Vinsanity

@WarioFan63: It doesn't matter dude - the PSN has retail games for download, so you gotta count 'em. The DSiWare shop DOES suck compared to the PSN and App Store. I mean, not everyone's Wayforward. Hell, most of the content is from these losers. And Gameloft doesn't make good games. They just make obvious ripoffs of much better games that really, obviously suck.

Man, I hate Gameloft...

I really wish that this version of Mario 64 would release on a console with a damn analog controller. The touch controls here are TERRIBLE. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have the "virtual analog stick" (never a good idea anyway; look at the iPhone) slide around while you play is stupid and should've been fired from Nintendo. At least lock it in place - frickin' Rayman 2 DS had the good sense to do that (and worked a lot better; poor Rayman 2 DS got critically slammed. I don't know why. It's at least as faithful a port of that excellent game as the PSX version). But Mario 64 DS is incredibly unpleasant to play because of the controls.

Still, the core game somehow manages to shine. And it looks better than ever and has way more content and bonus features. The extra characters are awesome. But the best thing about the cart is the multiplayer mode; all the minigames here are super, super fun and - unlike the main game - WORK with the touch screen. A good launch title.

That's not the best looking box I've ever seen - have you not seen the God of War III Pandora's Box Special Edition, Nintendo Life? That's the best box I've ever seen...

All you need to know is that this game, unlike Mario Kart Wii, is balanced. So good players will do well, instead of losing to a barrage of 5-6 blue shells. Like in the Wii version of Mario Kart (by far the worst version of Mario Kart ever made...well, along with the GBA one).

Sumo Digital knows how to make racing games, so it's nice to see them absolutely nail it with Sonic All Stars here. I hope SEGA takes this much care with a lot more of their games going forward. Absolutely kills MKWii thanks to the impressive "born on HD, brought to Wii" presentation and the aforementioned balancing. Great job SEGA!

I wish they'd put as much care into their "Hanabi Festival" as Microsoft does with their Xbox Live Arcade promotions (like their "Summer of games" last year that gave us Shadow Complex and Trials HD). Also, I wish they'd do this here in the 'states, seeing as how we haven't gotten an import in a looooooooooong time.

And with Sunsoft back in action (somewhat), I can think of no better time to bring over gems like Gimmick and Ufouria. Which I believe both came out in the EU already, but to us Americans they'd be new. I really don't wanna have to resort to emulating them. A PC is a poor excuse for an NES, even with a controller. One machine was designed for games, the other was designed for...spreadsheets and stuff. It'd just be far superior to have it on Wii...

Haven't been impressed by any of the Bit.Trip titles yet, but this one is getting my attention. It's clearly had more effort and talent put into it than all the other games in the series combined. It's got a slick new/retro feel, some awesome arcadey twitch-action gameplay, and some amazing chiptunes. I may not give a crud about all the other games these guys make, but right now, I'm thinking I'll have to download Bit.Trip Runner when it comes out:)

Phantasy Star games are always really monotonous solo, and great online. A 7/10 sounds like a perfect score. I LOVED playing PSO online on my Gamecube (that's right, I have a Gamecube broadband adapter - one of the hardest things to find in my 20+years of gaming!) and in split screen with my sister, but by myself the game was a bore.

While I'm interested to see the DS pull this off, I'd much prefer seeing a new Phantasy Star hit consoles. That's why I'm looking forward to Monster Hunter Tri - besides the different theme (trading sci fi for ...prehistoric, sort of?), it's practically the same deal. I'd also like to see SEGA do a new single player Phantasy Star - either with Tri Ace, since they did End of Eternity for SEGA, or Obsidian. I think a western take on Phantasy Star would be really cool, though obvious, Obsidian shouldn't do the character designs themselves. PS needs to rock that 80's anime aesthetic.

Hope SEGA makes another one, that's all I'm saying;)

Holy crap - it's like Archon or Wrath Unleashed!?! How have I not heard of this game until now! Man, Nintendo's marketing sucks - I blame Cammie Dunaway (their VP of Marketing).

Despite the mediocre score, I'm still going to check this out. The Archon way of strategy - chess with fighting - is a great design for games and, frankly, I'm surprised there aren't more downloadable games that do it. Plus it's cute and very well made from a visual standpoint.
Seriously though, Nintendo has a massive problem with awareness for their Wiiware and Virtual Console games. They should work on that. Firing Cammie would be a good start; get someone who actually knows how to advertise games. Look at the ad campaigns for PS3 or 360 and contrast it to Nintendo and the Big N looks woefully out of touch.

I hate the original Rayman game; I mean, I'll admit it's well made. But like most western platformers (see also: Earthworm Jim) the art is a problem. There's not a clear distinction between background and foreground objects, so it's hard to tell what Rayman will connect with. This affects precision jumps and grabbing onto ledges.
Worse than that though, the game is just sluggish. He doesn't run, which makes things really slow paced - except for the levels in the music levels where you slide around everywhere.
Rayman 2 is excellent though - one of the best games ever made. The original though? Totally not. A gorgeous, but very unfun, game - as long as you're being really honest about things here.

I don't see how the art could be a problem. I mean, I've played many a platformer whose background art clashed with foreground platforms, making things frustrating (mostly western Platformers - stuff like Earthworm Jim spring to mind). However, there's a map on the bottom screen! It seems like it would alleviate things somewhat...

Seems cute and fun for what it is, a lolo style maze/puzzle game. They don't exactly make tons of these anymore. For 600 points, it's also on the smaller side of Wiiware downloads. I'd pick it up if I had some points hanging out...

Reminds me a tad of Rayman, simply because of the lush, ilustrated, european stylings going on here. Looks good - there should be more Wiiware platformers in general if you ask me, since Nintendo isn't going to pick up the Virtual Console releases any time soon.

I wish Mario were in Sonic All Stars Racing...but it's too balanced for a racer of his stature for him to associate with it:)

Seriously; I played both the DS demo and the one on PSN for PS3 - Sumo digital nailed things. It's polished, fun, and their racing model feels great. And it's nowhere near as unbalanced as the horrible Mario Kart Wii. For the first time - perhaps ever - a SEGA mascot spinoff title is probably better than the Nintendo equivalent this generation.

Though to be fair, neither cart racer rips off Diddy Kong Racing. THAT'S the game they should rip off. Instead of unbalanced weapons, giving all the good stuff to losers in the back of the pack, DKR had that excellent weapon stacking system. Want the best item? Work for it! it was simple, elegant and highly effective. Why does no one use THAT system these days!?!

hoping for a timely release on wiiware. The service needs a great game like this, and i refuse to buy this on PC because - lets be honest here - it's a platformer and platformers need control pads. Unless it's an RTS or MMO, it controls better on a control pad.

Such good news. Dimps had a mediocre start with Sonic games - Sonic Advance 1 was meh - but everything else they've done since has been gold. The Sonic Advance 2 and 3 games are probably the best in the entire damn series, Genesis titles be damned. Sonic Rush 1 + 2 are great as well. But their work with the Wii/PS2 of Sonic Unleashed was awesome - ran smoothly, looked great, played better. Absolutely perfect controls and just the right gameplay mechanics to keep it intuitive but add depth. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is in very, very good hands.

I'm hoping for the best. But it'll have to be REAL good to be worth the price NOA will probably give it. They've been overpricing a ton of Wiiware games lately.

You Europeans are in for a treat. Rune Factory is an excellent production. I personally usually can't even stand this kind of game; I mean, the aimlessness gets to me - Do I concentrate on farming, dating sim, dungeon crawling? But even I loved this title. It's charming as hell, and while the stamina bar is a tad annoying at first (or wish the day lasted longer), it's an excellent game.

WarMen tactics looks kinda interesting, unless it IS just a light gun shooter (which is understandable, if it's an iPhone port). If it were, say, sort of like Full Spectrum Warrior in that you could move your dude around with the pointer, and THEN shoot people once you were in cover, that would be cooler. Could be really tactical, and still very actioney if the shooting was satisfying. If it's just a light gun game, I'll be disappointed.

I'm disappointed in general. Another week, another Cave Story free monday. Or Meat Boy, Night Story, La Mulana, Fuzzy Legends, ANYTHING good-looking. And the Virtual Console is dead to me. I loves me Sonic the Hedgehog and all, but I HAVE the Mega Collection, y'know? I'm done rebuying these games for VC.

There's like 20 years of awesome retro games Nintendo can pluck from. Why one game a week? How lazy are they?

Sonic in Mario Galaxy 2 would blow my mind. It would definitely rock my world like Yoshi in Mario 64 or Luigi in Galaxy 1 (which I never DID get...damn game is too hard!).

Hope you Europeans respond to it better than us Americans did. I mean, so far it's barely managed to move anything at retail (60k units, according to VGChartz). It's an awesome game, and better than the first in many ways. It looks better, plays better, has more content - it's awesome! Great Wii games like this need to be supported! Though it did come out so close after Christmas, and against Tatsunoko VS Capcom here...a Spring release seems to make more sense, if you ask me, instead of dumping it in Jan to die at retail, Ubi Soft.

Enjoy the game when you' get it, Euro-brothers!

I actually feel bad for these dudes. They were right to complain about the Bit.Trip games - it DOESN'T take a lot of effort to make one of those games. But Bit boy looked, and apparently was, pretty repetitive, so it's not like I bought it. It sure did sound like a good idea though, and I wanna see these guys make a good game...

That actually looks pretty cool - I like all the car minigames. Though the game isn't THAT impressive visually, the online stuff makes up for it.

I'm still pissed at the pathetic caliber of kart racers on the console. First off, everyone knows Mario Kart Wii is broken and unbalanced. Why hasn't anyone stolen Diddy Kong Racing's weapon stacking system yet? It totally fixes any and all balancing issues, and they figured it out over a decade ago! Secondly, c'mon competition - no online mode? MySims racing, you disappoint me.

Hoping that the wii version of SEGA Superstars racing is solid...though if I get that, I'll be getting it for PS3, so I suppose I don't care...

Oh cool - I'm actually looking forward to this. Like Rogue Trooper, this was an Xbox game that interested me, but I ended up passing up. Good games are good games, and while they're not as good as from-the-ground-up Wii titles, they'll more than do. The Motion control really makes these shooters a new experience. I hope someone brings it to the US eventually, like how Graffitti picked up Rogue Trooper.

Also, when original Wii games seem to sell so horribly, I suppose this is the best we can hope for:(

Blaster Master: OD is by far the best Wiiware game to turn up in some time. The original Blaster Master is such a promising design; Overdrive finally makes good on it! It's amazing what a more forgiving continue system, and much more responsive controls (8 way shooting in the overhead sections? THANK YOU), can do. It may have come out of nowhere, but it's definitely worthy of some attention. Thanks Gaijinworks/Sunsoft! Though next time, send a press release a LITTLE sooner than 2 days before you drop it on the Wiiware shop.

Neat! How can they be putting the game out so soon without having announced anything about it beforehand? That's shocking - but cool if you're hearing about it now! Can't wait for Monday! A new version of Blaster Master is a perfect fit for downloadable networks; and even though the NES version of Blaster Master is great, this looks like a better download by far. Gonna be downloading this for sure!

If we're lucky, Sunsoft will make some wiiware versions of some of their other games. A Wiiware Ufouria, Gimmick, or NES Batman (just replace Bats with a ninja sprite or something) would be killer!

This article actually got me excited to play the game, though Lost Planet 2 seems to me like it makes Monster Hunter outdated. I mean, both games are about co-op Giant Monster hunting, but LP2 looks better, is for consoles with better online, and features GUNPLAY. Which is smoother than Monster Hunter's chunky, clunky combat.

Still, I feel like I gotta support Capcom, and I WAS a huge fan of Phantasy Star Online (Gamecube version, no less!), which was famous for it's chunky combat as well. I'm pretty sure I should start paying more attention to Monster Hunter 3 now...

Nintendo would be smart to just "relaunch" Motion+ in June of 2010. Add the tech into ALL Wii remotes from this point on (hey, if Nyko figured it out already with their Wand+, Nintendo BEST get their sh*t together!), and start bundling it with ...well, Zelda would make sense:)

So far so good! Everything they've said about Sonic 4 (GOD it feels so good to finally call it that!) sounds great. And anyone whose played Sonic Unleashed knows that they still know how to rock 2D gameplay (the relatively few times they got around to it in that game). I absolutely can't wait for this! This is going to be great! Don't screw it up Sonic Team! Or Dimps - I wouldn't mind if after all the Sonic Advances, Sonic Rush's, and PS2/Wii version of Unleashed, SEGA finally promoted you.

For 5 bucks, I'm definitely picking this up. This is the only other Alex Kidd that people talk politely about, besides Miracle World. I don't get SEGA sometimes. Nearly any company with a successful franchise knows you must balance core ideas well while introducing new gameplay mechanics with sequels - a balance of old and new. But SEGA seems intent on reinventing their franchises completely from game to game - look at the recent Sonic games, and tell me 5 things that are consistent between them all. It can't be done. Looking at Alex Kidd, it's clear that they were doing this all along. They're one crazy company:)

Though I gotta say, this idea - having Alex Kidd jump into various other SEGA game universes - would've been a great one if they stuck with it. Very self-celebratory; kinda like a Smash Bros. vibe. If they had a "normal" platformer franchise nowadays (poor Billy Hatcher didn't stick either), having one that went through various sega worlds like a Kingdom Hearts-style platformer would be awesome. Tis a shame; I doubt anyone would attempt to make a new Alex Kidd. Ever.

Konami, LucasArts, or Nintendo - I don't know whose reponsible, but seriously. WHERE'S METAL WARRIORS! There's a clear lack of mecha games on the service right now, and I already played through Cybernator back in the day. I want Metal Warriors - its far superior anyway. Also that one game from Irem for the NES, where you could flip the gravity (Metal Storm, I think?)

Of course we'll see Contra. NOA is lazy as hell; they'd much rather double dip and re-release Contra (albeit a different port) than actively court publishers to drop interesting, wanted retro games on the service. I mean, going to LucasArts or Konami and asking for Metal Warriors would require effort, or Disney and Capcom or SEGA to get us Duck Tales or Castle of Illusion, so they're not gonna do it;)

Looks like an intriguing mix of eastern style RPG presentation and western hack-and-slash style RPGs - it's about time someone tried to blend the two together.
Though, Gameloft is not known for making good games. They're ambitious for a handheld developer, sure, but most of their games are spectacular failures. Anyone play Hero of Sparta, for example? Their "God of War for iPhone"? Absolute garbage. So was Brothers in Arms DS. And their Soul Calibur ripoff, Blades of Fury. Or their iphone Call of Duty, Modern Combat: Sandstorm? All garbage. I haven't played NOVA for iPhone, but I'm assuming it's garbage too. I refuse to get high expectations for this, but I AM glad to see it at all. At least they're supporting the DSiware shop.
Personally, I find the DSi a ripoff in the vein of the PSPGo. An overpriced, under-equipped model - I'd much rather take my GBA compatibility than a crappy online storefront and a gimmicky camera. I'll change my tune when Wayforward gets around to releasing their Shantae games for DSi, but till then, meh.

I skipped over ZAMN back in the day and played it on the VC when LucasArts released it a few weeks ago. I don't really see why this one doesn't get as much as love; it's just more of the same. Maybe a little clunkier.

Nintendo needs to make tons of changes to the Wii Shop storefront. Demos would be great, but honestly, I'd just like to see some damn screenshots of what games look like. How can anyone make a purchase decision based on NOTHING? How can you sell games without screenshots?

Hopefully Microsoft's Game Room will kick Nintendo's into gear a little. Of course, Nintendo lives in their own little bubble world, so I doubt they care about competition...

I wish they decided to bring the Cho Aniki fighting game for SNES(?) out first instead. With approximately a million excellent shooters already available on the VC, I'm sure there are more than a few gamers like myself who passed this up because of genre fatigue. Plus that fighting game looked fun in it's own right, at least when it was featured on Broken Pixels:D

I liked this game, but couldn't finish it. It's a little too repetitive for me. Also, I hate timers. It's a stupid game mechanic that only belongs in the arcades. There should be a better reason for going through a stage; de Blob didn't find it though. Playing against a timer just got old, even if it's not really that big of a threat. And they're right about the time investment; no mid level checkpoints compounds the fact that timers suck. You have to sit down and play for at least a half an hour-50 minutes per level. This is definitely not the type of game that's fun to pick up and play, despite the fact that it looks like it should be. An arcadier experience probably would've suited the style better.

The music is great though, and the atmosphere is rad. I love the stylish "velvet toy" aesthetic on display, and the focus on colors is great. The controls are pretty weird though; putting the jump/slam on a wiimote flick is a weird choice. This article is crazy; there's no way it wouldn't be easier to just hit 'A' to jump and 'A' again to slam onto things. 'Z plus flick' never feels quite right; but it doesn't matter because de Blob doesn't require precision platforming. It's still a weird choice; seemingly inspired more by appealing to kids who'd just flail away with the wii remote than making a decision that would be smarter for the gameplay. Wish they made a sequel, because refining the ideas on display here would make for a tremendously fun game.

But heck, it's like 20 bucks now. Definitely recommend it at that price!

Just have to say, he's wrong. Besides Vib Ribbon, there's another rythym platformer out there. "Maestro! Jump in Music". For DSiWare and iPhone, and it looks awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A88r_aC8wM&feature=player_embedded

I'm kinda glad that there's no Wii version planned actually. Especially after Sonic Unleashed - not that that version wasn't awesome, but everyone knows that Unleashed is half an awesome Sonic game, and half a much more depressing effort. Yet, they had two teams work on those versions: Sonic Team for the HD consoles, and Dimps for the PS2/Wii SKU. AND SEGA also had Sonic Team US (now SEGA Studios USA) working on Sonic games occasionally (Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Adventure 2). I always wondered why they didn't put all three teams onto ONE awesome Sonic game with no fluff, and no weird gameplay mechanics like the Werehog, and no gimmicks like the gunplay in Shadow. Just all three teams cranking away on pure, unfiltered Sonic-y goodness; between the three of them, they could crank out enough content for one amazing Sonic game easily.

SEGA Studios USA is currently working on Iron Man 2, but if they were smart, they'd have Dimps working on Project Needlemouse along with Sonic Team. Kinda like how there are 4 different developers working on Bioshock 2, or how Dimps worked with Capcom on Street Fighter IV. And focusing on just one SKU - the HD versions - is the important thing here. Especially if this is, in fact, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 like the internet purports it to be.

Besides, a)I personally HAVE an HD console, so I'll be picking this up on PS3, no problem. And b)Wii still needs to get a third Sonic Storybook game. So Wii's missing out on Project Needlemouse/Sonic 4; eventually they'll get "Sonic and the Golden Fleece" or something:)

Man, WHY OH WHY did Ubi Soft have to drop NMH2 the same week as Tatsunoko VS Capcom!?! Stupid publishers; I can only get one! And I'm going with Mr. Touchdown!

Oh well, at least it's nice to hear that they'll keep supporting it. Should keep interest up post launch. I'll pick it up eventually; hopefully sooner rather than later...

This looks horrible - I have no idea why Pi Studios was chosen as the developer to do this game. They clearly suck at it; I mean, it's not surprising when they have no experience doing platformers. But, just look at it! The colors are dirty, muddy and dark, and if you find videos, you'll notice the animations are bad too! A far cry from the charming, responsive stuff that the old games were made of. And of course it does the same thing that New Super Mario Bros and Sparkster XBLA/PSN do, and that's pull the camera out waaaaay far. But i won't hold it against the game YET; it works really well in Mario and Sparkster is having a lot more care - not to mention talent - put into it.

I'm expecting this to disappoint. Or get delayed. Or cancelled. Hudson; this is not the way you should bring Bonk back. Go look at other, better 2.5D games and notice how you can still make them colorful and charming. Explodemon, New Super Mario, Klonoa, Sparkster, Lost Winds, etc. Take a look at any of them. I beg of you!

tealovertoma speaks the truth:)

Meh. Wario Land and Battalion Wars will float around for YEARS - they're never going to be popular. And Mario Strikers - there are millions of 'em in the wild. It's a very good, and surprisingly popular (well, surprising here in the states - but of course, if anyone can make soccer interesting, fun, fast paced, and high scoring, it's Super Mario) game, so I bet it'll be easy to find anyway.
What's shocking to me is the fact that apparently Nintendo was still printing discs for these year-old games.

I would've loved some kind of explanation. Anytime someone demos like that you can make an argument that someone is just moving the system while a video plays. Same thing with those supposed Natal demos showing people playing Half Life 2 or something - it can just be someone miming against a video.

That would be awesome, but man, they'd have a heck of a job picking which games to go in. Symphony of the Night is already too widely available if you ask me, on the PSN (for PS3/PSP), in Dracula X Chronicles, and on XBLA. I say put something else on there. All the Nintendo games would be great for a Wii collection; the 3 NES, the 2 SNES, and an improved version of the N64 one (with modern controls, especially for camera, a faster framerate and high res textures) - that would be interesting. Also, the GBA games and Rondo of Blood (the TG16? version everyone talks about) would make great extras. And some video features - maybe hunt down some footage of the cancelled Dreamcast Castlevania - would also be great. A Castlevania Collection could be an amazing title.

Still, not getting excited since it's just a rumor. Plus, I think that collections can either be pretty successful for amounts to a small amount of work (i.e. the Mega Man and Mega Man X collections from Capcom), or still pretty unsuccessful (I think that SNK's Arcade Collection and Metal Slug Anthology weren't nearly as successful as Capcom's Mega Man games...), so who knows if Konami really wants to pursue it? Though it would be smart if 2010 marked them getting really behind rebooting things with the phenomenal-looking PS3 Castlevania from MercurySteam. Forgot what that's called...

sigh - Wayforward is the ONLY reason any sane gamer should even consider buying a DSi. Taking out GBA compatibility and adding a stupid digital camera and a subpar online games store (especially on the handheld games space, where the iPhone and PSP ABSOLUTELY KILL it in comparison) are retarded moves from Nintendo, but g-damn I wanna play their new Shantae games:) Mighty Flip Champs always looked intriguing too.

Why wouldn't they put those on more downloadable networks? I don't get those guys - if stuff like Gunstar Heroes can show up on PSN and Mega Man 9/10 can hit all three, than something like Shantae should hit all the consoles' downloadable spaces. Oh well, I'm getting a DSi XL when they come out for my mom, so I guess I'll play 'em on that.

Great review! I thought this was going to be a solid game - and it's quite looker (I remember when retail games, from the N64/Dreamcast era, resembled games like this) - but when I saw it was only 500 points I got a little suspicious. Glad to see it still (mostly) came together! Another great one for Wiiware...

I really don't understand the retro market. I mean, god, don't games take up enough space? Isn't it ridiculous enough to pay 60 dollars for a modern game, where people routinely complain that a 10 hour campaign is too short? Most SNES games can only entertain for a 10's of MINUTES, not hours, nowadays. Why would you pay such outlandish prices for a cartridge nowadays?

And although I love my classics, I love having them all conveniently on my Wii channels way more. I never got rid of my NES or SNES - heck, I have 3 NES's because they keep breaking down, and my SNES wears that ugly discolored plastic bottom half with pride like any other retro fan's - but doing things the modern way is soooooooooooooooooooo much infinitely better. Hell, I have over 100 games from the LAST generation (PS2/Xbox/Gamecube) alone, and it's a pain-in-the- finding places for all those jewel cases. Why would you hunt down even more older games that take up even more space? I gathered up my NES and SNES games into boxes and put 'em in the attic years ago. I'd much rather play things on modern consoles, the convenient way. Either through digital download a la the Virtual Console or through excellent collections like SNK Arcade Classics and Metal Slug Anthology (both great collections, btw).

While I'll still bust out my SNES to play certain games that haven't been rereleased, it sucks. Believe me, the day Demon's Crest and Sparkster and Metal Warriors hits the VC, I'll be thrilled. In the meantime, I can wait - I don't like emulating unless it's the only way to play certain games. I.e. stuff like Earthbound 2/Mother 3 in English, or games like Legend of the Mystical Ninja/Goemon 2 for Super Famicom. I got no problems doing that if people like NOA are too stupid to listen to fans and bring over such games; It's their lost sale.

I would definitely have liked for a more stylized approach to the DS Skate It; heck, Skate it in general should practically be EA's Jet Set Radio. These drab visuals just don't work on DS. Also, the Tony Hawk games on DS have been very strong since the system launched, unlike on the home consoles where Skate was practically a skating game messiah.
Like to see them try again though; Extient has improved with every game they've done on the DS so far.

This is an awesome game. The option for button controls would've been awesome, but the touch controls work like 92% of the time, which is more than enough. The level designs are great and push all the cool acrobatic skills the Prince can do very hard. A very fun game and there are some great level designs within. A really cool game.

I heard this was a good DS sidescroller; like a mix between a Prince of Persia and Sonic the Hedgehog. Wanna hear Nintendolife's take on it...

I'm loving this game:) It's far and away the most arcadey, visually popping "straight" sidescroller (i.e. not Metroidvania) in the series since Bloodlines on the Genesis. It's not as...robust(?) or ambitious as Super Castlevania IV, and it's not as "flashy" or content-rich as Dracula X, but for pure old school action this is the best Castlevania I've played in sometime. Very happy to see it released.

...though I'm still gonna complain. Where IS Castlevania Bloodlines for the Genny, Konami/Nintendo? That's gotta be one of the most requested VC games? Maybe 2010 will finally bring it.