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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
Until next time.
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