NWR Interactive => TalkBack => Topic started by: NWR_Neal on April 05, 2010, 10:43:45 AM
Title: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 05, 2010, 10:43:45 AM
On April 5, 2009, Nintendo released the DSi in North America, and started the DSiWare downloadable service alongside it. There were plenty of expectations, and after a year of releases, some people still seem to think it sucks. But for those paying attention, there are an array of quality games out for it.
Over the span of the next week, we'll present a few games each day that represent the cream of the crop of DSiWare.
As you'll be able to tell from our list of 30+ games, Nintendo has supported the service well, utilizing Skip and Q-Games for many of their published games. In addition, a lot of popular iPhone and mobile titles made the jump to DSiWare with added bonuses (in most cases), and a few developers went above and beyond and created excellent games that were tailormade for the service.
If you think we missed any games, feel free to <a href="/mailstaff.cfm?staffid=123">e-mail me with a paragraph about the game and why it's awesome. If we have enough valid submissions, then we'll post them at the conclusion of the feature.
Happy One-Year Anniversary, DSiWare! Here's to many more, or at least as many as you can have until 3DS changes you.
Intro (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/specialArt.cfm?artid=22836) Day One (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/specialArt.cfm?artid=22837) Day Two (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/specialArt.cfm?artid=22855) Day Three (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/specialArt.cfm?artid=22862) Day Four (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/specialArt.cfm?artid=22869) Day Five (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/specialArt.cfm?artid=22872)
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: KDR_11k on April 05, 2010, 12:49:41 PM
I hope Pop Island will be on one of the later days.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 05, 2010, 01:02:15 PM
I hope Pop Island will be on one of the later days.
I hope KDR_11k writes in a loving paragraph on Pop Island so it doesn't get skipped over. That was actually the game that was the impetus for that addendum. I've been meaning to get it, and I picked Flipper instead of it recently, hoping Flipper would be good enough for the feature.
As you'll find out over the next few days, Flipper wasn't, but Pop Island probably is. So someone please write a loving paragraph about it so it doesn't get skipped.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: KDR_11k on April 05, 2010, 03:49:54 PM
Ah okay, I didn't want to write in complaints before even knowing if it's on one of the later lists :P.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: Tanatoes on April 06, 2010, 12:09:57 AM
Ooh! I like this feature. Already downloaded Flight Control and the pinball game. Thanks for the recommendations!
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: Killer_Man_Jaro on April 06, 2010, 02:50:45 AM
Uh-oh. Recommendations. Last month, it occurred to me that I hadn't downloaded much on my DSi, so I bought nearly £30 worth of games. I promised myself I wouldn't do that very often, but this feature will make me break that promise. After only one page, I'm intrigued and there's four pages to go. Aaah!
How many DSiWare games do you have, Neal?
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: Stratos on April 06, 2010, 05:42:11 AM
Ahh! I thought I had most of the games that interested me on the service. Now there are much more.
I need another Pepsi Rock Band promotion to earn me more free points for games...
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 06, 2010, 09:33:26 AM
Uh-oh. Recommendations. Last month, it occurred to me that I hadn't downloaded much on my DSi, so I bought nearly £30 worth of games. I promised myself I wouldn't do that very often, but this feature will make me break that promise. After only one page, I'm intrigued and there's four pages to go. Aaah!
How many DSiWare games do you have, Neal?
I'd say more than 20, especially since almost half of them are Art Style games.
Speaking of which, get ready for Art Style Wednesday, y'all! All Art Style, All The Time!
Also, Day Two is up. Going to add the link to the main post right now.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 06, 2010, 10:19:07 AM
Also, for a little more clarification about the "Write in what we missed" part. At the conclusion of the feature (Friday), I'll give you (and other readers) a week to write-in any DSiWare games that we didn't cover.
If you're a lover of a niche game on the service and you want to see if we're going to include it in advance, you can PM me if you really want to.
I hope you guys enjoy this feature. It's kind of my baby.
Also, when it's all said and done, we might be asking for your feedback in other venue and for some nominations for our next feature of this variety (shouldn't be too hard to figure out. It is celebrating it's two-year anniversary in May.)
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: KDR_11k on April 06, 2010, 03:13:43 PM
Mixed Messages? Isn't that usually considered a waste of money?
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Lindy on April 06, 2010, 05:08:59 PM
Great job on this feature by Neal, Zach, and Matt. Must...not...buy...any...more...games...
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 06, 2010, 05:11:28 PM
Mixed Messages? Isn't that usually considered a waste of money?
It never was to me. I bought it day one and used it a surprising amount during things like waiting for a movie to start when I go with friends, or as something to pass around and do when we're just hanging out.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: UncleBob on April 06, 2010, 11:31:53 PM
Ah, DSiWare.
I'll fill in my own comments on unmentioned games towards the end, but I'd love the chance to comment on your picks as they come up. ;)
Dr. Mario Express: What a horrible waste. I'm not a huge fan of this game (my wife is), but the fact there's no online multiplayer makes this game a virtual complete waste of cash. And I don't say that about a lot of games (the lacking online multiplayer making the game worthless part). They really missed the mark here, it would have been awesome to let you play Express vs. Online Rx (The WiiWare version).
Puzzle League Express: Same as above. Thankfully, I have the cartridge for this one. :)
Spotto!: This is a fun game, but I probably wouldn't pay more than the 200 points for it. Haven't finished it though...
Starship Defense: Perhaps it's because I haven't really gotten into the tower defense genre, but I'm really liking this game. There are a few things that annoy me (When there's one ship on the right that's not cloaked and three ships on the left that are cloaked, my weapons that can attack cloaked ships shouldn't waste their ammo on the ship that isn't cloaked!), but it's great fun. Haven't finished it yet, but I keep replaying the same level until I get it perfect.
Flipnote Studio: Glad it's free? Maybe it's because I have no artistic talent (all of my WarioWare DIY art jobs consists of crudely drawn penises) but I just can't get into this. I can see how some people can though.
Uno: Have the cart. Two of them, actually. With Skip-Bo and (bleh) Uno Free-Fall. I'll stick with it. There's no online with the cart, but at least I can play with my friends who have an original DS/DS lite this way. Games like this have no excuse for lacking a download play option.
Oregon Trail: Got it, love it - but I hate the Simon-Says telegraph mini-game. I suck at those.
Here's hoping Birds and Beans gets the love it deserves. :)
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: Halbred on April 06, 2010, 11:43:57 PM
Bob, the key to Flipnote is PENISES.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 06, 2010, 11:52:04 PM
Outside of Pop Island, I'm not going to mention what's not in. You'll just have to pay attention to the rest of the feature.
May as well raise this point as well: what upcoming DSiWare games are you excited for? We have something cooking (hopefully) with WayForward regarding Shantae, but if there's any others you're excited for, we could have a "Future of DSiWare" section of this feature next week.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: UncleBob on April 06, 2010, 11:55:40 PM
Ghostwire. :)
Was it confirmed as DSiWare?
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: Stratos on April 07, 2010, 03:16:37 AM
I thought that was going to be a cart game?
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 07, 2010, 12:46:51 PM
Day Three is up! Say hello to ART STYLE WEDNESDAY! ALL ART STYLE, ALL THE TIME!
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: Halbred on April 07, 2010, 01:13:11 PM
Do you like Art Style games, Neal?
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 07, 2010, 01:28:22 PM
Considering I wrote every single entry for today, yes.
My favorite ones? Pictobits, Digidrive Least favorites? Zengage, Base 10 (lack of a left-handed mode pisses me off)
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: TJ Spyke on April 07, 2010, 04:25:33 PM
In the paragraph for Art Style: Pictobits (sorry, but I won't use weird capitalization just because Nintendo wants to), you wrote that Devil World for Japan-only. This is not true, the game was also released in Europe (which may be why it is on the PAL Virtual Console but not the North American Virtual Console).
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 07, 2010, 05:52:32 PM
In the paragraph for Art Style: Pictobits (sorry, but I won't use weird capitalization just because Nintendo wants to), you wrote that Devil World for Japan-only. This is not true, the game was also released in Europe (which may be why it is on the PAL Virtual Console but not the North American Virtual Console).
Oh damn. There goes my North American nationalism again...
Thanks for the catch!
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: UncleBob on April 07, 2010, 09:03:38 PM
The only Artstyle game I've gotten is Base 10. I don't like it.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_insanolord on April 07, 2010, 09:13:02 PM
I own a few of the Art Style games, but Base 10 is t only one I've spent real time with. I should probably play the others, because I love Base 10.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: yoshi1001 on April 07, 2010, 11:11:07 PM
I own a few of the Art Style games, but Base 10 is t only one I've spent real time with. I should probably play the others, because I love Base 10.
Get PictoBits. Best $5 of Nintendo's money I ever spent. Pinball Pulse and Uno are great too. Scrabble kinda lost it's charm when it wouldn't accept "quartzite" as a word.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 07, 2010, 11:17:28 PM
Note: I bought Pop Island today.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: UncleBob on April 08, 2010, 09:01:48 AM
I own a few of the Art Style games, but Base 10 is t only one I've spent real time with. I should probably play the others, because I love Base 10.
Get PictoBits. Best $5 of Nintendo's money I ever spent. Pinball Pulse and Uno are great too. Scrabble kinda lost it's charm when it wouldn't accept "quartzite" as a word.
Bookworm didn't accept a word for me once. It's a real word, four letters and starts with "F". I should have gotten points for it, damnit. :(
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: Killer_Man_Jaro on April 08, 2010, 09:06:26 AM
Does it strike anyone else as peculiar that nearly all the Art Style games have three different names? I own Picopict, Kubos and Intersect, and I was surprised to see them all with alternative titles in the US.
You have to wonder why they feel the need to do that. Kubos is the strangest: on your side of the pond, it's called Precipice and over in Japan, it's known as Nalaku. Funny how a game about a stickman navigating a structure of blocks can have such a disparate nomenclature.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 08, 2010, 12:00:29 PM
Day Four for your viewing pleasure!
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on April 08, 2010, 03:51:04 PM
This is a great feature. I see a lot of games that I'll be downloading on 3DS, or on a price-dropped XL.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 08, 2010, 04:20:42 PM
Day Five is a paragraph or two away from completion. And that means so is this part of the feature.
Get ready to check out the next part, and then send in your hate mail about what we missed. Or, you know, make us all feel awesome and be like "Good job! Pat yourself on the back! Give your mom a call, she'd be proud!"
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: KDR_11k on April 08, 2010, 04:44:41 PM
By the way, Number Battle was apparently a retail game in Japan and got released on DSiWare without any cuts.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: UncleBob on April 09, 2010, 12:27:23 AM
Mighty Flip Champs Got it. Was super-excited about it. Just couldn't get into it. It's not *bad*... but not good, IMHO...
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again I LOVE THIS GAME. Well worth it, if you enjoyed the previous Minis title. Not as good as the first Mario vs. DK or DK '94, by any means.
Dark Void Zero I don't know if I'd call this "the greatest game on DSiWare", but this *is* a fun game. I'd recommend it for $5.
Trajectile You know, I really wanted to like this game. Perhaps I didn't give it enough of a chance - I bought Starship Defense at the same time and ended up wanting to go back to it rather than play this some more. Maybe one day, I'll get back to it...
Number Battle Get this, get this, get this. It's awesome. I almost want to import the cartridge of this game.
Link 'n' Launch Got this. Played around with it. Seems more like a $2 title. It's like a really short, limited version of PipeMania.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: KDR_11k on April 09, 2010, 03:33:14 AM
MFC requires a planned approach but since you cannot see more than the current and next page you can't plan well, I'd probably have liked it more if I had the option to browse through the pages and plan my path ahead of time.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: Stratos on April 09, 2010, 03:43:00 AM
Link n Launch is great. I can't stop playing it. Some of the later levels are really challenging. I think it has lots of replay value.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: NWR_Neal on April 09, 2010, 12:36:35 PM
Feature = Done.
I hope you all enjoyed it!
Also, if we missed something, shoot me a paragraph about why its awesome and, as long as it's legible and coherent, it'll go up next week.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: KDR_11k on April 09, 2010, 02:55:00 PM
Hm, I'm still determining whether I should write in Alpha Bounce (came out today in Europe), it's strangely addictive.
Title: Re: The Best of DSiWare's First Year
Post by: UncleBob on April 09, 2010, 09:18:56 PM
I was beginning to get worried - I kept scrolling down the list and didn't see any games I already had. Have the last two though. :)
Bomberman Blitz is good. Don't get the comment about single player - Bomberman single player is virtually *always* lackluster. The WiFi is nice, but I *rarely* catch anyone on. My main gripe is - again - the lack of a download mode. It wouldn't suck so bad if it wasn't for the fact that none of my coworkers have a DSi. :(
Bookworm - I do like this game. I've seen the retail version and have considered picking it up on multiple occasions, but I've always passed. And, yes, the story is true... I even have a picture. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/TheUncleBob/Mobile%20Uploads/Fucked.jpg
