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| DarkZero 1020th Post
 
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|  "Castlevania DS" , posted Tue 4 Jan 20:52
When the Nintendo DS was unveiled, pretty much everybody had the same initial thought about the two screen system: "That would be AWESOME for Castlevania and Metroid."
So far, we're unfortunately only getting Metroid Prime-style Metroid games for the Nintendo DS. But now we're finally getting a Castlevania game for the DS, and not only is it 2D with one screen devoted to maps (and presumably menus), but it's a sequel to Aria of Sorrow, starring Soma!
Linkage
Hopefully the DS will pick up steam in the coming months, because I remember this exact same trend when the Gameboy Advance was first released. Initially, there was nothing to play but a Mario port and an awesome Castlevania game, but later, better and better games started trickling out.
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| Pollyanna 727th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member+
| "Re(4):Castlevania DS" , posted Wed 5 Jan 13:22
I really hate the DS, primarily because I want to buy one and I think it's the dumbest system ever made. "that 2nd screen was made for the map!" someone might say, but I just don't get it. Before, I pressed a button, then the map came up. When I was done with the map, I pressed the button again and it was back to the game. Now that the map is on another screen, I'm not saved from pressing a button, I'll just be pressing the pause button twice instead of the map button twice. This is NOT innovative, clever or at the very least NECESSARY AT ALL.
Developers aren't clever enough for the DS. They aren't ready for 2 screens and I don't know if they ever will be. It forces developers to be "creative" and come up with some stupid gimmick. It's the same thing with the stylus. While drawing magic circles is a cool IDEA it's just a stupid gimmick tacked onto an otherwise solid system.
The DS is fortunate enough to have great developers making great looking games like this for them. I just have to grumble every time someone's like "DS rules, PSP sucks!" when a game like this is announced. If it was on PSP, it'd be on a prettier screen and have better quality music. I PROMISE that nobody would say "You know, this game would have been better if I could have drawn magic circles somehow."
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| sabo10 1066th Post
Red Carpet Premium Member
| "Re(5):Castlevania DS" , posted Wed 5 Jan 13:55
quote:
I really hate the DS, primarily because I want to buy one and I think it's the dumbest system ever made. "that 2nd screen was made for the map!" someone might say, but I just don't get it. Before, I pressed a button, then the map came up. When I was done with the map, I pressed the button again and it was back to the game. Now that the map is on another screen, I'm not saved from pressing a button, I'll just be pressing the pause button twice instead of the map button twice. This is NOT innovative, clever or at the very least NECESSARY AT ALL.
Developers aren't clever enough for the DS. They aren't ready for 2 screens and I don't know if they ever will be. It forces developers to be "creative" and come up with some stupid gimmick. It's the same thing with the stylus. While drawing magic circles is a cool IDEA it's just a stupid gimmick tacked onto an otherwise solid system.
The DS is fortunate enough to have great developers making great looking games like this for them. I just have to grumble every time someone's like "DS rules, PSP sucks!" when a game like this is announced. If it was on PSP, it'd be on a prettier screen and have better quality music. I PROMISE that nobody would say "You know, this game would have been better if I could have drawn magic circles somehow."
I think the top screen should just constantly scroll Yamauchi quotes.
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| DarkZero 1021th Post
Red Carpet Premium Member
| "Re(5):Castlevania DS" , posted Wed 5 Jan 14:00
quote:
Maybe I haven't played the GBA enough, but to me it looks like a game that could very well have been on GBA.
quote:
I really hate the DS, primarily because I want to buy one and I think it's the dumbest system ever made. "that 2nd screen was made for the map!" someone might say, but I just don't get it. Before, I pressed a button, then the map came up. When I was done with the map, I pressed the button again and it was back to the game. Now that the map is on another screen, I'm not saved from pressing a button, I'll just be pressing the pause button twice instead of the map button twice. This is NOT innovative, clever or at the very least NECESSARY AT ALL.
Developers aren't clever enough for the DS. They aren't ready for 2 screens and I don't know if they ever will be. It forces developers to be "creative" and come up with some stupid gimmick. It's the same thing with the stylus. While drawing magic circles is a cool IDEA it's just a stupid gimmick tacked onto an otherwise solid system.
I don't understand this line of thinking. It's a 2D action/exploration game. Yes, this game could've been made on the GBA, but all of the 2D action/exploration games on the GBA could've been made on the PS1, and all of the (very few) 2D action/exploration games on the PS1 could've been made on the SNES, and all of the 2D action/exploration games on the SNES could've been made on the NES. Have we decided that at some point, technology has made a certain type of game "not fun any more"? Should we all stop playing chess or football or any other horrifyingly "analog" game because we have game consoles?
I see this effort with Castlevania to be the first DS game where someone actually said "How can I improve on the sort of fun game the fans want?" instead of "How can I make a tech demo cleverly disguised as a game so I can get free advertising from cynical game critics looking for something new?"
And yes, the magic circles thing is rather dumb, but then again, it's just a little freebie tossed in to test out the technology, kind of like the downloadable camouflage patterns in Snake Eater. I don't see why people get so upset about that when there are entire games, like Feel The Magic, that are nothing BUT gimmicks. A big ball of meaningless fluff disguised as a game is okay, but a solid game with a little bit of fluff isn't?
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| exodus 2340th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
    
   
| "Re(9):Castlevania DS" , posted Wed 5 Jan 14:59
pollyanna - I see a whole lot more 'DS sucks PSP rulz', and the PSP hasn't even come out here yet. Namco and Square are both making good games for the DS, as is bandai - I've seen and played them.
Regardless, the DS is more powerful than the GBA. It is capable of doing a SotN-like on a handheld. If you just think of it that way, I don't see the problem. For a game like Ridge Racer DS - even if you never use the stylus to steer the car, you've still got Ridge Racer 64 ported to a handheld. You can hate on it all you want, but those developers that have ideas for it are making those ideas come into reality. Those who don't, are just making games for a new console. Either way, if they play ok, it seems like a winning situation.
so, like 'red falcon', I don't get the hating. it seems misplaced to me.
[edit]
I can't get 2chan emoticons to work ;_;
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| Iggy 5367th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(5):Castlevania DS" , posted Wed 5 Jan 18:43:
quote:
I PROMISE that nobody would say "You know, this game would have been better if I could have drawn magic circles somehow."
On the other hand, on PSP, it would have been "It would have been great if it had been on a portable system".
Maybe it's just me. Maybe I just need to throw away my entire wardrobe and buy things with pockets 3 times the size of those I already have. I will lose my keys all the time, but then I will be able to walk with my PSP in it ! Yeay !
quote:
Yes, this game could've been made on the GBA, but all of the 2D action/exploration games on the GBA could've been made on the PS1, and all of the (very few) 2D action/exploration games on the PS1 could've been made on the SNES, and all of the 2D action/exploration games on the SNES could've been made on the NES.
You're being dumb on purpose. No the games on PS1 could not have been made on SFC, and the SFC games etc. My question was "couldn't the GBA have graphics of the same level ?".
Also, while the SFC was pretty much dead before the PS1, the GBA is still alive and supposed to receive support from developers including Nintendo.
With the post of IkariDC, I have my answer, thank you for helping.
Also, I'm not climbing on the system hating train. I'm just asking specific questions on this particular game. Believe me, you're going to hear me scream in each and every thread of this BBS when GSDS will be shown.
[this message was edited by Iggy on Wed 5 Jan 18:51] |
| DarkZero 1023th Post
Red Carpet Premium Member
| "Re(6):Castlevania DS" , posted Wed 5 Jan 19:02
quote:
Yes, this game could've been made on the GBA, but all of the 2D action/exploration games on the GBA could've been made on the PS1, and all of the (very few) 2D action/exploration games on the PS1 could've been made on the SNES, and all of the 2D action/exploration games on the SNES could've been made on the NES.
You're being dumb on purpose. No the games on PS1 could not have been made on SFC, and the SFC games etc. My question was "couldn't the GBA have graphics of the same level ?".
Also, while the SFC was pretty much dead before the PS1, the GBA is still alive and supposed to receive support from developers including Nintendo.
With the post of IkariDC, I have my answer, thank you for helping.
Actually, I was not being dumb on purpose, and thought that you were questioning whether the game was sufficiently innovative for the DS (just like everybody else). My apologies.
As for your real question, I think that the reason that it's not a GBA game is because the idea that the GBA is still alive after the DS's launch is just polite fiction. They know it's a lie, we know it's a lie, and the press knows it's a lie, but Nintendo keeps telling it because if they told the truth, the mainstream press would have to spread the story. After the headline "Nintendo Declares Gameboy Advance Obsolete/Dead/Whatever", sales of the GBA would reach nearly zero, and retailers would have to dump their stock, which they would be justifiably pissed off about. If Nintendo keeps telling the lie, the GBA can die the same quiet death that every other system has.
Sony told us the exact same lie about the PS1 and even though not a single quality PS1 game was released in North America after the PS2's launch, it still worked out for them financially. Same with the GBA.
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| Pollyanna 729th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member+
| "Re(6):Castlevania DS" , posted Wed 5 Jan 19:15
I must be on the wrong end of the internet. I haven't read a good thing about the PSP yet and I hear general DS support everwhere.
Let me try to explain this.(of course) Ultimately, a system is made by the games it has on it. If I was a "system hater" because I hated Nintendo or because I hated a system for inferior technology, I'd be sitting in my room with an XBox and absolutely nothing to do.
I dislike the DS because it's the DS. If someone asked me (or any sensible person) if they would be interested in a system with two screens, polygons like the N64 and a stylus, I don't think they'd care. In my case, I would have a negative reaction. Now, if someone listed the software for the DS, it would be a different story. While systems succeed or fail based on their software, I feel that the software on the DS shines DESPITE the system.
I admit that I'm being a bit unfair because companies are "forced" to use the system's ridiculous novelties. The second screen and magic circles in Castlevania aren't going to ruin the game, they just aren't going to make it any BETTER. My belief is that if you're going to make something as ridiculous as the DS, you'd better prove to me that it was a good idea. I'm not irritated with companies who can't utilize the system, I'm irritated with Nintendo for making a system that companies don't know how to utilize.
I don't know how to word this, because it's easy for someone to say "Obviously it WAS a good idea, since good companies are making games for it." Think of it this way...if Capcom made Dante from Devil May Cry have purple skin, the game probably still would have sold well. That doesn't mean you can say "It was a good idea for him to have purple skin", because it probably would sell better with something more sensible.
Purple Dante, no matter what awesome game he starred in, would always irritate me, as the DS, no matter how many great games it has, will always irritate me.
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| Iggy 5368th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(7):Castlevania DS" , posted Thu 6 Jan 00:12
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If someone asked me (or any sensible person) if they would be interested in a system with two screens, polygons like the N64 and a stylus, I don't think they'd care. In my case, I would have a negative reaction.
I... really don't know. In my case, I don't care for the dual screen and the stylus nonsense. BUT, if I happen to get a game that makes good use of either of them (like, I don't know, GSDS), and even one game, it will justify the gimmick. It's like the PS2 being able to read double layered DVD or having a hard drive. I don't have any double layered games and I don't need a hard drive, but if by chance I fall in love with even one game that really need the double layer thing, or a game that takes full use of the hard drive, then the device will become justified for me. And I prefer to have a console with the eventual possibility to have such an extension than nothing.
Uuuugh, maybe.
Eventually.
Either way, my only motivation to buy a NDS with the current games will be to play Zoo Keeper and Chokkan hitofude in the train. And to replace my dead GBA so I can get the remakes of SMT1&2.
quote:
if Capcom made Dante from Devil May Cry have purple skin, the game probably still would have sold well. That doesn't mean you can say "It was a good idea for him to have purple skin", because it probably would sell better with something more sensible.
It depends of the color of his shoes. If his shoes match the color of his skin, then I don't see any problem.
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| Red Falcon 5304th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(2):Re(10):Castlevania DS" , posted Thu 6 Jan 03:12
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System hating is like rooting against a sports team you hate. You want to see them lose really badly... to blow them out and run up the score against them.
I guess this kind of makes sense, but to me, the "teams" are more comparable to the "games". Hating the system which operates said "teams" is like hating the stadium the team works out of, or hating a coffee machine because you don't like the brand of coffee somebody put in it. A system is simply a tool for operating software. Seriously, though, I get what you're saying, I guess I just have never felt that way.
I agree with Onsy about Castlevania; it simply has not BEEN Castlevania since Symphony, it's been "Metroid in Dracula's Castle" instead of on Zebes. I don't hate the games, some are quite nice (I kind of like Aria, too) but they're no Castlevania, and I'd take X68000 or Rondo over them any day.
 Best site EVER: Link Here
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| Pollyanna 732th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member+
| "Re(8):Castlevania DS" , posted Thu 6 Jan 19:32
Exodus: I think you might misunderstand where I'm coming from, because I don't see how what you're saying is connecting to what I'm saying. And now...I might be missing your point, too.
But what I mean about Castlevania is that if the game was on PSP...and I'm saying if THIS game was on PSP, then it could have higher definition graphics and CD quality audio. That's what the PSP has to offer (in reference to the DS). Since it's on DS, it has a screen for your map and you can make magic circles (this, you could not do on PSP).
Based on that, I say "I wish this game was on PSP."
I'm not talking software potential, because in that case, we very well might be seeing more good 2D games on the DS. In that case, it might end up being the better system in my book. Regardless, it's still succeeding despite itself, as it's only getting more 2D software because it sucks at 3D.
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I don't know why they don't re-release Super Castlevania IV, though. 
