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NintendoWare Weekly: Tales of Monkey Island, Phantasy Star
Welcome to Monday, a dreadful day for most, but a means for celebration for Nintendo loyalists. This week, we've got the second episode of Tales of Monkey Island and Phantasy Star on the Sega Master System, among other additions to the Wii's downloadable lineup.%Gallery-64680%
ESRB rates 'Puzzle League Express' for DSi
We sometimes wonder just how upset publishers get when the ESRB spills their secrets. Case in point: the ratings organization has listed (and rated!) Puzzle League Express on its site as a Nintendo DSi title. (It's classified "Everyone," FYI.)Given that it's a DSi title with "Express" in its name, the logical conclusion (what other kind could you use when talking about a puzzle game?) is that this is an upcoming DSiWare take on the classic Nintendo puzzler last seen on DS as Planet Puzzle League. After all, we've already gotten Dr. Mario Express and Brain Age Express. Of course, Nintendo could always be releasing a highly illogical Puzzle League themed train sim, but we doubt it.[Via GoNintendo]
Swag Saturday: Picross and CrossworDS (DS) [update]
Update: Comments have been closed and winners will be contacted tomorrow (or, ya know, pretty soon). Thanks for playing, every one! Check those inboxes and please by all means join us next week.Interested in using your Nintendo DS for a ton of puzzle solving this summer? We'll bet you are, you little puzzle solver, you! That's why we're offering up a duo of puzzle games this weekend for Swag Saturday with Picross DS and CrossworDS. We're not so much for the crossword puzzles, but we do love a good handheld puzzle game (we're looking at you, Planet Puzzle League), and so we're hoping you could suggest your favorite overlooked handheld puzzle game, dearest reader. You'll have 24 hours to tell us in the comments section after the break so get rambling, ramblers! Leave a comment with your favorite overlooked handheld puzzle game. (That means it can be on DS or GameBoy or PSP or the iPhone, etc. -- any handheld!) You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada, excluding Quebec. (Kisses, citizens of Québec!!) Limit 1 entry per person. This entry period ends at 8:01 pm ET on Sunday, August 9. We'll randomly select two winners at that time to receive: one copy of either Picross DS (ARV $11.50) or CrossworDS (ARV $19.99) (first to answer email gets to choose). For a list of complete rules, click here %Gallery-4773%%Gallery-3413%
Joystiq hands-on: Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure (DS)
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure combines a block-matching, DS puzzle game--think Panel de Pon/Planet Puzzle League--with a side-scrolling platformer. This puzzling mash-up keeps the blocks on the bottom screen, Hatsworth jumping up top, and you toggling between each to maintain progress. We recently played this stylish title, due at the beginning of 2009. With so many small things to get right, we're uncertain that the puzzle-platformer will work, but we're impressed by its potential. %Gallery-29502%
Best of the Rest: Scott's Picks of 2007
Odin Sphere (PS2) Vanillaware's side-scrolling action RPG caught me completely off guard when it came out, but I fell instantly in love with the game's style. Practically everything about Odin Sphere is unique: the circular levels; the gigantic, beautifully-drawn sprites; the bizarre food-crafting mechanics. Toss in a healthy amount of Norse mythology, and you've got one damn fine, under-appreciated game. Here's hoping Vanillaware's upcoming Wii title is up to snuff.
The Twelve (well, thirteen, actually) Sales of GameFly
Video game rental service GameFly has a pretty big year-end sale going on through January 4th for over 30 of its used DS games. Though the carts are all pre-played, each one will come with a new manual and case, so you need not worry about receiving an incomplete set. As usual, we've picked the notable titles out of the bunch and listed them for you, except this time, we've done it in Christmas carol form! On the twelfth day of Christmas, DS Fanboy sent to me: Twelve Diddy Kong racers Racing ($17.99), Eleven Spectrobes for collecting ($15.99), Ten Hoshigamis a-SRPG-ing ($14.99), Nine Planet Puzzles Leaguing ($19.99), Eight Custom Robos a-fighting ($12.99), Seven Sim Cities a-building ($16.99), Six Bombermen a-touching ($22.99), Five of Sonic Rush's golden rinnngggggs ($17.99), Four Mana Children ($14.99), Three Elite Beat Agents ($22.99), Two Mega Man Star Forces ($17.99 each), And a Naruto: Ninja Council 3 ($17.99)! [Via CAG]
Critics' top 10: 2007 vs. kittens
2007 is almost over, and the end of the year brings joyous tidings of List Season. It's the time for taking stock of the last 12 months of gaming, and trying to make sense of it by putting things in numerical order. Join DS Fanboy for our best-ofs, worst-ofs, and other categories-ofs. When determining the best games of the year, it's a good idea to go at it from different angles: by referencing our own history of reviews, obviously, but we must also look to the wider journalism community. Our reviews, while insightful and entertaining, were not comprehensive. We just didn't play everything. In addition, one reviewer's opinion is simply not sufficient data to make definitive conclusions, even if that one reviewer is me. So we turned to everyone else in aggregate to see what they thought of this year's releases. We've gathered the top 10 DS games of 2007 according to their Metacritic ranking. Keep in mind that many of these games tied in Metascore, meaning that if we were to rank the games, there would be fewer than ten positions. It's still sequential, but with a lot of tie scores. We then carefully applied science to these games in order to convert the Metacritic numbers into a rubric we feel more accurately conveys the quality of these games. Head past the post break for Metacritic's top ten DS games of 2007, graded on a scale from adorable kitten video to unbelievably adorable kitten video.
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 12/6/07
Quick, check your calendar. What day is this? Thursday? Awesome. That means it's time for Game Night, our weekly tradition of throwing down with you, the reader, in the best and brightest of the Wi-Fi Connect-compatible library of games. Sure, we vote for a "theme game" each week, but that doesn't mean that's all there is to play. Heck no, we've got tons of different games at our fingertips that we're dying to play. So, be sure to stop by tonight and play them with us!
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/29/07 aftermath
It felt good to be back after our break over the holiday, as we threw down in some Metroid Prime Hunters and enjoyed the company of our good friends. You could be one of those good friends, you know. All you have to do is show up at next week's Game Night and you're in our very exclusive club. It's so exclusive that anyone can join.%Poll-6485%
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/29/07
Oh, how good it feels to be back. After the holiday, we're glad to be back into the swing of things. So, tonight we gather and get our game on. Join us, won't you? We sure would appreciate it.
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/15/07
If you're anything like us, when you punched out of work last night or perhaps as you were finishing dinner with the family, you felt a slight tingle run down your spine. It was the calling. It lets you know that something big is coming. An epic struggle, between the forces of Lite and Phat, where men and women meet in the arena of combat, DS clutched tightly in their hands. Well, tonight is the night it all goes down. So, kiss you loved ones goodbye and prepare for the fight of your life.
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/8/07 aftermath
Like a walk of shame after a one-night stand, we found ourselves wishing that last night's Game Night session could've lasted longer for us and not have come to a close. But, those pesky responsibilities of ours always seem to get in the way. Oh well, them's the breaks.Hit up the poll below and vote for next week's theme game. %Poll-5454%
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 9/13/07 aftermath
Sadly, I was unable to partake in the festivities last night. No worries, we've been doing this Game Night thing for quite awhile now. So, you can bet next week I'll be there, with several bells on. In the meantime, why don't we figure out what our theme game for next week will be by voting below. What should be our theme game for 9/20/07? Picross DS Planet Puzzle League Clubhouse Games Tetris DS Metroid Prime Hunters
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."
DS releases for the week of June 4th
At last, the long-awaited DS browser is here, but just remember to be careful when you buy -- there are versions for both the Lite and Phat DS models, and it looks like not all online retailers have separate listings yet. Obviously, Nintendo thinks you should just buy another DS, since that seems to be the hip thing to do these days. So who's planning on celebrating this week with a little browsing? Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu Nintendo DS Browser Planet Puzzle League For this week's releases in the rest of the world, check out the lists behind the break.
Friday Video: NMS round-up edition
This week, it's all about the Nintendo Media Summit, and we thought we'd wrangle all the videos into our weekly spotlight, even if it does get a little crowded in here. See what we're willing to sacrifice, just to bring you videos?Okay, okay, you caught us. We like watching the videos too, so it's not much of a sacrifice at all. The overview is particularly nice, as we get footage and discussion of so many forthcoming Nintendo titles. Check 'em all out after the jump.
Nintendo Media Summit: Planet Puzzle league hands-on (DS)
One of the DS games on display at this week's Nintendo Media Summit was Planet Puzzle League, the newest title from the developers of Tetris Attacks and Super Paper Mario. The game is a block-based puzzler along the lines of Bejeweled and Tetris and offers easy, accessible touch controls. You use the stylus to grab blocks and pull them left or right to line up three blocks of the same color to make them disappear. Like many games of its ilk, the goal is to create chains and combos by lining up multiple sets of blocks at once. All the while as you do this, the game is constantly shoving more blocks up from the screen, forcing you to react quickly.While playing the game, you hold the DS like a book, something thats always felt a little awkward to me. The controls are entirely touchscreen based, and the top screen (or left screen in this situation) gives you level detail and your score. The levels themselves look nice, with lots of bright flashing lights and pleasing music and the gameplay was entertaining, if not particularly original. The game also offers online play with full voice chat for two players and supports up to four players over ad-hoc wireless. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any versus play in while I was at the event, but I heard from some other writers that the game really started to shine when in a heated battle over WiFi.Planet Puzzle League comes out next month, and it should definitely make puzzle game fans happy, as long as they're not too burnt out on moving blocks around for points. And really, who ever could get tired of that? %Gallery-3414%
