Reader capnwang wrote in to tell us of a Pokemon tournament going on at select GameStop stores. Taking place this Saturday, July 21st, the tournament demands you bring your DS and team of Pokemon in-store for the chance to win a copy of Pokemon Battle Revolution. In calling our local GameStop, they aren't having a tournament there, but acknowledged that other stores are doing it.
Plan on running down there this weekend to rock your Pokemon?
If The Martian DS looks a little rough on the edges, it's because the title was originally created by a team of three for a 72-hour game development competition four years ago. The resulting project is actually quite impressive, considering, and we're happy to see that one of the original developers took the time to create a homebrew port of it for the DS.
Short but sweet, The Martian DS is a side-scrolling shooter in the vein of Alien Hominid. Players roam the city picking up weapons and power-ups while dodging constant gunfire from the local law enforcement. The game really suffers from the lack of a soundtrack, but the original character sprites, especially the donut-heaving boss, makes up for it.
There isn't much to these latest clips from The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, which makes our job of presenting them that much more difficult. Still, what little we do get to see has us intrigued, as Link hauls around some pieces of the triforce and chats with his annoying little fairy cohort. If you're as excited as we are for the game (we're going to assume you're more excited), then you want to see any and all things related to Phantom Hourglass, so head on over and watch the videos.
Just when you think we've established what the Nintendo DS is capable of graphics-wise, homebrew developer Phillip Bradbury comes along and smashes those preconceptions with a Videlectrix port for the ages. If you thought Population: Tire shook the scene with its innovative touchscreen controls, prepare to be brought to your knees by Secret Collect. Epic in every sense of the word, this remake is half Indiana Jones, half God of WarThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time:
"The greatest secrets man has ever known have been scattered all over the globe and its [sic] your job to find them."
Homestar Runner's Strong Bad stars in the game, represented by a magnificently detailed, red square. You'll navigate the agile hero through fifteen blocky mazes and collect yellow squares to advance to the next spine-tingling level. Picking up the blue power-ups (also squares) will boost your speed, keeping you ahead of the labyrinths' treacherous monsters -- so treacherous, they're invisible to the naked eye!
The original Flash version is also available online for those of you who either lack the tools to play homebrew games or don't have enough room on your hard drive for the 18KB download.
We can honestly say we haven't purchased this game because of all the controversy surrounding it, however now that news hits that those affected by the broken carts are receiving the promised replacements, we're feeling a bit more confident. And, even though SNK Playmore took longer than we would've initially thought to help those in need, we think if there are any more problems from here on out, we'd be covered.
Did any of you send in for a replacement cartridge? Receive it yet?
Those lucky Joystiq folk got their hands on the DS adaptation of the Xbox Live Arcade hit Geometry Wars during the recently-concluded E3. After running it through their rigorous gauntlet of tests, Joystiq came to the conclusion that the game was sloppy and hard to handle. More like hard to swallow for all of those looking forward to playing the game on the DS, we imagine.
Even with the ability to guide your attack ship with the d-pad, or exclusive use of the stylus, the game is harder to play than on the Xbox 360, according to Joystiq. With 60 levels to play, we imagine even a little bit of time with the game won't help correct this error. Guess the game just needs analog sticks ...
Though the Nintendo DS version of The Simpsons Game won't have the 3D frills that its console counterparts will feature, that's perfectly fine with us! We didn't need 3D to enjoy The Simpsons' license when it was an arcade game in the 90s, and we don't need it now!
Judging by these first two video previews, the family's first foray onto our dual-screened system looks fantastic! As expected, the 2D platformer is teeming with references and characters from the show, even including a a level where you get to eat your way through the Land of Chocolate. According to Game|Life, Electronic Arts will be packing the handheld title with 2000 lines of spoken dialogue.
We weren't impressed with most of the minigames we saw unlocked in Noiseland Arcade, but the "Pet Homer" Nintendogs spoof definitely made us smile. We've always wanted a donut-chomping lout of our own to poke, feed, and care for. Do the Bartman and dance past the post break for GameTrailers' developer walkthroughs.
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.
If you missed our spotlight on Leo Burnett's "Communion Day" ad last Sunday, make sure to give it a glance. Even if you've already skimmed through our words on the award-winning piece, we've updated our summation with some insight from art director Rosemary Collini Bosso.
This weekend's installment of Promotional Consideration takes a critical eye to an unconvincing ad that might actually drive away consumers. Read on for more details.
Joystiq has all of the deets on a new social network launching for the DS from Disney Interactive called Dgamer. The service is to launch with the upcoming Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and will be included in all Disney titles from there on out. The service, which will allow users to create custom avatars, chat wirelessly and track their friends' progress in Dgamer titles, will also allow users to log in to their account at Disney.com, for further accessibility. The overall package resembles a fairly popular online networking service on another console, wouldn't you say?
The rub lies in the fact that before you can add friends to the network, you still have to exchange friend codes. As if we could get around that ...
With E3 coming to a close, you've no doubt many things to think about this weekend. Upcoming games and future enjoymentof them is probably on your mind right now, as it is ours. That doesn't mean your, or our, responsibility to enjoy some nice gaming over the weekend can be overlooked, though!
So, we ask: what are you playing? What will you be rocking in your DS this weekend? We've got some Puzzle Quest to play ourselves, having only given the game a few minutes of our time on its initial purchase.
Last night's Game Night session was less of a Game Night and more of a "sit in chat for awhile before playing a handful of matches" night. It was sad to see, as we were all excited and ready to play Planet Puzzle League. We guess you guys just don't enjoy the game, or a majority of you weren't able to secure it yet, full of intentions of doing so. Regardless of the why, we're going to make sure next week is a good night chock full of gaming by only including our top "classic" games into the poll.
Only a couple of hours before Nintendo's E3 media briefing yesterday, rumors of a new Golden Sun game for the DS began to spread like a fast-moving cancer, traveling through the internet's lymphatic system, taking over gaming blogs and forums. Even Joystiq, the wind beneath our wings, fell victim to the malignant screenshots that were supposedly leaked from a "secret press gathering" by person-in-the-know gobo_4227.
To your right, you'll see one of those supposed screenshots of Golden Sun: The Sooth Sayer compared with promotional artwork that was released for Golden Sun: The Lost Age back in 2002. Unless you count the bloom filter and "Touch to Start" text, the images are exact twins. The fact that we've heard no official mention of the new RPG -- or any other Camelot-developed title for either Nintendo console -- whilst E3 continues makes this rumor seem even more unconvincing.
As if E3 hasn't already brought us enough joy, we've got some nice pieces of concept art and screens for DK Jungle Climber. The game looks to be shaping up nicely and the included trailer only adds to the truckloads of awesome content we've all received so far. Check out the fresh screens and concept art in our gallery below, and be sure to head past the break for the trailer.
DK Jungle Climber is currently slated for release on September 10th.
With all of the craziness that comes with E3, we still need to remember the important things in life. Important things like our wonderful Game Night gaming sessions. Last week, we didn't put up a poll to select tonight's game, so we're just going to call it ourselves. Our theme game will be ...
We've got a flood of Front Mission DS media for you today. In addition to the new screenshots viewable in the gallery below, there's also a minute-and-a-half-long trailer for the Square EnixSRPG past the post break. If you need more than just combat clips and menu hopping to get you going, scroll down a bit further for the original Japanese trailer.
Front Mission DS finally bring the series' first entry to the states, adding touchscreen controls, multiplayer battles (local only), and several new Wanzers to the mech-based title. While this release already includes the alternative UCS storyline from the PlayStation remake, five new missions specific to the DS version have also been added.
RPGamer had a chance to sit down with producer Koichiro Sakamoto to discuss the handheld port and his thoughts on bringing more Front Mission games to the DS. According to the interview, were it not for the campaigning of a particular team member, North America might not have received the game: "There was one [who] was very passionate about the game, and wanted to give players in the United States the chance to experience. He felt that Front Mission 3 and 4 proved that there is a userbase, and since the DS is currently very popular, the thinking went, 'Why not give it a try?'"