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Whee, videogames....
Jul. 14th, 2005 01:19 amSo I picked up a Nintendo DS a few months ago, and was almost immediately struck by the fact that the game offering on the poor thing was... pathetic. I don't usually pick up game systems 'til they're established, and this one definitely isn't. The two major features that make the DS 'weird' are wireless networking and _dual screens_ - one of them a touchpad. I imagine all the software developers' dev teams staring at the damn thing and saying 'gee... how do we make use of _this_ doodad?'
In any case, it supports GBA games, so I'm okay. Even when I can't find DS games, I can play the old stuff with fair facility.
So I bought Meteos for the DS slot, and Zelda: The Minish Cap for the GBA slot. Crim can attest to the cracklike flavor of Meteos - it's a puzzler, kinda like Columns meets trying to launch cities into space using solid fuel rockets. Moderately addictive, good for wasting a few minutes here and there.
Minish Cap fixes the problem I have with Zelda and other RPGs on portables, quite well, and provides a niffy GBA game while it's doing it. I don't know what the hell RPG programmers have against it, but Minish cap does what so few RPGs do - reminds you what the hell you were supposed to be doing before you shut it off last time. I currently have a savegame on FF1 for the GBA, in the middle of the Earth Temple or somesuch.... and I have _no idea_ whether I'm supposed to be escaping or going further in.
Additionally, it has the classic Zelda problem-solving gameplay, where you get a whole bunch of toys and have to discern which tools apply to which situations.
Thus, Zelda gets on a pedestal with a very few games on a portable system for fulfilling what I feel to be a basic feature set necessary to correctly implement RPG-type serial-goal games on a portable. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrows, Mario 64 DS, Zelda: The Minish Cap, and _maybe_ one or two others I know remember that people on portables aren't necessarily spending long blocks of time in gameland.
( Random rant about portable game features )
In any case, it supports GBA games, so I'm okay. Even when I can't find DS games, I can play the old stuff with fair facility.
So I bought Meteos for the DS slot, and Zelda: The Minish Cap for the GBA slot. Crim can attest to the cracklike flavor of Meteos - it's a puzzler, kinda like Columns meets trying to launch cities into space using solid fuel rockets. Moderately addictive, good for wasting a few minutes here and there.
Minish Cap fixes the problem I have with Zelda and other RPGs on portables, quite well, and provides a niffy GBA game while it's doing it. I don't know what the hell RPG programmers have against it, but Minish cap does what so few RPGs do - reminds you what the hell you were supposed to be doing before you shut it off last time. I currently have a savegame on FF1 for the GBA, in the middle of the Earth Temple or somesuch.... and I have _no idea_ whether I'm supposed to be escaping or going further in.
Additionally, it has the classic Zelda problem-solving gameplay, where you get a whole bunch of toys and have to discern which tools apply to which situations.
Thus, Zelda gets on a pedestal with a very few games on a portable system for fulfilling what I feel to be a basic feature set necessary to correctly implement RPG-type serial-goal games on a portable. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrows, Mario 64 DS, Zelda: The Minish Cap, and _maybe_ one or two others I know remember that people on portables aren't necessarily spending long blocks of time in gameland.
( Random rant about portable game features )
