13th September 2005, 9:03 AM
The idea of the dual screens is lost on developers currently, they're afraid of trying anything too radical. The DS has seperate CPU's for each screen, meaning that both screens are capable of displaying entirely different gaming engines. A 2-D Metroid that you play with the D-Pad could easily display a Metroid Hunters-esque first person display on the other screen, let's say the touch screen.
So you're controlling Samus with the d-pad on the top screen and using your stylus to look, aim and fire. L jumps. Now you can only travel in a straight line, yes. But you would have all the control and acrobatic mechanics of the 2-D Metroid games with all the pinpoint accuracy, presentation and FPS elements of the Prime series at the same time. Most enemies would appear on a 2-D plane, directly in your path at whatever height, but some enemies would have a full 3-D range of movement (especially bosses) that would mean you would have to use the FPS screen to fire in 3-D space as the enemy moves around. But the normal 2-D enemies you can use the 2-D screen and the stylus to aim and fire while jumping around the room. It would be frikin awesome.
To get an idea what I mean, pop in any 2-D Metroid game in to the DS and imagine the touch screen displaying everything you see in a 3-D FPS. The only downside is that Up will be right and down will be left though that could be worked around I think. I think people would accept that 'right' moves you 'forward'
So you're controlling Samus with the d-pad on the top screen and using your stylus to look, aim and fire. L jumps. Now you can only travel in a straight line, yes. But you would have all the control and acrobatic mechanics of the 2-D Metroid games with all the pinpoint accuracy, presentation and FPS elements of the Prime series at the same time. Most enemies would appear on a 2-D plane, directly in your path at whatever height, but some enemies would have a full 3-D range of movement (especially bosses) that would mean you would have to use the FPS screen to fire in 3-D space as the enemy moves around. But the normal 2-D enemies you can use the 2-D screen and the stylus to aim and fire while jumping around the room. It would be frikin awesome.
To get an idea what I mean, pop in any 2-D Metroid game in to the DS and imagine the touch screen displaying everything you see in a 3-D FPS. The only downside is that Up will be right and down will be left though that could be worked around I think. I think people would accept that 'right' moves you 'forward'