Nintendo DS
Well I’ve had it a while now, and first impressions aren’t borne out. When I got it I thought it was great. Now I think it’s brilliant. The changes to Mario 64 over the N64 version are fairly profound even if apparently minor, and the entire game seems to play much less frustratingly than it used to. It’s a bit bizarre having 3D on a handheld, but with the PSP as well we’ll just have to get used to it, as it’s definitely here to stay.
The hardware design isn’t perfect though — the shape could do with some attention, and operating the touch screen using the thumb pad results in a very greasy screen. There needs to be a better thumb pad design, as that method of control is fairly important for Mario 64. You can play with the stylus, and in fact it’s the only way I can handle the slide in Cool Cool Mountain, but it’s tedious to play like that all the time. Also highly impractical on the train. Still, the basic concept is good, and the gameplay promises to be a lot of fun. The Mario 64 DS minigames aren’t bad either.
I’m now waiting for them to do a Zelda for the DS. I’ve ordered The Minish Cap, but that’s a GBA game (they play great on the DS of course, its screen appears to be of higher quality than that in my sister’s GBA SP). I wonder if they could do a cel-shaded Zelda on the DS hardware, as that would look fabulous. Failing that, I’d be happy with a port of The Ocarina of Time, as I never got to play that seriously on the N64.
In the mean time, I shall of course be getting Yoshi’s Touch & Go (controlled entirely using the touch screen and the microphone but although this sounds quite dodgy it appears that it’s actually a work of genius), and Wario Ware Touched!. The latter at least is out for the UK launch on the 11th of March.