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.