I think that I might ask for a DS this Christmas, since honestly, I’m finding myself more and more interested in a ton of games for the system (way more than I thought I would when the system first came out), and it’s driving me nuts not having played the Castlevania game for it yet (along with a lot of the other games as well). I’m just wondering which DS I should ask for. I think these are the three choices I’m considering: Silver DS (w/ Metroid Prime Hunters Demo), Electric Blue DS, and Teal Nintendogs DS. The pros and cons for each of them are as follows.
The Silver DS has the Metroid Prime Hunters Demo, which is getting harder to find nowadays (and I’d like to have it in my collection), but it’s also not available at Wal-Mart anymore (which is only bad since we get a 10% discount there). They do have it at K-Mart still, though.
The Electric Blue DS is a cooler color, and it’s cheaper since it’s at Wal-Mart, but it doesn’t come with any games or anything…
The Teal Nintendogs DS is probably my favorite color, but it’s the most expensive of them all (On the other hand, I can get the discount with it, so it’d only be 5 bucks more than the Silver DS w/ Metroid would be, but 18 bucks more than the electric blue DS). And even though this one is really tempting, since it’s limited edition and it comes with a limited edition game that can’t be found outside of the bundle, I’m not sure if I’d even like Nintendogs at all… It seems… odd… And I’m not sure if I’d like a game where I’m expected to put in a certain amount of time into it, since it keeps track of everything real-time (That’s the same reason I was never interested in Animal Crossing). Plus, the fact that this version of Nintendogs comes in cardboard, not in a hard plastic case, is a turn-off for me.
And, since I’m picky about scratches and stuff, I’d be worried about scratching my touch-screen up. How effective are the screen protectors, and are they worth it? Are they removable? Difficult to apply without air bubbles/dust getting trapped beneath them?
The screen protectors are the next-best thing to worthless, especially on the touchscreen. All they do is make it less responsive. While you can keep the top screen clean very easily, you WILL get stuff in the touchscreen, whether it be crumbs, skin or just plain grease. Seriously don’t even try and clean it out unless it oozes or something.
Don’t get Nintendogs. It’s a very short ‘game’ with no replay value. Spend that money on Dawn of Sorrow or Advance Wars DS.
It’s seriously a great system though. It really came into it’s own these past couple of months. Here’s a short list of games you should check out on IGN or something;
Castlevania: DoS
Kirby Canvas Curse
Advance Wars DS
Phoenix Wright
Trauma Centre (so TD tells me)
MARIO 64 DS WOOOO
Sonic Rush
I wouldn’t bother with the MPH demo set, the demo is pretty limited and boring. Same with Nintendogs, its a fun game, great premise, but don’t spend extra money to get it. Rent it…maybe.
Don’t bother getting a protector for the bottom screen, it messes with your sensitivity, and that screen will get scratched no matter what. Do get a protector for the top screen though, it scratches easily.
Trauma Center is AMAZING, you have to get it. TD would agree with me here, we both love it. It is the game that will make you fall in love with the touch screen. MK:DS is required material, and so is M64. I’d also recommend Lost in Blue and Survival Kids if you like adventure games. I don’t like Castlevania, so i can’t comment on that.
Just go for the standard DS, with no frills, and spend your money on games.
Also, there’s a Survival Kids DS? I was thinking about picking up Lost In Blue and Another Code next week (alongside the obligatory Mario Kart and Kirby), didn’t know about it.
Also, Nintendo supposedly has some price-lock thing going on to keep the DS competitive. No game is supposed to exceed 30 dollars (though i guess that limit is now 35).
It’s also worth noting that as a Christmas present, I wouldn’t be the one paying the money, so it’s not like any of this would be coming out of my pocket. And I’m mostly just interested in the Nintendogs one since it’ll probably be my only real chance to get that color and that game. I’m the type of guy who gets as much pleasure from owning games as playing games.
I probably wouldn’t want a red DS bundle, since I wouldn’t like the color as much as the teal one (I really love teal!), and I definitely wouldn’t want Mario Kart DS in a cardboard case (I love plastic cases!).
I plan on getting Castlevania DS right away, and probably Mario Kart DS as well… although I don’t know how the internet play works… could somebody explain that to me, and whether or not it costs extra?
Trauma Center also really intrigues me, but it’s the type of game where I imagine won’t be a huge seller, and the Best Buy me that just opened by me has like a million copies of it, so I wonder if it’d be worth waiting a while and seeing if there’s a price drop?
And honestly, if the touchscreen is half as big of an issue as Pierson is saying it is, it makes me not even want a DS at all. That’s my biggest worry. I’ve read that most screen protectors are pretty shitty, but the officially licensed ones made by Hori are actually pretty effective if installed correctly, and don’t fuck up the sensitivity. But if it’s an inevitability that my touch screen will end up being scratched to hell, I’m not sure if I even want to deal with that…
EDIT:
Dev: If that’s how you feel about the Metroid Prime Demo, why don’t you just send me your copy of it? =P
I have a Palm which has simalar Touch Screen technology. So I do know what Pierson is talking about and also how to prevent it.
The top half of the Flip prevents most damage to it, like Scratches from your keys and coins. “Crumbs” If you have a case or don’t keep a your DS in the same Pocket as your sugery sweet packets, this should prevent it for them appearing for about 5 years… I have a palm bought 5 years ago and 21 days ago…
Mario Kart’s online works fairly simple. basically, you just go to “Nintendo WiFi” or something like that in the game, it’ll register the cart with the system and then you select who you want to play against (friends, region, world, rival). It’ll then start searching for players (which takes awhile). Once it has 3 other people it’ll take you to the character selection screen. Everybody picks a charcter and then for each race, everybody chooses a map and it randomly picks one of them. I haven’t had much luck with the online mode yet since people drop when they start to lose. You don’t talk or have any communication with anyone either. The races are smooth when they are going, except for when people drop (it freezes and then tells you about the drop and you exit the online mode).
I haven’t had the problems with the touchscreen that Pierson has had. If it gets dust, I either blow it off or wipe it off with a rag and it’s fine. The only problem is that it has a couple of minor scratches from touching the screen, but they don’t interfere with play.
Tell that to Nintendo Europe. 60 euros/USD for most high-profile games, jesus.
Don’t. I already hear reports of it being hard to find all over the place, and it’ll get discontinued soon. Though you can wait for the February EU release, of course.
I also have 0 problems with my touchscreen, but then I’m careful with my stuff.
Yea, i’d also like to add that i wouldn’t let the screen scratching become such an issue that you don’t buy the console. It is a touch screen, so of course its going to take some wear. Personally, mine is pretty damn clean, even without a screen protector and over a year of use. Sure, its got it’s share of scratches, but it still works just fine.