and I'll show you just why this bite-sized gameplay is perfect for your next lunch break.
That's The World Ends with You for the lot of you, though any Japanese readers might know by it a seemingly happier name. But no matter what you call it, doesn't that acronym just rock your pretty pink socks? Seriously, stop reading and say it aloud. Do it right now. Let the letters roll off your tongue and perhaps you'll get a tantalizing taste of the title we've been raving about for the last few months. You also might sound a little silly. My bad.
But what's that? You've already played The World Ends with You? Good for you! I might be treading well-worn ground with this week's edition of Gaming to Go, but Square Enix's latest epic deserves mention for one simple reason: it makes fighting fresh, fast, and -- most importantly -- fashionable. Tired of tedious turn-based battling? Tired of donning drab, colorless garments whenever you step into the war zone? TWEWY might be just what you need!
What other game actively rewards you for playing in short bursts? That feature alone makes The World Ends with You an easy recommendation for a gamer on the go. Hit the jump if you need further convincing, you fashionista, you!
'Tis a great week for gaming, isn't it? And, for the Animal Crossing addicts among us, it should be pretty freaking awesome. For the sad, strange readers who haven't been chain themselves to a monitor for the last few days, listen up: E3 recently brought word of the next installment in the series, albeit one primed and ready for Nintendo's white waggle box. But don't drop Animal Crossing: Wild World just yet -- there's still plenty of life in the game, even if you've paid off your house three times over and now get your jollies from planting pitfall seeds in front of your neighbors' doors.
That's a perfectly admirable pastime, sure, but Wild World offers plenty of snappy activities for a gamer on the go. In honor of this super special week and the new game on the way, Gaming to Go is adopting a slightly different format for your reading pleasure. You guys like lists, right? Well, buckle your seat belts, ladies and gents, and get ready for 5 Things You Can Do With Five Minutes in AC:WW!
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