Just got a Nintendo DS

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I just got a Nintendo DS for my birthday and also the Super Mario 64 game to go with it. I absolutely love the system and I'm looking forward to getting more games like Kirby. The touchscreen is really innovative and I think it would appeal greatly to autistics. There really is alot of potential for innovative game play... Anyone else have the DS and if so what do you think?

By the way, so far I've got 35 stars in the game...

But how does the game control? Super Mario 64 was one of the first games to use a 360-degree joystick for moving. And the DS doesn't have one, just the crosskey and a touch-sensitive screen. How hard is it to control Mario with just that? I've heard some bad reviews about that aspect. What's it like?

Oh, does the DS come with Super Mario 64 packed in as well now? It's about time Nintendo started giving away games with their systems again. It's damn rip-off that practically no one does that anymore.

There are three controller modes which you can set to your liking depending on how you want to control it. As you can imagine, most people are right handed so holding the stylus in yuor right hand makes it impossible to access the buttons, so you can set it so that the d-pad becomes the buttons which is nice if you are right handed. If you are left handed the default seems best, probably. and then there is the mode which I use which is just controlling mario with the d-pad.

It's actually not as hard using the d-pad to control mario as you might expect. It has gotten me to where I am so far without much difficulty. But the stylus control is much more precise and some situations where I want to use that. It's really very easy and fast to switch control modes if you need to for certain reasons.

I do wish Nintendo did put a analog stick on the DS. But I haven't had any major difficulty so it's no big deal.



Some stores offer it free with the system now. I got mine at Toys R Us which had a deal where you buy the system, game, and starter kit and got $50 off. Well, the starter kit isn't too great so I wouldn't recommend that deal. Fortunately other places like Ebgames has it so you get super mario free when you buy the system.

Currently there is only two colors: platinum and electric blue. The good thing about the platinum one is that you also get the metroid demo, which I haven't played yet but hear is good.

Oh, and did I mention that Super Mario DS is better than the original in several ways. It has lots of mini games you can play and characters too besides just mario. You start out with Yoshi and then have to unlock the others. So far I have unlocked 3.

P.S. 100th post!

Ah, thank you.

I don't have a DS, I do want one, I even went out of my to play it a couple of months before it came out (in five minutes I got farther into the metroid demo than the nintendo rep had ), but I just can't justify the expense.

I own a DS. I bought it at launch, so it came with the demo of Metroid Prime Hunters... very interesting control scheme in that game. It was more of a multiplayer demo, which is fun. But I only know of one other person that has a DS, so it isn't as fun as having a 4 player match.

I own quite a few DS games, here are some of my favorites.
Mario 64 DS: A nice reworking of the classic game. Controlling is a bit strange, but I was able to pick up using the touch screen with the thumb strap pretty decently. The extra content sort of off-sets the control issues. The real star of the game is the mini-games though, some of these are really fun and addicting. Sort of a preview of all the fun touch screen games to come. I don't think Mario 64 was the best launch game...

Yoshi Touch and Go: This game has some really neat touch screen controls. You guide Baby Mario, and then Yoshi, through a obstical ridden path, using the stylus to draw clouds which guides Mario freefall, or creates paths for Yoshi. You also tap the screen to throw eggs at the enemies. Very fun game, but short, and its set up more like a puzzle game... you play to just get a high score. So this tends to turn people off to the game, but its great for short bursts of play.

Polarium: This is a puzzle game just using the Touch screen. The object of the game is to elimate lines of blocks by making a whole row either black or white. You change the colors by drawing a line over the blocks, any blocks on the line will flip colors.
Its a very interesting game, and quite the logic puzzlier too. Requires some thought to solve the puzzles, a neat feature is you can make your own puzzles and send them to other systems. The game also gives you a code for every puzzle you make, so someone else can enter this code and play your puzzle. I've all ready found some codes on the internet of puzzles people have created.

Right now is a good time to pick up a DS, what with Mario coming with the system... and now some really good games are coming out. Kirby looks to be a great game, it takes the inderect controls of Yoshi Touch and Go, but uses it in a more conventonal game... in that there are actual levels and boss stages. This is a game I want to pick up. Meteos that looks good, it comes out next week, on 6-27. I am looking to pick this one up, depending on my finances.

Another big game for the DS will come out this fall, that is Mario Kart online... should be great fun, as all mario kark games are. The first big Nintendo game to go online is pretty cool.

I think the DS has great potential, but there just aren't any games out for it that I'm actually interested in. Most of the games are still 2D, and most of them are puzzle games.
Until they come out with some more games, Its just not worth the investment for me.

I may even have to get a PSP instead when that comes out... although it is going to be ridiculously expensive I think.

I have a DS. I enjoy it a lot. I have Super Mario 64 DS, which I love. I also have Kirby Canvas Curse, which is a great game everyone who has a DS should get this game. I also have Rayman and Star Wars episode 3 DS and the Metroid Prime Demo. I look forward to Mario Kart DS and the online play.

I (among friends) have realized Nintendo is developing a rather money-grabbing scheme with handhelds. Remember Gameboy Pocket? No! Because a year later they made Gameboy Color! GBA was replaced with GBA SP about a year later. I'm not taking a chance with buying a model from the first release. There's a few obvious improvements that can be made, and before you know it there'll be a slightly improved DS...DSFX anyone? My friend drew what might be an improved DS as a joke, but some improvements are obvious...pop-up joystick being one of them, similar to PSP's. DS just seems so badly made, but PSP is overpriced. So I'm probably going to wait awhile before I buy any handhelds.

PS- I'm left-handed, Mario DS feels soooo awkward for me regardless of what controls are used.

It is funny that you say that, because I heard the exact same thing about the PSP. I've heard of dead pixels, flying UMDs, buttons that stick, analog nubs that break off, etc. Add to that Sony's apathy to customer complaints and you may just end up with a very expensive paperweight.

I've heard the same thing about the PSP, as for the DS I found it comfortable to use, and I'm a lefty, and Nintendos products have always been well made. A couple years ago a boy was in a car accident, no serious injurys but both cars were totaled, the boys GBA was launched through the windshield and skidded several tens of feet on the pavement yet it still worked. Here's a news article from www.nintendojo.com.

Have you heard about the upcoming Game Boy Micro?

I don't like small handhelds, my hands end up cramping after two minutes. I still prefer GBA over GBA SP because of size.

I have heard of the Game Boy Micro. It looks awesome, very small Game Boy.