Hands on the DS

**Cowutopia** · 22 Nov 2004, 03:18 PM

I meant that the DS doesn't do the GBA games in multi mode. So I'll have to keep my GBA around if I ever want to play them multi again.

**raziel** · 22 Nov 2004, 05:01 PM

I just bought mine at target this morning. The very last one for the day. Been playing The Urbz ever since. Addicting as hell... Wish they had Mario though. I'll probably goto GameStop and grab that this afternoon.

DS is not as compact as the GBA SP but oh well, extra features means extra weight and size. Too bad you can go on the net with this thing WiFi or go into chatrooms. Or can you?

**Eirikur** · 22 Nov 2004, 05:47 PM

Originally Posted by raziel

I just bought mine at target this morning. The very last one for the day. Been playing The Urbz ever since. Addicting as hell... Wish they had Mario though. I'll probably goto GameStop and grab that this afternoon.

DS is not as compact as the GBA SP but oh well, extra features means extra weight and size. Too bad you can go on the net with this thing WiFi or go into chatrooms. Or can you?

Nintendo had mentioned being able to do this at E3, but hasn't said anything since then. Hopefully we'll be able to do that eventually.

**Cowutopia** · 22 Nov 2004, 06:49 PM

yeah apparently you will be able to connect to wireless networks. Nintendo slow on the internet ball again. The 2d stuff looks very nice on the DS, and I love the design and layout of the buttons, the size is a non-issue because it's really not that big and fits neatly into all my pant pockets. My only 2 gripes would be not being able to go online now, and it not looking as nice as the PSP. It really is cooler than I imagined it would be though, and it's charm is already working on me slowly. I'm hoping I"ll get about 50 best buy bucks from reward zone soon and then I'll snag myself one before the holiday season is out.

I'd like an analog snap-on, but smart designers could probably use the touchscreen as an emulated analog stick, having neutral position be your thumb in the center. I'm sure I could get used to that.

The RPG possibilities of this system have me quivering.

When does the PSP come out here, anyway?

**1CCOSA** · 22 Nov 2004, 09:40 PM

Got mine yesterday afternoon and am loving it. The system is brilliantly made and would make Gumpei Yokoi proud and anyone who feels nostalgia for the 2 screen Game & Watch drool. Very sturdy in every area, the touch screen is just plain fun to use. As a person who doodles his own cartoons and loves drawing, pictochat rocks. And ditto that GBA games look much crisper on the properly backlit screen. My one beef though is so far Mario World feels awkward, I wish you could map B to Y and jump to B like the SNES pad.

I was a bit worried Mario 64 DS wouldn't deliver but it does, tons of new stuff to keep any fan of the original busy. I love that the game starts you off playing as Yoshi, LOVE stunning giant chain chomps with eggs, love using fire to melt ice in the penguin stage, love the new island action stage where you fight vultures and old school Lakitus who attack you with spinys. Haven't found Mario yet because i have been enjoying exploring levels I never played with our fave green dinosaur before and the new mini games. Anyone who thinks the touch screen is boring needs to play the bobomb slingshot game. Using the stylus to stretch the string and shoot down bombs is simple yet brilliantly addictive.

Metroid Prime Hunters. Definitely a notch above N64 graphics. Nicely detailed graphics and gameplay is fun with lots of enemies to blast (although I am not too happy with the switch to FPS multiplayer, it is fun with a friend) Playing with the stylus will cramp your wrist though, playing with the thumbpad is much better although I recommend using your left thumb quickly when you wanna go to morphball. Got to play both Prime and 64 wireless with a friend yesterday and both were very addictive multiplayer games. If only a wireless router or hotspot could be used with the launch games. Let's pray Mario Kart and Bomberman support wi fi. Anyone know if pictochat works with a wireless connection?

Anyways, I could not be more pleased with the system. And according to the new EGM it looks like that "New SMB" demo they showed at E3 IS an actual game. Sweet.

**FuryFox** · 22 Nov 2004, 10:15 PM

Originally Posted by Kosh_H

Anyone know if pictochat works with a wireless connection?

I thought that was the entire point. It would be incredibly gay to 'pictochat' with someone you're connected by a cord with.

**bahn** · 22 Nov 2004, 10:39 PM

I like how you the DS offers a auto-mode to bypass the menu and automatically start up a game.

Can't wait until there's some homebrew developments for wireless chatting across the globe (if it really is possible like Nintendo suggested).

It's too bad the DS doesn't seem to offer any GC connectivity, but that concept didn't take off as well as Nintendo planned anyways.