Nintendo DS: US vs. Japan

**mollipen** · 04 Aug 2005, 09:33 AM

You know, it's funny - being over here, going to game stores, you never get the feeling that the DS is lacking for titles, like you do when you go to a store back in the States. The DS shelf still is smaller than the PSP shelf, but part of that is due to the large amount of non-game PSP material already out over here - and I don't just mean movies, but also "music" UMDs, anime, porn, stuff like that. But compared to the sad state of America's DS library, the DS over here certainly seems worth owning.

One of the best parts - and one of the biggest weaknesses of the US library - is how many unique titles there are over here that make use of the DS's touch screen. A lot of what we have in the US at this point is "could be done on the GBA, but we tossed in a second screen with your score or whatever," but there are enough games out over here that make the DS feel different and interesting. There's also a number of games aimed at the non-gamer - Nintendogs, the brain game, the other brain game, the dictionary, Ounin!, etc. NOA really should put more effort into bringing some of these over here. The one brain game... er, Yawarata atama... is pretty cool, and wouldn't be a huge effort to translate from what I've seen. With the casual gamer crowd growing in the US, and with the popularity of the GameBoy among non-gamers, stuff like that could help sell more units.

It's a bit disappointing to see such a decent library for the DS over here, and to see ads for new games coming soon that look great, and know that I'll be returning to the US where the DS is still in a somewhat pathetic situation.

**Zerodash** · 04 Aug 2005, 09:48 AM

...sounds like the DS is suffering from the same problems that the TG-16, Saturn, and Dreamcast suffered- too much good stuff left in Japan.

The DS does not have territorial lockout, correct?

**supermario** · 04 Aug 2005, 10:12 AM

Americans, for the most part, are just too stupid to see and understand inovative products.

Nintendo is slowly letting in the inovation....with Nintendo dogs and that surgury game.

You need to slowly feed a dumb baby.

But Kirby Canvas Curse is worth the ride alone in my eyes.

But yeah, can you play Japanese games on a US system?

**Revoltor** · 04 Aug 2005, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by supermario

Americans, for the most part, are just too stupid to see and understand inovative products.

Nintendo is slowly letting in the inovation....with Nintendo dogs and that surgury game.

You need to slowly feed a dumb baby.

But Kirby Canvas Curse is worth the ride alone in my eyes.

But yeah, can you play Japanese games on a US system?

Oh, the ironing...

**Cowdisease** · 04 Aug 2005, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by supermario

Americans, for the most part, are just too stupid to see and understand inovative products.

This sentence is hilarious because you misspelled "innovative" in your post. Twice!

**Master of 7s** · 04 Aug 2005, 10:18 AM

This is not Fight Club. Drop it.

**Dolemite** · 04 Aug 2005, 10:29 AM

Originally Posted by shidoshi

You know, it's funny - being over here

Back in Japan, are you?

How's the flight? I recently went to Hawaii and the 11 hour flight just sucked the fucking life out of me.

Originally Posted by supermario

Americans, for the most part, are just too stupid to see and understand inovative products.

It's more the game companies than the general public, really. It seems that, for the most part anyway, when a company takes a risk and releases something offbeat here, it usually sells well. People want something new. Katamari Damacy is a good example- when I read about that game when it was still an import, I thought there was no fucking chance in hell that it would ever be released here.

Originally Posted by Cowdisease

This sentence is hilarious because you misspelled "innovative" in your post. Twice!

Hey, someone had to take over for Ironplant now that he's learned how to spell.

Originally Posted by Revoltor

Oh, the ironing...

Are his clothes wrinkled?

**Mzo** · 04 Aug 2005, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by Revoltor

Oh, the ironing...

Oh, the steaming and the pressing.

**animegirl** · 04 Aug 2005, 10:40 AM

A dictionary on the DS would be awesome. Yeah, you can import the games, which I have been doing, but a lot of them have too much Japanese to be much fun. Electroplankton is the most import-friendly game out right now. The PAL front isn't much better, but I have Another Code on the way. Nintendo needs to compete with PSP by making the DS good for more than just games. The thing has a touch screen just like a PDA, hook it up with some functions! How about an electronic organizer, a calculator, being able to play some music or videos? I hope Nintendo gets smart and starts to localize more games.