Nintendo DS Game News
Sep
It’s safe to say that the game announcement rush before the Tokyo Game Show kicks off September 16 is well underway. Square Enix’s contribution today: The first word on a Nintendo DS remake of Final Fantasy Legend III, a classic RPG released for the black-and-white Game Boy in 1993.
Titled SaGa 3: Shadow or Light in Japanese, the DS remake follows in the footsteps of the Final Fantasy Legend II remake Square Enix released in Japan last year — a remake that’s sadly yet to see an English release.
The original 2D RPG is getting a full 3D remake, replete with new cutscenes and the like, but the basic plot is the same: you guide a rabble of four youths as they skip across time to stop a divine water spirit from engulfing the world.
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Aug
After more than a seven year wait since the release of the last Golden Sun game, Nintendo has announced that Golden Sun: Dark Dawn will be released on November 29 in North America.
Set 30 years after the conclusion of the first two games, Dark Dawn puts you in the shoes of the children of the GBA games’ characters as they attempt to save the world. It’s nothing especially surprising, which can also be said for the gameplay, as our E3 preview asserts.
Dark Dawn is most definitely a Golden Sun game, as recently noted by the Takahashi brothers, who are the game’s director and scriptwriter. “We came up with the idea for Psynergy,” Shugo Takahashi explained, “as an answer to the inherent contradiction where you have enough power and magic to blow up the planet during battle, yet can’t break a locked door open in a dungeon.”
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Aug
Thinking about picking up a brand new DS? You may want to hold off for a bit longer, as Nintendo just announced plans to drop the suggested retail price on both the DSi and DSi XL beginning September 12.
In just under two weeks you’ll be able to snag a DSi for $149.99 (instead of $169.99). Its beefier cousin, the DSi XL, will also be dropping from $189.99 to $169.99. Oddly enough, the DS Lite’s MSRP is to remain unchanged at $129.99.
It’s nice to see Nintendo’s handhelds becoming slightly more affordable, but how many of you are actually going to bite when the 3DS is just over the horizon?
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Aug
If there’s anything that can make a Kingdom Hearts game seem less twee, it’s almost certainly Cloud Strife. His return to the Square-Disney crossover-fest doesn’t just involve his smug one-winged self, either — he’s also carting along his battle system, so to speak.
When you reach the Olympic Colosseum section of upcoming DS release Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, you’ll have a chance to work alongside Hercules and find a way to deal with all the “bug blocks” bouncing around the world. Cloud is paying a visit to the Colosseum himself, trying to settle things once and for all with a certain rival, and Hades is once again taking advantage of lust for revenge.
As a result of his presence (?), battles in the Colosseum use a classic, Final Fantasy-ish Active Time Battle system, with Sora and gang on the right and a gaggle of enemies on the left. Hercules and Cloud (who eventually joins you, of course) each have a set of special moves, and there’s also an action component to it, with quick button presses required in order to block enemy attacks.
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Aug
Super Robot Taisen L Debuts on DS
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Namco Bandai took the veils off Super Robot Taisen L in Japan today, marking the latest installment in their long-running series of robo-strategy RPGs. The new game is due out November 25 over there and is slated to cost 6090 yen.
SRTL will feature robots from a total of 17 anime properties, first and foremost no doubt being Evangelion Unit 01 from the new series of Eva flicks. Other new names making their SRT debut here include Macross F, Linebarrels of Iron, Dancouga Nova, and old-school tentacle OVA Fight!! Iczer One.
You can expect few gameplay changes with this latest SRT, though — it’s still a mixture of turn-based simulation and conversation sequences between the story’s main players.
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Aug
Plants vs. Zombies is already available on quite a few platforms between PCs, Macs, and iOS devices, not to mention the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade version. PopCap is looking to add at least one more platform to that list, as it has today announced a DS version of the game.
The port will include all of the expected features (Adventure, Survival, and Puzzle modes, plus mini-games) as well as “new and exclusive game content,” though the specifics aren’t mentioned.
Plants vs. Zombies will be released for DS in January for $20. That puts it at twice the price that the PC version can be had for on Steam, and $5 more than the forthcoming 360 version will cost.
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Aug
The last time we talked about Atlus’s Radiant Historia, we touched only briefly upon the time-travel element to the RPG’s plot and how it affects main character Stok. Here’s a bit more of a concrete example, courtesy of this week’s Famitsu magazine.
Early on in Historia, government secret agent Stok is asked by his military friend Rosh if he’d like to join him in the army and become a vice officer in a newly-formed corps. In the “real” version of history, Stok turned down that offer and proceeded on to his next undercover assignment — one where he’s sent to investigate a resistance group that aims to hijack a supply of military explosives currently being delivered. He succeeds in dispatching the group’s leader, but his next job — which sends him behind enemy lines in the current war his country’s waging — quickly falls apart when his contact on the other side mysteriously disappears.
Let’s say that Stok feels that something went wrong around this point in his life. Thus, he decides to use his time-trippin’ powers to go back and accept Rosh’s offer after all, leading an army of new recruits as they clear out an abandoned mine of enemy soldiers. Unfortunately, the entrance to the mine’s been sealed off by a cave-in. This normally wouldn’t be a problem since the army’s got tons of explosives, but they’re out right now — apparently, the latest shipment has disappeared without a trace. Hmm.
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In case you missed some (or all) of it, here is a recent survey of all the new ridiculous junk Nintendo has recently announced for Pokemon Black & White:
- In addition to 3-on-3 battles against other trainers, you may also run the chance of random 2-on-2 battles against Pokemon you run into in tall grass and such. They’re getting dangerously smarter.
- Multiplayer has a “miracle shooter” game variant where trainers gradually build up points as the turns progress. These points are required in order to use items, lending another element of strategy to online.
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Aug
Nintendo has revealed a number of new details on their upcoming Pokemon: Black and White, the latest dual-entry in the long-running franchise, and Andriasang has a full rundown that includes a cycling seasonal system, “rotation” battles, and, uh, Pokemon Musicals.
The seasonal system is just what it sounds like — the world of Black and White will cycle through spring, summer, fall, and winter, which, naturally, will affect which Pokemon you can find and will also make some parts of the world inaccessible depending on which season it is. It also looks like some Pokemon will either change color with the seasons, or there will be different color various for each individual season.
Then there are rotation battles, which differ from the also-newly-added three-vs.-three battles in that you choose three Pokemon to fight, but only one fights at a time. Each round, you can rotate a different Pokemon into the hot seat, but your opponent will be able to rotate through their Pokemon as well.
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Nintendo is releasing the formerly DSWare-only Art Academy as a retail package later this year, giving aspiring artists who don’t own a DSi a new means by which to practice their craft.
Art Academy: First Semester and Art Academy: Second Semester will be bundled and sold as a retail release this fall, with Nintendo throwing in ten additional “mini lessons” for the bargain.” It will be available for $19.99.
Both apps are available via on DSiWare for a combined total of 1600 Nintendo Points ($16), but this is this first time that owners of previous DS models will be able to check out Nintendo’s art program.
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