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SoCoder -> Blogs Home -> Blogs


 
Phoenix
Created : 25 July 2007
Edited : 25 July 2007

Is the DS worth the money?

Should I buy a Nintendo DS?

I've heard a lot of people talk about the DS, making me tempted to buy one. Coding homebrew games on it could be pretty cool, but that's not the only thing that matters. Is it actually worth the money? Are there any good games for it? I know there are some on this site who owns one, so I'd like to hear what you think about it.

 

Comments


Wednesday, 25 July 2007, 09:06
Jayenkai
Brain Training 1+2.. Not "Classic Gaming" fun, but a whole new type of fun..
Picross.. Excellent Sudoku-like puzzle. you just have to get used to it first!
(For sudoku, you'll get them with Brain Training)
Animal Crossing.. Just like Brain Training, it's a whole new type of fun.

And for Classic fun...
New Super Mario Bros.. The original Super Mario Bros, but with all new levels.. Great fun.
Sonic Rush... Sonic 2 with all new levels! Super Fun!
Mario Kart DS.. Cracking game! Best Mario Kart ever, IMO
Bomberman DS.. Heck, it's Bomberman! You need it!


And then there's the whole Homebrew thing on top of it.
Grab a Games 'n' Music cart for about £30, and you're off making your own DS games.

Yes... 100% worth it.
Wednesday, 25 July 2007, 11:13
JL235
OBJECTION!

Jay, how can you not mention the greatest game ever??? Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I'm not that big a game boy fan but it kept me glued to my brothers DS for days at a time. Heart-pounding, intense and very clever. One of the best games I've played in ages.
Wednesday, 25 July 2007, 15:00
spinal
I prefer classic platform type games,

New super mario bros is excellent. The perfect mix of new technology and oldskool gameplay.

There is a vast wealth of homebrew out there, aspecially remakes of classic games like lemmings and emulators for nes/snes/megadrive/c64 etc.

There are plenty of flash card on the market also, if you go for that, try to make sure you read up on them before buying. these days a slot-1 card is a must, but make sure there are DLDI drivers for it (to enable disk use in homebrew) as for the money, A DS is way cheaper than a PSP.
Saturday, 28 July 2007, 06:38
Blitz3Dman
If my Gameboy wasn't broken from years of use, I would have never got it. None of the DS games are as good as many of the classic gameboy games. And if you get a DS of Gameboy, my favorite games are Mario Advance 2 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. Advance Wars 2 and Harvest Moon are also good.
Saturday, 28 July 2007, 11:34
power mousey
I'm still waiting for the XGS 6502.

And according to Andre Lamothe...
its going to be roughly the size of the PSP
and in the shape of a cube.
Its going to a cubic home computer.
And have a removable flash drive for the
hard drive. As well as slots/ports for
a keyboard, mouse, joystick, and also
for inserting SD and/or MMC cards.
And perhaps an 8 in one card media reader too.
He is deciding on the CPU and its variants too.

Initially, you plug the HyperCube into a tv or a
computer monitor, hook up the keyboard,mouse andjoysick.
Power up the tv(monitor) and the Hypercube.
It comes with a simple OS and a built-in Basic as well.

The price range will be from $99 to $150.
This will include:

the HyperCube itself
the slim keyboard,mouse and joystick
power,video and interface cables
HyperCube manual...which also includes
game and app programming with the built-in Basic.

hopefully...tool chain development kit will be in the works for advance programming in a variant of C and also 6502 assembly language.

This is supposed to appeal to all people and of all ages.

Thats originally the plan...yet knowing Andre Lamothe
I hope he doesn't turn this HyperCube home computer into a trainer kit like he did with the XGS and the Hydra.


cheers,
power mousey
Monday, 05 November 2007, 15:58
oscar
have you all forgotten the REAL greatest game evar.... elite beat agents!!!!!


and yes.. yes it is worth the money
Monday, 05 November 2007, 18:16
blanko1324
The DS (especially the Lite model) is the greatest handheld console ever, in my opinion.
Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 08:50
rockford
The DS is definitely worth it (and more!) - with hundreds of excellent commercial games available (Zeldahantom Hourglass is one of the best games I've played this year, on any platform. Picross is indeed fantastic (but then I loved it anyway - I coded a version of Super Mario Picross years ago)) and inifinite amounts of homebrew either available or coming soon.
Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 13:02
power mousey
you havta ask yourelf a few
other questions first:

(1)why do you really want or need this.
And do you really want or even need this?

(2)If you do want it....what will you do with it??

(3) then after answering those questions....
and still remaining with True to the DS.
Then you ask yourself can I afford it.
How can I save up for it or even buy it.
What games and apps are for it inorder to
purchase it??

cheers,
Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 14:59
Jayenkai
When I bought the DS, I bought it for 3 reasons.
1) I'd never owned/played Mario 64. It was about time I did, and since they were porting it to the DS, it seemed as good a time as any.
2) I thought that with a touchscreen device, there'd be a relaunch of Point+Click adventure games. In fact, that hasn't Really happened. It happened a bit, but not as big as you'd think it'd happen. To compensate, there is a version of ScummVM to play the classics on it.
3) I knew, 100%, that even if I had to stick a Mod-chip in it to work, that I HAD to put Stringy Things on the DS. I waited and waited, then Datel brought out the Most Legal Possible homebrew cart. So. It took me a year. But I got it on here, and I'm glad I did.

2 out of 3 reasons isn't bad. And nowadays it's more like 20 good reasons to buy one.

For us lot, I think the BEST reason to buy a DS, right now, is to code for it. It's really satisfying seeing your games running on a portable console, and since the touchscreen's there, you can do All sorts of cool stuff with it!

|edit| I wonder. Did Phoenix eventually buy a DS? |edit|
Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 18:02
power mousey
thats good reasons.
kudos on that.

I would probably get one myself
but my budget portions have already
been overlayed for a few other gizmos
and thingies:

the XGS 6502, Nuclear Basic,
and a laptop too. Although I have been learning
and coding on an alpha version of a 6502 editor/assembler/emulator.
Can I learn and do assembly language on this Nintendo
Homebrew DS?? Perhaps a variant of Z-80 yes???
Would I have to get a license or pay fee to commercially
use this Homebrew thing. Probably and most likely expensive. Right??
Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 18:05
Jayenkai
Assembly, not likely.
I won't rule it out, I just wouldn't have a clue how to go about doing it.

Commercial homebrew, not gonna happen. Sorry. (Or at least, nothing's ever happened thusfar!)
Wednesday, 07 November 2007, 18:07
power mousey
okay,

thank you Jay.