The Official "Countdown to DS Release" Thread!

[OB1]

I've played with my DS for a while longer and overall I love it. Playing Mario 64 anywhere is just too damn cool. The controls aren't perfect, and I really wish the system had an analog nub or something, but it's still workable. It's just disappointing, seeing as how much Miyamoto values good controls. The graphics in Mario 64 are great, and indeed far better than the original version. The shimmering problem seen in those videos is not a problem on the actual system. Texture filtering would have made the game look even better, but oh well. Anyhow, I love the improvements they made to Mario 64. There are better, more complex textures all over the place, as well as much better models (the coins are no longer rotating sprites! :D ). There's no longer just one shade of grass, which I think really helps add to the diversity of the levels. The first world now has a lighter, not-as-well-watered color to it, and the second grass world has much darker, richer grass than the standard Mario 64 color. I love that. This really is so much more than a simple port, and I'm hoping that Nintendo will release a proper Mario 64 sequel for the DS. Just use the same engine, I don't care. Give us Mario 64-2!

I also tried playing some GBA games on the system, and there are some good and bad points. The good is that the backlight makes the games look ten times better than they did on the SP (and no more subtle blue tint!). I mean it, the games look incredibly crisp. Better than they've ever looked. The bad are the controls. The dpad is bigger than before, but since there are now four buttons each one is smaller than the SP's. And you can't map the buttons, which sucks. The x and y buttons would be much more comfortable to use than b and a, but that's the only choice you're given. My thumb gets tired pretty quickly that way. Hopefully I'll get used to it over time.

The system itself is lighter than I though it would be, but it also feels cheaper than you'd expect. The casing doesn't feel as solid as the SP's (or the regular GBA's). Not a big deal, but one worth noting. The backlight is wonderful, but like all backlights there are some minor drawbacks. If you tilt the screen more than a bit the picture gets washed out, and you really can't play without the backlight under any circumstances. But there's no glare, no blue tint, and games look very crisp. So the pros outweigh the cons. The sound is also really terrific. N64-quality, from what I could tell. The two speakers make all the difference in the world (TOLD ya, DJ!), with some really nice surround sound fakery being done.

So if I had to give out grades, I'd give the DS hardware a 7 or 8 out of 10 and Mario 64 DS a 9. The DS hardware is great but not as perfect as the SP. It's not as comfortable as the last two handhelds, and I do hope that Nintendo releases a more comfortable DS SP or something in the next couple of years. Or at least offer firmware updates to fix some GBA control issues.