Tag: Previews - Page 12
First Impressions Illust Logic
Downloadable picross? Yes, please!
Although video game versions of nonograms (better known to Nintendo gamers as Picross) were originally controlled with a D-Pad and buttons like any other game, it's clearly a genre that benefits massively from the touchscreen interface of Nintendo's DS family of handhelds. No surprise then that Hudson has seen fit...
First Impressions 10 Second Run
Running on the run
Whilst the Japanese DSi Shop features some fairly robust gaming experiences it has to be said that there's a place for quick games that can be played in a few seconds. G-Mode's 10 Second Run is a perfect example, essentially a collection of dozens of short platforming levels for when you need a quick bit of running and jumping on...
First Impressions Fall in the Dark
Fail in the Dark
Fall in the Dark looks pretty good on paper: take an adventurer and guide him through a series of levels in six different worlds with gameplay that's a mix of Toki Tori and Montezuma's Revenge: difficult puzzling combined with 8-bit visuals and gameplay could be good, right? Well it would be except for some rather bizarre level...
First Impressions at Enter! Block Kuzushi
Brick-breaking fun on the go
Tasuke seems to have been putting out a lot of board game titles recently, which all seem to be broken out from a retail release called Table Game Spirits: Victory; which is itself an enhanced version of Table Game Spirits. Both of them are Japanese DS cart releases that collect various Japanese board games including...
First Impressions Aa! Nikaku Dori
More fun with mahjong tiles
Despite releasing versions of Shanghai on both Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance in Japan (not to mention Wii and WiiWare versions), Sunsoft have elected not to favour Nintendo's current generation of handheld with the classic match-two puzzle game which they seem to have a monopoly on in the Land of the Rising Sun...
First Impressions Katamuku + Action: Katamuction
More camera-motion mini-game madness
It seems a number of developers have been taken with the idea of using the DSi's cameras to simulate motion-based gameplay, but unfortunately many of these games end up feeling like gimmicky tech-demos more than actually fun games. HI Games & Publishing's latest attempt makes for an uneven experience with one...
Dogfight motion demo a go-go
Though the DSi has no native motion-sensing capabilities, it hasn't stopped developers from trying to use the system's built-in cameras to approximate the tilt-sensors of the iPhone. As expected however, cameras are not motion sensors and although the latest effort from Genki Mobile includes a fair collection of...
"Blame it on the (robot) boogie"
Robots pretty much go with everything and afros are no exception. After getting a bit of time with a pre-release build of Fugazo's WiiWare debut, Frobot, we'd have to say the hairstyle is as fresh on a machine as it is a human being. Navigating menus displaying a fun '70s look to the "Single Playa" game,...
First Impressions G.G. Series Exciting River
Burt Reynolds not included
Whilst a game based on Deliverance probably would be very cool, Exciting River is about kayaking to a goal in the quickest time possible, rather than surviving a weekend river-rafting amongst crazed banjo-duelling hillbillies out for blood. Still, exciting it is thanks to good controls and fast-paced gameplay. There are a...
First Impressions G.G. Series Throw Out
Fancy a game of 4-on-4 Cyberball?
Although "proper" sports video games have been more successful at home and in the arcades, there's something to be said for the made up ones that have less focus on player stats and more on just playing the game. Suzak's Throw Out, a more recent entry in the G.G. Series of budget arcade-style games, is...
First Impressions G.G Series: Drift Circuit
Drift on outta here
Nothing is perfect, not even the G.G. Series. We figured there had to be at least one dud in this assortment of budget-priced slices of arcade fun and this is definitely it. From the screenshots you'd think you're going to be playing a fun overhead racer like Moto Roader or Super Sprint – a notion reinforced by the fact that...
First Impressions G.G. Series Dark Spirits
Side-scrolling bullet hell magic
One good thing about the Japanese DSi Shop for retro-gaming fans is the availability of old-school sprite-based shooters, with several decent ones to choose from. The G.G. Series already has a few among its number, but they're all different enough that it cannot hurt to add another one: enter Dark Spirts, of the...
Another reason to never leave the couch
It may be late to the party, but Netflix's movie streaming service has arrived on Wii consoles in the U.S. via a free disc for subscribers. Despite being stuck in standard definition, those lamenting the lack of a Wii no Ma or BBC iPlayer equivalent in the US will appreciate the increased functionality...
First Impressions G.G. Series Shinobi Karakuri-Den
Mappy Ninja Gaiden
Ninja have been a fixture of video games for a long time, so it's only fitting that Suzak have created a game for the G.G. Series featuring one that bears more than a passing resemblance to Ryu from Ninja Gaiden. Though his inspiration may run around beating up street toughs, the hero of Shinobi Karakuri-Den bounces around like a...
First Impressions G.G. Series Black × Block
For fans of mind-bending only
Most of the G.G. Series previewed to-date have been pretty accessible puzzlers or arcade style games from various genres, but here's the first one that's probably only going to be a hit with a small audience due to the nature and level of the challenge on offer. The gameplay is essentially similar to Toki Tori and...
First Impressions G.G Series: Tetsubou
Arcade gymnastics
You have to give credit to developer Suzak for the work it's done with the G.G. Series. Whilst most of the games are interesting takes on traditional genres, it also likes to throw out the occasional brand-new concept, like Tetsubou: a game which could be best termed a "gymnastic puzzler." Players are presented with a...
First Impressions G.G. Series Conveyor Kombō
A refreshingly novel take on the "match three" puzzler
There have been many variations on the "match three" puzzle game, often involving adding another item to complete a matching set, but it's rare to see a truly new and novel mechanic used in what has become something of a cliched puzzle game style. For this reason G.G. Series Conveyor...
First Impressions 200V Challenge Spirits Mahjong
Challenging mahjong battles at a budget price
Mahjong games have existed on Japanese consoles almost since the first machines were rolled out, and over time certain standards have emerged, to such an extent that having experience with one mahjong game will lead you to expect certain conventions in another. Part of the attraction of Tasuke's 200V...
First Impressions Furry Legends
All the way from Poland!
Recently an intrepid Nintendo Life reporter made the long and arduous journey to visit Polish developer Gamelion, the chaps behind DSiWare hit Extreme Hangman, to check out their upcoming WiiWare roll ‘em up Furry Legends. With the first instalment currently awaiting approval from Nintendo there was plenty to get our teeth...
Carrying the standard for a forgotten genre
Back in the early 80s the "maze" game was a popular genre both in arcades and on home consoles, featuring a fixed screen and expected mechanics of navigating a character around hazards whilst collecting objects. Once platforming and adventure games took off, the maze game all but vanished; even...
We go hands on with EA's upcoming footie title
Last week, Nintendo Life headed over to EA's UK headquarters for a kick-about with their impending blockbuster 2010 FIFA World Cup. With the world's biggest sporting tournament only a few months away, gamers have been keen to see how they can grab a slice of World Cup glory from their living rooms, and...
First Impressions Sora o Kakeru Shōjyo Shooting
Pretty girls and shooting action: a recipe for success
If you weren't already jealous of the number of old-fashioned shooting games available in the Japanese DSi Shop thanks to the G.G. Series, now you have another one courtesy of I.T.L. Roughly translated as Shooting Space Girls, this is a side-scroller with a difference, though what that...
First Impressions G.G. Series Drilling Attack
Not a mad dentist, just more arcade fun!
It's not hard to see why we keep on downloading G.G. Series games to preview because as many as there are, they all seem to have been made by people who care about delivering a quality slice of simple gaming fun. That they're only 200 Points each is just icing on the electron cake of arcade goodness. Drilling...
First Impressions G.G Series: D-Tank
Tank-tastic arcade fun!
Tanks feature in some of the earliest arcade games, from vector graphics classics like Battle Zone and Armor Attack to "newer" sprite-based games like Vindicators and Tank Force. As with the latter D-Tank sees players controlling a tank and trying to defend a base from attack by incoming waves of enemy tanks: a...
First Impressions G.G. Series Assault Buster
Arcade action the G.G. Series way
The G.G. Series of games in the Japanese DSi Shop really are a little slice of arcade heaven. Not just because they offer some good old-fashioned fun, but because they're such well-crafted titles generally. Assault Buster is certainly one to put into the "pretty good" column, offering an interesting...
News 3D Motion Gaming Debuts on the DSi
Breaking new ground with the DSi camera
Although rumours abound of a motion-enabled successor to the DS being readied for unveiling in the near future, it seems some developers just couldn't wait and decided to attempt the same kind of game mechanics afforded by accelerometers utilising the second camera present on the DSi. The system is known as...
First Impressions Uchimakure! Touchpen Wars
A touching game of combat
Tom Create's follow-up to the cheap-and-cheerful space-based take on Dig Dug II is Touchpen Wars, an arcade-style shooter that's also offered at the budget price of 200 Points. Don't be fooled by the title – it's not a game laden with sentiment, but uses flicks and taps of the stylus to launch projectiles from gun...
First Impressions G.G. Series Vertex
More budget puzzling fun from Suzak
Vertex is another take on the puzzle genre in the G.G. Series and like Energy Chain it's a competent and fairly original concept, but not necessarily an addictive one. Players move a small glowing green dot at the bottom which is projecting a guide line to the top of the screen. The object is to press buttons to...
First Impressions Are? DS ga Sakasa Desu Kedo. Sakasa Drops
A refreshing spin on the classic Tetris concept
Sakasa Drops is the second DSiWare effort from Tecmo and like Gyaku Shooting is played holding your DSi upside down with the touchscreen up top. It's a novel gimmick that literally conveys the fact that the tables are being turned on some familiar gameplay. This game most strongly echoes the classic...
First Impressions Are? DS ga Sakasa Desu Kedo. Gyaku Shooting
It's Star Force in a world gone mad!
Tecmo have finally dipped their toes in the DSiWare water with a couple of games that have the novel feature of being played holding your DSi upside-down with the touchscreen at the top. This first one is based upon the classic Tekhan vertical shooter Star Force, which was one of the Virtual Console Arcade launch...
First Impressions G.G. Series Energy Chain
Budget puzzling from the budget DSiWare machine
We have to figure that Suzak is porting games they originally developed for mobile phones for the G.G. Series, because it just doesn't seem possible that they could have made so many games in so short a span of time and actually had this many of them turn out to be worthwhile. Energy Chain is a puzzle...
First Impressions Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love
"You're a shining star, no matter who you are..."
Sakura Wars is a rather interesting series of games and one of Sega's biggest franchises in Japan, though oddly only the spin-off anime has been seen elsewhere – until now. The fifth Sakura Taisen game (as the series is known in Japan), So Long, My Love is the first to get localised for Western...
First Impressions G.G. Series Chō Hero Ōga
"There's a super-man coming, there's a super-man coming..."
This entry in the G.G. Series is a nice little brawler with a superhero theme. As with other games in the series, there's no menu options to worry about, game modes or story: instead you just use the D-Pad and a couple of buttons to pound on some costumed freaks until they get the better of...
First Impressions Astro Bugz Revenge
Buggle Bobble
Please note that these impressions are based upon playing an alpha version of the game code. Changes are certain to be made prior to the final game release. If a developer is going to make a puzzle game that uses a well-established mechanic – such as matching three objects of the same colour – it's important to put a new spin on...
The seminal indie game finally comes to Nintendo
Cave Story is like a Cinderella tale of indie game development, arriving at a time when the conventional wisdom was that the days of a lone programmer creating a complex and compelling game were behind us; it proved that the old spirit of the 8-bit era is still alive and well in the 21st century...
First Impressions Bit.Trip RUNNER
8-bit run amok!
RUNNER is the fourth and next entry in Gaijin Games' six-part Bit.Trip series and we've been fortunate enough to spend some time with the latest build, which has just been sent off to Nintendo for final approval. Though this preview is based on the "final" version of RUNNER, we want to emphasise that changes are still...
First Impressions G.G. Series Wonder Land
Alice in bullet-hell land
Genterprise has published a steady string of G.G. Series games for DSiWare, delivering some much needed arcade-style gaming at a budget price with the majority of games coming from development studio Suzak. Wonder Land is a bullet hell shooter based upon Alice in Wonderland – not exactly a logical pairing, but certainly...
My little water demon
In case you don't know what a kappa is (and we certainly didn't until we first heard of this game), know that it is a mischievous water sprite from Japanese mythology prone to eating small children (and cucumbers – hence the "kappa maki" found in Japanese sushi restaurants); now residing on the DSi. A product of...
First Impressions Kai Illust Puzzle Guru Guru Logic
Picross meets ... Quarth?
Nintendo seems to have single-handedly popularised picross on home and console game systems, with only Hudson daring to dabble in the same space. Continuing the tradition they've partnered with D4 Enterprise to bring a new faster-paced game to the DSi which combines traditional Picross with elements of Konami's old...
First Impressions Aa Mujō Setsuna
Lots of flash; not much substance
Nintendo isn't exactly known for publishing shooters, much less shooters of the "bullet hell" variety, but that's exactly what we have here. Developed by Arika and recently shown at the Nintendo Media event in North America as Metal Torrent, Aa Mujō Setsuna is certainly one of the most graphically...
First Impressions WarioWare DIY, FlingSmash and Photo Dojo
Hands-on with three very different titles
You've already heard what we thought of Metroid: Other M, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Sin and Punishment 2, and we got to play Monster Hunter 3 a few weeks ago, but there's still plenty to tell about the other titles available to play t
First Impressions Sin and Punishment 2
Blasting, slashing, stunning – trailer inside!
It took forever (well, nearly) for Treasure's seminal N64 game Sin and Punishment to see a Western release, but thankfully the sequel isn't due to take anywhere near as long to find its way to your Wii disc tray, with a European release date of 7th May. When Nintendo offered us the chance to play it...
First Impressions Fantasic Cube
Hey, you got your Columns in my Quarth!
Fantasic Cube is very much an old-school puzzle game, but a decent one and more full-featured than most of the puzzlers we've seen lately. There are three single player game modes on offer and two-way multiplayer either locally or over Wi-Fi connection with friends or random strangers. The primary game mode is...
First Impressions Handy Mahjong
Budget majaan on the go
Mahjong (or, as they call it in Japan, "majaan") is incredibly popular in Japan where you can find gambling parlours with fully automated tables shuffling, dealing and stacking tiles for players. It therefore should come as no surprise that there are a few mahjong games available in the Japanese DSiWare shop and...
First Impressions Metroid: Other M
Hit me baby, one more time
As stunning as Retro Studios' Metroid Prime Trilogy undoubtedly is, we still fondly remember Samus Aran's formative years, and particularly the seminal Super Metroid. It seems we're not the only ones fond of this piece of the bounty hunter's history however, as Team Ninja and Tecmo's take on Nintendo's sci-fi franchise...
First Impressions Super Mario Galaxy 2
Truly spacial
Super Mario Galaxy 2 had by far the biggest queues of the day, with a cordoned area showcasing the plumber's latest adventure. Our crafty writers, however, took advantage of everyone else's hunger by striking when most other journalists were stopping for lunch, managing to get a good half an hour of hands-on time. With such high hopes...
First Impressions G.G. Series Z・ONE
Budget shooting on the go
Genterprise has published a lot of DSiWare in the past year, mostly as part of a budget line called G. G. Series. These are small arcade-style games with a 200 Point price tag which have caught the attention of many who read our weekly Japanese download news because we just aren't seeing this kind of thing elsewhere for...
First Impressions Shashin de Kakutō! Photo Fighter X
Two street fighters and a microphone
No doubt many have seen the latest and greatest fighting game on the Wii and thought "me and my mates could do better than that." Well Nintendo must have read your pixie-stick addled thoughts because they went and released a D.I.Y. fighting game for the DSi last December in Japan called Photo Fighter X...
First Impressions And Yet It Moves
We take this gravity puzzler for a spin
And Yet It Moves is heading to WiiWare, fresh from its critically-acclaimed PC appearance, so we were naturally curious how it would stack up on the Wii. If you've not played the PC demo yet, here's a brief summary to get you up to speed. And Yet It Moves is a side-scrolling platform game that puts you in...
First Impressions Sakutto Hamareru Hori Hori Action Mr. Driller
Portable Driller action is Go!
Namco's Mr. Driller is certainly one of the greatest arcade puzzle franchises ever, and has even surpassed its arcade heritage on home consoles in the the past decade of its existence. Whilst Drill Land remains the franchise pinnacle, subsequent releases on WiiWare and DS have still been fun entries in the s
