Hungry Goriya Used Acquire: Nintendo DS

This is the seventeenth post in a series called “Hungry Goriya Used Acquire” that serves to highlight the contents of a large game collection I procured from an old high school friend of mine, Joe.  Read here for the backstory.

I mentioned in my last post that one of the main reasons I had stayed away from the handheld gaming phenomenon (which also includes Nintendo DS/3DS) was mainly because there were no TV-compatible adapters to play the games with.  Regardless of the neck pain and stress headaches being hunched over a tiny handheld screen would usually cause me, I’ve never been much of an “on the go” gamer with the exception of a few road trips in my 20s.  Even in my youth playing my original Game Boy was spent tethered to the wall with an adapter cord rather than running wild and free in the light of day, trying to figure out how to increase the contrast so I didn’t go blind from all the squinting and straining.

I suppose in my stubbornness, I’ve actually missed out on a bunch of really excellent games.  I have regrets, but at least getting a few games from Joe’s collection can ease the pain, and I can start seeking out some other great additions to the handheld game library.

We received a black DS Lite with all its fixings.  Like everything else we got in this acquisition, it was in really great shape with no scratches on either screen like it had never been used.  The DS Lite is my personal DS of choice because of its ability to play GBA games too.  I’m sure many of you have already figured out that I’m a huge backwards compatibility fangirl.

This collection has been a little stash of special edition or anniversary release paraphernalia, and that certainly didn’t stop here.  Among the many boxes of things, we found a Legend of Zelda stylus fashioned in the shape of a feather, along with a special Castlevania 20th Anniversary game carrying case.  These are pretty neat to have, and I definitely plan on using the stylus to finish Kirby Mass Attack some day.

Another accessory we got was a rumble pak.  This was something neither my boyfriend or I had ever heard of for the DS, and I’m actually not quite sure how many games would be compatible with something like this.  I’ve never used any type of rumble feature on a handheld, but I’ve experienced it on the Playstation.  It definitely does add some depth and immersion into a game, but I wonder if it shakes the whole screen and makes things hard to see on a handheld.

Now for the games!  I finally have a copy of Nintendogs.  I think when I finally get around to playing it that it’ll become a guilty pleasure of mine.  I used to absolutely obsess over pet care games.  I had a discount dinosaur Tamagotchi-like device growing up which almost got me sent to the principal’s office several times in the 6th grade because I didn’t respect the school’s ban on them.  Rebellious!  Getting the demo for Metroid Prime Hunters was also great.  I actually realized last night that through this collection purchase, I own nearly all the Metroid games out of nowhere.  I used to only own two: the original Metroid for NES, and Super Metroid.

There were also lots of the usual shooters/horror/adventure games to be had among the spoils.  I watched a trailer this morning for Dementium: The Ward, and I’ve had goosebumps and the willies ever since.  I’m truly hoping I can get into some of these horror games because I now own so many of them and wouldn’t want to see them sit on a shelf forever.  I’ll just have to keep a teddy bear and a blanket close at hand I guess.

In brighter and less bloody news, there were more Space Invaders games here!  I thoroughly enjoy the use of the world “revolution” to describe the newest and shiniest iteration in an old series brought back to life.  Electroplankton actually seems like a really relaxing time where you adapt different environments to make music with tiny aquatic beings.  It’s hard to explain, but you might consider checking out some gameplay of this one.  I can see it being a good afternoon-waster.

More puzzle games were abundant in this set, including the usual fare with Tetris, matching games, music games, and drawing games.  I don’t have much else to say about these except that in the reviews I’ve watched of many, people praise the touch interface of the DS as a revolutionary change in the original gameplay (see what I did there?)

Unsurprisingly, there were some Nintendo franchise staples in the mix.  Super Mario 64 DS’s box was missing the game cartridge, so I found a loose copy of it for $8 locally to make that one complete.  I was very excited to see Yoshi Touch & Go here.  The original Yoshi’s Island for the SNES is one of my favourite games despite the fact that it makes the completionist in me scream in agony, but this lighthearted mini-game compilation seems like just the type of relaxing gameplay I’d be interested in undertaking after bashing my head against the wall trying to perfect playing the original.  A strange part of me is also desperately wanting to know how they made Metroid Prime into a pinball game.  It’ll also give me a chance to try out that rumble pak…

I bet that you are not surprised to see that for last, I kept my personal favourite game genre type: traditional and action-adventure RPGs!  And boy were there some goodies!  I personally can’t get enough of FFIV, and having a portable version of FFIII is also nice.  This is the only cartridge form of FFIII that I own.  I ordered a reproduction of it for the NES ages ago so I could eventually capture some gameplay, but there were some issues with the order so it still hasn’t arrived yet – I digress.  Either way, the Castlevania and Lunar series are both excellent, so any additinoal games I can add to my library are welcomed.  I did a bit of research about Orcs & Elves, and it doesn’t look to be half bad!  It’s reminiscent of games like Doom or Wolfenstein on DOS, so there’s likely hours of fun there to be had.  I didn’t previously have any Rune Factory games, and given my love for Harvest Moon, I was glad to see that one pop up into my welcoming arms.  I even got a squirrel plushie from the game hanging around somewhere.  I’ll have to see if I can find the other games in the series if I like this one.

And there it is!  Many excellent titles for the DS are mine to be enjoyed casually during my travel escapades.  Maybe I’ll start bringing a DS to work and play during my lunches.  I just eat alone in my office anyway…

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!  Thanks for reading.

-GG