Some rather unheard of yet good NDS titles.
CONTACT
Contact is an action-RPG game made by Grasshopper Studios, a rather indie company that is well known now for No More Heroes and its upcoming sequel. However, before NMH's release, Suda51 and his team released this unknown gem of a game for the DS. The game sold under 20,000 units in Japan, and even less in the U.S. If you're wondering why it got such low sales in Japan, it was a little overshadowed by a game known as Mother 3.
Out of a few well-known video reviewers, it received generally decent reviews with a few negative ones. Famitsu gave it a 33/40, which ain't too shabby, IGN gave it a 7.5/10, and Gamebrink gave it the highest with 9/10. On the other hand, Nintendo Power gave it a 6.5/10. While the game may not be as incredibly deep as other RPG's, it has a quirky, offbeat storyline, Earthbound-style graphics, and a good sound score.
Ironically, when you first pop in Contact, you'll immediately think one thing: Earthbound. The opening cutscenes as well as the opening dialouge scream Earthbound. Hell, even the graphics will remind you of Earthbound. However, unlike Earthbound, it plays an action RPG instead of a turn-based one. You, in the game, actually aren't even the protagonist. Instead, you play as an omnipotent being watching over the entire game. The cutscene starts with one of the protagonists, only known as the Professor, talking to you as he made contact with you for the first time. His spaceship then comes under attack and he lands on a planet. Upon landing, a boy known as Terry sees this happen and comes upon a green, Ruppee-looking gem. The Professor quickly scurries him and the gem inside his ship and takes off again, only to crash on yet another planet. I could go deeper, but I won't ruin the story for you.
As I said, the game plays as an action RPG of sorts. The first thing you'll notice is the dual screen usage. On the top screen is the Professor, always in his ship, keeping in contact with you and Terry. On the bottom screen is Terry, whom you'll be controlling. Terry can engage combat with a monster by simply pressing B and walking up to it and he'll being auto-attacking it. You can also use gadgets, called "Techs", to deal damage. The game also uses a "decal" system, where you stick different decals on Terry to give him special abilities. Another unique apsect about the game is the leveling up system. Instead of receiving set amounts of experience upon defeating an enemy, you'll gain it during battle and even outside of it. If Terry deals damage, he gets Attack EXP. If he takes damage, he gets Defense EXP. If he's moving, he gets Movement EXP. You also have your selection of weapons, items, etc, like most RPG games.
Contact is overall a fun, quirky, offbeat experience that you could expect nothing less from Grasshopper. Whether you love it or hate it, it's a must-try for the DS.
CULDCEPT DS
Don't get out the pitchforks yet, while it may be a Japanese-only title with no US or EU release dates, the good folks over at this thread made an English patch for the game. It's not a complete patch, but it's really quite full. Anyway, some of you may heard of this title, probably more than Contact, but it ain't no Pokemon Platinum. Regardless, I'll summarize it as this: Magic the Gathering meets Monopoly.
Some of you may know Culdcept for the PS2, or the XBLA title Culdcept Saga. The DS version is pretty similar. As I forementioned, it plays like Magic meets Monopoly. Players are Cepters, or beings that can summon things from cards. The plot isn't quite clear, so I won't really go into it. The gameplay though is like this; players go around the board with a deck of 50 cards. The objective is to get a certain amount of magic and then get back to start. You get magic by summon monsters, upgrading spaces, and winning battles against your opponent. Whenever you land on a vacant space, you can summon a monster to occupy that space. If the monster's color (there are 5 kinds, Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green, and then a neutral color) matches the space you're on, then the monster will get a bonus to its Attack and HP. Regardless, you can summon a monster on any space. If you're opponent lands on a monster of yours, they can either fork of their gold and magic points or fight the monster with another monster from their hand. During combat, players can play item cards to buff up their monsters and give them an edge over their opponent. Whoever wins the battle will get some of the loser's magic points, gold, and the space. You can also play Spell cards before you roll the die to deal damage to monsters on the board, modify your movement, and much more.
The game, outside of a storyline that has you facing different foes on different boards with different decks, also features Free Play against any of your defeated foes and Wi-Fi connection for online battling. If you have a few friends who are big fans of this, you can be playing this game for quite a while. Even outside of that, you can always change around your deck and try different strategies.
The game's mechanics are a lot deeper, but I don't want to confuse you anymore. So, if you like Magic the Gathering or other collectable card games and Monopoly, give this title a try.
KONAMI CLASSIC SERIES: ARCADE HITS
ARGGH THE COVER ART! Anyway, the game is a simple collection of some of Konami's greatest arcade games (hence the title) and is the sequel to the Gameboy Advance title Konamic Classic Series: Arcade Advance (I loved the title creativity over there at Konami). So, if you're a retro enthusiast, you may unzip your pants and start fapping all you want.
Anyway, while the GBA title had only 6 titles (Scramble, Time Pilot, Frogger, Rush'n Attack, Ye Ar Kung Fu, and Gyruss), this features 15 titles. All of the GBA titles are here, except for two: Frogger and Gyruss. Both are major losses, but don't worry. Konami will be forgiven.
In the apology basket for leaving out 2 notable titles from its predecessor come quite a few classics. Contra (yes, the ORIGINAL Contra), Track and Field, and Gradius. There's also a few great albeit not-so-famous games like Shao Lin's Road, Rainbow Bell, and Circus Charlie. On top of all that, it has greats from the first game like Rush'n Attack and Scramble. The game features all the games in their classic forms, albeit some enhancements for multiplayer. Hell, it even keeps the coin insertion, where pressing Select inserts 1 virtual quarter. The game also can be played with different screen formats, from wide screen to a slimmer one, and others depending on the game. It also keeps track of your high scores. Additionally, most games feature an auto-fire feature, if their a shooter, where pressing X will constantly fire every weapon possible. Some of you may not like the constant fire feature, as it does dull down some of the games difficulty, but you can still fire normally with the A button. Whatever you like is up to you.
The game also features local multiplayer and does it quite well. It has download play options, so you can play classic titles with any friend who has a DS. The most notable stand outs are Contra and Rush'n Attack, both of which are incredibly challenging yet incredibly fun. Every game features Download Play options, whether its a 2 player co-op, versus, or even alternating between players on a 1-player game. Another neat feature is the option to record your game, literally. You can keep a video of a game that can be played on your system anytime or sent to another player. Despite all the awesome features, the game doesn't have a Wi-Fi option, so don't expect to be hooking up with your friends in Japan to play Contra.
Here's some quick summaries of the 15 games on the list and my general rating in about a sentence:
1) Contra: Classic, tough-as-nails run and gun shooter. Contra fans have to love the original. 10/10
2) Gradius: A great, famous space scrolling shooter. I personally perfer Scramble myself, but this game is quite good. 9/10
3) Shao Lin's Road: A basic beat 'em up game. While basic, it's a ton of fun and a great title. 10/10
4) Time Pilot: Coming from the GBA title, it's still quite a nice non-scrolling shooter. I personally perfer the scrolling ones myself though. 8/10
5) Rainbow Bell: A scrolling space shooter on LSD. Despite its higher-than-a-kite looks, its quite entertaining. 8/10
6) Track and Field: While the original is a classic by many arcade standards, the button scheme on the DS makes the game very hard to get used to. 6/10
7) Pooyan: An odd game that involves you scrolling up and down and shooting baddies coming down a ladder with an arrow. Not really that fun, personally. 4/10
8) Road Fighter: A basic top-view racing game. Not really as fun as other racing games, though and kinda boring. 4/10
9) Scramble: One of my favorites and pretty addicting. If you want an even more retro forced-scrolling shooter, play this game. 10/10
10) Circus Charlie: A goofy run-and-jump game. Silly and stupid, but it can be some mindless fun. 7/10
11) Yie Ar Kung Fu: A basic Tekken-style fighter. The lack of a blocking system can be annoying and the CPU's have a much bigger advantage than you. 5/10
12) Roc N' Rope: A rather boring game of sorts that involves you scaling the jungle by shooting ropes and climbing them. Pretty boring, personally. 3/10
13) Basketball: Pretty basic basketball game, although I really don't like the control of the game. 4/10
14) Rush'n Attack: A really challenging and really fun action game with some nice two player options. 10/10
15) Horror Maze: Probably the worst game. I just don't get it, personally. 1/10
Overall, while some games are major hits and others are a little bit of a low blow, most of the games are fun and will definately trigger tha Vietnam-style flashback down Nostalgiac Lane. Even for those who've never played the arcade titles, they'll find to appreciate retro games and find fun in them as well. A definate must have.
CONTACT
Contact is an action-RPG game made by Grasshopper Studios, a rather indie company that is well known now for No More Heroes and its upcoming sequel. However, before NMH's release, Suda51 and his team released this unknown gem of a game for the DS. The game sold under 20,000 units in Japan, and even less in the U.S. If you're wondering why it got such low sales in Japan, it was a little overshadowed by a game known as Mother 3.
Out of a few well-known video reviewers, it received generally decent reviews with a few negative ones. Famitsu gave it a 33/40, which ain't too shabby, IGN gave it a 7.5/10, and Gamebrink gave it the highest with 9/10. On the other hand, Nintendo Power gave it a 6.5/10. While the game may not be as incredibly deep as other RPG's, it has a quirky, offbeat storyline, Earthbound-style graphics, and a good sound score.
Ironically, when you first pop in Contact, you'll immediately think one thing: Earthbound. The opening cutscenes as well as the opening dialouge scream Earthbound. Hell, even the graphics will remind you of Earthbound. However, unlike Earthbound, it plays an action RPG instead of a turn-based one. You, in the game, actually aren't even the protagonist. Instead, you play as an omnipotent being watching over the entire game. The cutscene starts with one of the protagonists, only known as the Professor, talking to you as he made contact with you for the first time. His spaceship then comes under attack and he lands on a planet. Upon landing, a boy known as Terry sees this happen and comes upon a green, Ruppee-looking gem. The Professor quickly scurries him and the gem inside his ship and takes off again, only to crash on yet another planet. I could go deeper, but I won't ruin the story for you.
As I said, the game plays as an action RPG of sorts. The first thing you'll notice is the dual screen usage. On the top screen is the Professor, always in his ship, keeping in contact with you and Terry. On the bottom screen is Terry, whom you'll be controlling. Terry can engage combat with a monster by simply pressing B and walking up to it and he'll being auto-attacking it. You can also use gadgets, called "Techs", to deal damage. The game also uses a "decal" system, where you stick different decals on Terry to give him special abilities. Another unique apsect about the game is the leveling up system. Instead of receiving set amounts of experience upon defeating an enemy, you'll gain it during battle and even outside of it. If Terry deals damage, he gets Attack EXP. If he takes damage, he gets Defense EXP. If he's moving, he gets Movement EXP. You also have your selection of weapons, items, etc, like most RPG games.
Contact is overall a fun, quirky, offbeat experience that you could expect nothing less from Grasshopper. Whether you love it or hate it, it's a must-try for the DS.
CULDCEPT DS
Don't get out the pitchforks yet, while it may be a Japanese-only title with no US or EU release dates, the good folks over at this thread made an English patch for the game. It's not a complete patch, but it's really quite full. Anyway, some of you may heard of this title, probably more than Contact, but it ain't no Pokemon Platinum. Regardless, I'll summarize it as this: Magic the Gathering meets Monopoly.
Some of you may know Culdcept for the PS2, or the XBLA title Culdcept Saga. The DS version is pretty similar. As I forementioned, it plays like Magic meets Monopoly. Players are Cepters, or beings that can summon things from cards. The plot isn't quite clear, so I won't really go into it. The gameplay though is like this; players go around the board with a deck of 50 cards. The objective is to get a certain amount of magic and then get back to start. You get magic by summon monsters, upgrading spaces, and winning battles against your opponent. Whenever you land on a vacant space, you can summon a monster to occupy that space. If the monster's color (there are 5 kinds, Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green, and then a neutral color) matches the space you're on, then the monster will get a bonus to its Attack and HP. Regardless, you can summon a monster on any space. If you're opponent lands on a monster of yours, they can either fork of their gold and magic points or fight the monster with another monster from their hand. During combat, players can play item cards to buff up their monsters and give them an edge over their opponent. Whoever wins the battle will get some of the loser's magic points, gold, and the space. You can also play Spell cards before you roll the die to deal damage to monsters on the board, modify your movement, and much more.
The game, outside of a storyline that has you facing different foes on different boards with different decks, also features Free Play against any of your defeated foes and Wi-Fi connection for online battling. If you have a few friends who are big fans of this, you can be playing this game for quite a while. Even outside of that, you can always change around your deck and try different strategies.
The game's mechanics are a lot deeper, but I don't want to confuse you anymore. So, if you like Magic the Gathering or other collectable card games and Monopoly, give this title a try.
KONAMI CLASSIC SERIES: ARCADE HITS
ARGGH THE COVER ART! Anyway, the game is a simple collection of some of Konami's greatest arcade games (hence the title) and is the sequel to the Gameboy Advance title Konamic Classic Series: Arcade Advance (I loved the title creativity over there at Konami). So, if you're a retro enthusiast, you may unzip your pants and start fapping all you want.
Anyway, while the GBA title had only 6 titles (Scramble, Time Pilot, Frogger, Rush'n Attack, Ye Ar Kung Fu, and Gyruss), this features 15 titles. All of the GBA titles are here, except for two: Frogger and Gyruss. Both are major losses, but don't worry. Konami will be forgiven.
In the apology basket for leaving out 2 notable titles from its predecessor come quite a few classics. Contra (yes, the ORIGINAL Contra), Track and Field, and Gradius. There's also a few great albeit not-so-famous games like Shao Lin's Road, Rainbow Bell, and Circus Charlie. On top of all that, it has greats from the first game like Rush'n Attack and Scramble. The game features all the games in their classic forms, albeit some enhancements for multiplayer. Hell, it even keeps the coin insertion, where pressing Select inserts 1 virtual quarter. The game also can be played with different screen formats, from wide screen to a slimmer one, and others depending on the game. It also keeps track of your high scores. Additionally, most games feature an auto-fire feature, if their a shooter, where pressing X will constantly fire every weapon possible. Some of you may not like the constant fire feature, as it does dull down some of the games difficulty, but you can still fire normally with the A button. Whatever you like is up to you.
The game also features local multiplayer and does it quite well. It has download play options, so you can play classic titles with any friend who has a DS. The most notable stand outs are Contra and Rush'n Attack, both of which are incredibly challenging yet incredibly fun. Every game features Download Play options, whether its a 2 player co-op, versus, or even alternating between players on a 1-player game. Another neat feature is the option to record your game, literally. You can keep a video of a game that can be played on your system anytime or sent to another player. Despite all the awesome features, the game doesn't have a Wi-Fi option, so don't expect to be hooking up with your friends in Japan to play Contra.
Here's some quick summaries of the 15 games on the list and my general rating in about a sentence:
1) Contra: Classic, tough-as-nails run and gun shooter. Contra fans have to love the original. 10/10
2) Gradius: A great, famous space scrolling shooter. I personally perfer Scramble myself, but this game is quite good. 9/10
3) Shao Lin's Road: A basic beat 'em up game. While basic, it's a ton of fun and a great title. 10/10
4) Time Pilot: Coming from the GBA title, it's still quite a nice non-scrolling shooter. I personally perfer the scrolling ones myself though. 8/10
5) Rainbow Bell: A scrolling space shooter on LSD. Despite its higher-than-a-kite looks, its quite entertaining. 8/10
6) Track and Field: While the original is a classic by many arcade standards, the button scheme on the DS makes the game very hard to get used to. 6/10
7) Pooyan: An odd game that involves you scrolling up and down and shooting baddies coming down a ladder with an arrow. Not really that fun, personally. 4/10
8) Road Fighter: A basic top-view racing game. Not really as fun as other racing games, though and kinda boring. 4/10
9) Scramble: One of my favorites and pretty addicting. If you want an even more retro forced-scrolling shooter, play this game. 10/10
10) Circus Charlie: A goofy run-and-jump game. Silly and stupid, but it can be some mindless fun. 7/10
11) Yie Ar Kung Fu: A basic Tekken-style fighter. The lack of a blocking system can be annoying and the CPU's have a much bigger advantage than you. 5/10
12) Roc N' Rope: A rather boring game of sorts that involves you scaling the jungle by shooting ropes and climbing them. Pretty boring, personally. 3/10
13) Basketball: Pretty basic basketball game, although I really don't like the control of the game. 4/10
14) Rush'n Attack: A really challenging and really fun action game with some nice two player options. 10/10
15) Horror Maze: Probably the worst game. I just don't get it, personally. 1/10
Overall, while some games are major hits and others are a little bit of a low blow, most of the games are fun and will definately trigger tha Vietnam-style flashback down Nostalgiac Lane. Even for those who've never played the arcade titles, they'll find to appreciate retro games and find fun in them as well. A definate must have.
