Nintendo DS first impressions

Balfa

Just played a DS in gamestop in the US. It's a LOT better than i expected. I played the demo metroid that came with it, and the stylus is great for looking about, way better than a joypad. It was much more fluid to use than i thought it would be.

They had a stand set up with two DSs and you could play wireless multiplayer metroid. The gameplay was okay, but metroid isn't meant to be a deathmatch game.

And the drawing/instant message thing is pretty cool. It's much more responsive than my Palmpilot stylus input. I'll probably pick one of these up sometime before christmas (they come out here next week).

On the whole, very impressed.

the_syco

3 questions;
Whats the battery life like?
Whats the graphics like?
Are there many games made for it?

Tusky

the_syco wrote:

3 questions;
Whats the battery life like?
Whats the graphics like?
Are there many games made for it?

How would he know what the barrery life is like ? google the list of titles that are coming out for it and download a video to see the graphics...

mp3guy

battery life - 6-10 hours on a 4 hour charge
Graphics - as tusky said
games - as tusky said

Rew

Balfa wrote:

Just played a DS in gamestop in the US. It's a LOT better than i expected. I played the demo metroid that came with it, and the stylus is great for looking about, way better than a joypad. It was much more fluid to use than i thought it would be.

They had a stand set up with two DSs and you could play wireless multiplayer metroid. The gameplay was okay, but metroid isn't meant to be a deathmatch game.

And the drawing/instant message thing is pretty cool. It's much more responsive than my Palmpilot stylus input. I'll probably pick one of these up sometime before christmas (they come out here next week).

Did you notice any jerking in the graphics (few places have suggested occosinal jumps)?

Where in the US are you? are the shops in the area still taking pre orders?

Im hopeing to get one imported by my brother when he goes to Boston next month but it sounds like they are going to be sold out/booked out for weeks...

Balfa

Rew wrote:

Did you notice any jerking in the graphics (few places have suggested occosinal jumps)?

nope. But i only fiddled about with it for five minutes

Where in the US are you? are the shops in the area still taking pre orders?

Dallas. Yes.

Jim

Was looking at some Mario 64 DS vids just there and omg, its looks the exact same as the N64 version.

I was a bit skecptical they could pull that off, but there is it, they did. Although I did notice a slight "fuzzyness" with the graphics (alot of people which disagree with me) I will definatly be buying one.

Rew

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

Was looking at some Mario 64 DS vids just there and omg, its looks the exact same as the N64 version.

I was a bit skecptical they could pull that off, but there is it, they did. Although I did notice a slight "fuzzyness" with the graphics (alot of people which disagree with me) I will definatly be buying one.

Very hard to judge the graphics properly from a vid to be fair.

I know someone in NYC atm who is coming back monday and will try pick onwe up for me but I reckon there wont be one to be had a for a few weeks...

Rabies

Is there any news on a european release date?

Jim

Febuary afaik.

Rabies

Thanks Jim.
There goes my plan to get it at christmas. Saw on link-sang that they will be shipping on Nov 21st. But there will prob be loads of back orders to get through first.

Mr E

I'm in Toronto for the weekend. Went to a local Electronics Boutique, and they said that they won't have any on Sunday for people who didn't preorder (and they don't even have enough to cover those). Going to a bigger shopping center early on Sunday to chance my arm, but I don't hold out much hope.

Brock

Im headin big apple on the 9th dec already have to try pick up 3 of tehse bloody things
Brock

Jim

Brock wrote:

Im headin big apple on the 9th dec already have to try pick up 3 of tehse bloody things
Brock

Poor you.
I'll do it for you if you want.

Placebo

my sis is in usa now, id order one but i rather get the feel of it first, il wait for feb.

Bass.exe

It has been suggested that it's more likely to be me mid-March before the DS reaches European shores.
In fact, it has been suggested that the PSP will be released on the same day as the DS over here. Hmmmm....
Oh, and they'll charge you €150 for it, instead of the.... (www.xe.com)... €115 you'd get it for in the States. But, yes, I'd like to try before I buy. So I'll probably end up waiting till Q1 2005 (the only 'official' release date) to try it, and then getting it from the US, by which time it'll have depreciated in value another $30... :P Huzzah!

Edit: Anyone seen the "Tendo Dokuta" video on gamespy yet? It was... odd... so... very... odd...

Placebo

has anyone seen graphics for dead or alive i think on psp ? looks like sega saturn !

mp3guy

if you're only thinking of buying one now, you've no chance. I pre-ordered mine in June on Lik-sang, and I'm still not gauranteed I'll get mine before January

Smellyirishman

MP3GUY thats bull

if you ordered in june then you will be getting one before january!!

Only very recently have play-asia been saying that they may not be able to fill there pre orders on release day

Hugh Hefner

mp3guy wrote:

if you're only thinking of buying one now, you've no chance. I pre-ordered mine in June on Lik-sang, and I'm still not gauranteed I'll get mine before January

Agreed you've no chance of getting one form America if you're preordering now but I also preordered on Lik-Sang and I'm sure I'll get it before next friday. YIIIPPPPPPPIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!

Mr E

I was standing in line at EB here in Toronto at 12 today.... And I managed to get the last non-preordered DS (much to the dismay of the 20 or so people queueing behind me - if looks could kill, I wouldn't be typing this...)

So after an hour of playing it, whats the story?

Well, I like it. Alot. Its bigger than I thought it would be, and quite heavy too (about twice the weight of the SP). It feels really solid. There is one slot at the top for DS games (which are tiny - about the size of SD cards), and there is a slot at the bottom for GBA games. The stylus is behind the bottom half of the unit, and feels pretty flimsy, to be honest. Its easier to use your finger anyway.... The bottom screen is the touch screen, and the top screen is the regular screen.

When you turn it on, you get the DS logo at the top half of the screen, and a copyright/disclaimer/warning at the bottom half. You're taken through a 5 step setup phase (enter name, enter interface colour, enter date, enter time, and enter your birthday). When thats done, the unit starts automatically.

A menu appears on the screen. You have the choice of re-setting up, loading the pictothingy (which I haven't tried yet), loading a DS game (if cartridge is loaded) and loading a GBA game (if cartridge is loaded).

First game to try was Metroid Prime DS: First Hunt (a demo of the full game thats out here next March). When you start it up, you get a nice intro with a camera panning around Samus (using both screens) which was really nice. When you start the game, you have the option of 3 training levels - one where you learn basic movement and shooting, one where you learn the morph ball, and one called Survival. Played it for about 5 minutes (there are a few different control configurations - mainly around using the buttons or using the stylus). Pretty cool game. However, those expecting nice antialiasing and bilinear style filtering will be disappointed. It felt like a doom-technology FPS. Having said that, the 3D is infinitely better than the efforts on the GBA.

Next game was Mario 64 DS. Many an hour was spent on this back in the 90s, and its great to play it again. It starts a little differently to the N64 version. Mario pops out of his pipe (as before), but Luigi and Wario pop up out of pipes either side of him. The 3 of them run towards the castle and the screen fades to black. The next scene shows the camera lakitu waking yoshi up and telling him that the 3 have gone missing. So you start with control of yoshi.... A full overhead map is on the bottom side of the screen and the main game is on the top half. You run up to the gate (locked), and lakitu tells you that a rabbit has run off with the key. An icon appears on the map to tell you where the rabbit is. Find him, catch him (using your tongue), get the key, enter the house, and start the game on the bobomb level as before. I presume I rescue Mario, Luigi and Wario somewhere along the way. Great game (as everyone knows) but it takes a bit of getting used to not having analogue control of the characters. Moving left and right moves yoshi left and right (with the camera adjusting). Up makes yoshi walk forward. To run, you have to hold down one of the buttons. Takes a bit of getting used to, but it works. Graphics are great, but again, they're not anti-aliased, so expect blocky textures up close.

Last game was Feel The Magic:XX/YY (a stalk-em-up by Sonic Team). This is a bit like Wario Ware on the GBA, but the aim of the game is to stalk a girl that you fell in love with at first sight. You do this by playing minigames which use all the controls on the DS in weird ways. In the first game, you accidentally swallow goldfish (don't ask). Over the 2 screens, you see your torso (head at top, xray of stomach at bottom). You have to use the stylus to move the fish up to the top of the stomach where you will regurgitate them (yep, its a Freddy Starr simulator). The next game has people jumping out of a plane, and numbers appear above their head. You have to tap those numbers into a numeric keypad on the bottom of the screen. It starts off with double digits, but the numbers get longer the more you play. The fiinal game I tried was a blow-out-the-candle game. You had to blow onto the microphone beside the touch screen to put out the candles. The graphics are excellent (nicely animated 60s style graphics) and the music is similarly themed. Great fun and can't wait to play some more.

Some important info I haven't read anywhere else....

1. It uses the same power connector as the SP, so if you have an SP, you can use that cable to charge your DS. I have a USB charger for my SP, and I'm using that to charge the DS at the moment.

2. Flash Carts work with the DS. I had a few GBA games loaded on my flash cart, and they all worked perfectly. The bottom half of the screen is switched off while playing GBA games. Because of improved technology (I presume), the screen seems alot sharper than the SP, and the sound is amazing (crystal clear, and stereo at last...)

Those getting the DS this week - enjoy. I know you will.

Those thinking of getting it - take this as an endorsement for the console. I really hope its a success for Nintendo....

If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

- Dave.

Hugh Hefner

Did you have to rest your hands on a surface while playing First Hunt using the touch screen or could you hold up the DS with one hand while pressing the buttons and touching the screen?

Caesar_Bojangle

i heard that nintendo were doing a poll on their site to see if gamecube owners would be interested in an n64 add on. Sorry, i've no links and it really sounds like bull. Tmb just remined me when he was talking about mario64. oh how i loved that game.


edit/ heres a link http://www.totalvideogames.com/pages/articles/index.php?article_id=6770&type=1

Rew

TmB wrote:

1. It uses the same power connector as the SP, so if you have an SP, you can use that cable to charge your DS. I have a USB charger for my SP, and I'm using that to charge the DS at the moment.

Because of improved technology (I presume), the screen seems alot sharper than the SP, and the sound is amazing (crystal clear, and stereo at last...)

Did you look at the charger nad check its voltage rating (ie 110 only or 110-220)?

The screens are back lit as opposed to front lit in the GBA SP thats the main reason they look better.

Have you noticed its hard to see both screens at the same time without opeing the unit up fully?

BTW you can chose which screen to ply GBA games on in the menu.

I REALLY want one of these... Currently trying everyone I know to get one brought back but I could be waiting toll mid December at the rate things are going...

Hugh Hefner

Caesar_Bojangle wrote:

i heard that nintendo were doing a poll on their site to see if gamecube owners would be interested in an n64 add on. Sorry, i've no links and it really sounds like bull. Tmb just remined me when he was talking about mario64. oh how i loved that game.


edit/ heres a link http://www.totalvideogames.com/pages/articles/index.php?article_id=6770&type=1

Yes they did have that poll running about a week or so ago (maybe they still do). I voted no seeing as I already have a bloody N64 (and it kicks ass). Yes Mario 64 rocks ass although Perfect Dark was in my opinion the N64's best game (I know some people will disagree and say it's Majora's Mask).

Jim

Neither Perfect Dark or Major's Mask were the N64's best game.

Goldeneye and OOT pwnd them both.

monkeyfudge

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

Neither Perfect Dark or Major's Mask were the N64's best game.

Goldeneye and OOT pwnd them both.

That Superman game was pretty good though too, wasn't it?

Jim

I've never played it, but I'll assume you were being sacastic.

Retr0gamer

Wasn't that the game where you had like 15 seconds to preform a task but it took 20 to actually read the on screen instructions. and also the one where to stop flying you had to fly straight into a building and 70% of the time you would end up stuck in the wall not able to move. And the same game that tops worst N64 game ever polls.

monkeyfudge

Retr0gamer wrote:

Wasn't that the game where you had like 15 seconds to preform a task but it took 20 to actually read the on screen instructions. and also the one where to stop flying you had to fly straight into a building and 70% of the time you would end up stuck in the wall not able to move. And the same game that tops worst N64 game ever polls.

I guess I was being sarcastic afterall...

Horsefumbler

You know what **** game i really loved on the n64? Hexen! I now it was also a pcgame but man that game was great. you could play a four player co op mode and you could pick three different characters all with diff weapons aww man it was great. So underated...

I also liked the rather ****e clayfighter