The Best of DSiWare part 18: Games beginning with 'W', 'Y', and 'Z'.

Hello there, welcome to the selections in this series for which I played every game made available on the DSiWare service and, once I weeded out the shovelware, I have divided the remainder into four categories:

Hidden Gems: Games you've probably never heard of that are utterly brilliant

Well Known & Wonderful: Still gems, still potentially brilliant, but perhaps not quite so 'hidden'

Honourable Mentions: Those games that are good, but lack the real spark required to fit into one of the top two categories

Also Rans: Not bad enough to be completely ignored, but probably not quite good enough to warrant higher status

Two caveats: Firstly, I don't enjoy RPGs. Like, at all. So you won't see any of those at any point. And secondly it's very hard to define 'Hidden Gem' on DSiWare, as the service itself was never hugely popular, so please excuse a potential few miss-categorisations along the way!

Way back at the start of this series I mentioned that I might regret not listing 3D Space Tank under it's US or Japanese title of X-Scape or X-Returns and that has proven to be the case as there's no other games for 'X' in the whole DSiWare catalogue.

Well Known and Wonderful

Warioware Touched DL

I'm exactly sure how this DSiWare version differs from the retail original as I don't own the boxed variant and the internet has been uncharacteristically unhelpful. What I can tell you is that this absolutely 'feels' like a full retail release and, when it comes to this franchise, that's a very good place to start.

Like everything in this series, Touched is a vast compilation of micro-games featuring a bizarre cast of characters and even more bizarre challenges. By the end of the just the first set of levels you'll have stroked a dog, erased a blackboard, and filled a bucket full of rainbow - and this is just the very very tip of a very very odd iceberg.

The visual are the usual bonkers mix of the simplest line art and barely animated photographs, while the sound and music play no small part in creating the manic atmosphere required for games that last 5 seconds a piece.

Accelerometer fuelled Twisted on the GBA remains my favourite in this series, but touched has stormed into a strong second place.

Games, certainly in the early days of the DS line, sometimes struggled to find a way to crowbar in the hardwares touch screen capabilities but here it's the perfect pairing; all the usual brilliant insanity of Warioware combined with a control method that's as 'instant' and intuitive as the games need it to be.

Honourable Mentions

Wonderland (G.G. Series)

This nicely designed vertical bullet hell shooter was destined for for a higher accolade than this - and then I completed level three and the game looped back to the start. Sad times.

As you'd expect from this series, it's a simple affair, but one elevated by nicely drawn and animated sprites and a focus on end of level bosses. If there were just a few more of them we might have been onto something quite special.

Z-One and Z-One 2 (G.G. Series)

I've lumped these together for the usual reason, that the sequel is such a small step up from the original that there's little point in going over them separately.

Both games are to Horizontal shmups what Wonderland is to the vertical kind; simply, enjoyable, but somewhat lacking in depth.

Gradius is the clear inspiration with directional firing available from a couple of pods alongside your ship but, unlike the game above there are no real end of level bosses. Instead the scrolling stops and you have to survive in a roomful of baddies for a set time.

It's an original take, but sadly an unsuccessful one. Seeing, and eventually defeating, end bosses is a key component of this genre and one without which these games are left sorely lacking.

Zenonia

My caveat at the top of every one of these posts about not playing RPGs has sat there entirely redundant for the 17 previous entries waiting for this very moment so that could ignore this game.

However, when I fire up all these games for the first time I usually know nothing about them - and that was obviously the case with Zenonia. As I skipped past the screens and screens of text dialogue that revealed this as a JRPG, I realised that I couldn't just leave this piled up with the unmentionable shovelware.

Personally, all RPGs leave me cold, but Zenonia is clearly a beautifully crafted game and, as much I personally will never rate it, it's only fair that I make you aware of it so you can check it for yourself.

As I can't really offer an opinion I'll end by noting that Nintendolife described it as "a mix between classic Zelda and Sword of Mana" while IGN reference Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy in their review. Both sites scored it 9/10. 

Zuma's Revenge

As much as it pains me to give credit to to a game series as artistically bankrupt as the Zuma franchise, there's no getting away from the fact that this is a ridiculously addictive puzzler that is thankfully devoid of the micro-transactions that plague every game of this type that you'll find on your phone.

Also Rans

Warioware Snapped!

An attempt to fold the DS's camera into the Warioware experience that borders on abject failure.

A tiny selection of levels in which your grainy, laggy, shadow appears in game to interact with a fraction of the usual array of microgames is just no fun to play. By a distance the worst Warioware game in the series.

And that's just about that! With such a middling selection this time it feels a bit like I'm going out on a whimper, something I hope to rectify by bringing you a 'best of' consolidation before the eShop closes.

Until then, thanks for reading, I'd love your thoughts and feedback in the comments.

The Best of DSiWare Part 17: Games beginning with 'T', 'U' and 'V'.

Hello there, and a weekly welcome to the penultimate installment of this series for which I played every game made available on the DSiWare service and, once I weeded out the shovelware, I have divided the remainder into four categories:

Hidden Gems: Games you've probably never heard of that are utterly brilliant

Well Known & Wonderful: Still gems, still potentially brilliant, but perhaps not quite so 'hidden'

Honourable Mentions: Those games that are good, but lack the real spark required to fit into one of the top two categories

Also Rans: Not bad enough to be completely ignored, but probably not quite good enough to warrant higher status

Two caveats: Firstly, I don't enjoy RPGs. Like, at all. So you won't see any of those at any point. And secondly it's very hard to define 'Hidden Gem' on DSiWare, as the service itself was never hugely popular, so please excuse a potential few miss-categorisations along the way!

Thanks to the annoying way my games were organised there's a couple of games here that should have appeared earlier but were mis-assigned thanks to having a 'The' at the start of their name.

Trust me, this annoys me more that it does you!

Anyway, thanks to that confusion there's 11 games to get through. Lets go!

Hidden Gems

The Hidden Ninja Kagemaru (G.G. Series)

At this point you may see that "G.G. Series" epithet above and roll your eyes - and who could blame you. So many of the efforts released under this banner are low effort knock-off or waste decent ideas with shoddy execution, Thankfully, however, this is not true of the really quite brilliant "Hidden Ninja Kagemaru".

In this lovely looking single screen platformer you control the eponymous Kagemaru as he attempts to recover any number of scrolls from around an area in which plenty of enemy guards will be on patrol.

To aid our hero on this quest, he comes armed with a small selection of tools of the trade. There are caltrops to trip up the foes, a bomb to distract them, a temporary awareness of the enemies cone of vision and, my favourite of all, a roll of camoflage wallpaper that Kagemaru unrolls in from of himself.

Audio visuals match the Japanese style, with the graphics in particular bringing a lot of personality to proceedings.

Hidden Ninja Kagemaru is a lovely little game, often challenging but always fun. It does what the G.G Series does at it's best; taking a simple concept and executing it very well.  

Trailblaze (AKA Flametail)

This is a game that originated on the sister 'WiiWare' platform as one third of the excellent Maboshi's Three Shape Arcade. Even if you're familiar with the vanilla version it's worth another luck in this standalone version as not only is there an extra level of visual polish, put a few new gameplay tweas are added too.

For the uninitiated, Trailblaze at first appears to be a play on that venerable old phone game 'Snake'. You control maneuver a small craft around a play area with it's tail extending behind you.

You'll probably be glad to hear, however that this is pretty much where the similarities end. 

The game is played in book orientating and there is a hazard line at what becomes the bottom of the screen, should. The rest of the screen is filled with various blocks and obstacles that you must incinerate by bringing your burning tail into contact with them. if you, your tail, or an unburnt block hit's the hazard line: Game Over.

So far, so simple.

Necessary complexity is added in a couple of ways, but primarily through the neat touch of having the Hazard line only advance when the player moves. Through this device, you become acutely aware that pressing ever upwards is not always the best course of action.

There also power-ups. These are loaded by collecting the letter tiles that make up their name from around the play area and then fired, in a slightly cumbersome choice considering the screen orientation, with the 'A' button. 

Balancing the need to move ever forward with the knowledge that this will bring the hazard line into play turns out to be a rather compelling risk/reward that really brings to life what is, at first glance at least, a very basic concept.

Addictiveness is a quality that's hard to measure, but Trailblaze has it in spades and, as a result, this unassuming action puzzler turns out to be one of the hardest to put down games on DSiWare.

Thorium Wars

I'm going to step right up and declare that this is probably the 'biggest' feeling game on the platform. Strong words, you may well say, but with a fully realised 3D engine, multiple craft types (and multiple craft types of those craft types) huge levels, and unlockables galore, I genuinely feel like this feel more like a game released on a cartridge than anything else on DSiWare.

We're in rough Star Fox territory here, with air, sea, and land levels and a huge variety of mission objectives to meet. Despite Thorium Wars seeming to be almost overburdened with content and variety it handles the quality over quantity balance brilliantly.

Yes, some of the endlessly re-spawning enemies are an annoyance, and yes, the (thankfully optional) touch screen controls are attrocious, but everything else in this action extravaganza is brilliantly realised and incredibly easy to recommend.

Honourable Mentions

A Topsy Turvy Life: The Turvys Strike Back

Some DS games, like the aforementioned Trailblaze, mix things up by adopting a vertical orientation, the games released under the 'Topsy Turvy Life' banner take this a step further by having you hold the console upside-down.

A simple Galaga style vertical shooter at first glance, The Turvys Strike Back continues its 'flipped' theme by having the player control the baddies by drawing attack patterns and tapping to fire on the touch screen.

In all honesty it's this clever concept alone that has won the game it's relatively lofty position but there's additionally a single console versus mode that elevates the experience further.

Enlist a friend to grab hold of the other side of the console and they play in the more conventional role of the brave lone pilot battling the other players hand-directed endless waves of enemies.

As modern games become increasingly homogenised into a few hyper-popular genres, games like The Turvy's Strike Back; that rare example of something genuinely new and unique, should be applauded for what it tries, rather than criticised for the few elements it doesn't get quite right.

Turvy Drops

The other game in the 'Topsy Turvy Life' franchise is, sadly, not quite so succesful.

This time we're in Tetris territory, but with the console upside-down the player draws shapes onto the touchscreen to drop down and complete rows below.

And that, sadly, is that. It's still an interesting concept, but there's not enough variation or excitement to merit more than a quick curiosity play.

Also Rans

Tetris Party Live

Tetris can never be anything but decent. It's a game that's in the gaming genes of so many people that it would be disingenuous to suggest that any version of it won't bring some enjoyment.

Sadly, as the 'Live' epithet suggests, this version was built around online play and, as my game won't even launch, I assume it's delisting in March 2013 effectively killed it outright.

The Last Knight (G.G. Series)

Elevated from total obscurity by a decent concept; Bullet hell meets top down dungeon crawler, unfortunately the good idea is ruined by pretty poor execution that includes about the worst miss-match of combat style with enemy attack patterns I've ever seen in a game.

Throw Out (G.G. Series)

It's not often a G.G. Series game disappoints - they're usually either obviously bad or surprisingly good. Unfortunately, Throw Out seems promising early doors as an ode to Speedball with tight controls and neat spritework - but this is soon ruined by dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks opposition AI that ensures no fun or challenge is to be had.

Uno

I mean... it's Uno. Down hear in the 'Also Rans' thanks to a apucity of single player content and the death of any chance of an online match. 

And also because there was nothing else to write about for 'U'.

Vector (G.G. Series)

Nice idea this one. Shapes fall from the top of the screen with a number in the centre and you have to inflict damage of the correct value to match the differential between the number of side and the displayed integer. For example, if a square falls with a '3' in it you have to inflict '1' damage to destroy it. A pentagon with a '2' would need '3' damage... etc. etc. 

As with a fair few G.G. Series games the neat premise is far too quickly let down by a lack of challenge and complexity. 

Vertex (G.G. Series)

Blocks fall with arrows on them that must be chained up to destroy. After that, see above... 

No really, it provides the same kind of neat premise and then suffers all the same issues as Vector. Shame.

I'll see you Thursday for the 'W' through to 'Z' selection, until then, thanks for reading, I'd love your thoughts and feedback in the comments.

Until next time.

The Best of DSiWare Part 16: Games beginning with 'S'.

Hello there, and a weekly welcome back, to this series for which I played every game made available on the DSiWare service and, once I weeded out the shovelware, I have divided the remainder into four categories:

Hidden Gems: Games you've probably never heard of that are utterly brilliant

Well Known & Wonderful: Still gems, still potentially brilliant, but perhaps not quite so 'hidden'

Honourable Mentions: Those games that are good, but lack the real spark required to fit into one of the top two categories

Also Rans: Not bad enough to be completely ignored, but probably not quite good enough to warrant higher status

Two caveats: Firstly, I don't enjoy RPGs. Like, at all. So you won't see any of those at any point. And secondly it's very hard to define 'Hidden Gem' on DSiWare, as the service itself was never hugely popular, so please excuse a potential few miss-categorisations along the way!

There's a lot to get through this week with, you'll be pleased to hear, some absolute belters in the mix...

Hidden Gems

Sagittarius-A-Star

With shmups as poor as 'Score Attacker' (see below) around you may be concerned that I would overstate just how good Sagittarius-A-Star is. However, I ask that you please remove these thoughts from your head and take me at my word when I say that this (sadly) Japanese exclusive release is one of the very best games available for the DSiWare ident.

Sure. If you're not a fan of shmups this game isn't going to convert you, but for those who know their Espgaluda from their Radiant Silvergun, you're going to love this one!

Things are promising right from the start, with gorgeous polygon visuals and a thumping soundtrack being the first thing that really hits you, the next thing to hit you will almost certainly be enemy fire - because this game, like all the best shooters, is tough! 

Initially, gameplay looks fairly simple; enemies arrive from the top of the screen and you shoot them from the bottom. Thrown into this straightforward approach is the unassumingly named 'attack' move. This is a quick dart in the direction you're facing with what appears to a bladed slash projecting a short distance in front of you. It must be charged before use but, in the first bit magic the game has to offer, there's a tiny window after the first slash has connected that allows you to combo into another - and following that, another.

3 is my longest chain with this attack to date, but I've heard tell of combo's much higher.

The second piece of magic is in the design of the enemies. Each has a line through it in yellow or red. Line up your slash attack with this and the enemy will be destroyed instantly. Certain obstacles also have these lines and, most brilliantly of all, some of the bosses have them too - allowing for single hit deaths on screen-filling end of level baddies!

Sagittarius-A-Star is, for me, a true hidden gem and if you have even the slightest interest in vertical shooters then you need to hunt this one down immediately.

Soul of Darkness

At what point does a game go from being 'inspired by' to 'a total rip-off' of?

Where-ever it is that you personally draw that line, I can assure you that Soul of Darkness, with it's full blooded mimicry of the Castlevania series, definitely oversteps it. And then some.

From the gameplay to the sprite designs, the cutscenes to the soundtrack, this is Castlevania in all but name.

All that notwithstanding, the graphics are among the very best you'll find on DSiWare. Huge sprites, lovely effects, and imaginative characters are in abundance.

For gameplay, think early Castlevania in that his is a fairly linear affair with the only 'vania' esque moments provided by the ability to transform into other creatures. However, in perhaps the games only big misstep, it indicates exactly where and what to change into, negating the mechanic somewhat.

While lacking in that particular area, the game is near perfection in almost every other. Controls are tight, level designs are sprawling and beautiful, and weapon levelling keeps combat interesting throughout.

Boss fights are here too and, as they should be in my opinion, a real highlight of the game.

The lesson here is that if you're going to talk another games talk, you'd better be able to walk it's walk too - and Soul of Darkness positively swaggers through this ode to Castlevania.

Snapdots

Apparently a reworking of a GBA game called Guri Logi Champ, this puzzler nevertheless feels very unique despite the huge number of game that are ostensibly very similar on the DSiWare ecosystem.

The game presents you with an incomplete pixel image and your task is to adding the missing dots. These are fired exclusively from the bottom of the screen, but the image itself can be rotated so that you can fire from all four sides of it.

The necessary challenge is added by virtue of the fact that each dot fired up the screen won't stop until it hits something. Therefore you have to work out which direction to fire from to get the piece into it's desired position.

The first trick you learn is using a dot fired into an incorrect position to act as buffer, and then retrieving it afterwards as it's no longer needed. Clever and fun game elements continue to be added that build on this central conceit, and before you know it you're completely hooked.

Whilst most of the visual style is your standard flavour of puzzle game basic, it's given a slight bit of flair by the inclusion of 'Dotty', a character who strolls across the top screen (looking for all the world like a chibi Ulala) offering the occasional snippet of advice or just a random non sequitur.

When all is combined you have 150 levels of charming and challenging puzzle game entertainment that manages to stand out on a platform rather overrun with them, can't really ask for more than that.

Starship Patrol (AKA Starship Defense)

Q Games strike again with a fantastic example of how to do Tower Defence extremely well.

As the captain of a small fleet of spacecraft your task is to protect them from incoming waves of enemy fighters.

Ostensibly the majority of the gameplay here is pretty standard genre fare; kill baddies, earn money, reinforce, upgrade, etc. But everything is elevated by the cleanness of the design and clever balance of the weapons made available to you.

Visually the game is beautifully reminiscent of drawings in a note book. Monochrome line-art depicts the vast majority of the play area and the spacecraft in it. Adding to this crisp, line drawn appearance is a scrolling grid background that looks for all the world like the squares you find on graph paper or in a maths exercise book.

Sound effects are sparse but impactful, and the music suitably militaristic. What both elements highlight, however, is how much more the game is than the sum of it's parts.

There's something about the way Starship Patrol hangs together that make it feel like a premium product on a platform where premium wasn't often an option. Everything is neat, precise, and expertly realised to make this easily the best Tower Defence game on the platform - and one of the best regardless of genre.

Well Known & Wonderful

Space Invaders Extreme Z

Only released in Japan, this is essentially a slightly shrunken-down version of Space Invaders Extreme 2. In the context of how most people will be playing this game today it's tough to know how to contextualise it - so I settled on assessing it entirely on it's own merits - which is why it's in the giddy heights of WK&W despite there being arguably better versions available.

Space Invaders Extreme 2 was really more of a gentle evolution than meaty sequel so the same is obviously true of this slimline version. Luckily, the original was a brilliant reworking of the ancient Space Invaders concept that brought the whole thing screaming into the twenty-first century - with a dash of late 90's arcade spice for good measure.

If the name Space Invaders brings to mind a plodding turret and ponderous artilary creeping up the screen to drift past plodding crablike aliens then you're in for big surprise.

Extreme takes the central concept of the franchise and wraps it in enough neon, explosions, and raw speed than a single game should be able to handle.

There's so much going on here that the wise decision has been to expand play over both screens. The bulk of the play takes place on the lower play area and is essentially a hyperactive amphetamine junkie's spin on the old formula. One of the many additions to the core gameplay (there are genuinely too many to mention) is that when special bonus are triggered they take place on the top screen - somewhat similar to those on a pinball machine, only rather more sophisticated.

What all three versions of Space Invaders Extreme offer is that cacophonous bombardment of noise and visual flare that bring back the sticky floored arcades of my youth. And I've said it before, and I'm saying it again here: from me, there is no higher praise.

Shantae: Risky's Revenge

I don't really know what I can say about Shantae's second outing that would be new or interesting. Back in 2009 the game was exclusive to the Dsi, but it's since been ported to every other system under the sun. 

The game holds up very well nearly 15 years after it's initial release. If you're new to the series you'll find the characters and banter a particular treat, if you're an old hand you'll delight in the presence of all your favourite cast members. 

Unusually, it's actually fans of the later games that stand to be most disappointed by this entry as many of the 'quality of life' improvements you'll have become used to are missing from this version.

Nevertheless, the writing, visuals, soundtrack, and gameplay will be familiar in both the quality of their execution and the joy to be had from them. 

If, like me, you found Seven Sirens disappointing, it's definitely worth a trip back the Scuttle/Ammo Town of 2009 to experience the series just as it was blossoming.

Honourable Mentions

Shadow Army (G.G. Series)

I've been wracking my brains to remember what game from my 'Hidden Gems of MAME' blogging days this reminds me of, but it's still escaping me.

Walk forward, shoot the baddies, rinse, repeat. So why the 'Honourable Mention'? you may ask... 4 selectable weapons, great looking sprites, and a very nifty cover mechanic - would be my answer!

It would be generous to call this a top-down Gears of War; the pace is far too slow and the environments far too boring but the cover mechanic and end of level encounters do just enough to keep this interesting to the end.

Space Ace

I could pretty much copy + paste my review of Dragon's Lair here... actually, that's not a bad idea...

Way back when I was writing up the 'D' selection, Dragon's Lair also landed firmly in the 'Honourable Mention slot, wherein I said: 

"I'm not going to waste the skin on my two precious typing fingers with descriptions of the most famous interactive cartoons ever made - but if you've never played them, or if you're a fan and wanted to own these on yet another console, you should know that these are perfectly serviceable ports that, despite a fairly low resolution, play pretty much identically to the arcade original."

It's like I knew this day was coming!

Personally, I prefer Space Ace to Dragon's Lair, but they're much of muchness and actually more interesting for their place in videogame history than they are actually much fun to play... but then, y'know, nostalgia and all that. And the Don Bluth art is still terrific.

Steamworld Tower Defense

The first ever game in the usually excellent Steamworld franchise has saved me the conundrum of deciding if it is well known or hidden by virtue of being entirely too hard to be fun for long periods.

I'm a big fan of a challenge in a game, and I do keep going back to this fairly standard genre effort because it's nonetheless imbued with the typical Steamworld style and high quality delivery.

But boy is this ever a tough game, and one that I fear too many people will get frustrated with long before they see the best of what it has to offer.

Also Rans

Shapo

Basically Tetris on a set of scales, but never quite as interesting as that makes it sound. This isn't a terrible puzzle game by any standard, it's just one that I find impossible to get excited by.

The Spiky Blowfish (G.G. Series)

This one snuck under my radar in the worst way, probably would have been binned with the shovelware were it not for my completionism wanting to include everything under the G.G. Series banner.

Remember Flappy Bird? This is that - but with a Blowfish. Ugh.

Score Attacker (G.G. Series)

A bullethell style vertical shooter that makes Solar Striker on the Game Boy look sophisticated.

It only made it to this lowly status on the basis of there being so few games in this genre on the platform. All of the others are better than this.

Surfacer+

Some of the reviews at the time were very positive about this spin on the old Qix formula. But I'm really not sure I understand why.

You touch the screen to grow flowers while little balls of death bounce around the play area that you're attempting to cover a certain percentage of with your blooms.

That's it. No thanks.

I'll see you next week for the 'T' selection, until then, thanks for reading, I'd love your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
Until next time.

The Best of DSiWare Part 15: Games beginning with 'Q' and 'R'

Hello there, and a warm weekly welcome to this series for which I played every game made available on the DSiWare service and, once I weeded out the shovelware, I have divided the remainder into four categories:

Hidden Gems: Games you've probably never heard of that are utterly brilliant

Well Known & Wonderful: Still gems, still potentially brilliant, but perhaps not quite so 'hidden'

Honourable Mentions: Those games that are good, but lack the real spark required to fit into one of the top two categories

Also Rans: Not bad enough to be completely ignored, but probably not quite good enough to warrant higher status

Two caveats: Firstly, I don't enjoy RPGs. Like, at all. So you won't see any of those at any point. And secondly it's very hard to define 'Hidden Gem' on DSiWare, as the service itself was never hugely popular, so please excuse a potential few miss-categorisations along the way!

And finally, as there was only one title worth writing about for 'Q', I've smooshed it together with the selections for 'R'...

Hidden Gems

Reflect Missile

With it's faux dot matrix visuals and Breakout inspired gameplay, Reflect Missile (AKA Trajectile), from somehow always surprisingly good Q-Games, really couldn't be much more retro... so the fact that it still manages to bring so much that's fresh and interesting to the table is hugely impressive.

With a set of tiles on the top screen that will put you immediately in mind of Atari's block breaking classic or any of the myriad games that followed in it's wake, (I'm a big Arkanoid fan myself, but don't ignore Sidhe interactive's Shatter) it's the bottom screen where the game brings it's own personality.

Instead of a bat and ball you have one or more missiles ready to fire into action by aiming with the stylus (in a way that brings to mind Puzzle Bobble) in an attempt to hit specific target tiles above, hit them all and the stage is beaten.

The standard missile type will, however, only ricochet 5 times before exploding, and you have a pre-set number of shots with which to hit all the targets.

It's these limitations that make Reflect Missile shine, especially when paired with the many different kinds of power-up on offer, with driller, bomber, and super missile variants just the tip of the iceberg.

The final piece of the puzzle that ensures this game comes highly recommended is the huge number of levels on offer. There's 200 in total to unlock, which is a staggering amount of play in a game that, thankfully, offers more than enough fun, challenge, and creativity to make you want to see every last one of them.

Rabi x Lady/Rabi x Lady 2

You may find other reviews of these games (and the third instalment on 3DS) under the name Rabi Lady. But I've looked at the title images of all three games and there is absolutely an 'X' in there.

I've lumped the first two titles together as the second really feels more like a level pack than an a full on sequel but, y'know what, when the core gameplay works as well as this then it's not actually much of a problem.

This is a single screen puzzle platformer with a visual style that leans towards the bizarre end of Alice in Wonderland and gameplay that's like two-thirds of 4th generation classic The Lost Vikings.

Rabi, who is a rabbit, can jump and Lady, who is dressed like Alice on her journey through wonderland, can carry stuff. Your task is to combine these two abilities to bypass hazards and reach the exit. 

It's a simple format that works very well and the only thing that spoils the fun, and risked this getting bumped into 'Honourable Mentions' is that the difficulty curve is all over the place.

The challenge pendulum swings from insultingly easy to console-hurlingly tough from one level to the next, and this is consistently inconsistent across both games - although I understand they resolved this for part three.

Nevertheless, the game offers far too many a-ha! moments and satisfying victories to judge it too harshly, and the visual design manages to walk a neat tightrope between cute and bizarre.

Honourable Mentions

Roller Angels

This one should have been right up my street with it's combination of OlliOlli and Jet Set Radio gameplay with Powerpuff Girls stylings.

Unfortunately it never quite came together as anything close to the some of it's parts for me.

As the game autoscrolls with you in control of one of the three titular onesie wearing angels there are tricks to perform, jumps to make, enemies to beat, and areas to spraypaint - often all at the same time. But everything happens so slowly that it's never particularly exciting, even later in the game when the challenge reaches surprising heights.

Roller Angels is a fun game, but it's just not quite as exciting as it should be, or needs to be, to hold your attention.

Real Soccer '09/'10

There's not enough difference between the two iterations of this game to bother covering them separately, but rest assured that whichever you choose there's a fully featured and robust football/soccer simulation on offer.

While obviously never going to compete with the latest Fifa or Pro Evo in 2023, Real Soccer could very much hold it's head high among it's handheld contemporaries from over a decade ago.

Because it's rendered in full 3D, with all the controls you'd find in any modern recreation of the sport, it's actually harder to recommend today Real Soccer today as there's no old-school charm to carry against a newer game.

It's the best football/soccer game on the DSi though, so that's something at least.

Also Rans

Remote Racer

There aren't enough good racing games on DSiWare, and this effort from the creators of AiRace sadly does nothing to rectify that.

Sketchy controls, muddy visuals, and an abundance of jank puts paid to any notion that this could be a fun successor to the Re-Volt crown.

Quick Fill Q

A very simple take on the Tetris theme, but this time you're creating shapes to fill a hole so that a ball can roll ever onwards from left to right.

It's not a bad a concept but the presentation is about as white-knuckle and thrilling as a ball rolling slowly from left to right sounds.

Rayman

The brilliant original in the long running series is utterly ruined by having a zoomed in camera that fills the experience with a billion leaps of faith and twice as many cheap deaths from off-screen enemies.

Play one of the countless other versions instead or, better still, play Rayman Origins, it's one of the best platform games ever made!

Thanks for reading, see you again next time.

The Best of DSiWare - Part 14: Games beginning with 'O' & 'P'

It's been a while! Welcome, or maybe welcome back, to this series for which I played every game made available on the DSiWare service and, once I weeded out the shovelware, I have divided the remainder into four categories:

Hidden Gems: Games you've probably never heard of that are utterly brilliant

Well Known & Wonderful: Still gems, still potentially brilliant, but perhaps not quite so 'hidden'

Honourable Mentions: Those games that are good, but lack the real spark required to fit into one of the top two categories

Also Rans: Not bad enough to be completely ignored, but probably not quite good enough to warrant higher status

Two caveats: Firstly, I don't enjoy RPGs. Like, at all. So you won't see any of those at any point. And secondly it's very hard to define 'Hidden Gem' on DSiWare, as the service itself was never hugely popular, so please excuse a potential few miss-categorisations along the way!

And finally, as there was only one title worth writing about for 'O', I've smooshed it together with the many selections for 'P'...

Hidden Gems

Portable Shrine Wars (Go Series)

This is exactly the kind of simple concept, beautifully handled that appeals to the ageing arcade rat in me.

Viewed from a top-down perspective across both screens, you compete in a rickshaw race against other (computer controlled) competitors who will try and run you off the road - so it's only fair that you give them the same treatment. 

Successfully destroying one of the other racers scatters it's bearers into your path where than can be picked up and added to your own crew for extra speed.

This already neat concept is given a nice risk-and-reward twist by adding the ability to 'fire' one of your own shrine-carriers into enemies to destroy them more quickly, but at the risk of slowing to a point where obstacles become hard to avoid.

This rickshaw racer slash vehicle combat game is full of all the energetic style, bombastic sound effects, and instantly playable components that used to ring out from the amusements arcades at every seaside town along the coast - and that, for me, is about the highest recommendation a game can get.

Pro Jumper! Guilt Gear Tangent!?

Now straight off the bat I need to confess that I have no idea how this platform game about a sentient blobby-star-looking-thing trying to get to the spa fits into the wider Guilty Gear franchise, but that certainly didn't impact on my enjoyment of it.

If you're a person who enjoys polish in their videogames then this is a game that will be right up your street.

The concept is very simple, walk left to right, jump on platforms, collect apples, and then beat the level boss. The execution, however, is of the highest standard on this platform.

From the (necessarily) precise controls to the beautiful use of colour, fantastic character designs, and sublime animation - this is a game that's a real joy to behold through each of it's 6 levels.

If that doesn't sound like a very long game to you then think again. Not only is Pro Jumper brutally difficult on the first play but it ramps up the toughness for your second go around, and then reverses the level layouts for the third.

So, as long as you're up to the challenge, there's plenty of slightly bizarre fun on offer here.

Well Known & Wonderful

PiCO PiCT (Art Style)

Another day, another fresh spin on Russian gaming's greatest export under the Art Style banner.

This time we're slamming together the venerable falling block classic with Picross... sort of. 

Shapes fall slowly from the top of the screen, and must be connected with new blocks in order to erase them. This is done by collecting coloured squares from the play area and placing them into a new position where they will join and form a new shapes - or several new shapes in combination - with those arriving from above.

As you do all this on the bottom screen, an image is formed using the pixels you harvest on the top one. Level 1 is Mario, level 2 is a Goomba... That they're all recognisable licensed characters gives the whole affair an extra layer of polish.

But it's really that combo mechanic that makes the game so much fun to play. As soon as your first shape connects the remaining blocks suddenly acquire 'weight' and fall to the bottom of the screen. Layering up sets of pixels on the screen and waiting for that first connection to trigger a cascading combo that is hugely satisfying to pull off.

Puzzle League (A Little Bit of...)

'Well known' might be a stretch for this one, but it's here because it's a Nintendo first party release and part of a very long running franchise.

To be honest, 'Wonderful' might be over-egging the pudding a little too and had my 'quick play to refresh my memory' not turned into 45 minutes of staring intently into the dual screens, it may well have been relegated to the section below.

Ostensibly yet another Tetris-like at first glance, Puzzle League actually plays very differently.

This time around, two squares have their positions switched horizontally in a way players of the ubiquitous Candy Crush series will find very familiar. Additionally, and importantly, single squares can be dragged horizontally as far as gravity will allow.

Through these interactions, chains of three or more can be made, and combinations of the same can be created.

From this description you'll have picked up that Puzzle League isn't going to blow anybody's socks of with originality - but it's saved by just being a lot of fun to play, and as the only real omissions for this 'Little bit of...' version is the (now pretty useless) multiplayer mode, it's a very easy game to recommend.

Honourable Mentions

Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon

It feels a little harsh to put this incredibly accurate pinball game in the 'Honourable Mentions' section as there's an awful lot to love about it: Great physics, interesting table, nice audio visual presentation...

The problem is the lack of a plural on that word 'table'.

Were there just a couple more variations on offer this would have earned itself a 'Hidden Gem' badge easily.

Unfortunately, as well realised and fun to play as the single table is, it doesn't get away from the fact that this is a pretty bare-bones pinball experience.

Picdun

The second entry under 'P' to hybridise elements of the vast Picross range; Picdun has you quest into the realms of the very very old school as you crawl ever deeper through it's first person, one tile at a time, dungeons in search of the exit.

The Picross element comes in via the level maps. As you explore each stage the map is drawn on the top screen and, as long as you've stepped on every tile, it is revealed in animated image form as a more detailed picture when you head to the next floor. 

Despite being a unique experience and offering a decent level of challenge, I'm not awarding this 'Hidden Gem' status as I found the combat an annoyance. 

The puzzle-like level layouts offer enough of a challenge by themselves without being interrupted by random encounters where you stab and swipe at goblins and whatnot on your bottom screen. I get that the developers were going for a very specific retro vibe with the enemy encounters, but that doesn't change the fact that, for me, they ruin an otherwise enjoyable puzzle game.

Orion's Odyssey

Witty writing, great looking characters, hours of gametime... so why are we only in 'Honourable Mention' territory?

Well, y'know Tangram puzzles? Where you fit the geometric shapes into the blank area to create a picture? That's what Orion's Odyssey's gameplay consists entirely of.

It's a genuine shame because the story and interactions really are wonderful.

Paper Plane

Warioware's guide-a-little-plane-through-the-maze microgame gets a release all to itself and damn-it if it isn't as predictably addictive as you would expect.

There's a time trial variation added to the usual survival style 'Endless' mode but the addition of a two player mode is the real stand-out here as, unlike most multiplayer offerings for this ageing hardware, it isn't hamstrung by non-existent online play.

Thanks to Paper Plane's ultra simplistic controls the competitive 'Race' mode lets one player steer their craft with left and right on the dpad, while the uses the Y and A buttons. With a screen each and the added griefing that two people holding the same console brings, there's much fun to be had with this very simple concept.

Also Rans

Pop+ Solo

This relaxing puzzler from developers of the excellent escapevector, Nnooo, garnered some high praise for both this and the WiiWare original back in '09 but, I don't know, it just doesn't do anything for me. 

Pop bubbles, create combo's, hit multipliers, all the usual elements for an addictive experience are here, but it didn't even begin to get it's hooks in to me.

Primrose

A twist on that most ancient of board games 'Go', Primrose takes the 'surround your enemies tiles' concept and turns it into a single player 'zen' puzzler. 

If you're a big fan of 'Go', and apparently 50 million people are, you may find more to get excited about this re-imagining than I did.

Plants vs Zombies

This grandaddy of popular tower defense games was released on every platform around, and DSiWare was no exception.

In fairness, these games were popular for the simple reason that they were good, addictive, fun - and that's still the case here, but it' so very difficult to raise any enthusiasm for.

Pinball Attack

I love a good pinball hybrid game. It's a genre I discovered wa passion for while creating my first ever blog ("A-Z of MAME Hidden Gems") and has remained a favourite ever since.

Sadly, while the idea of Pinball Attack - fuse a pinball game with a vertically scrolling shooter - is good, the execution is decidedly not good.

Pop Island & Pop Island Paperfield

Both of these are basically amped up versions of 'capture the flag' with cartoon animal visuals and sound effects to match the high speed chaos that will ensue.

Sadly, it all falls pretty flat in single player mode and I can't see the opportunity for multiplayer mayhem being that easy to come by on the DSi in 2023.

I'll see you next week for the 'Q' & 'R' selections, until then, thanks for reading, I'd love your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
Until next time.

The Best of DSiWare - Part 13: Games beginning with 'N'

Half a dozen games this week with at least one popping up in every available category, which is nice. We also see the return of old friends the GG and Art Style series' following their conspicuous absence last time out.

Quick recap: To facilitate this exercise I played every game made available on the DSiWare service and, once I weeded out the shovelware, I have divided the remainder into four categories:

Hidden Gems: Games you've probably never heard of that are utterly brilliant

Well Known & Wonderful: Still gems, still potentially brilliant, but perhaps not quite so 'hidden'

Honourable Mentions: Those games that are good, but lack the real spark required to fit into one of the top two categories

Also Rans: Not bad enough to be completely ignored, but probably not quite good enough to warrant higher status

Two caveats: Firstly, I don't enjoy RPGs. Like, at all. So you won't see any of those at any point. And secondly it's very hard to define 'Hidden Gem' on DSiWare, as the service itself was never hugely popular, so please excuse a potential few miss-categorisations along the way!

Hidden Gems

Number Battle

The DSiWare platform has a reputation for two things: Shovelware, and puzzle games. When I started this series some three-plus months ago the first thing I did was weed out the shovelware; a fairly simple task really, even if some rubbish with ostensibly high production values slipped through the net. The weight of puzzle games offers a more complex challenge to the reviewer, however, as it can be hard to maintain enthusiasm, for even the better examples, when faced with another 'zen' soundtrack, another grid system, or trying to find yet another way of saying: "In this variation on Tetris..." Number Battle (known as Sujin Taisen Number Battle in some territories) ticks a lot of those boxes, and yet it is an easy game to recommend.

As the name suggests this is primarily a 'vs' style puzzler, so strategy plays a big part in the way it plays. As I've mentioned so many times before, I think it's pretty disingenuous to suggest anyone will be linking up DSis in 2021, so luckily the AI is pretty robust in the central 'Story Mode'.

Developer MITCHELL are responsible for a number of titles that hark back to ancient board games such as Go, or Dominoes, and Number Battle is no exception. Here, each player is given five square titles to place on a board shared with their opponent. Each tile has a number from one to five and between one and four linkable sides - similar to the sort of thing you'd find in Pipe Dream. They also come in two distinct types; rainbow and monochrome. 

The details of play are far too complex to go into in detail here and, truth be told, I'm still discovering a lot of nuances myself. The basics involve placing your tiles on the board, in ways that link, to score points. Simply placing two linking tiles together is not enough, however, as to score points the numbers need to either be the same or sequential. Using rainbow tiles will get you more points, but also allow your opponent to link to those tiles, and big points come from completing loops, loops with sequences, loops that are 'closed', etc, etc. And all this while keeping an eye on your opponents tiles to see if there are advantages to be gained by placing your hand into their play-area.

And, just to repeat myself, those are the basics. So, rather than go into too much detail I'll just stop here and say that if this kind strategic puzzle game is your thing then Number Battle is a must play. It's minimal but stylish presentation is a perfect fit for the gameplay, and, even if you're suffering from understable DSi puzzle-fatigue, it's challenge and hidden complexities will keep you hooked for a long time to come.

Well Known & Wonderful

Nintendo Touch Golf (A little bit of...)

If ever there was a sport that worked better in video game form than the real world, it's golf. Even if you take personal preference out the picture, Golf is a sport with possibly more social, financial, and practical barriers to entry than any other.

In the world of videogames all you need is hardware, software, and a controller or, in the case of Nintendo Touch Golf, a stylus, as the game's unique selling point is it's excellent touchscreen controls that put draw, slice, and power, under your control at the tip of the stylus. Initial shot set up will be familiar to anyone who's played any golf game before but, where you might normally be presented with a swing meter and timing bar, here you simply draw down on the touchscreen to set distance, then swipe forward quickly to take the shot. It's a brilliantly intuitive system that makes this a game worth playing all by itself.

Despite being part of the 'A little bit of...' series (AKA 'Minis') the game arrives pretty much fully formed from the physical version that was released on the DS just a couple of years earlier. This is notable as, despite this, the game has something of a 'lite', almost unfinished, air about it.

The main game mode is the 'Challenge'. Here you play a sequence of mini games that are based on actual golf - in that there's no mini-golf or superpowers. Rather, an example challenge would be to hit the ball further than a given total in three drives, or to get within 10m of the green in two shots, that kind of thing. 

But that's when the structure gets a bit weird.

When you have successfully completed 25 challenges a new course opens up for normal play. But to actually play it you have to end your game in challenge mode completely and return to the main menu - meaning that when you return to Challenge Mode to unlock the next course you'll be starting from the beginning again.

In practice, and with the caveat that handheld games are often played in short bursts, treating the Challenge Mode as the entire game is the most satisfying way to play. Go into Nintendo Touch Golf with this mindset and it's excellent control scheme will provide hours of fun - stupid trousers and country club membership not required.

Honourable Mentions

Ninja Karakuri Den 1 & 2 (G.G. Series)

I originally planned to list the first NKD as an 'Also ran' and save the relative prestige of 'Honourable Mention' for the sequel but, all things considered, I think this is a better option.

The original is a pseudo 8 bit, single screen, action game in which your little ninja bounces across dissolving floor platforms, slicing up baddies, while trying to reach and destroy a number of onscreen gear-wheels. Achieve this and (in true G.G. Series style) an exit opens through which you progress to the next level. And that, besides the every-fourth-level one-on-one battles with an enemy ninja, was pretty much that.

It was a pretty fun, slightly limited, and very challenging game that slotted very much into the middling nature of most released under this prolific banner.

The sequel, which as far as I can tell was only released in Japan, builds on these bare bones and turns the game into a much more well-rounded experience.

The need to destroy cogs to advance is gone completely and instead defeating all onscreen enemies opens the exit, making it a more focused experience. Alternating levels add auto-scroll to keep the gameplay from getting too samey, and even the boss battles have been zooshed up, with much more variety and challenge.

Probably the best change, however, is the introduction on a second playable character. This female ninja may be ticking all the trope boxes with her 'more mobile but less powerful moveset', but the added variety makes a big difference to the game and increases longevity for those who really get into it.

Personally I enjoyed seeing the progression from the original to the sequel but, in truth, you could absolutely skip the first game entirely as the second improves on it in every way. 

Need for Speed Nitro-X

With physical versions available for both the Wii and the DS, this was the third outing for the red-headed step-child in the vast Need for Speed family.

At it's core there's a fun, if pretty ugly, arcade racer here. Over the top speed boosts, vertical overtakes, and insane track designs threaten to make this a must-play. But the extra challenges and mini-games the game offers are largely less fun, for example, in a bizarre cross between a street racing game and Jet Set Radio, one has you pick up pairs of icons on track to alter the gameworld's colour-scheme to match that of your vehicle. Sadly, like the smash targets mini-game (and most of the variations on unimaginative themes) it sounds more fun that it actually is. 

If I'm honest with you (and myself) the only thing keeping this out of the 'Also Rans' is the paucity of racing games on the platform. This is not a terrible game, but both of the previous versions, notably that on the Wii, are far superior.

Also Rans

NemRem (Art Style)

Remember up at the top when I mentioned poor games with high production values slipping through my initial quality check?

Welcome to NemRem (known as ZenGage in some territories), the only truly 'bad' game I've found under the Art Style banner so far.

This simple puzzler plays like a mix of a sliding-tile game and a two-dimensional Rubik's Cube.
Slide the tiles, match the pattern, get bored, turn it off, play literally anything else in this usually excellent series. 

I'll see you next week for the 'O's, until then, thanks for reading, I'd love your thoughts and feedback in the comments.

Until next time.