A DSiWare puzzle platform game that was developed by students and could be a great downloadable title.
Konami had a very interesting little DSiWare platformer called Reflections at their booth. In the game, the top screen displays what appears to be your average platform game while the bottom screen displays a mirror image of that world and your playable character Kira.
The game’s twist is that obstacles may be in different places on the bottom screen. For example, as I was running on the top screen I was forced to stop even though it appeared as if nothing was in front me. When I looked down at the bottom screen I saw a hill blocking my path. I was able to move forward by watching the bottom screen and jumping over it.
The controls are what you would expect with running accomplished using the D-Pad and jumping made possible with a single button press. The game has a cool slide move that is done by pressing the D-Pad diagonally down and forward while running. Wall jumping is also possible.
I thought the animation for the female protagonist was very nice. Graphically, the game wasn’t pushing the hardware but still was visually pleasing with simple 2D artwork.
The main game will have 24 regular levels and then some really difficult unlockable ones. One level I was shown featured a way for your character in the mirror world to become a shadow. The shadow of your character no longer was directly below your top screen self and instead slightly in front of them. This made running and jumping on platforms difficult because an easy jump above might result in your bottom character falling into a pit. You will really need to think before you jump to get through levels like this.
Impressively, Reflections began as a student project at USC and it appears that many if not all the students are still working on the game. This game will appear on DSiWare sometime this summer. I personally think the demo stages were a lot fun and it has the potential to be a great little puzzle platform game.