Gaming on the Nintendo DS

Puffins: Island Adventure is a somewhat educational game featuring Puffins, which are penguin looking seabirds, but they can fly and they exist in the North Hemisphere and not the Southern Hemisphere where penguins reside.  Puffins: Island Adventure has over 100 mini games.  As you play the various mini games the game is supposed to teach you about the puffins.  You earn points to unlock more mini games, puffin facts, and puffin videos.   It sounds like an interesting game to me, although I certainly would prefer an actual penguin game rather than just a game about the penguin looking Puffins.  Puffins: Island Adventure is expected to be released sometime in Spring 2009.

I am a big fan of the Cooking Mama game despite the many so-called serious gamers that think it is a stupid game.  I personally do think of myself as a gamer, but I am not into many of the games that supposedly you have to like to be a true gamer.  Anyways, I just read about their being a new game in the Mama series called Gardening Mama.  It is a lot like Cooking Mama, but instead of following recipes to make food you follow her directions to grow plants.  You can grow vegetables, fruits, and flowers.  The game also has multiplayer capability allowing for you to compete with up to three others, however, it is only going to be local multiplayer and not Nintendo WiFi multiplayer, which is pretty much the only way I ever get to play the DS multiplayer.  Gardening Mama is expected to be released in March 2009.

In the latest Nintendo newsletter about DS games they listed two hot Nintendo DS titles.  They are not just Nintendo advertising biased on based on their own opinion of what there best games are.  The e-mail lists quotes from people who played the game and have written about the games on their own websites.  The two games the newsletter features are Kirby Super Star Ultra and Mystery Case Files: Millionheir .

I have not been able to try either game out, although Mystery Case Files: Millionheir is a game I have thought looked good since I heard about its release.  I have also heard a lot of good things about that particular game.  I am also not surprised that a Kirby game would be good, as I remember playing some older versions that were a lot of fun.

Anyone actually tried any of these Hot DS titles?  What are your thoughts on the games?

The other day I realized that Gamestop made top 8 of 2008 lists for the current video game consoles.  The list for Nintendo DS includes the following in no particular order:

• Chrono Trigger
• Mario Kart DS
• Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force
• Final Fantasy IV
• Guitar Hero on Tour
• Pokemon Ranger: Shadow of Almia
• New Super Mario Bros.
• Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood

The list includes some greatt DS games that I have personally enjoyed, but I am kind of annoyed at their pathetic attempt at making a list, as it contains some odd choices, such as Club Penguin , which while I liked I do not see as worthy as a big name company’s top 8 list because it got pretty darn confusing real fast.  I doubt it is even on there top 8 selling list except maybe of more recent releases.  The main thing I do not like about their list is that it contains games that did not come out in 2008.  I just do not get putting the year 2008 in the name of the list if you are not going to keep the list limited to releases for the year.

The other day one of the Amazon e-mails listed the top 10 Nintendo DS games of 2008.  I assume their list is based on sales.

1. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
2. The World Ends with You
3. Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution
4. LEGO Batman
5. Final Fantasy IV
6. N+
7. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir
8. LEGO Indiana Jones
9. Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword
10. Trauma Center: Under the Knife

Do you agree with the top 10?  Is there a 2008 game that you think should be on the list and is just an undiscovered game so far?

Personally I am not surprised about most of the games in the list, although a few surprise me. In particular, I had never heard of number 6, N+.

I wrote about the limited edition Nintendo DS bundles about a month ago here.   Tomorrow is the day they go on sale and if DS sales are anything like last year they will not be available for long.  It seems pretty much every store that normally carries Nintendo DSs will have at least some of each bundle.  Both bundles appear to be selling for $149.99 at most places and if I remember correctly Toys R Us had an extra bonus of a free accessory with purchase, but that may have referred to buying just a DS and not the bundles.

One bundle contains a Mario Red DS, which is a red DS with a Mario M logo on the front, and the New Super Mario Brothers DS game.

The other bundle contains an ice blue colored DS, which is a great color in my opinion, the Brain Age DS game, and  an ice blue carrying case.

Last Saturday the new Nintendo DS was released in Japan.  It is called the Nintendo DSi.  It sounds kind of interesting, but kind of bad like the Game Boy Advance Micro in my opinion.  It is expected to be released in the United States next summer.

The good about the new Nintendo DSi is that it is thinner, although not a big plus in my opinion.   The screen size is now larger, which is kind of nice.  It has a 3 megapixel camera, which does sound kind of cool.  The only really cool feature in my opinion is that it now has a built in browser and  you can download games and store them on the DSi kind of like the virtual games on the Wii.  Oh, and the DSi comes with 1,000 points to spend in the DSi Shop.

The big downside in my opinion is the lack of the Game Boy Advance slot.  I really liked the backwards capability of the Game Boy Advance being able to use Game Boy Color and Game Boy Original games.  I dislike the DS for no longer working with those games and now the new DS does not even play Game Boy Advance games.  It even excludes some DS games that use the slot, such as Guitar Hero.

Overall it does sound interesting, however at the price of US$180 and the lack of the Game Boy Advance slot makes this something I highly doubt I will ever waste my money on.

One of the recent Black Friday ads to be released is Sears.  In it they list two special limited edition DS Lite Bundles that will be available only from 5am to noon on Black Friday.  Supplies are limited, so it would not be surprising if they sold out before noon.

One bundle comes with an ice blue colored DS, which is definitely a color I wish was available when I got my DS.  This bundle comes with Brain Age and a matching ice blue case to hold the DS and looks like my dad’s red case, so it may also hold a few DS games.

The other bundle comes with a Mario Red DS.  Basically it is a red DS with a Mario M logo on the front and again much cooler than my black DS.  This bundle comes with the New Super Mario Brothers DS game.

Both bundles are priced at $149.99, so not exactly a whopping good Black Friday deal, but still interesting being special editions.