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DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/15/07 aftermath
Even with some of us being very late (see: the author of this post), we still managed to get our game on. Races were had in Mario Kart DS and we tasted the utterly horrible, yet very familiar, taste of defeat. Oh well, there is always next week to reclaim our honor as kinda OK at games.Oh, wait, next week is Thanksgiving! Sorry, but we'll have to wait until the following week before getting back to Game Night. It's a holiday and we'll be busy taking various naps fueled by our bellies full of turkey.So, enjoy the holiday and we'll see you guys at Game Night on November 29th!%Poll-5868%
Metareview: Planet Puzzle League
Planet Puzzle League has been known by many names over the years, but we really only need one word to describe it, and that word is awesome. It's not just us, either; the reviews have been pretty positive so far. The puzzler has even edged out Ouendan 2 score-wise, by a single point. That's quite a feat! Here's what the reviewers have had to say:Nintendo Power: 85% - "Holding the DS like a book and pushing blocks with the stylus makes for an intuitive and fast-paced experience ... Planet Puzzle League lives up to the rich tradition of its heritage, and puzzle fans would be remiss to ignore it." (Issue 217, p. 97)Game Informer: 85% - "Sure, it's not terribly original, but I'm not complaining about another chance to play one of the all-time greats – especially when this new DS version has been created with such care. The touch-screen functionality (which allows you to slide blocks with the stylus) fits perfectly, and Wi-Fi play means that you can take your skills online."IGN: 90% - "... the core gameplay is identical in the Nintendo DS, but the biggest change is its control: instead of using a D-pad to control a reticule in the stack of tiles, now it's a simple matter of tapping and dragging the tiles left or right. While it changes the overall feel of the original Panel de Pon by increasing the pace of the game, that's the only thing that it changes. The puzzle game still has that same enormous amount of strategy -- much of the skill comes from shifting tiles around in a way that'll trigger the stack to fall multiple times for huge amounts of points, a technique that's absolutely important in Vs. play. But now it can be done a lot more quickly and intuitively with the stylus."Games Radar: 90% - "It's not as inventive or charming as last year's Tetris DS, but that game's overwhelming Nintendo aura could easily have turned a lot of people away. Planet Puzzle League opts for a very clean, uncluttered approach that simultaneously makes it seem generic and intensely stylized. The ability to share this joy with people around you and then play them from anywhere in the world serves to make this one of the better buys you can make for the DS."
Panel de Pon presents puzzlers' reactions
Nintendo's official Japanese website for Panel de Pon updated with some new videos. Panel de Pon, a title we are only recently familiar with, promises to provide us with a much-needed fix for new puzzle action. The videos, which can be accessed about halfway down the page, show a pair of women playing the game. The puzzle action looks great, promising (us, at least) immeasurable hours of fun.Of course, Nintendo's page won't let us embed them past the post break, so you'll have to hit up their site here.[Via Go Nintendo]
Panel de Pon presents a pleasant puzzler
Plenty of pictures of Panel de Pon have been posted for perusal, at, um... Pgame Pwatch ... yeah, okay, we're done. We kind of like the look of the new Tetris Attack here-- the blocks are colorful and Meteos-esque, while the backgrounds are all rave-like and evoke Lumines. We could roll our eyes at the fact that Intelligent Systems is cribbing so heavily from Q? Entertainment in their visuals, but we honestly don't mind because it looks cool and because Panel de Pon couldn't not be awesome.Please peruse the pretty panel pictures past the post partition.
What motivates DS homebrew developers?
The rewards for a homebrew developer's labor are few. The majority of their games and applications will never see a commercial release or any cash return. The number of people who can even appreciate their work on the DS is limited because of hardware requirements (i.e. third party storage carts). To find out why these programmers pour countless hours into projects that they won't likely profit from, Modojo interviewed the minds behind four of the homebrew scene's most visible games: Tetattds, Tower Defense, The Lemmings Project, and QWAK.Tetattds is a polished clone of Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon for the SNES, adding online support to the puzzler. Tower Defense is an adaptation of the popular Warcraft 3 mod. The Lemmings Project jerry-rigs the PC classic to work with the DS' touchscreen and resolution limits. QWAK, a GBA puzzle platformer reminiscent of Bubble Bobble, was actually self-published with a small run of 300 carts. So what is it that drives these homebrew developers? Several of them cite community participation or the need to fill a gap in the DS library. Others have a reason that's even more simple and obvious: They just want to make the best games they can.
Panel de Pon DS announced
Panel de Pon, aka Tetris Attack aka Panel de Pon, is a game we've loved in many guises. We loved it on the Super Famicom, with its fairies and pixie music (nothing to do with Frank Black); we loved it on the SNES, when it became Tetris Attack; and we even flirted with the GBA version in Nintendo Puzzle League. What we really need now is more Panel de Pon -- and according to Nintendo's latest release schedule, we're going to get just that. The Japanese version of Panel de Pon DS lands on April 26, with wi-fi multiplayer and -- as seen in these screens -- some very funky backgrounds. No news of a Western release as yet, but we can't imagine why it would be a Japanese exclusive.%Gallery-1738%[Image credit: Famitsu]
Panel de Pon coming to DS
We have great news for puzzle fans! Panel de Pon, aka Tetris Attack, aka Pokémon Puzzle League, aka Puzzle League is going to get a DS release in Japan in April, according to some rumor-hounds at NeoGAF. This marks the first time we can think of that the same game has appeared on both the Game Boy Advance and the DS.We can think of one thing in particular that could elevate this new version over its predecessors: delicious online multiplayer. We're dreaming of future Game Nights already.
