I'm bored, and I felt as thoguh more life should be given to these forums, so [s]without Reg's permission[/s] I created a third system discussion topic. This time, concerning everyone's favorite touch screen handheld, the Nintendo DS. Let's look at some of the characteristitics of Nintendo's latest handheld console, shall we?

First of all, let's take a look at the DS's main feature. That's right, the touch screen and how it's used for gameplay factures. As some of you may already know, the DS has two screens, a normal top screen, and a touch bottom screen. Most DS games I've played tend to play by having the top screen being the main screen, or the screen where all of the action takes place with the bottom screen for things such as a map, item screen, or something among those lines (although there are games that use the bottom for action or sometimes even both screens are used for the action). Now most of the DS games I've played tend to throw in a sometimes unneeded touch screen feature, for example New Super Mario Bros.'s item storage system, which required one to press onto the icon to take out the item and use it, which effectively left you nearly defenseless for a short time if you happened to use the item at a bad area. Although, the touch screen feature can sometimes be used for some interesting and cool ideas, such as Mario Kart DS's emblem design, PictoChat, among other uses. However, although not particarly a problem with the Nintendo DS's touch screen abilties, it is quite easy to lose the stylus for the console if one is not careful enough with it (I have yet to lose my first one, but I know some people lost theirs sometime during the time they owned a DS).

Second is a feature I personally like, which is the ability to play Gameboy Advance games on the DS. This allows one to be able to play multiple different games without needing to switch game paks or cards. However, there is one bad point about this: You can not play older Gameboy titles on the DS. This hurts the DS a little bit in my opinion since this requires one to bring two handhelds in order to play older Gameboy and Color titles along with DS. However, some DS games add speical features if a certain game pak is inserted (the only example I know of is Kirby: Canvas Curse, which unlocked the Waddle Doo character from the get-go if Amazing Mirror is inserted and the Nightmare in Dreamland music if Nightmare in Dreamland was inserted).

The third and last feature I'll discuss is the well-known Wi-Fi connection, Nintendo's free online service for the DS. As you may know, this allows people with wireless routers and access points to paly with people around the world that have the same game as you. It may sound like a dream come true, but I disagree. For one, some games don't grant players the ability to speak to other players. This unallows one to be able to make friends on Wi-Fi to other people. Second, the gameplay can be quite laggy depending on how far away a player is from their access point/router. This allows one to get booted for the slighted movement if too far away, or kicks other players in their case. I personally don't like it, as I've only played Mario Kart DS on Wi-Fi and most of the people I've played with are jerks in some way, shape, or form and thus I don't really like it.

Noteworthy titles for the Nintendo DS

Super Mario 64 DS
- There has been some debate about weither or not this title surpassed it's predessor for the Nintendo 64. Some people love it while other people dislike it for some particular reason (the most common reason is the controls, as most people claimed that Super Mario 64 was made with control stick in mind for gameplay. Others debate over the actual additions and subtractions (some say Luigi is too useful and Wario too unuseful, while others insist that there is no real reward for collecting all the stars etc.)). Although I personally love the title and think it surpasses the original for my own reasons, I know that others will disagree with me on this.

Mario Kart DS
- Being the first Nintendo DS game to use the Wi-Fi cabilites, many gamers recongize Mario Kart DS as being a important flagship title to the DS, and some sources say it is the best selling Nintendo DS game when it was first released.

Kirby Canvas Curse
- Being one of the first games to play entirely with the touch screen, Nintendo seemed to put the DS's touch screen's abilites to the limit for this title. Although some may not agree with me, I feel as though that KCC played a vital role for the Nintendo DS's gameplay abilites, as it was among the first games to use the touch screen for gameplay purposes.

So what do you guys think about the DS? Is it good, bad, or ugly?

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The Local Video Gaming Lunatic

Recent stuff I'm into:

Watching: A Certain Scientific Railgun (ep.14, stalled), Hoshi no Kirby (ep. 71, stalled), Nazo No Kanojo X (ep. 8), Acchi Kocchi (ep. 8)
Reading: nothing

i have DS Lite, it was an impulse buy, there is acshually nothing about the system that interests me excludeing Animal Crossing, i wouldent say it was worth it just for that game.

I bought my DS because I had a slight interest in it but was disappointed with it in the long run.... not to many titles caught my intrest and the ones that did weren't all that impressive in my opinion...Overall I just didn't like the DS that much...

At the moment, i love the ds. I like the games i got for it so far. At the moment, i have new super mario bros.(great game! got it along with the ds for my birthday) Sonic Rush!(also a great game... and also got it for my bday). Now as for Mario 64... (i got it later) this actually has been my leest favorite of the titles so far, i still like it though...

I'm wanting to get more ds games, like mario and luigi: partners in time, and megaman zx, has anyone played these games yet? I'm wanting to get mm zx for Christmas. When or if i get this title, my collection will seem more completed with my three favorite sidescrolling games being all under one roof.

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The size of the world has changed. It's changed to the size were you can control it with your hands just like a PDA. The world will keep getting smaller.

Heh, The Nintendo DS...... This system for the most part disapoints me. I originally wasn't even gonna get it but I ended up breaking down and getting it cause of how much people told me the multiplayer games were great.

I was most disappointed...

These are the DS games I've picked up.

Mario Kart DS - This is probly the only game i boguht that had decent multiplayer... I got bored with it pretty quickly and i gave it to my brother. IMO I like Mario Kart 64 the most still of the whole series or mario kart games.

Sonic Rush - Sadly, This is probly my favorite game on the system and its a lvoe/hate relationship. Its got the weirdest soundtrack I've heard in a sonic game and its strangely cool. The gameplay is fun yet frusterating at the same time. The boss battles were neat as well.

Nanostray - One of the few early titles I had interest in, I picked it up eventually and its not good at all. Switching weapons in a frantic game like this on your touch screen does not work, it makes you die. The game itself was pretty hard too. It was more frusterating then it was worth.

Lunar Dragon Song - I got this from a friend a long while back and I still havent tried it yet. I'll probly try playing it after I eventually get the older Lunar games.

Super Princess Peach - As of right now probly my 2nd favorite DS game and quite possibly my last one. This is a decent platform game and its kind of fun.

I'm no longer interested in this system. None of the games I own have gotten a large amount of playtime. I would've been just as well off not getting it seeing as how There were only 2 games i tried that i had moderate fun with. If I were to get 1 more DS game it would be Starfox, I might actually like that but since its on a handheld, I have my doubts on that as well...

If I were to rate this system on a 1-5 scale like i did the GC (rate of 3) and PS2 (rate of 3 also) in the other topics I'd give this system a 1. Didn't like it....

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I'm not a fan of the DS, it was given to me as a gift and I only really used it to play GBA games or kill time at school last year (now I have open periods so I just go home). I don't find the touchscreen to be particularly gimmicky since it's actually integrated into gameplay pretty well for most games, but I don't think it's very innovative either. Some of the games I've played on it:

Animal Crossing - Quite possibly the most well-crafted waste of time ever, I'm not a fan of these life simulation games as I have a life of my own that is pretty interesting and shit to do, forgive me if I don't want to wander around the smallest town ever picking up shells, digging holes and talking to hippos and gorillas for t-shirts and chairs to sell at the kwik-e-mart.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - Worse than Aria of Sorrow. The touchscreen is a hindrance in this game, on some of the later bosses you'll miss the opportunity to seal them and you'll have to kill them over and over. The soundtrack is gay.

Mario Kart DS - Even worse than Double Dash. The stages are extremely boring, the controls are shit, the new items are either useless or a pain in the ass, the single player is too damn easy, the graphics are butt ugly, playing online sucks since once someone loses the first round they disconnect, and the only way to win is to fishtail which only the lightweights are capable of.

Meteos - Pretty fun, I don't like how small the pieces are (makes it extremely difficult to get combos). I like the interactive soundtrack. My data got wiped (it'd help if it said when it was loading so you can know when to turn the power off) so I haven't played it in months.

Metroid Prime: Hunters - The only thing this game has going for it is it's a metroid. All the uninspired generic shooting action of the GCN games with a crappy multiplayer mode, and without the awesome soundtrack.

Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits - They removed the best mode from the english release, *beep* namco. Other than that it's exactly the same as the Dreamcast/PC/GBC/PSX release.

New Super Mario Bros. - The worst 2D mario game, savew perhaps Siper Mario Land 1. Like SMB3 but the stages are short, linear, and not very fun, and instead of flying you get a useless shell that will more often kill you than be of any use. It's was pretty funny that they recycled the same shitty minigames from SM64DS, lazy bastards.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attourney - I sincerely doubt any fans of this game will ever get laid without a fursuit.

Super Mario 64 DS - Not nearly as fun as the N64 one, mostly because I already knew where all the stars are. Controlling with the stylus is damn near impossible with such a small touchscreen, and the buttons don't have the articulation that the N64 control stick did. Luigi and Wario were totally useless, they should have kept it at Mario and Yoshi. The extra stages and stars were thrown in with little thought, if you've played the N64 one there's absolutely no reason to pick this up.

Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll - There's all the best stages from the GCN games, made impossible by the button control scheme. They compensated by giving you millions of extra lives (you get the from random bananas, as many as 5-6 in a stage), but all the extra lives in the world won't help you get past the hardest levels.

Super Princess Peach - It's funny how Mario and friends can get away with starring in tired old bullshit and still sell well and get good reviews, whereas the most inspired platformers of the past few years recieve lukewarm reviews (8/10 is lukewarm when your magazine/website gives 10's to three games a month) and sell absolutely nothing. This game is so pathetically overdone I almost fell asleep playing it, which is nothing as it's so easy I don't think I died once in the entire time I played it.

Tetris DS - I'm so utterly indifferent towards this game I almost forgot I own it. None of the new modes are particularly interesting, there's really no reason to own it unless you never played the original (in which case you might as well get a NES/GB emu and play that instead).

Wario Ware: Touched - All of these minigames are pretty boring except for ninja scribble which should have been expanded on.

Zoo Keeper - The best game on DS, period. No complaints whatsoever.

Overall I think the DS is one of the biggest wastes of hardware ever, the touchscreen could have been good if executed correctly (none of the games I played really did this). If not for Zoo Keeper I'd trade it in for a PSP (this coming march of course, as there isn't anything worth playing on the PSP yet).

I also thought that about the sound track, its so weird, i cant help but to like it. This game is a great sonic title, because it has cool new mechanics that make it seem more like a sequel and improved version of the old sonic games. I dont think its my faveriote though, mainly because its so short. Thats a big weakness right there, because the only replay value that makes this worth playing afterwards is the time attack mode. Blaze is a cool character story whise, but for the game, there isn't much originallity to her. She's got a weaker version of knuckles's gliding, but some cool areal maneuvar's.

Other than that, i only have one more chaos emerald to get!  

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The size of the world has changed. It's changed to the size were you can control it with your hands just like a PDA. The world will keep getting smaller.

I consider the Animal Forest games to be some of the best ever made in videogame history, actually.


Can't really say as I still haven't had an oppurtunity to buy it. I will admit that I don't think the touch screen was integrated amazingly, the soundtrack was disappointing after hearing the excellent E3 version, but come on, say something positive. The graphics?


Double Dash is the greatest racing game I have ever played in my entire life, although I haven't played many, because I don't care for realistic ones. Butt ugly graphics? It's a 3D cart racer on a portable scale. You can't expect anything amazing from that, and they're not bad graphics at all anyway. They do their job, do they not?


Hmm. Can't say much, only played it briefly now and then, but I still think you're being overly harsh.


I'd say far more fun that the original, because you've more more characters and stuff, I always thought that the original wasn't "Mario" enough, so, major personal improvement here. And again, I seem to be the only one in all of time and space that actually preffered touch screen control. It's honestly not that hard. I really don't understand what everyone's problem is. It's just a case of being able to carry out a simple multitask.


Easy to the point of tedious, yes, but I still found it moderateley enjoyable and of course, cute.


The game was kind of hillarious, quirky, cool and fun.

I'd be interested to hear what you do like? Because sounds to me like theres nothing bad about the DS and its available titles, but you're just looking for something that's not actually there. There's a difference between a system being bad and somebody being interested in something a little different.

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I don't know what to put here.

i sold my DS awhile back becuase i needed the money more than anything so i lost out on it lol.. but i will be getting one soon because of the new games that are coming out for it..

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Signatures Ruin Your Life.

On the DS I like Zoo Keeper and Meteos, other than that most DS games I've played are highly polished but deeply flawed rehashes of their predecessors. Perhaps Wario Ware and Animal Crossing aren't my kind of games, and yes I was a little harsh on Castlevania (It's actually a good game, horribly derivative with lots of little annoyances but still good) but I stand by my statement that MKDS, SPP and NSMB are garbage.