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Electroplankton's not a very good one to go for if you're looking for something that'll sell the system to you - it's *very* casual and isn't representative of the rest of the software library in the slightest. Not that it's not fun, just that it's not the title to pick out as a shining example of the reality of what the format's all about.
I'd definitely recommend trying Advance Wars Dual Strike. It's a good example of how the machine can have a positive effect on ease of use where some traditional genres are concerned, and it's also a bloody good game (and a huge one, when you take all the unlockable skirmish maps and missions into account). If it disappoints at all it's by having a campaign mode that's too easy for veterans of any of the previous games to whizz through and by having too few maps that use the upper screen in a meaningful way - there are some, but only in campaign and then only two or three.
Kirby's Power Paintbrush (which goes under a different name in every territory - that's the European name, Kirby's Canvas Curse is either the Japanese or American one and I'm afraid I can't remember the third) uses the touchscreen to fundamentally alter the dynamics of an existing genre, and deserves rather more praise for doing so than it gets. It's not the first game to do it, but it is the first full game - Yoshi's Touch & Go does a similar thing, but does come across as an extended tech demo or proof of concept, rather than full-developed project.
Anyway, you tap irby to make him roll in whichever direction he's facing, draw in the platforms that you want him to move across and change his direction by drawing barriers for him to bounce off. It's got some lovely use of colour throughout, has a nice eye for distinctively themed backgrounds (every world is painted in a different style, from impressionistic daubs to stained glass) and manages to keep the innovative controls solid throughout. Again, lots to unlock and keep playing for.
My favourite game on the DS, and one that I think is essential for any owner of the machine, remains Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. It's all in Japanese, yes. It needs to be bought from an import site, yes. BUT you don't need to be able to read the text to understand it perfectly and it's more than worth the teeny weeny little bit of extra trouble you'd need to go to to source a copy.
It's a music game - a genre more popularly known as rhythm action or bemani (and which I'm still thinking is something we desperately need a thread on in this forum and will get around to creating when I've got more time and energy, if nobody beats me to it [hint hint]) - with visuals ripped straight out of a hyperactive manga and given rudimentary, cut-out animation. Each level tells a story of everyday hardship - kid trying to revise in a noisy house, chunky kid getting bullied by sporty wanker in front of fanciable friend, violinist trying to fight off an attack of nerve-induced shits while on the train to a big concert. Into this scene come the Ouendan, a trio of morale boosting male cheerleaders, who try to provide the subject of the piece with a boost to their self-confidence through the medium of, yes, cheer.
Oh, and later on the stories all go a bit supermental, but it never loses its charm, no matter how intergalactic it becomes, mainly because all the stories intertwine with each other in some way.
And it's all about tapping out rhythms on the screen, following drumrolls by tracing lines, getting your funky shit on. The reason it's so special, beyond the wonderful visual style and lovely sense of human warmth it possesses, is because it adapts the gameplay around the music better than any other bemani game to date - the patterns it asks you to bang out are truly inspired adaptations of the rhythm of whichever song/level you're playing that somehow manage, on higher diffiulties, to make you feel as though you're affecting every single piece of instrumentation at the same time.
Best soundtrack ever, too, which is obviously kind of important in a game based around the music. It's made up of apparently famous songs from the Japanese pop charts over the last twenty years - all upbeat guitar shouty BIG chorus stuff. Some kind soul tracked down the all of the originals (the gamne has covers, but they're all excellent and some are actually superior to the originals) and stuck them online as a torrent, if anybody wants to search for it. I downloaded it a while back and it's become, like, the greatest compilation album I own.
Sorry, that's rather more than I intended to post about it.
Glad that you've not forgotten the GBA slot, because so many people do and it's a crying shame. Recs there would be Pokemon and the bitGenerations games - Pokemon discussed hereabouts in the 'mobile gaming recommendations' thread, bitGenerations series in its own dedicated thread. I would link, but I'm nearly typed out for tonight.
Most essential of all on the GBA, though, is Rhythm Tengoku. Again, music game, import-only, but absolutely a necessary part of any DS/GBA owner's library of games. I mentioned it - briefly - here and provided links to some YouTube vids that demonstrate barely a tiny percentage of its out and out brilliance and joyfulness. There's also a nice impressions thread (he says, having contributed to it himself) on another board here.
I just recently voted it best game of 2006 in some meaningless thing. It bloody was, too. |
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