My third game for the DS (not counting the Metroid demo) looks to be Sprung, an animated dating game out this week. Although huge in Japan, dating games are nonexistant here in the US, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they play. Strangely, Sprung doesn't even originate in Japan... so who knows how it will measure up. Still, it's cool to see the DS living up to the early promise of new and different game types.
Another one on my watch list is Gyukaten Saiban, which Nintendo Power is already translating as "Objection Court." This is another only-in-Japan genre, the courtroom sim. Apparantly you are a lawyer... you get to interrogate witnesses and skillfully object at just the right times during the trial. Will it make it to the US? It just might. The series has already had several successful Game Boy editions, but they're rough to import since they rely heavily on text.
Animal Crossing DS isn't even a choice. I will have it as soon as possible. The latest round of screenshots seem to indicate a spruced-up 3D look, with the trees and houses placed on a rotating sphere to create the perspective lacking in the 2D-with-3D-figures original. The big question is if Nintendo will give the game internet access for multiplayer minigames, travelling and trading. I really really want it to, but I really really doubt it will.
N-Philes recently ran a feature on theoretical DS games stemming from N64 ports. Not that anyone wants to see the DS turn into a N64 port haven, but it seems inevitable and as long as they turn out some really good ones, where's the harm. They mentioned Starfox64, GoldenEye, and Mario Paint as pretty obvious choices. Starfox, yes. Hurry, hurry, hurry. GoldenEye, I believe the new one, Rogue Agent, is coming up for DS but I could be wrong on that. Mario Paint, eh. Unless there's some fancy new wireless dealie associated with it, I don't see the charm in doing that one again when every kid in the world has Photoshop or some kind of similar paintbox app on their PC. Mario Party? I would hope we'd get an all new, DS-centric one rather than a port of the N64 editions. They also listed a handful of esoteric cult games that no one bought then and no one would buy today. Glover? You're going to petition to resurrect Glover?
So I went back to my personal N64 library - which isn't very large, only 16 games. But I got to the N64 party pretty late. My big request would be Pokemon Snap, a photography game that I thought was a hoot. Top screen is your viewpoint, bottom screen allows for stylus mouse-look, photo browsing, item selection, whatever. Combine it with a little mic-based stuff borrowed from Hey You Pikachu, triple the environments, dump in a ton more species (the original Snap only featured 60-couple pokemon types), internet-based photo judging contests... you'll have a great DS title. I could fantasize new features and upgrades on this one for hours.
I'm surprised no one is calling for a port of Ocarina of Time, THE N64 game by most's reckoning.
I'd love a Conker's Bad Fur Day port, but that one seems out of reach, especially once the Xbox remake bombs. (Come on, Xboxers, prove me wrong!)
