"REAL adventure is waiting for you, DS."

I’m the type of gamer who mostly plays old Sierra and LucasArts adventure games. Some people might not even consider me a gamer at all, in fact. I didn’t have a console until very recently. My circa 2002 computer may be running like a champ, but it had some lagging problems running Psychonauts… in 2005. So, modern computer gaming is also out. I was lucky enough to be visited by the Wing Damage Fairy a while back, who blessed me with a DS.

I was excited about rumblings of the DS being the promised land of adventure gaming; I’d read on many a message board and blog that since the console’s point-and-click stylus interface was ideal for the genre I would have a bevy of adventure games to choose from once I had a look around. I was bummed to find out, however, that there is not, in fact, a whole lot of quality adventure games on the DS. At least not the kind I’m looking for.

Read after the jump to see my findings.

It started out promising. WingDamage-a Claus gifted me a copy of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney and I loved it, despite it not being a straightforward adventure game. I was thirsty for more. After a basic Google search I had assembled a sizable list of games to check out. I was drawn to the game Trace Memory. I liked the look of the art and it’s plot. A ghost story that takes place on the ominously named Blood Edward Island? Yes, please. But what I found when I played the game was an easy-as-pie adolescent drama that lasted two brief evenings. I had caught wind of these flaws in online reviews of Trace Memory previous to purchasing it, but my optimism had blinded me to them.

Going back over my list of possible games, they all seemed a little off. Professor Layton is apparently a puzzle game in adventure game clothing. Reports of diminished graphics and a poor interface have scared me off of Syberia. Middling reviews have caused me to shun Insecticide. Ugly art, and the threat of the same developer that released Trace Memory, kept me from checking in to Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (although this review of it almost made me change my -bad pun alert- tune). Time Hollow gives off a tween vibe similar to Trace Memory. Hey wait, the Secret Files games look good, I’ll take them! Ah, no, not available in the US. Of course. I felt like I was spinning my wheels, so I set my DS down for a few months.

I recently came back to it, and found a game that looks okay. Broken Sword: Director’s Cut. It’s ported from PC, but it looks like it was redesigned for the DS and not just clumsily shoved into a new format. It looks like it makes good use of the DS interface, which is important to me.  I’m not a big fan of straight forward dramas however, which it looks like Broken Sword might be, and the comparisons to The DaVinci Code are kind of scaring me. But I clearly have to take what I can get here.

If I were the Don Corleone of the Adventure family on the DS, I would get Dave Gilbert on the case. I would play Emerald City Confidential or any of his Blackwell games on the DS in a heartbeat, and they’d look great on the shelf. I’d get Telltale with the program. I can’t imagine Monkey Island or Sam & Max not making a total killing if properly ported. I don’t think the Days series would do well on the DS, but wouldn’t an original Yahtzee game blow everyone’s minds? He really knows how to make limited graphics and sound sing. I think any of these entities would make a big splash if they released something on the DS, a system that I don’t think gets a lot of high profile, original releases that are of interest to the mainstream gaming community. There’s endless potential here, and I’m dying to seeing it realized.

Don’t get me wrong, the DS is a great system. It’s got a fun personality, a unique interface and a lot of games that make it worth having. I think it’s the only system I’d really want to have. But I am disappointed that it doesn’t have more of the specific type of adventure games I was hoping for.

Am I totally off base? Are there some amazing gems that I’ve missed? Am I wrong about any of the games that I dismissed above? Am I a cranky old man, asking the new world order to get off his lawn?

Let me know, internet.

"An improvement over Phantom Hourglass, but by how much?"

For the most part, I love the Zelda franchise. The portable titles in particular have a history of getting on my good side with Link’s Awakening being my second favorite title in the whole Game Boy catalog (next to Tetris). That being said, I was shocked when I didn’t fall in love with 2007′s Phantom Hourglass.

While Spirit Tracks looked disturbingly similar to the object of my disappointment, the Zelda fan in me was determined to give the game a fair shake from beginning to end.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks takes place about 100 years after Phantom Hourglass. As somebody who’s dabbled in writing Zelda continuity theories in the past (nerd alert!!), having a well defined place in the timeline is something I can really appreciate. There are direct references to the characters of the last game and even some clever nods to the heroic deeds of the previous Link. For example, you will start the game in your engineer clothes (you know… because you ride a train), but end up with the iconic, green tunic by disguising yourself as one of the castle guards whose uniforms now resemble the famous hero of old.

The story of Spirit Tracks is very quirky and lighthearted. The new mythos explaining the trains, as well as sages known as the Lokomo is very silly. Fortunately, the game never takes itself very seriously, so this actually works to the game’s advantage. Due to various circumstances introduced in the beginning of the story, Zelda follows you around throughout the game as a ghost (it’s no longer a spoiler when it’s on the game’s cover in certain regions). Since she’s present for the whole game, they actually made her into a character with a personality. Her dialogue is often genuinely funny and one of the game’s highlights.

"The graphics look a little better this time around, but the changes are subtle."

If you played Phantom Hourglass, you know exactly what to expect from the mandatory touch-screen controls in Spirit Tracks. You’ll be dragging the stylus around to make Link walk, double tapping to roll, and so on. Though I prefer the button setups of the earlier games, the controls are bearable… most of the time. In certain instances, I longed for the precision buttons provide. I can’t count how much health I lost from failing to adequately compensate for the slipping caused by icy floors or how many times I had to restart a long sequence during one of the final boss’ last forms due to a dodge roll that I accidentally performed in place of a slash. Knowing that my failures were caused by imprecise controls rather than level or enemy design are what had me cursing at my DS from time to time as I played the game. Also, be prepared to blow into the mic a lot; both to use one of your items and to play your magical pan flute.

Like Phantom Hourglass before it, Spirit Tracks abandons the series’ staple of an overworld for a vehicle mechanic. Given the nature of how trains work, you won’t be drawing paths every which way this time. Instead, you’ll be tracing along preexisting tracks which will increase in number as the game progresses.

Your train can move forward in two different speeds, but you’ll soon wish it had a third. There are occasional enemies, but most of the time you will simply wait to reach your destination. While there are a few teleports unlocked as you progress, they are very inconvenient. Traveling by train is often so uneventful that it feels like an interactive loading screen. Sometimes there will be invincible, evil trains traveling on certain tracks that you’ll have to avoid. But rather than adding a much needed spice to your travels, this just temporarily shifts the trip from boring to downright annoying. In what I can only assume is some kind of sick joke, you’ll sometimes be forced to take on passengers that will force you to slow down during certain parts of the track.

"I'm not sure what feels slower: Zelda's Phantom body or the train."

Between dungeons, you’ll mostly travel back and forth to towns. These sections drag on. Anytime I wasn’t in a dungeon I was wishing I was. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are the only games in the series that have made me loathe not being in dungeons. The continued removal of the overworld in the DS entries is nothing short of baffling to me. The overworld is a vital staple of the franchise. Removing it is like taking jumping out of Mario. Without it, much of the joy of getting a new item is diminished since you won’t be using it to advance between dungeons. One of my favorites aspects of Zelda is exploration, and it pains me to see the developers toss this aside yet again.

The items you collect in Spirit Tracks are a mixed bag. The first two you acquire are literally Twilight Princes’s Gale Boomerang split into two separate items in two separate dungeons. I don’t mind them reusing items (the series does it all the time), but splitting an existing item’s abilities into two separate items, stripping the possibility of another unique item, just feels lazy. On the other side of the spectrum, one of the game’s last items, a rod that lets you control sand, feels very fresh and innovative.

Spirit Tracks has two sets of dungeons. First, you have the standard dungeons that provide you with your new items. Second, you have the Spirit Tower. Unlike Phantom Hourglas’s Temple of the Ocean King, the Spirit Tower never forces you to repeat floors you’ve already completed. It also has no time limit. These are welcome improvements over the last game.

The Spirit Tower is where Zelda will be able to occupy the bodies of Phantoms (the large knights) after meeting certain conditions. You can have her follow you or draw direct paths for her to follow. This leads to some pretty clever puzzles, but like the train she is incredibly slow. In fact, she is so slow that I’d often reach for my phone to keep myself occupied while I waited. There are different types of Phantoms Zelda can control, each with a different power. But this led to more moments of impatience as, for example, I walked a few steps at a time to allow a fire-based phantom to light the way in a pitch black level. As I neared the end of the game, I started to resent the Phantom almost as much as I resented carrying Princess Ruto through Jabu Jabu’s belly in Ocarina of Time.

"Download play was a great idea. Too bad they forgot to make the multiplayer fun."

Spirit Tracks also features a multiplayer mode, but it really feels like an afterthought. You and up to three friends can battle (without swords) to collect the most force gems as you try to trigger traps to disrupt your opponents. Jonah and I both agreed the mode was a disappointment, but at least your three friends don’t have to buy their own game cart to find that out.

I’m sad to say that The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is more tedious than fun. While it manages to fix some of the problems I had with Phantom Hourglass, it adds a few new ones and retains some of my most glaring gripes. If you were a fan of Phantom Hourglass, you’ll most likely enjoy Spirit Tracks. If not, though, this isn’t a better enough game to win you over.

From the re-makes of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy to the more obscure Shiren the Wanderer, the DS has become one of the best places to find old-school RPGs. Nostalgia is no exception to this trend. Matrix Software even did the programming and 3D graphics for the Final Fantasy III & IV remakes before their work on Nostalgia.

Nostalgia is set in a Steam Punk version of Earth, complete with giant airships and an adventuring based economy. It is clear right from the outset that this is a throwback to a time when not every RPG focused on a character whose main motivation was angst.

You play as Eddy, a young man whose goal in life is to become an adventurer, just like his Indiana Jones looking Dad (had Dr. Jones decided to grow an impressive mustache). Your village didn’t burn to the ground and there isn’t a giant conspiracy as to your origin. You are just a guy who wants to see the world. Eddy even lives in a huge mansion with both of his parents.

This sets a very light tone that is prevalent throughout the course of the entire game. Even when things transpire that threaten the destruction of all of humanity, Nostalgia’s protagonist doesn’t let that keep him down. It is so upbeat that I suspect it will come across as too saccharine for the taste of most modern, jaded gamers.

The gameplay also harkens back to an older era. Combat starts with random encounters and is played out in the traditional turn based fashion. I was very happy to see the inclusion of the Final Fantasy X style of showing you the turn order of the battle on the bottom screen of the DS. Using stat boost for your characters and moves that slow down your enemies adds a nice strategy element to the combat.

The airship battles are more unique than the regular, “four party members vs. a few monsters” fair. When you fight from the ship, all four characters control different weapons, but share an overall health bar. This forces you to be a lot more strategic in your battles than you normally have to with turn based combat. I only died in this game on the airship battles and usually when I was distracted by something else going on in the room. These battles also take a lot longer to finish since you can overcome much more powerful enemies, as long as you plan ahead with your moves.

Your ship doesn’t level up. As you find new cities throughout the world, you will find upgrades to the ship’s shields and weapons. As you discover more cities, new parts will start to show up in London (your base of operations).

The airship has three different planes that it can travel on, each represented by different altitudes. To start, you can only travel at the lowest height. The medium height allows you to fly over some mountains and the highest setting lets you travel anywhere. The trick is, the higher the altitude, the harder the random encounters. Since you have a shared health bar in these battles, there is no way to recover if you die, other than re-loading your save. My advice is to watch your health closely and save often.

As you level, you gain new abilities, both for regular and ship battles. You gain a separate pool of points that can be spent to upgrade these abilities. This pool is shared with the entire party, so you have to carefully manage what points you spend on which abilities. Each of these have ten ranks that are progressively more expensive to unlock.

I thought Nostalgia taking place on Earth, rather than a generic fantasy world, was a fascinating concept when I first heard about it.  Sadly, other than the overworld being shaped after it and the cities having familiar names, nothing about the in-game world is recognizable as our Earth.

"Just like our world, except that it's completely different"

While the game is generally straightforward, there were a few points where it wasn’t quite so obvious as to where to go. Missing something like a small opening in a mountain or a downed pillar that looks like background (but is actually used as a bridge) would lead to lots of wandering and frustration.

Nostalgia isn’t perfect, but it is a nice throwback to a time when games like Skies of Arcadia and Grandia II ruled the RPG scene. While the ship combat did require some thought, the regular battles, even bosses, were fairly easy. It would make a good introduction to a younger player or someone new to the genre.

This review is based on a copy of Nostalgia provided to us by Ignition Entertainment.

"The Legend of ChooChoo: Phantom, the Friendly Ghost"

There’s something we all need to come to grips with right now: Link rides a train. Why does Link ride a train? I have no idea, but let’s just get past that for now.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks demo was divided into three sections. Each one had a different focus. The first one put you in a dungeon with your new Phantom pal. The other scenarios showed off a boss battle and Link’s latest wacky vehicle, the train. Thanks to multiple visits to the Nintendo booth, I was able to try out all three.

I selected the dungeon scenario first. Controlling Link is identical to how it was in Phantom Hourglass. Dragging the stylus around will make Link walk and drawing a quick line will have him perform a slash. What made things interesting was Link’s new Phantom friend.

Controlling the Phantom is done indirectly. If you put your stylus on the Phantom and draw a path, he will slowly follow it. Clicking on objects will have him interact with them, whether that be hitting a switch or an enemy. Thankfully, there is a call button to command him to follow you so that you don’t have to constantly be drawing paths while you move around the dungeon.

The Phantom appears to be invincible. Because of this, you have to use him to get past obstacles that would normally harm our fragile hero, Link. One example is lava pits. Disregarding all empathy, you can send the Phantom into a pool of lava, jump onto the safety of his head, and tell him where to go. Another part of the dungeon required me to have the Phantom walk across one path to block streams of fire while Link walked across a lower path. This also caused me to be separated from my ghostly chum temporarily before solving another simple puzzle. Other uses of the Phantom were pretty predictable, such as having him stand on buttons or hit switches.

The item I found in the dungeon allowed me to shoot tornadoes by blowing into the microphone. It’s similar to the gale boomerang in Twilight Princess, except without the boomerang. I’ve never been fond of blowing into the microphone to perform actions, but it seemed to work well enough.

The boss scenario was everything you would expect from a standard Zelda boss fight. I had to use the dungeon’s item  in a two-form battle with a giant beetle. Much like Phantom Hourglass, the battle took place on both screens.

Now what you’ve all been waiting for: the train. If you thought the boat in Phantom Hourglass was boring, I have some bad news: the train isn’t much better, if at all. In fact, a few of the train’s controls are lifted straight from the boat. Tapping the screen will shoot bombs out of your cannon, breaking rocks and destroying enemies. The right side of the screen has your throttle. There are two different forward speeds, stop, and reverse. Finally, there is a rope you can pull to sound your horn.

To allow you to still control where you are going, there is a switch at the bottom of the screen that controls which track to go on in conjunctions. One thing the train has over the boat is scenery. Looking at a lot of flat areas covered in blue gets old really fast, so it’s nice to see some landscape. I even had the pleasure of going through a tunnel with enemies crawling on the walls and ceilings.

I’m disappointed that Nintendo still feels that we need a vehicle to traverse the overworld map. The horse featured in Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess was a fine addition as it was fun to use and didn’t impair your freedom to roam the world. Both the boat and train feel like a chore, dumbing down the very thing that made me fall in love with the series in the first place: exploration.

Fortunately, I had a lot of fun playing the dungeon scenario. In fact, controlling the Phantom was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. When I played Phantom Hourglass to completion, my enjoyment started high went downhill by the hour. I can only hope that Spirit Tracks doesn’t suffer the same fate.

“Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time” is the follow up to last year’s “Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates“. I’m not sure what the deal is with all these ridiculously long game titles, lately. Regardless, Echoes of Time makes a lot of improvements from the last entry in the series, establishing itself as a stronger multiplayer title, though the game is far from flawless.

Like the other games in the Crystal Chronicles series, Echoes of Time is an Action RPG. The first thing you will do when you start the game is create a character. Unfortunately, you won’t have a lot of options in this process. In fact, the only options you will have are gender and choosing from one the series’ four races. Thankfully, this is made up for by the fact that all of the game’s equipment is visible on your character.

"It's always good to have some variety in your party."

The DS and Wii versions of the game can actually be played together in multiplayer. However, both my party member and myself played the DS version for the sake of portability and easy touch screen access. Echoes of Time’s story mode can be played with up to four players. This was the number one draw for me as Ring of Fates only allowed multiplayer in a separate non-story mode.

Multiplayer can be toggled on or off at any save point. After the game’s very first cut-scene, you can walk to a save point and hop into multiplayer before you even fight your first enemy. This was an excellent design decision.

Combat in Echoes is very simple. You can perform a basic physical combo attack with a single button (bows and a few other weapon types have no combos), jump, cast magic, and pickup and throw allies, enemies, and items. Fortunately, there are a couple methods for character growth. Reaching certain levels will grant new abilities (such as a charge attack) and enemies will occasionally drop items that will permanently increase your character’s resistance to a specific element or status effect.

"The world map consists of a zoomed out screen with obvious locations to walk to."

Magic casting still uses the same ring system from the original Crystal Chronicles on the GameCube. Holding the cast button down will let you move around a ring and the spell will be cast within it once you let off the button. You can also combine your rings with the other players’, as well as lock your own rings in place to layer more on top of them. This allows you to cast more powerful spells. The simplest example would be layering two fire spells to cast “Fira”.

What sets the magic apart in Echoes is that the developers have finally decided to abandon the orb-collecting system the series’ used up until this point. You now always have the following spells equipped: Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Cure, Life, and Clear. Using them will take MP and combining spells will take an even greater amount. It’s definitely a relief to no longer be forced kill countless enemies in hopes that they will drop the right colored orb for you to use on a door-opening switch.

One of of the games biggest downfalls is how incredibly formulaic it feels. It can be a lot of fun to jump in a party with a few friends and play a dungeon or two, but if you plan on playing for an extended period of time without breaks, the game will start feeling very repetitive.

"The cat is the only one in this picture that doesn't look completely ridiculous."

After most dungeons, some sort of story segment will happen. Unfortunately, the story didn’t feel at all compelling to me. I still looked forward to completing dungeons, but for a very different reason. Every time a dungeon is completed, new equipment is available in the town. Each piece gives your character a whole new look.

You can either make equipment from the various materials that enemies drop or simply buy it. Making equipment is usually more cost-effective and can even allow you to get certain items early. Equipment can even, to a small extent, level up. If a weapon or armor piece reaches level three, you can convert it into a jewel that you can then attach to another item to enhance it. So rather than selling your old equipment, you can combine it with your new equipment. Fortunately, the shop interface is much more intuitive than the last game, always showing stat comparisons between every item. You can even see these comparisons when looking at a scroll for making a piece of equipment.

I really couldn’t see myself playing this game alone. If you’re looking for a singleplayer action RPG on the DS, look elsewhere. But if you want a really simple and easy to pick up game to play in relatively small doses with one-to-three buddies, “Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time” can be a fun little game to kill some time with, though it could have done with a few less block-pushing puzzles.

“Wario Ware: Touched!” is one of the first games to have been released on the Nintedo DS when it made it’s debut in late 2004. I missed it the first time around, but had always heard it was one of the best games to show off the touch screen functionality of the system.

When you first boot up the game, there is a little bit of a story revolving around Wario eating junk food and needing to go to the dentist which drags on a little too long. This is in sharp contrast to the incredibly fast paced “microgames” that make up the bulk of this title.

As you progress, you unlock more characters, each with their own set of microgames. They generally follow a theme. One character’s games revolve around spinning things, one revolves around using the microphone, another are all themed like NES games, etc.

The down side is, the little bit of story that is there really only slows things down. Once you have finished the incredibly easy main game, you can go back and play harder and harder versions of the microgame collections. You even unlock a few characters that are there just to combine harder versions of the other characters’ games together and randomize them.

While it is a fun title, “WarioWare: Touched!’ is one of those games you can breeze through in a couple hours. Since it is so old now, it is most likely around in bargain bins and worth picking up at a discounted price, just to get in on the crazyness.

Sometimes I am very surprised when certain games make it outside of Japan. Sure, we live in an age where what will get localized is on the rise and what must be imported is steadily decreasing in comparison to times past (thanks to companies like Atlus and XSEED), but sometimes the choice of which games make it over still surprises me. What I mean to say is, Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier (or Sir Togsef as I like to call it) is VERY Japanese. In fact, there are even cross-over characters in it from the Japan-only Namco x Capcom.

Though a spin off of the Super Robot Wars series (most of which DID stay in Japan), the game makes several large departures from its predecessors. First off, rather than focusing on giant mechs like Gundams and Veritechs, the characters you control consist of people and people-sized androids. The second key difference is that the game is a JRPG rather than an SRPG.

The game takes place in land called “The Endless Frontier” which consists of many different worlds connected by “cross gates” scattered throughout each world. You take control of Haken Browning, a bounty hunter dressed in cowboy garb with a lot of guns, one of which acts as a giant (and deadly) swiss-army knife. The game couldn’t take itself less seriously if it tried. As more people from various worlds join your party, you’ll find that most of them are ridiculously proportioned anime girls. The game’s dialogue completely acknowledges this, constantly filling the story with comedic innuendo. It’s quite quirky and different then the average JRPG dialogue.

What this game does best is its take on turn based battles. Because it’s so “out there”, I embedded a battle explanation video at the top of the review that covers the basics. Turn order is visible (a la Final Fantasy X). At the start of your characters turn, you have 100% “COM”. Each action you take spends a section of that bar and it will be partially refilled at the start of your next turn. You can do a string of up to 5 normal attacks in a single turn. The order and type of these attacks are determined by a playlist of skills you build for each character. The key is juggle combos of all things. Each enemy has a different weight and, through timing your attacks at just the right time, you can keep your enemy in the air. If the enemy lands, they might stop your string of attacks and even counter. On top of that, the more combos you get in the air, the faster the “Frontier Gauge” fills. When this gauge is full, you can perform an extra powerful attack.

While actions like attacking and using items take sections of your COM, using spirits (read: magic) does not. You can use as many healing or other modifier spirits as you want, given you have enough Spirit Points (SP) to spend on them. The catch is that there are no spirits that will cause damage to an enemy. There are, however, skills that will spend both COM and SP that can damage or cause effects to multiple enemies, but they will end your turn.

Another thing you can spend SP on is support attacks. Once you have more than 4 characters (up to 8), you will have a back row. By hitting “left” on the d-pad amongst your regular attacks, you can call in a back row character to perform an attack at the cost of a small amount of SP. In addition to this, if one of your characters is up next, you can hit “right” on the d-pad to call in your next front row character to start their chain of attacks while keeping the enemy in the air. It all makes for a very unique and fun battle system.

Overall, I found this game to be a bit of a mixed bag. Though the tongue-in-cheek dialogue was amusing, the lack of an engaging story really hurts the drive to carry on through to the end. Thankfully, random battles feel more interesting than the average JRPG, even when they’re frequent. It also helps that the large battle sprites in the game are very visually impressive. Each attack you perform is a treat to look at and this is amplified further by seamless hand-drawn animations overlaid upon support and special attacks. Perhaps my biggest complaint with the game is that after you learn each characters’ five normal attack skills, you will probably be using the same playlist of attacks for each character for the rest of the game. Sure, you will still learn more spirits and even mentalities (modifier states that randomly take effect at the start of a character’s turn), but you no longer have the thrill of expanding your normal attack chains for the later portion of the game.

If you are looking for a new take on the old JRPG genre, but aren’t looking for any kind of serious story, SRTOGS:EF can be a fun little diversion from the norm. It’s comical enemy designs like a bipedal whale with a bazooka and a studious ogre sporting giant nerd glasses while clutching a book kept a smile on my face as I played. It’s a bit “boss battle heavy” and probably would have been better if it was about 10 hours shorter (due to the sparser leveling in the end), but all in all, it’s a charming little game given that you aren’t offended by all the gratuitus suggestive themes.

First of all, I must say that I am amazed that Retro Game Challenge ever came to the states. In Japan, it is called GameCenter CX: Arino’s Challenge, sharing its name (sans the subtitle) with the Japan-only show in which it is based on. The show follows comedian Shinya Arino as he plays popular retro games and documents his progress. In this videogame adaption, things play out a little differently.

The story begins with you getting transported back to the 1980′s by Arino, who then forces you to complete challenges in a series of fake, retro games. While you play, you are accompanied by Arino’s child self who not only talks to you between games, but also shouts things while you’re playing.

The progression of the game plays out in a very linear manner. You start with only one game and one challenge. Each challenge you beat will unlock the next until you have completed them all and the next game is unlocked. The process then repeats until all games are unlocked. After that, every game must be beaten from start to finish.

Between and even during challenges, you can look through gaming magazines. These magazines have interviews, previews, letters from readers, tips and even codes for the various games contained within this parody of the 80′s. There is also a full manual for each game that mimics those of times past. This, in combination with some of the dialogue, make for some nostalgic and endearing moments, especially if you really were into the gaming scene in that era. There is even some “engrish” slipped in to some of the games for good measure.

With each new game you unlock, you see the improvements in graphics and gameplay mechanics that parallel the ones that took place in our world on the NES. Most of the games are fairly obvious parodies of real retro games. The first game, Cosmic Gate, is a less than subtle parody of Galaga, for example. The games span a decent number of genres to keep it interesting. There are a couple SHMUPS, three installments of a platforming series called Robot Ninja Haggleman, a top down racer similar to R.C. ProAm, and even a Dragon Quest-like RPG.

Each game can be unlocked in its entirety after completing all the challenges for it. The depth and replayability can vary greatly from game to game. Robot Ninja Haggleman 3 is a definite standout. The action is reminiscent of Ninja Gaiden, while each stage has an open structure like in Power Blade. In addition to that, there are shops where you can buy equipment to customize Haggleman’s abilities. It is very solid, but like the other games featured, it is also pretty short.

Overall, I really enjoy Retro Game Challenge, but I have a few complaints. Anybody who is a seasoned enough gamer to appreciate the nostalgia will probably have little to no difficulty in completing the challenges. A majority of the challenges I was able to complete on my first try. Also, every time you complete a challenge it ends your game. I would have liked to have the option to continue, maybe even completing more than one challenge in a single play through. This leads me to my next point. You are only ever progressing in one game at a time. It would be nice if you had a list of challenges for several games and could bounce between them and play them at your leisure, rather than having to complete every challenge for a game before the next one is unlocked.

Despite these issues, it is still a fun little game. I actually really enjoy playing some of the games (mainly the SHMUPS) in freeplay mode. There is already a sequel out in Japan. Unfortuntely, the North American publisher has stated that not enough copies sold here to justify bringing the sequel over. Not all hope is lost, however, as they said that if sales did reach a certain point, they would consider it.

I think you know what to do.

"If you're in a line long enough to require sitting, this knowledge is a must!"

If you’re anything like me, you like to engage in certain activities that involve waiting in line. Whether it be for a concert, an event at a convention, or opening night at the latest summer blockbuster, lines can seem like a never ending train of boredom without the right tools to help pass the time.

For the group of friends (or sometimes even strangers) who never leave the house without their trusty iteration of the Nintendo DS, I have put together a modestly sized list of some of my personal favorite multiplayer titles. They are in no particular order and include both old and new releases.

Bomberman

Bomberman is quite possibly my all time favorite multiplayer DS game for 3-8 people. The great thing about Bomberman is that you only need 1 cartridge to play 8 player with all customizable features included. In addition to that, almost anybody can grasp the simple gameplay mechanics, even if they have never played a Bomberman game before. There are enough maps and options to keep things interesting for a good length of time. I had a (dare I say it?) “blast” playing against random strangers for hours on end as I waited in line to preorder the Nintendo Wii in ’06. Its only downfall is that, with the exception of co-op against the computer, 2 player can be a bit dull.

Mario Kart DS

Mario Kart has always been a series that is very easy to pick up and appeals to both the casual and the hardcore audience alike. The DS installment is my favorite. The track selection is really what makes it shine over the other entries in the series. Great tracks like “Tick-Tock Clock” from Mario 64 and “Airship Fortress” from Super Mario Bros. 3 stand out in both their fun design and their excellent use of nostalgic worlds. If somebody doesn’t have a copy, they are forced to use the Shy Guy and only half the tracks will be available. You can still have a lot of fun this way, but doubling the available tracks makes it well worth it to pick up your own copy.

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

This game is more ideal when you have a large amount of time to kill. There is no download play, but due to the fact that it is a turn-based strategy game, it does allow for “hot seat” play on a single console. Enjoyment is enhanced, however, when everybody has their own copy. This is an extremely fun strategy title with endless replay value. There are a ridiculous amount of maps available from the start and if that wasn’t enough, there is a very robust map editor. Add in the wealth of customization options for the matches themselves and you (with up to 3 friends) have a very time-consuming chunk of fun in store.

Tetris DS

Though it in no way lives up to the single player standards we strongly believe in here, Tetris DS is another great multiplayer choice. Its strongest feature is that, with only a single cartridge, you can play with up to 10 people in Standard Mode. Things can get pretty out of hand with that many people, but at least there won’t be a dull moment!

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time

This one is still a bit new to me, but my experience with it as a multiplayer title have been stellar thus far. Everybody will need their own copy, but if you enjoy playing action RPGs with friends, this should not disappoint. Unlike other ARPGs on the system, Echoes of Time allows you to progress the actual story with up to 3 friends rather than only providing a separate mission-based adventure. After creating a character, you can hop on to multiplayer immediately from any save point you run across. Have friends at different levels? No problem! Once you get to the first town, you can create up to 16 different characters, all of which can join into the multiplayer action.

Metroid Prime: Hunters

Though I found the single player experience to be quite lacking, Metroid Prime: Hunters does well as a multiplayer game. Shrinking the FPS genre into the palm of your hand, Hunters’ controls are surprisingly well implemented. Aiming is all controlled via touch screen and, though it is no rival to a mouse and keyboard, it works with more precision than you might expect. Download play is included, though options become limited as a result.

These are just a fraction of the many games available on the platform. What multiplayer DS games do YOU like to play? Comment below and let us know!

"Archer vs. Shark... need I say more?"

Something about commanding units over a miniature landscape in a turn based fashion gets me very excited. In my younger days, I even created multiple tabletop games. I think my earliest attempt involved moving Star Wars action figures around on a paper grid I had spread across the floor. Those basic ideas evolved into a game where both units and customizable elevation were squares of paper placed on a gridded poster board. One of the games I was working on actually used figures made of bakeable clay with their stats carved into the bottom of the base. Yes, I am a nerd.

But when I found that there was a genre of videogames that could do all the math and pleasing aesthetics for me, I was in heaven. Final Fantasy Tactics really helped instill a love for strategy RPGs withing me. From there I moved on to games like Front Mission 3, which gripped me even more. But nothing could prepare me for that fateful day when I would discover Disgaea.

Disgaea is a game that places comedy both in its story and in its gameplay. The game stars Laharl, the prince of the netherworld, whose father is said to have died from choking on a pastry. Laharl, with the remaining vassals that chose to stick around, set out on their mission to reclaim the throne. His enemies will try to use his weaknesses, such as “optimism” and “hot women”, to take him down. The game likes to break the fourth wall a lot, poking fun at the genre in the process. Shortly in the story, one of the characters is given the nickname “Mid-Boss” which then, much to his dismay, is used instead of his real name for the rest of the game.

The chapter progression is pretty straightforward. You always start in your castle which acts as your home base for buying and selling items, going to the hospital, and other between mission activities. After approaching a portal, you will see a list of chapters, each containing a list of single episodes that are unlocked one after the other. Each of these episodes is its own battle map. You can replay any of these episodes as many times as you want, though story segments will only be seen the first time and unique bosses will be replaced with high level enemies. So far, so normal.

A first glance at the start of a battle would make you think of any given SRPG, but this is where that convention ends. You set up all your characters’ movements and actions in a single phase. At any point during this phase, you can choose to execute the actions you’ve set up thus far. You can cancel an action as long as it hasn’t already been executed. This leads to some interesting possibilities. For example, you can have one out-of-range character walk up to a Cleric, have the Cleric execute an action of healing them, then cancel that characters movement and move them somewhere completely different. This is just the beginning.

Another feature on the battlefield is throwing. A character can pick up another character. A third character can pick up the stack of two. I could go on. Once you have thrown somebody, that counts as an action just as attacking would, but it can be a good way to cover a lot of distance really fast. You can also throw enemies, even into each other for some interesting results.

The level cap in Disgaea is 9999. If that wasn’t ridiculous enough for you then it’s time to talk about “transmigration”. After meeting some requirements, a character can choose to go back to level 1 and choose a different job class while they’re at it. The advantage of this is that their “base stats” will be higher. All leveling is based on this. If a level 15 character transmigrates and increases their base stats, by the time they get back to level 15 they will be far more powerful. Transmigration allows for exponential stat increase. To add to this, each job has several better versions, so it’s usually good to wait until you have unlocked the next job in a series to increase your base stats even further. The more enemies that specific unit has killed, the more “mana” they will have. The more mana they spend on their transmigration, the better their inheritance rating for their stats and abilities will be.

Any job class can equip anything. There are 2 systems in place to inhibit your equipment decisions. The first is “weapon proficiency”. The lower your weapon proficiency, the slower the weapon type will level up with use. Leveling up weapon types grants new abilities. The second is “aptitude”. Every stat’s aptitude is a percentage. This directly affects the equipment you use. If your attack aptitude is 100% and you equip a sword with 50 attack power, your character will have 50 more attack points. If your attack aptitude is 50% and you equip the same sword, you would only gain 25 attack points. So even though you CAN give anything to anybody, it’s not necessarily a good idea.

The special abilities all have levels of their own. Much like weapon proficiency, the more you use them, the better they will be. This is especially noticeable with magic attacks. The more you use a specific magic attack, the more area variations there will be to choose from. With each new variation, you will be able to hit more squares at once, but more SP (think MP) will be used. It’s these immediate benefits that make leveling up so incredibly addicting.

Another interesting feature is the “Item World”. The Item World consists of sets of 10 randomly generated maps to be played at a time. These maps exist inside your items. Because of this, you can’t take the item you’re entering with you. For every set of 10 floors that’s cleared, you will level up the item. This isn’t restricted to weapons and armor either. If you want to level up a stick of mint gum, more power to you.

The main story of Disgaea can be beaten in a reasonable amount of time. But there are plenty of things to do after the fact. The game has many endings and a new game+ mode. Even more interesting, though, is the extra maps that can be unlocked with exponentially harder enemies. While the end boss of the main story is only around level 90, there are optional bosses around level 6,000. This is indeed a game you could put a lot of hours into.

I have only shared the tip of the iceberg as far as the level of complexity contained within the game, but a nice thing about Disgaea is that you don’t need to take advantage of every one of its features to enjoy it. You can play it as you would a normal SRPG, or you can be like me and plan out leveling charts on paper. It’s up to you! Either way, if you love strategy and utter insanity, Disgaea just might be the game for you.