Topic: Electroplankton Series Impressions

Sorry for the double post but anyways here are some videos of Electroplankton planktons!

Luminaria - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LcD7byMmxM
Lumiloop - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVdkPi4RkPk
Volvoice - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzNK2yOXloY

I'm surprised people like Lumiloop. I always thought that was the most boring of them all. Not really much you can do.

It seems to me that Lumiloop would be most enjoyable in a multi-DS scenario, as you'd be able to create some atmospheric, ebbing backdrops to accompany another more melodic plankton. I think I'll have to try this, in fact, but hooking up 2 DS/DSi's to a single car or stereo system will require a little more work.

I'm really surprised to hear anyone argue against the price. It's two dollars. You can buy a candy bar for $2 and you might have enough change to use a payphone. Even if you play it once and never touch it again, you're really no worse off than if you bought a snack.

I have never played Electroplankton but it always interested me. I'm happy that I can pick and choose the ones to play.

The only reason I argue the price is because you can get the full cart for $40 on the internet and even less at used game shops, which makes this a bad value since there are so many planktons.

There are only ten planktons. That equals $20. It's okay, math isn't everyone's strong suit. Half the going price definitely sounds like a good deal to me, especially since very few of us will want all of them. I'm a huge fan of the original, and I know I'll only be getting about half of them, and at my own pace.

Also, Warioswoods, that is indeed a good idea, though unfortunately I haven't won a free spare DSi to test this out with, so if you do get this working and working well, make sure to record it and share with us!

Yeah, I still have to figure out what to do with my double-DSi situation. One thing that is off the table is selling the white one; I wouldn't think of it, both because that would bother me morally (if I were planning to sell it, I should have declined the prize so someone who'd appreciate it could receive in my place), and from a sentimental standpoint, because I simply can't give up something that I won in a Nintendo-sponsored drawing on my favorite Nintendo blog / community site.

So, since I always wanted a white one anyhow and settled for black due to the lack of white at launch, do I sell my old one? But games are non-transferable, and it's full of them; the only way to make that acceptable would be to play all the less replay-oriented dl'ed games on the old one to completion, sell it, and use a good portion of the proceeds to buy back any games I want to keep on the new one. I'm still considering that route, but it's a lot of hassle, so I might just keep both, and try to justify it by finally being able to play local multiplayer with various friends who visit, none of which own a DS. I'm not sure that's justification enough, so maybe I'll also need to do something unique with it, like a dual-electroplankton setup. However, I would of course need to buy the fish on both systems in that case...

Quite a conundrum, but believe me, I'm not complaining.

@warioswoods - You can call Nintendo and send both of them in so they can transfer your DSiWare games from your old black one to your new white one. Of course you'll be with-out a DS for a bit and they will probably charge you. So.....

Can you do that!? I thought for sure that nintendo wouldn't go for that. If that is the case, I will gladly go out and buy a white one to replace this rapidly aging black one.

I entered the contest, too, with the same problem. I just wanted Nostalgia. You could always make a gift of it. That's what I'd planned to do.

@bboy -Yeah, I know for fact I read that you can do this. The only thing is that Nintendo must have both DSi to make the transfer. I would call them up if you're serious about it. I'd like to hear what they say.

@JR, bboy: i'm pretty sure Nintendo requires that the DSi the games are being transferred from be broken somehow -- they were only willing to do that if you sent both the broken (non-working condition) and good DSis to them, and they'd do it for you as a favor. Not two good, working-condition DSis. I doubt wario would be willing to break one just to have the other with all his games on it.

edit: in fact, here's the official word on that. though if you call them up and it turns out policy for the US is different, that would be pretty awesome. :3

Well bboy might be willing to drop his black one in the toilet.

No, I'm not willing to damage it. I still want the black one in it's box as I'm a collector but I REALLY want white as my main system.

Well it never hurts to try. I'd call them up anyway. It's not that outlandish of a request. What if someone wants to go to DSiLL? Are they just screwed into buying games again even though their DSi works? I think a color change should be viable enough reason.

Dammit. I called and they said the only way to transfer stuff from one system to another is if it's because of system damage. You can't even transfer into a DSi XL! Though the guy did say that he “wouldn't be suprised if a program was made available when the XL launches.” at least that's something to cling to......

These games have really lame soundtracks in Performance Mode. That's my fault, though...

I just got Hanenbow, Trapy, and Nanocarp; and I am really enjoying them. I love the visuals and the sounds that I can make with them. I really wish I could send them to the SD card or the DSi Sound app. Maybe someday Nintendo will do an update?
I also wish that I could combine the sounds; but that could possibly be done in the Sound app. Then they could be used in Flipnotes and alarms and other stuff!!!

But I still like the lovely relaxing music that I can just fiddle around and make. I definitely think that these are way worth the 2 bucks each I paid for them. I wish I knew more about music so that I could utilize them better to make my own melodies.
I also like the fact that you can pick and choose the ones you want. My favorite so far is Hanenbow. I really like the melodies I can get out of it.

I didn't get Beatnes, though because I didn't think that I would enjoy the bit sounds.... I got Pictobits; and I didn't find myself enjoying just the bit music by itself without the games from the music player. So I didn't think that I would enjoy this one because of that experience.

I didn't get Rec-Rec because I don't know if I would enjoy that one as much since it seems like remixed sounds. I liked the melodious sounds from the other ones. So I wasn't sure if I would enjoy Rec-Rec.

By the way, for anyone who wants to see all of them, here is a Japanese site dedicated to the DSiWare versions:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/dsiware/electroplankton/#
You can see little movies of some of what they do in action.

The little creatures are just so cute and pretty at the same time. They are so simple; but it works.

Man. That is definitely the thing that ticks me off about Nintendo's DSiWare. But I do think that they will figure out a method for it; but it has to be more user friendly than having to send in your DS's for Nintendo to make the transfer.

I don't know why they can't great a special encoding in each DSi that is attached to the programs downloaded saying that it owns it or is able to play it that can then be transferred via DS Download like the WiFi settings and encoding that you have to transfer whenever you get a new DSi.

By the way @Ballistikboy, I don't know what you are talking about the sound being terrible, especially in a quiet room. My DSi's speakers have crystal clear pings and dings. It's amazing how loud and clear this game sounds.

So, has anyone recorded any bits from Electroplankton that they'd like to post?

Although these are very simple, I quickly recorded a few looping Trapy creations that I liked from my playing with it today. None of these are particularly remarkable, and you lose all the changing that is usually taking place as you constantly adjust the situation to see and hear the new results, but I do love the polyrhythmic feel you can get out of Trapy. So many layering loops, but unlike what you might create with Korg or similar applications (or even the Tenori-on), it isn't tied to a incremental grid, so you have each fish actually running at its own unique tempo. The layering then produces a wonderfully dynamic texture, where you can still make out the melody that each fish is contributing, but they continue to overlap in uneven ways.

clip 1
clip 2
clip 3

Post your own! You could always just upload a video to Youtube with a still image if you have nowhere else to throw sound files.

I'd get Hanenbow if I HAD SOME FRICKIN' POINTS!!!!!!