Post by: jasonditz on March 06, 2006, 11:29:16 AM
Here's the one that got me thinking about this: the Sims 2.
I got a coupon from the EA store in their newsletter that got me $15 off, and seeing as the game was already cut to $19.99, I was able to get it for $11 shipped. I knew Urbz was kind of iffy (more a GBA port than anything), but I'd heard Sims 2 was going to be more than a port so I thought I'd give it a try (especially at that price).
I must say, I'm impressed, instead of a sloppy effort to paste the computer version onto a dual screen handheld or a GBA port that doesn't take advantage of any of the DS's capabilities, what we got is a very nice original game. They should've really called it something else, because while the characters and some of the design sensibilities are very Sims-inspired, the game is more of a cross between animal crossing and one of those "tycoon" games for the PC.
The touch screen is put to great use in this one, and the characters are really fun to interact with. Right now I just got done evicting the William Shatner character (I forget what his name is in game) from his hotel room because he keeps calling me on my cell phone every five minutes to bitch. Like I've got time to listen to him go on about tumbleweeds when the mob boss staying in my penthouse just set city hall on fire with his incendiary device. Plus, he lost 3 beds in like 45 minutes... I mean, granted, I won enough money playing cards in the casino to get him new beds, but that's ridiculous. The only issue now is that even though he's evicted, he keeps going back up to his room (which is occupied by someone else) and having a fit.
Post by: RiskyChris on March 06, 2006, 11:40:00 AM
I'll get back to the thread after I find some obscure DS title to play.
Post by: Smash_Brother on March 06, 2006, 11:42:15 AM
Both have great 8 player gameplay on one cart.
Post by: UncleBob on March 06, 2006, 11:46:19 AM
The "closest" think I've got to an "Obscure" game would be Trace Memory. That was a damn good game.
Post by: Smash_Brother on March 06, 2006, 12:13:28 PM
Post by: IceCold on March 06, 2006, 12:14:31 PM
Hmm, Elf Bowling?
EDIT: And Bob's right. Even though to me Trace was hardly obscure (wanted it ever since it was Another Code in Japan), it's a great game - RECOMMENDED
Post by: jasonditz on March 06, 2006, 12:28:52 PM
Post by: Arbok on March 06, 2006, 04:22:26 PM
I generally found it to be an improvment in everyway from Advance Wars 2, while it didn't feel like an "expansion pack" as the previous GBA version had.
Post by: UncleBob on March 06, 2006, 05:11:11 PM
Post by: Ages on March 06, 2006, 07:57:37 PM
If you like old school shooters, it's a definete must have. It's even got challenge to it (how many games today can say that?)
Post by: IceCold on March 06, 2006, 08:01:29 PM
Post by: KDR_11k on March 07, 2006, 12:30:13 AM
The reviews weren't too hot and considering how much praise that POS Iridion 2 got I'll rather stay away. Far away. Shmups are a dime a dozen, no need to throw 35 Euros at a mediocre one. (I don't think I need to link to Kenta Cho again)
Post by: 31 Flavas on March 07, 2006, 12:41:56 AM
QuoteHas anyone actually actually completed any of the challenges? I've tryed over and over and over to unlock the Sunahara Desert soundtrack, but the closet i've got to the 500,000 point goal is like 325,000. That's without dying once, spaming my gun very minimally, and next to no use of the R-button.
Originally posted by: IceCold
Oh wow, I completely forgot about Nanostray! I simply loved it; hmm, this makes me feel like playing it again..
Post by: Toruresu on March 07, 2006, 04:31:50 AM
Yoshi Touch and Go - I loved this game, beating my friends score was great, multiplayer is fun, only 2 player tho.
Puyo Pop Fever - I really liked this game, but I'm not too good at it. I play with my friends every once in a while.
Mr. Driller Drill Spirits - Easy to understand, difficult as hell to unlock characters/master. But a game that involves me and my non-gamer GF (well, ex GF) is good. It's embarrasing, I unlocked the first character, she unlocked the rest, all in one weekend, that I HAD to lend her my DS, or else...yeah, or else.
Post by: darknight06 on March 07, 2006, 06:13:04 AM
I've managed to do them all except for the final two for the very last stage, those two are just really hard given that you have to fight that boss at the end of it and trying to figure out how to take out the bigger ships without the subweapon has been the bane of my existence. All I can tell you for that whenever possible use the lightning gun to get extra coins off of enemies and don't be afraid to use the side shots a little ways before the boss. Also, IIRC waves and to a lesser extent gold coins are the MAIN things that counts in point challenges, everything else is moot so if you need to spam the gun and R button, do it. Once you've gotten all the waves you can get in a stage don't be afraid to use a subweapon on the boss, just don't do it anytime before.
Now for the challenge after that, DON'T SHOOT ANYTHING IN THE STAGE. If things get too hectic use a smart bomb as they won't count against your valor.
Post by: IceCold on March 07, 2006, 12:49:48 PM
Post by: 31 Flavas on March 07, 2006, 01:26:13 PM
QuoteNifty. Thanks, both of you, i'll try it again.
Originally posted by: IceColdI was making progress through them, but then a tide of DS games I wanted came in, so I stopped for a while. But darknight's right; waves and coins are very, very important. I was afraid of spamming too, but you just have to sometimes.
Post by: darknight06 on March 07, 2006, 03:11:00 PM
Post by: Urkel on March 07, 2006, 07:33:04 PM
It's honestly one of my all-time favorite games, and hands down the best use of the touchscreen. It really makes you feel like you're actually interacting with the stuff on screen. Just keep in mind that it's kind of the F-Zero GX of DS games: Lot's of fun... if you're up to the challenge. The game starts off easy enough, but spikes at certain parts. I almost gave up on the final operation.
BTW, the game is intense. I've had to pause the game on occasion because my hands were shaking so badly. Sometimes to the point where I could barely hold the stylus.
Post by: animecyberrat on March 07, 2006, 08:06:58 PM
Post by: 31 Flavas on March 07, 2006, 10:28:34 PM
QuoteI hate to say this, but good luck finding Nanostray anywhere these days. It was hard to comeby even in its initial weeks of release... I had to travel 20 miles for my copy of it, a GameStop that had only 1 copy. ... Perhaps I spoke too soon, looks like EB has it for sale on their website, better snatch it up before someone else does.
Originally posted by: animecyberratI use it mostly for Sonic Rusha dn to play the few GBA games I have. BUT Ihave been wanting to get Nanostray for sometiem and Elcetroplankton and will get Tetris day one its released.
Anyway... on to my main point... I've gone back and done the Sunahara Desert 500,000 point challage again. I spammed my gun off and held the R-button down the whole time. Never died once and tosted all the bad guys and got all the waves possible, as far as I know. Smoked the boss, no problem, but i'm still 250,000 points short of the goal... Is there something i'm missing? Could one of the two (or both) of you go back though it? I keep doing it better and better each time, but end up with the roughly the same score 200,000 to 265,000 points...
Post by: darknight06 on March 08, 2006, 04:22:52 AM
Post by: animecyberrat on March 08, 2006, 04:47:29 AM
Post by: 31 Flavas on March 08, 2006, 05:02:33 AM
QuoteWell, the "Wave x #" varies over the level, i've seen it as high as x6, but then without dying or missing a bad guy it will drop down to x3 or x4. At the end of the level where i'm just spazzing off the lightning lazer field sub weapon it doesn't move above x3, again not missing any ships.
Originally posted by: darknight06
One thing I should say is beware of the offscreen wave glitch where killing a group offscreen doesn't net a blue coin. This becomes a real pain in the 6th stage score challenge where pretty much EVERYTHING has to go down in order to have a chance. What was your wave count at the end of the stage anyway?
So I dunno, maybe i'm killing them too fast (off screen)? or not with the right weapon or something?
Post by: 31 Flavas on March 08, 2006, 05:06:27 AM
QuoteDo they have any copies of Phoenix Wright?
Originally posted by: animecyberrat
they have plenty of copies at Game Stop I just never got around to buying it.
Post by: jasonditz on March 08, 2006, 06:41:59 AM
B2G1:
Trozei
Peach
Trace
2for25:
Puzzle Bobble (sorry, I can't bring myself to call it Bust-a-Move)
Nanostray
Although I'm also thinking about buying Trozei at Target this week (its on sale for what, $26-something) and getting Metroid Pinball or AC: WW for my third title in the B2G1 deal.
Nice to see the DS getting a lot of attention in somebody's ad for a change.
Post by: darknight06 on March 08, 2006, 11:32:20 AM
Post by: 31 Flavas on March 08, 2006, 02:20:58 PM
QuoteWell, I figured I was doing something wrong... i'm not getting any "XX x 500" multiplier after the first 6 waves. So I googled '+nanostray +"point challenge" ' and found out you can't use your b-button subweapon or the count dies. This I didn't know about ... kinda annoying, but now i'm sure I can get more then the 250k i've been getting...
Originally posted by: darknight06
The Wave x "X" variable only shows how many enemies were in that group. What you should be more concerned about is that "XX" x 500 number after collecting the blue coin. At the end of the stage if you see something like 45 x 500 when you get the last coin on the last part of the stage you should be good. I completed this particular challenge just now with 65,000 points.
So do you avoid most of the big ships and just concentrate on the waves alone? The big ships espicially at the end are very hard to take out without using the sub-wepons.
Edit: yaya, just got 450,000. shouldn't be long till I get the 500k goal.
Edit #2: W00t!11! Just cleared the challenge. 502k points.
Post by: Myxtika1 Azn on March 08, 2006, 02:22:37 PM
With that said, I got bored of playing Nanostray after going through it. It was fun while it lasted, but the replay value just wasn't in there for me. Sure, there were the challenges, but I was never interested in them. The single-card multiplayer didn't do it for me either.
I ended up trading that game in to Game Crazy for credit towards Pac-n-Roll (traded that in not long after... didn't even finish it)
Edit: Now that I think about it, it wasn't the shoot button, but the "vacuum" button... the L-button? I don't remember what it's called. It's the one that pulls the coins to you.
Post by: 31 Flavas on March 08, 2006, 02:37:08 PM
QuoteWell both the "Vacuum" and your gun kill your valor score. But in the Challage stages where it tells you to get "X" amount of points you don't get any end of stage bonuses so it doesn't matter how much you use the "Vacuum" or spam your gun. It's, now that I figured it out, how well you can clear the waves without using your alt-fire sub-weapon. edit #2: It goes without saying then that challeges that tell you get "X" amount of Valor, don't care about your on stage score at all, it tests how well you can dodge ships, bullets, and clear the stage with ever shooting your gun (aside from your smart missiles at no pentalty). Of course, if you don't take out the boss real fast you'll quickly kill off your valor, so alt fire away.
Originally posted by: Myxtika1 Azn
Edit: Now that I think about it, it wasn't the shoot button, but the "vacuum" button... the L-button? I don't remember what it's called. It's the one that pulls the coins to you.
The challages unlock soundtracks, artwork, and other neat stuff. edit #1: I like the game music in particular, so i'm trying to clear all the challenges that unlock game soundtracks.
Post by: animecyberrat on March 09, 2006, 05:15:14 AM
