Ark

Whether or not I bother getting a 3DS Phat depends on whether this is released around launch. Nice shooting stages and looks like the game has some personality to it.

So what I gather is that it's not much worse than the DSi's battery life. If it's that much of a problem for you, you can always buy those inevitable external batteries that also provide a shell for your system.

Perish the thought of spending $20 for multiple extra doses of battery and a case, but losing a twinge of portability.

The real problem is the amount of time it takes to charge...

An SNES game on the Virtual Console is $8. This game is $30 for a doubly inferior version of a game (only 50Hz and no Super Mario World). At $30, it's in competition with mid-priced Wii games.

No, a VC game isn't collectible. But this game should arguably cost $8, which many people would be willing to pay for it. Ys I&II was released at a standard 800 points. Even back in the day, All Stars was bundles with SNES systems for some period I believe. Should Metroid Prime Trilogy for Wii have cost $90+ because it featured two last gen games ($20 a piece) and a $50 game? No, it was only $50 and clearly marketed as a collector's item (only a few amount of copies were ever made to begin with). Why does Mario cost more? Because they know they can jack up the price (and it'd be competing with the four NES games on VC) and people will still buy it anyhow. They almost can't lose any money in releasing this game, considering it's an SNES game put onto a disk, so they're simply trying to maximize profits as a good company would do. Obviously, that kind of thing angers some consumers.

Judging from the efforts of other companies and Nintendo themselves, this game falls short at being:
A) A worthwhile collectible (much less extra material than Prime Trilogy or SUGC for, example)
B) A good value (SUGC features 40+ games of similar age or younger at $30 total)
C) Worth buying (in some opinions, due to obvious reasons)

Not as simple as some people saying retail>downloadable and it applying to EVERY instance. Furthermore, I'm not even sure if it's the same people complaining about both things you mentioned.

Woot. Never thought I'd be happy to see a game perform "poorly" but here I am. Since when is it okay to put an inferior version of a 20 year old game in new packaging and charge $30? They really ought to check out Sonic Mega Collection or Sonic's UGC. Clearly this game is only for the hardest of the hardcore Mario collectors. It's actually good that it isn't selling if you think about it that way, since it raises the value for collectors. xD Hard to judge a game's lifetime sales off one single chart though.

I wish Donkey Kong Country Returns was higher, since clearly some actual effort and skill went into designing that game. Though I'm sure it'll perform well anyhow, so whatever. Here's me rooting for one of the finest 2D platformers (imo) on Wii anywho.

@Egg miester
I don't think it's that America is particularly bad...you just get the shaft in different ways if you're not Japan. xD Look at Europe and Australia, they're not always in the best shape...

As for the actual news, I don't mind if he controller hits the North America Club Nintendo or not. <3 eBay <3

Sony is just one of many companies behind Blu-Ray; they don't single-handedly "own" it or anything (I believe).

Well, it's been proven the technology is certainly there. Just another way to make a buck by removing the need for disks and slightly improving load times. I'd like to see this on all consoles, then your disks don't get damaged as much from playing. You can buy a new Wii whenever, but it's not always easy to track down the odd game...

When the GBA first came out, I found myself paying for several $50 games, and Gamecube was to be the big main console. It doesn't take a second to know that the 3DS is several times stronger, and games can be up to what, 1.985 or something GB larger? With full 3D, glorious graphics, and several things only the 3DS can pull off? It's still a flick in the groin but when the value of a handheld game is pretty close to that of a console, it's suddenly not so grieving. I'll be stomping my feet raging I paid like $170 for 3 games, then (hopefully...) I'll sit down and really enjoy them.

I was expecting a score of 1 to 4 from "If only we could squish this game under our shoes." o.O 'Tis a shame, sounds like these games would be several points better had they put more time and effort into them, although I'm not big on the multiple versions thing.

Please, no. I love importing games and to me the highlight of Nintendo's portables is that you can play the games from all regions. It just gives people more incentive to pirate when you don't include this stuff. T_T

Eh, even if this was any good I'm not sure I'd want to hurt my DSi''s and XL's buttons through hours of mindless button mashing. At least it's better in practice than the iPhone version. O__o

iPhone could actually run the game without requiring mass amounts of work so it's obviously the better choice for Square. DSi would need a specially-built port, similar to how Nintendo rebuilt Super Mario 64 for the DS. Since the DSi doesn't have the power to easily emulate SNES games, it's less work, easier, and way cheaper to make a probably-crummy port due to button issues on a touchscreen.

@Bulbasaurus Rex
It's much smarter with something like Pokemon to wait until the masses have their hands on the 3DS so that the 3DS sells more units. Some of these are presumably launch titles and are sure to be a hit, but Pokemon Black and White will likely sell at LEAST 5 mil per version. The 3DS is already guaranteed to sell, you don't need to do overkill by releasing Pokemon (from a business standpoint). Also note that they've never been launch titles (mainseries anyway).

Twas a smart move making another DS instalment and holding off on Pokemon until say, 2013 at least.

In terms of just CPU speed, RAM, etc. it wouldn't be unrealistic to rule out specs comparable to the Wii. Recent iPod Touch/Phone have surpassed the Wii, and the the iPod Touch is relatively affordable. I'd worry about the fact that the 3DS is..well, 3D. I can see a system stronger than Wii coming and a system with 3D, but blending them together and keeping the affordability that Nintendo is known for seems...implausible.

The game is 800 points in Japan so you've got to assume they'll charge for it (hopefully with a similar price tag) in Europe/Australia/North America as well.

I'd highly recommend tracking it down if you can. Dungeon-wise it's a little shorter than some of the other games but it's probably my favorite 2D Zelda. Ezlo certainly adds something. Oh, and you might want to make sure your L/R buttons work...

I think by then I'll have had the game for a full year...o_O Doesn't seem that hard to localize this one but oh well, at least it IS coming.

I'm with MeloMan, this is...o_o Sin and Punishment, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Metroid Other M all within about a month? Wallets will bleed this summer, and that's surprising considering summer usually has slow, shallow releases.

4shame. If they had fixed all or at least SOME the problems you mentioned this could have easily been the best Sudoku game on DSiWare, what with all those puzzles compared to other games. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain this game offers the most bang for your buck (in terms of puzzles) with over 3000, compared to other games which feature less than 1000 or sometimes even 2/3 digit numbers. Disappointing...

@drdark
Hoho, that's actually really sneaky on everyone's side; the court, Nintendo, and the 24 year old dude. O.o Even though the guy doesn't go to jail I bet he's learned his lesson and Nintendo gets their scary headline out there to discourage them there pirates. :3

Oh, such appropriate box art!

I still say Phantom Hourglass is much better, PH was really easy but ST just ventures into brain-dead territory in my opinion. Not to mention it seems to be quite a bit shorter and has less lasting appeal. I would think Phantom Hourglass would be a good example of how to improve on the original, but unfortunately it IS the original. The one redeeming feature is the great storyline, it's more than just the average Zelda story. Not terrible though, just more like a 6 or 7. Nice review by the way.

"Adventure mode (15-25hr quest)"
If it really is, I'm sold. That's more than one hour of entertainment per dollar spent! It's also more than some disk releases. O.o

When this game comes out, it'll probably be about $20-30. I dropped $20 for Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, which has more than 40 games in it I believe. Though I'll say it's good that they've been made portable for the DS.

To those who say there's no point since it's not for the DSi, keep in mind that there are approximately 85 million DS Lites and 20 million original DS sitting around, compared to the DSis 10 million. A fair amount of people who have a DSi also have one of the other models as well. At the end of the day, they aren't excluding a whole lot of users.

Also, to the previous poster previous poster, it is more like 1/10 switched to the DSi.

@KillTheHaterzzz
I wish you could do that, but apparently it voids your warranty if you open up your DSi and start doing stuff (which would be required to change the shell case).

I'd REALLY like one of those pink things, almost to the point where I'd sell my black one and old PSPs in an attempt to get it. >.< But then I'd lose my downloadables....yeesh.

For some reason that freaky kid reminds me of Ogura. o_o
Anyway, great review, I might consider this game if it comes to America, though I would have preferred 500 points (mainly because I'm cheap ).

I sure hopes this comes to the American/European DSiWares, it looks a lot more interesting than some of the things we've gotten. Maybe the service is starting the kick things up a notch.
By the way, the title is roughly translated to "Oh Heartless Moment."

It seems to me like this trilogy is meant to be played over anyway, so not having access to Corruption's save data shouldn't be too bad.

@warioswoods
Keep in mind that the R4i is probably the least advanced DSi flashcard there is. Others have updatable kernels and bootloaders, which the R4i does not.

Comforting to know there will be a way to get flashcards working again. At least buying a new card is about 1/4 the price of a real game or just an accessory, if it even comes to that (this is the R4i's solution, the least advanced DSi flashcard and a rather speedy solution implying it may have been rushed).

Is this coming to Europe/America or was a page just made for it? I'd get it instantly if it did come.

I don't think having no VC games is so bad. We already have around 300 and if you're REALLY impatient, you could always buy the original, the game in a compilation, etc. since a lot of the games people really want can be found cheap (though buying a system for one game would be pointless so make sure there are several you want before grabbing one).

Some more DSi Ware games in the future would be nice. There's not much else I can get except clocks and calculators and I've already had my Sudoku fix. With one title a week and a small back catalog, I'm hoping more come per week since these games can't be obtained elsewhere (except some which are on iPod Touch).

@SuperSonic1990
A 6/10 is by no means a poor game if you read the review policy. Sure it is flawed in several areas, but that doesn't mean it is poor. I know quite a few 6/10 games that I've enjoyed, come to think of it.

Another awesome update! Sure looking forward to Dragon Quest Wars when it hits North America.

I was desperately hoping this would be like Mario VS Donkey Kong for the Gameboy Advance or Donkey Kong '94 for the Gameboy Color. I was very disappointed with the second game. Sigh...guess I'll have to go dig out Donkey Kong '94.

Er? The Dojo announcement made it sound like
A) It's going down for only one day
B) They'll be fixing the service/expanding it in someway
Please note, however, that we will continue to distribute such data after that date.
Are they really shutting it down..?

Awesome, can't wait for this. DSiWare is shaping up to be be better than I expected.

Also, I noticed a slight error at the beginning of the article. Not that you need to fix it, I just have urges to point this stuff out. Sorry.
"We'll it looks like the grueling wait for Wayforward's first DSiWare release is finally over." It should be well not we'll .

You can never have too much Starfy. I have this strange urge to go see that "UP"movie just to see the Starfy commercial...despite the fact that I just watched the ad seconds ago. >.<

I completely agree with the score, this was easily the pinnacle of the series. I felt 4 was good, but it got a little repetitive to me somehow. I've played the Japanese version of The Legendary Starfy and though it's no Stafy 3, it's tons of fun and preferable to 4. Here's hoping the GBA titles get translated some day.

I'll be buying multiple copies of the game for friends. Gotta support Stafy...err...Starfy. >.< I'm a little skeptical about these name changes...

Er? Is this for the DS or is it one of the first DSi exclusive games? I'm personally hoping for the latter.

"If the touch screen gave Nintendo DS a sense of feel and the microphone allowed it to hear, the two cameras give Nintendo DSi the sense of sight."
What? It can't even smell or taste things?! Count me out.

But really, I'll be eagerly awaiting the DSi. I've already saved up the cash for it and several DSiWare games so I'm prepared for launch. Now to pre-order...

@Wiiloveit

How is it? Is it just a simple digital version of the (..board?o.O) game or is it more?

I hope Onslaught is as good as it looks. I'll be awaiting the review. As for Pop-Up Pirate though, I don't know. The game always looked kind of odd when I saw it years ago, and in a negative way. hopefully it's fun for 500 Wii Points...

Also, is it true Onslaught only has 4P co-op online multiplayer? Not player versus player? Not that I mind if the game is of good quality.

Oh, but what about THIS box art?

Anyway, I loved the game when my uncle showed me, I think I'll get this game. Though there was a part in the last level with platforms where you could get permanently stuck so that was really annoying.

Poles and mushrooms, eh? The Wii must be the perfect platform. Sorry.
I doubt it will hit North America or Europe but I might be interested if it does.

Woot! I hope you guys enjoy this week. I know I want Wonder Boy in Monster Land, I never owned it but my uncle showed me and it seems to have aged well.

Manga is pretty big where I live, maybe it would actually be successful in North America...

Sudoku Challenge might be alright. As Charlie The Unicorn said earlier, it's great value for your money...as long as the controls work well. I don't think the game could be all that bad.

Heh, this game doesn't look like my thing but I've got some friends that like it. Might get it