Ninja Gaiden for the DS

[Korian]

Let's break this down.

• Series that would be better on a console - check!
• 3D graphics on 1995 hardware - check!
• Stylus controls in an action game - check!
• Tired, completely unoriginal stylus preorder bonus - check!
• Dumbed down difficulty for "new demographics" and to make up for the shit controls - check!

Anyone who buys this is responsible for supporting the decline of the whole industry.

Wrong again Yoshi. The demo is mindblowing.

[Rocca]

So, I just finished this now and overall I could say that I really enjoyed it. It's right up there this month with typical console games pitted on a handheld and still manage to pull through. Much like God of War: Chains of Olympus on the PSP, Dragon Swords at all times feels like it's right up there with its console brethren.

Looks really nice for starters. I know there are already pretty 3D games out there like Phantom Hourglass or Dementium: The Ward, but this game also did a great job depicting a ton of the areas you found in the original Xbox game. Ryu doesn't feel watered down at all, and because use of the stylus is so simple, you're basically pulling off a good portion of his Xbox moves with swipes and stylus combinations (example: slash down, up and up again to perform an Izuna Drop).

There's a lot more Ninpo this time around than I last remembered and even though they're all the cookie-cutter type of elemental (fire, ice, dark, wind) magic, they all look really cool.

Perhaps the overall sentiment you get when playing this game is that the pacing is right, and it feels fast and action-packed. I expected it to slow down to a crawl with so much going on-screen, but I only caught that once, maybe twice and when purposely trying to wait for a ton of monsters to pop-up on-screen.

The only complaint I'd have is the same people make about Chains of Olympus in that it's too short, but honestly, I wouldn't really expect a 20 hour quest out of this game and I wouldn't really want one either.

Fun stuff overall, though. Worth a purchase since you might replay it once or twice to find all the hidden wooden chips.

Anyone else playing this?

[Grave]

I'm probably gonna grab it sometime next month. I'm hearing a ton of good things, so I doubt I can hold off too much longer.

[Rem]

I would consider it if you didn't have to use the stylus or hold it sideways, but that crap alone saps any interest I had.

[magnifiedplaid]

I want to play this, but I'm waiting to find a deal on it. I haven't found it for less than $34.99 yet (its even $35 on Amazon), and thats a bit much for a DS game IMO. So, I'll keep playing Contra 4 for the time being.

[YellerDog]

The demo was kind of garbage, IMO. Is the full game any better?

edit: My main issue is it felt like as long as you were basically rubbing the stylus on the enemy, they died really quickly, to the point where it was almost impossible to get hit. The boss was a retard, also. Neither of those things screamed good game to me.

[Anal Kaboom]

I want to play this, but I'm waiting to find a deal on it. I haven't found it for less than $34.99 yet (its even $35 on Amazon), and thats a bit much for a DS game IMO. So, I'll keep playing Contra 4 for the time being.

Click here and get it for free

The demo was kind of garbage, IMO. Is the full game any better?

edit: My main issue is it felt like as long as you were basically rubbing the stylus on the enemy, they died really quickly, to the point where it was almost impossible to get hit. The boss was a retard, also. Neither of those things screamed good game to me.

Thats pretty much it man. The stylus controls are alittle better than what you're describing except when you're trying to hit an enemy higher than you on the screen, it'll read you're hits as jumps. But it gets better when you start going against tougher enemies.

[YellerDog]

Careful about the emu. talk in GD, them's ban material.

I only played for a few minutes, but didn't like it too much. Stylus controls are a bit dodgy in general. Wasn't a huge fan of Mario 3 on 3 Basketball (though mostly because of the AI), and Phantom Hourglass left me wanting traditional controls after a few hours.

[Anal Kaboom]

Technically it's not an emulator.

[sixteen-bit]

on Normal you can just Meteos (blindly scratch) your way through the game.
and Hard isn't unlocked from the start.