teh Forum

Well, I think it's finally time to buy a DS. The copying tech is starting to mature, and the thing that finally made my decision? Castlevania of course! A new CV game comes out next week. It looks quite cool. It displays your inventory/status on one screen and the game on the other, so no more switching back and forth. That seems pretty cool. Imagine having your map out the whole time. WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Oh, and the adapter thing that let's you use SD cards for game storage is only $60ish rather than the $130ish of the GBA linkers. It's also going to be a lot easier since you can just stick a CF or SD card into a PC reader and load it up.

I am currently working my way through Harmony of Dissonance. I think it is almost as cool as Aria of Sorrow, but without all the cool weapons.

The new one is called Dawn of Sorrow (really original...)

I think the dual screens is a bit of a gimmick, but it would be great to have your map up all the time. Looks like you can switch between map and subscreen.

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Speaking of Castlevania - anyone feeling like trying their hand at a new 3D version? Curse fo Darness comes out for xbox next month. (TGS Preview)




A random side note - did anyone know that Symphony fo the Night was released for Saturn?

Curse fo Darness?

I'm a tad peaved that they only released that for the DS.

Couldnt they have a version where you could bring up the map the old fashion way for the GBA.

What happened to the musical title convention?

Most of them had musical titles, but some of the old ones didn't. (Like Haunted Castle, Simon's Quest, Castlevania, and Super Castlevania.) I do like the mucical titles better though.

I don't think having the second screen like that is a gimmick. It's useful. If it's useful, it's not a gimmick. I've seen a lot gimmickier stuff on the DS.

Oh, and yes, I did know about the Saturn version of SotN. I have it if you'd like to try it. There are a couple of emulators that should run it, though I'm not sure which one. I'll dig around a little.

I do think the always on subscreen is a good use for the second screen, but that doesn't take away from my feeling that having a second screen at all is a gimmick. The Nintendo R&D team was sitting around talking about what they could do for their next handheld, and someone threw out the idea of having a second screen. "yeah, good enough" someone said. It isn't innovation driven by necessity, it is innovation driven by necessity for something new. Whatever, I am not compaining. But no one is buying a DS because of a long unquenched desire to have two screens.

I admit, I haven't seen many DS games at all. Any games make especially good use of it?

Actually, it isn't innovation at all:

http://www.gameandwatch.com/

Perhaps you remember these? (I had the Mario bottling facility one, (which is actually Mario Bros. 2 (pre-smb.)))

(click on "Multi-Screen" on the left)

Suppose I'm going to have to buy the CVania game for the XBox even though I don't have one. (have to keep up with the collection) When I get an XBox 360 I'll be able to play it in bw-compat mode.

Ross had that mario 2 game, i used to play it all the time.

Dawn of Sorrow looks like a winner.

1up.com wrote:Dawn is unquestionably the best portable Castlevania to date; in fact, it's the best entry in the series since the much-vaunted Symphony. While some may be understandably weary of this particular formula, Dawn's ghoul-slaying, soul-stealing exploration is quite simply the single deepest and most refined example of "traditional" gameplay to be found on the latest wave of handheld systems.

1up.com review of Castlevania DS (oh clever!) - 9.0 rating

IGN sez: 93
Gamespy sez: 90

Link to ridgeracer!

haha - fixed. Was my ridgeracer link to DS?

Thanks for the link. Dammit, I want to play "the best portable Castlevania to date; in fact, it's the best entry in the series since the much-vaunted Symphony."

Damn them, damn them for not releasing a GBA version. You know this game could totally run on a GBA. They used to release a graphically toned down version of snes games for the NES before it was completely dead. What happened?

Damn you konami!

They wouldn't want to... ...overextend... ...perhaps we should have the leave their flowers and pencils on the table.