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DS Fanboy Favorites: Eric's top five
All this week, the DS Fanboy staff is letting you in on a few of their favorite titles. Each day, a different member of the staff will present their personal top five DS games along with a snapshot of their gaming paraphernalia and habits, in an effort to provide our readers with a little more information on the tastes and personalities of our writers. When my afternoons aren't busied by hours of photoshopping cat heads onto pictures of my friends, I pass the time with puzzlers and plumbers on my DS Lite. But those kitten-free days are few and far between, so I end up being able to only fit either the most polished or the most eccentric games into my packed schedule. Wario: Master of Disguise? Sorry, I've got things to do and feline faces to retouch. Lost in Blue 2? I'll have to pass -- I'm already lost in trying to get these whiskers to look perfect. My collection is a mishmash of AAA titles and niche releases, their cases piled atop one another like a Jenga stack of mismatched blocks, threatening to topple over at any moment. Just pulling a game from the middle of the shaky structure is an act preceded by hours of anxiety and self-doubt. Having my wife provide commentary during the ordeal, remarking "Oh god, it's going to crash this time for sure, I just know it. Why'd you even try, Eric?! Game over, man! Game over!" as I tug out my copy of Advance Wars DS doesn't make the challenge any easier. So when I do manage to put aside the pussycat photos and secure a game to play, it better damn well be worth it. Journey forth and read which of those titles have captured a place not only on my top five list, but in my heart.
Mannerisms in Hotel Dusk and other games
The New Gamer might not have enjoyed their stay at Hotel Dusk: Room 215, but they appreciate the work put into creating its memorable characters. Adding onto the unique visual style, each individual has a rich set of expressions and postures to communicate with. When one of the hotel guests describes a mannerism of the game's protagonist, you know exactly what he means by "that serious look in [Kyle's] eyes." Sonic's toe-tapping idle animation and King Hippo's falling shorts were also cited as great examples of unforgettable character details. Simple idiosyncrasies like that stay with you long after you've finished playing a game. What unique traits have you seen give a collection of pixels an identity? Was it Midna's sigh? Or Dry Bones' skeletal chuckle as he passed you in Mario Kart DS?