Gameloft's old school platformer crosses over from the iPhone
Nintendo's recent confirmation of upcoming releases for the remainder of 2009 has thrown up some pleasant surprises, with Gameloft's Castle of Magic being one of the more interesting DSiWare announcements.
Based on the well-received iPhone version (which in turn evolved from a similarly agreeable mobile phone edition), this 2.5D platformer owes a massive debt to classic 16-bit titles of days gone by.
Check out the official trailer for footage of this game in action:
[source pocketgamer.co.uk]
About Damien McFerran
Damien has been writing professionally about tech and video games since 2007 and oversees all of Hookshot Media's sites from an editorial perspective. He's also the editor of Time Extension, the network's newest site, which – paradoxically – is all about gaming's past glories.
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Comments 24
I'll be glad to get a platformer. This looks pretty interesting.
Wow...that looks cool! side scrolling adventure on the go...I am so there!
Looks better then most retail games. lol WAY better then Oscar anyways.
Also the camera feature where you put your giant floating head on the character is hilarious.
Looks like one of those very average platformers of yesteryear like Buzby and Zool and so on.
Not interested by what I have seen so far anyway.
About time DSiWare starts getting good and innovative games.
I will probably definitely be getting this one.
I also like how they are using the camera feature. This is what a DSi was made for games like this not mini retail games.
@Kirk - Trust me, it's actually pretty good. In typical Gameloft fashion, they've taken elements from Mario (3/World/Galaxy/etc.), DKC, Crash Bandicoot, and many others, and smooshed them together into a single game that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Granted, you won't find the next breakthrough title here, but you will find a solid platformer with enough variety to keep you playing through the entire game. With most platformers boring me to death after the first few levels, that's high praise indeed!
I've got the iPhone version and it's fantastic. Well worth the 59p asking price (don't expect it to cost that much on DSiWare, though).
Looks awesome! I'll keep this one on my radar
Looks kind of generic to me, but at least its something other than yet another puzzle game, DSIware badly needs variety, original or not I'd probably buy it anyway since I'm a fan of the genre.
This doesn't look half bad. I just picked up a white DSi yesterday (Shantae was the deciding factor) so I'll be keeping a more estute eye on DSiWare releases from now on.
My friend raves about iPhone 'Castle of Magic' and I am a fan as well, although I have only had a short play of it.
Gameloft are focused on becoming master iPhone developers ('Siberian Strike', 'Gangstar', 'Modern Combat: Sandstorm', 'Blades of Fury' and forthcoming 'Shrek Kart' and 'N.O.V.A').
It will be a real bonus to Nintendo gamers if they polish up these titles on iPhone, through incremental updates, and then bring quality ports to platforms like the DS.
BTW, a quick comment on the title: "Castle of Magic Trailer is Conjured Out of Thin Air"
Bringing in games from left field is Gameloft's M.O. They rarely announce a game until it is completed, in the approval queue, and due out any day. Personally, I don't see this as a bad thing as you don't get the "Where is XYZ game that I've been waiting on for a year?" responses. Plus, they get to capitalize on the initial buzz.
wow, this looks very good, now this is a real platformer
I asked Gameloft if they'd bring this over to DSiWare. Maybe they felt sorry for me after all. It's actually a cool game and would really benefit from the DSi controls in places.
Yeah, the iPhone version is held back a bit by the lack of a proper d-pad and buttons, TBH.
Looks OK.
@Damo and @Corbie - Once upon a time there were rumours about crafty inventors creating an ingenious iPhone attachment, to enable real d-pad and button resistant, tactile control.
Despite some basic interest from gamers, it never materialised.
Obviously, the DS will not have to worry about any such awkward control nonsense.
I'm kinda 50/50...game's been downgraded to 2D from 2.5D it seems like (screens look sprite-based now) but it should be much more playable without the typical garbage virtual-iphone keyboard
Looks uninspired, but very fun.
This... Looks .... Awesome.
When's it coming out?
looks nice
well... im gonna need more points XD
I take back my previous opinion that gameloft was terrible. This looks like a brilliant game.
I just picked up an ipod touch and grabbed this game for .99 and it is very good. I might consider the DSi version depending on what (if anything) changes.
I have already noticed that a few of my DSi purchases that were 500-800 points run me only about a dollar on the ipod touch.
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