Post by Lonesome DJ on Oct 16, 2007 19:02:50 GMT -6
Mario Party DS Hands-on
Party on! Mario, Yoshi and crew get small for our enjoyment.
by Craig Harris
October 15, 2007 - Of all the franchises Nintendo's made successful over the years, none's been so prominently popular to the casual market as Mario Party. Even after more than eight iterations across three playforms (and one awful Game Boy Advance one), Nintendo and Hudson are ready to unleash their next one on the Nintendo DS. Mario Party DS was shown at Nintendo's Media Summit last week where we got a chance to see and play it for the first time.
The hook in Mario Party DS: Bowser's gone and shrinkified the Mario crew and tossed them to the curb. Now down to the size of bugs, Mario, Luigi, Princess, Yoshi…they all have to make it back home, and snag the five crystal pieces to get them back up to size and defeat Bowser. This is the main plot device and what drives the game's main style.
For example, the board game portions will take place in a garden or on top of a dinner table, and the dozens of mini-games occur on everyday items like checkerboards and pianos, now just at a much larger scale. A lot of the casual enemies in the Mario universe are now titans compared to the shrunken characters. Shy Guys, Koopas, Piranha Plants, Boos, and others are now huge beasts to contend with.
Other than the central theme of being shrunk, Mario Party DS retains the same design as past games on the Nintendo 64, GameCube, and Wii. Players work their way space by space to collect coins and trigger mini-games, ultimately scooping up stars that'll help them win the challenges. On the Nintendo DS, many of the mini-games are touch-screen focused like a challenge where one player slides huge poker chips at the other players on the top screen as they try to jump out of the way. There are non-touch screen challenges like a race using nothing but the A, B, X, and Y buttons, typing out the required buttons in sequence as quickly as possible. Of course, blowing into the microphone will be an option for a few of the challenges as well.
The Nintendo DS version puts a little more focus on the single player experience than the console games do, simply because on the handheld you need one system per player. There's a story mode so players can make their way through this gigantic world and upsize themselves back to normal.
But the game fully supports the Nintendo DS system's wireless connectivity so that up to three other players can compete. And single cartridge multiplayer is fully supported so that players can download mini-games and play them against other opponents outside the main quest. No Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service for online play, I'm afraid…so the idea of a long distance party may have to wait for the next version.
Mario Party DS ships this November 19th, just in time for the holiday rush.
Party on! Mario, Yoshi and crew get small for our enjoyment.
by Craig Harris
October 15, 2007 - Of all the franchises Nintendo's made successful over the years, none's been so prominently popular to the casual market as Mario Party. Even after more than eight iterations across three playforms (and one awful Game Boy Advance one), Nintendo and Hudson are ready to unleash their next one on the Nintendo DS. Mario Party DS was shown at Nintendo's Media Summit last week where we got a chance to see and play it for the first time.
The hook in Mario Party DS: Bowser's gone and shrinkified the Mario crew and tossed them to the curb. Now down to the size of bugs, Mario, Luigi, Princess, Yoshi…they all have to make it back home, and snag the five crystal pieces to get them back up to size and defeat Bowser. This is the main plot device and what drives the game's main style.
For example, the board game portions will take place in a garden or on top of a dinner table, and the dozens of mini-games occur on everyday items like checkerboards and pianos, now just at a much larger scale. A lot of the casual enemies in the Mario universe are now titans compared to the shrunken characters. Shy Guys, Koopas, Piranha Plants, Boos, and others are now huge beasts to contend with.
Other than the central theme of being shrunk, Mario Party DS retains the same design as past games on the Nintendo 64, GameCube, and Wii. Players work their way space by space to collect coins and trigger mini-games, ultimately scooping up stars that'll help them win the challenges. On the Nintendo DS, many of the mini-games are touch-screen focused like a challenge where one player slides huge poker chips at the other players on the top screen as they try to jump out of the way. There are non-touch screen challenges like a race using nothing but the A, B, X, and Y buttons, typing out the required buttons in sequence as quickly as possible. Of course, blowing into the microphone will be an option for a few of the challenges as well.
The Nintendo DS version puts a little more focus on the single player experience than the console games do, simply because on the handheld you need one system per player. There's a story mode so players can make their way through this gigantic world and upsize themselves back to normal.
But the game fully supports the Nintendo DS system's wireless connectivity so that up to three other players can compete. And single cartridge multiplayer is fully supported so that players can download mini-games and play them against other opponents outside the main quest. No Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service for online play, I'm afraid…so the idea of a long distance party may have to wait for the next version.
Mario Party DS ships this November 19th, just in time for the holiday rush.
Sounds good too me, definately something I look forward too buying., but what about you? Anyone else looking forward too this game?