DS Street Date Broken!
In my efforts to secure a DS at midnight, I happened upon a local retailer here in lil’ Olathe, KS that sold me a DS…today! It’s always the small retailers that break street dates, never the Best Buys or EBGames of the world. Perhaps they didn’t care simply because it was an hour before closing, and only 4 hours before 11/21, the official launch date. Either way, I jumped on the offer and also picked up a copy of Mario 64 DS. The retailer had a total of four units available, one sold before mine, and I quickly called my bro-in-law Charlie to come snatch the other one. They closed their doors with one unit on the shelf for tomorrow. Lucky, yes. We’ve been playing since!
The only catch, we didn’t get serial numbers with our units. Most likely so Nintendo wouldn’t be able to track the early sale. The trade off for a serial-less unit was an instant $10 off. So, I not only picked up a DS early, I also got it for only $140. I need a serial number to be “legit” and I’m concerned with not being able to use it online, so I’ll approach the manager tomorrow to see if I can get the serial once launch is official. It was a gamble worth taking. I’m hooked. You’re only reading this because I had to pause to let the unit charge.
Mario 64 DS is beautiful. The graphics seem more crisp than I remember from the original 64 release. I had to get used to the controls without a c-stick, but the touch pad is a nice alternative. Multi-player with Charlie was novel at best, not the butt-stomping brawl I was expecting from a Mario game with 4 levels to race through and the time limits are way too short to really enjoy it. As a single player game Mario 64 DS rocks! The level maps are true to the original. Gameplay and storylines are different with new characters and more things to do. In addition, there is a set of mini games that are ridiculously fun. My favorite mini-game is a game with 3 Marios cascading down both screens, touch the touch pad under one of them and he jumps to the top again. The goal is to keep them from falling of the screen. Seriously addictive.
Metroid Prime Hunters takes training and getting used to. There are going to be a lot of people disappointed with the controls, just like I was at first. You have five control options, three of which use the touch pad, the other two are directional pad controlled only. I really recommend the default setting. When used with the included thumb-strap, you can really put the hurt on once you get used to it. It’s worth the training to use that goofy thing. The thumbstrap is geeky and your friends might make fun of you when you wear it, but just clown them in a multi-player match and they’ll shut up. Charlie and I kept having tie matches, but I’ve been practicing, as I’m sure he has, and our next bout will be intense. As predicted, multi-player capabilities are going to make this game great.
PictoChat was fun for about two minutes. Too novel, I doubt I’ll find too much usefulness for it.
Well, it’s been fun but I must return to my responsibilites as a proud DS owner. Happy Launch Day tomorrow!
Comments
Have any of you noticed that a lot of the DS games are selling at $40.00? I was hoping more of them would be priced at $30.00. It seems the EA games at at the more expensive end. I hope that does not become a trend. Has anyone heard anything about the Tiger Woods game? I wonder how much EA will improve Madden for next year on the DS (from what I’ve read it seemed rushed and needs a pretty good ammount of improvement).
I think EA is breaking the price point because they can. Considering that the Game Cards cost less to make than Game Paks for the Game Boy Advance. I do not really think they’re being fair, but that’s EA for you. I suggest shopping around and always picking up a copy of the Sunday paper for good prices in the weekly flyers. I discovered that most KC Star newspaper stands will open with just 75 cents instead of a $1.25. Hell, there’s a few, I just wiggle the handle and then sharply pull UP and it opens cheap as free. But that’s wrong. Don’t do it. 
well, simply put - i think we need to take a stand and just not buy the games coming out at $40. portable games have, through history, never exceeded the $35 mark. dont know what theyre thinking, but if consumers refuse to buy it, then things will change.
wow, thats wierd (about the newspaper stands i mean), i know of several that just open, not even needing money to do that. i dont really care, the journalists of the kc star arent exactly the type i care to support financially. i dont get a guilty conscience stealing from them 
well I certainly won’t be spending $40.00 on an EA game for the DS. From what I’ve read about Madden it’s not even worth $30.00. I generally have respect for EA because they do make a lot of great games, but I don’t like how they can do whatever they want to just because they are a big company with a ton of money. I wonder if they will sell games on the PSP for $60.00 instead of $50.00. I mean jeez.
I can’t wait to be playing a 3D zelda game on my DS at work some day, that will rock (of course on my lunch break I mean 
i dont think psp games will run at $50. not only are umd’s even cheaper to manufacture than ds games, but sony is going to need to be competitive if they want to be in this war. and, riiiiight, on your lunch break, sure 
Hey Guys,
I have been in Italy for the last 2 weeks. So what I want to know is where is the offical Portagame review of the DS? Bring it already Jason……
hey, welcome back! Hope your trip and wedding went well!
Um, official review. I’ve been busy playing it (and can be pretty serious about that). Been meaning to do a writeup for a while. If my wife doesn’t kung fu my ass with to do’s (you’ll experience that soon enough, if you haven’t already) then perhaps I can finish it up this week. I might get crafty after all and crack the lid (damn curiosity, I break everything).
yaaay for snow. im snowed in right now, i should be at work, but my car can hardly make it out the driveway and, well, it sure as ehll wont make it out the street. hey jason are you having the same problems? its a friggin pain in my ass.
anyway - uhm, what im curious about is, how did they make the ds with the same type and size of battery as the sp last just as long? does anybody know how they pulled that off?
where are you at that you guys have snow? It hasn’t snowed here yet. Although our computers at work died for a few hours.
That’s a good question about the battery, it doesn’t seem to make much sense but somehow I guess they made things run more efficiently. Maybe they can get a battery eventually that will run for 20 hours (that would be cool).
my sp typically runs close to 20, usually about 14-16…. i still havent used my ds enough per day (im charging it every night) to see how long it actually lasts compared to the sp, all i know is that nintendo rated them both the same for battery length…
CRAP!! Olathe is only about 2 hours from where I live (Pittsburg)! I wish I would have know Olathe was selling them early! I would have been up there in a heartbeat! DARN IT DARN IT DARN IT!!!!
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well, you were only disappointed with the multiplayer cause i kept stomping on you.
id also like to say that its quite a possibility that, when released, the hunters game will come with a much more customizable button system then the demo - i sure hope so at least.