8th March 2005, 4:23 PM
Mario 64 DS is not a port, OB1. It's based off the original gameplay and most of the levels but it has been completely updated and overhauled. A port is when you simply take it from one system to another.
Dual Screens means two processors, one for each screen. A larger screen cut in half is just that. By creating two screens, totally independent of eachother you can litterally have two completely different game engines on each screen. For now, we have FPS on the touch and the map on top; Cool but not amazing. Zelda will probably have something similar with the map with the option to put your inventory screen on the touch screen; Switch weapons or gear while still playing without having to pause the game. Maybe even adding analoge support the same way Mario 64 DS does. Okay so that's neat, but still not amazing.
Now imagine you're playing a 2-D Zelda and you're in a submarine like in WW. You're fighting off badies with your sword on the main bridge. There's a persicope there as well. Imagine that on the lower screen you see Link fighting the baddies with full control over your character. On the top screen you're seeing through the periscope which you can turn by throwing your boomerang at the periscope on the lower screen. You recieve a warning saying that baddies are approaching from the south, you turn the periscope south to see baddies approaching by ship on the top screen in 3-D.
When you turn the periscope it will automatically target any ships in it's view. Now, while fighting the baddies on the lower screen, you can run over a switch that fires torpedos at the ships on the surface, you have to time it right since there are obstacles in the water as well. You are now playing two games at once, each using their own game engine; One being a 2-D overhead traditional Zelda type with the other being a 3-D shooter at the same time.
You're playing a 2-D version of Metal Gear. You have the night vision equipped because you're in a dark warehouse. On the lower screen, you see through your night vision goggles in full 3-D, you can use the stylus to look. On the top screen, you are controlling Snake in an isometric view; but with the goggles on the lower screen, you see sharp shooters hiding in the rafters. On the top screen, you duck behind some crates and equip the sniper rifle, on the lower screen you aim your weapon up in to the rafters, look for a head shot and fire by tapping the enemy in your view (just as in Metroid Hunters).
Using the stylus, you aim with full analoge support, trying to get that other sharpshooter. But he gets away and jumps down from the rafters. You can now see him on the top screen and fight him by either using hand-to-hand or using an equipped weapon and shooting at him using the lower screen in full 3-D. While you are aiming your weapon with the stylus you enter an aiming mode where now, the D-Pad will allow you to crouch (down), side step (left or right) and roll (down then left or right) in different directions to avoid fire. Or press L to throw your knife or if equipped, a grenade.
When you take your stylus or thumb pad off the touch screen, the game reverts back to the original control setup allowing you to engage the enemy with hand-to hand-style fighting or to run away and hide. :D
Now imagine you're playing Mario Kart DS. On the top screen you have your traditional view. On the bottom screen you have your inventory or weapons and a first person cam on the front of your kart. Now on the bottom screen when you get someone in front of you, you can aim the weapon to take out the driver or the wheels depending on what the situation is. Even down to a science where you could deflect a shot you've thrown at a racer and have it ricochet off of them and hit another player, if you aim it right you can even cause the opponent to lose control of their kart and steer off course left or right, making them fall in to a lake. You have that option now because of the dual screens. The entire time you're aiming your shot on the lower screen you have full control over your kart, tapping L makes you jump, holding it down makes you skid.
Now we're playing Starfox DS in full 3-D. You're flying through a base on Zoness and the coridors are getting pretty tight. Suddenly you're surrounded by enemies in the front and rear. Now up to this point you have been playing using the SNES setup on the top screen. On the lower screen you see how many bombs you have, hits you've gotten and the message box for when your wingmates bitch and complain about something. But now you're surrounded; Falco puts his Arwing on auto pilot and jumps out of his Arwing on to the back of yours holding a plasma cannon. On the top screen you fly as normal with the D-Pad and shoot with L. With the stylus, on the lower screen, you see behind you and you're playing as Falco blowing up the enemy swarms behind Fox. Tap the screen to shoot.
You got past the swarms. Falco jumps back on to his Arwing and now the tight coridors have giant gates that are trying to lock you in. You cant shoot through them, but Slippy notices that they have electronic locks. On the bottom screen, a series of symbols come up and now you need to use the stylus to find the right combination to open the gates. All while shooting down enemies in front of you.
Now we're playing Resident Evil DS. The "Plagas" have figured out a way to manipulate machines and you're in a machine manufacturing facility in South Asia. Guns dont work on these machines but you have EMP grenades and a cattleprod. This game uses the static backgrounds with 3-D characters like all past RE games. Now while you're in this facility, Ada has been wounded and is in the control center. She sees you on the security cameras and sees that you're about to be ambushed by a large group of Plagas robots.
As Leon, on the top screen, you run from the robots and find places to hide along the way. Your goal is to find a servo to run the mechanism that will dump the molten steel on to the robots. But first you need to find it.
On the bottom screen you're playing as Ada in the control tower. In front of you are 6 security cameras and you can see Leon running from the machines. In front of the monitors are controls for all the different aspects of the facility such the steel cutters, compactors and other machinery. Now when you see Leon on camera 4 which is next to the steel cuting area, you can tap the controls marked "Steel Cutters" and cut those robots to shreds if your timing is right. Now you see Leon on camera 2 next to the metal compactors. Leon, on the top screen, has to get inside the metal compactor to lure the robots in and then get out the other side while Ada, on the lower screen, uses the 'Compactor controls' to squish them flat... if your timing is right.
Leon finds the servo and climbs up to the controls for the molten steel holding. Someone sabotaged it; On the lower screen you see the controls in front of you and the sabotaged wires and mechanisms. You see an icon of scissors, an icon of a hand, and an icon of tape (dont ask me how he got the electrical tape), and the actual servo.
Using the stylus, you click on the scissors so that you equip them and cut the faulty or damaged wires. Use the hand icon to connect the color coded wires and twist them together (you must connect red to red, blue to blue, etc), then use the tape icon to of course, tape them up. It has power now, but it still needs that servo, you start putting it in but now there's an electrical current flowing through the controls. You have to be super careful getting the servo in and you cant touch the sides of the socket with the servo.... other wise you'll get shocked. (Think of the board game Operation)
Just then you hear Ada yelling over the PA, the robots are climbing up the walls and ladders to your location. You only have a few seconds to get the servo in, and when you get shocked you fall on your butt and have to start over. But Leon gets the servo in and presses the button to dump the molten steel. The entire facility is flooded with a 3 foot layer of white hot steel, killing most of the robots. but some are still on the walls and the ladder coming to get you.
On the top screen, Leon uses his EMP grenades and cattle prod to knock them down in to the molten steel but is quickly becoming overwhelmed. On the lower screen, using the stylus, Ada views the action from her security cams (only two of them are working now) and controls the large cranes to knock the robots down to their deaths.
I could take any mascot game and show you how cool the dual screens can be and how the touch screen can be implemented, but it's up the developers on how they do it. For now, they need to experiment to find what works, what doesn't work and discover what people like to play. This has never been done before, so it's going to start out slow of course.
PSP can start out stronger since its doing more traditional games which are essentially the same games for the PS2. The GBA had no problem having a huge launch with swarms of games, but the DS is undiscovered country, so developers are taking their time to experiment. Nintendo released Mario DS, a Metroid demo and Wario DS, all 3 games make good use of the system's capabilities as far as mechanics go and give us a general idea. Once Nintendo sees how those games fared along with the third party stuff (like Feel the Magic), they can start making bolder choices and leading the way for devs.
Just as they did with the Gameboy and the GBA.
Dual Screens means two processors, one for each screen. A larger screen cut in half is just that. By creating two screens, totally independent of eachother you can litterally have two completely different game engines on each screen. For now, we have FPS on the touch and the map on top; Cool but not amazing. Zelda will probably have something similar with the map with the option to put your inventory screen on the touch screen; Switch weapons or gear while still playing without having to pause the game. Maybe even adding analoge support the same way Mario 64 DS does. Okay so that's neat, but still not amazing.
Now imagine you're playing a 2-D Zelda and you're in a submarine like in WW. You're fighting off badies with your sword on the main bridge. There's a persicope there as well. Imagine that on the lower screen you see Link fighting the baddies with full control over your character. On the top screen you're seeing through the periscope which you can turn by throwing your boomerang at the periscope on the lower screen. You recieve a warning saying that baddies are approaching from the south, you turn the periscope south to see baddies approaching by ship on the top screen in 3-D.
When you turn the periscope it will automatically target any ships in it's view. Now, while fighting the baddies on the lower screen, you can run over a switch that fires torpedos at the ships on the surface, you have to time it right since there are obstacles in the water as well. You are now playing two games at once, each using their own game engine; One being a 2-D overhead traditional Zelda type with the other being a 3-D shooter at the same time.
You're playing a 2-D version of Metal Gear. You have the night vision equipped because you're in a dark warehouse. On the lower screen, you see through your night vision goggles in full 3-D, you can use the stylus to look. On the top screen, you are controlling Snake in an isometric view; but with the goggles on the lower screen, you see sharp shooters hiding in the rafters. On the top screen, you duck behind some crates and equip the sniper rifle, on the lower screen you aim your weapon up in to the rafters, look for a head shot and fire by tapping the enemy in your view (just as in Metroid Hunters).
Using the stylus, you aim with full analoge support, trying to get that other sharpshooter. But he gets away and jumps down from the rafters. You can now see him on the top screen and fight him by either using hand-to-hand or using an equipped weapon and shooting at him using the lower screen in full 3-D. While you are aiming your weapon with the stylus you enter an aiming mode where now, the D-Pad will allow you to crouch (down), side step (left or right) and roll (down then left or right) in different directions to avoid fire. Or press L to throw your knife or if equipped, a grenade.
When you take your stylus or thumb pad off the touch screen, the game reverts back to the original control setup allowing you to engage the enemy with hand-to hand-style fighting or to run away and hide. :D
Now imagine you're playing Mario Kart DS. On the top screen you have your traditional view. On the bottom screen you have your inventory or weapons and a first person cam on the front of your kart. Now on the bottom screen when you get someone in front of you, you can aim the weapon to take out the driver or the wheels depending on what the situation is. Even down to a science where you could deflect a shot you've thrown at a racer and have it ricochet off of them and hit another player, if you aim it right you can even cause the opponent to lose control of their kart and steer off course left or right, making them fall in to a lake. You have that option now because of the dual screens. The entire time you're aiming your shot on the lower screen you have full control over your kart, tapping L makes you jump, holding it down makes you skid.
Now we're playing Starfox DS in full 3-D. You're flying through a base on Zoness and the coridors are getting pretty tight. Suddenly you're surrounded by enemies in the front and rear. Now up to this point you have been playing using the SNES setup on the top screen. On the lower screen you see how many bombs you have, hits you've gotten and the message box for when your wingmates bitch and complain about something. But now you're surrounded; Falco puts his Arwing on auto pilot and jumps out of his Arwing on to the back of yours holding a plasma cannon. On the top screen you fly as normal with the D-Pad and shoot with L. With the stylus, on the lower screen, you see behind you and you're playing as Falco blowing up the enemy swarms behind Fox. Tap the screen to shoot.
You got past the swarms. Falco jumps back on to his Arwing and now the tight coridors have giant gates that are trying to lock you in. You cant shoot through them, but Slippy notices that they have electronic locks. On the bottom screen, a series of symbols come up and now you need to use the stylus to find the right combination to open the gates. All while shooting down enemies in front of you.
Now we're playing Resident Evil DS. The "Plagas" have figured out a way to manipulate machines and you're in a machine manufacturing facility in South Asia. Guns dont work on these machines but you have EMP grenades and a cattleprod. This game uses the static backgrounds with 3-D characters like all past RE games. Now while you're in this facility, Ada has been wounded and is in the control center. She sees you on the security cameras and sees that you're about to be ambushed by a large group of Plagas robots.
As Leon, on the top screen, you run from the robots and find places to hide along the way. Your goal is to find a servo to run the mechanism that will dump the molten steel on to the robots. But first you need to find it.
On the bottom screen you're playing as Ada in the control tower. In front of you are 6 security cameras and you can see Leon running from the machines. In front of the monitors are controls for all the different aspects of the facility such the steel cutters, compactors and other machinery. Now when you see Leon on camera 4 which is next to the steel cuting area, you can tap the controls marked "Steel Cutters" and cut those robots to shreds if your timing is right. Now you see Leon on camera 2 next to the metal compactors. Leon, on the top screen, has to get inside the metal compactor to lure the robots in and then get out the other side while Ada, on the lower screen, uses the 'Compactor controls' to squish them flat... if your timing is right.
Leon finds the servo and climbs up to the controls for the molten steel holding. Someone sabotaged it; On the lower screen you see the controls in front of you and the sabotaged wires and mechanisms. You see an icon of scissors, an icon of a hand, and an icon of tape (dont ask me how he got the electrical tape), and the actual servo.
Using the stylus, you click on the scissors so that you equip them and cut the faulty or damaged wires. Use the hand icon to connect the color coded wires and twist them together (you must connect red to red, blue to blue, etc), then use the tape icon to of course, tape them up. It has power now, but it still needs that servo, you start putting it in but now there's an electrical current flowing through the controls. You have to be super careful getting the servo in and you cant touch the sides of the socket with the servo.... other wise you'll get shocked. (Think of the board game Operation)
Just then you hear Ada yelling over the PA, the robots are climbing up the walls and ladders to your location. You only have a few seconds to get the servo in, and when you get shocked you fall on your butt and have to start over. But Leon gets the servo in and presses the button to dump the molten steel. The entire facility is flooded with a 3 foot layer of white hot steel, killing most of the robots. but some are still on the walls and the ladder coming to get you.
On the top screen, Leon uses his EMP grenades and cattle prod to knock them down in to the molten steel but is quickly becoming overwhelmed. On the lower screen, using the stylus, Ada views the action from her security cams (only two of them are working now) and controls the large cranes to knock the robots down to their deaths.
I could take any mascot game and show you how cool the dual screens can be and how the touch screen can be implemented, but it's up the developers on how they do it. For now, they need to experiment to find what works, what doesn't work and discover what people like to play. This has never been done before, so it's going to start out slow of course.
PSP can start out stronger since its doing more traditional games which are essentially the same games for the PS2. The GBA had no problem having a huge launch with swarms of games, but the DS is undiscovered country, so developers are taking their time to experiment. Nintendo released Mario DS, a Metroid demo and Wario DS, all 3 games make good use of the system's capabilities as far as mechanics go and give us a general idea. Once Nintendo sees how those games fared along with the third party stuff (like Feel the Magic), they can start making bolder choices and leading the way for devs.
Just as they did with the Gameboy and the GBA.