Items related to the Nintendo Dual-Screen hand-held system.
| System: | Nintendo DS |
| Score: |  5 (Excellent) |
Unlike some of the more recent remakes coming from Square Enix, Chrono Trigger DS has, at its core, the original Chrono Trigger. This is a very good thing, as the original Chrono Trigger was very good. There are a few new features, but they're all just extras, so if you want an almost entirely original experience, you can get it.
After looking at the Obama site and seeing them selling Obama pins (at $2, plus S&H), I couldn't help but think:
I wonder what the Psych for that pin would be?
(Explanation for those of you who have never played The World Ends With You: the player's magic powers in that game come in the form of "pins" - also called, in this case, "buttons." These powers are called Psychs.)
I need something to bump that Square Enix blog entry off the top, so it might as well be something related: my initial impressions of the new Final Fantasy IV game for the DS.
Well, it's in 3D. I'm not sure I really like this. As The World Ends With You proved, the DS can do pretty well with a sort of mixed 3D/2D environment. I think I almost would have preferred something like that.
| System: | Nintendo DS |
| Score: |  3 (OK) |
Yet again, this is another game that I played and enjoyed but I'm giving a 3 to anyway.
Unlike Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations where there was literally no new game play elements, this game contains some new things. Unfortunately, it's either underutilized (a couple one-off forensic minigames, some of which are different from the ones in Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney) or downright obnoxious.
The forensic minigames are, sadly, mostly pointless. They're a fun little distraction for the most part, and are basically impossible to fail, but they really offer nothing over simply being handed the evidence.
System: Nintendo DS
Score: 
4 (Good)
There's really only one thing to say about Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations: it's just like the previous two games.
I haven't actually completed the game yet, so this isn't a review. Instead it's just some rambling about the game.
The first comment has to be that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations is just like any other Phoenix Wright game that's been released on the DS. Astounding, I know.
But that's just it, it is simply more of the same. It's five new cases, using the same gameplay as the previous game without the special DS-specific case that the first Phoenix Wright game offered.
First the annoying: it's practically a stylus-only game, which makes it an RSI game. The practically qualifier is there because a couple of actions can be triggered with buttons, but they're intended to be triggered with the stylus. You move with the stylus, you make actions with the stylus, and you make a simple wrist splint with the stylus and some duck tape after playing for a while.
Well, maybe not that last one.
| System: | Gameboy Advance (DS-compatible) |
| Score: | 5 (Excellent) |
There's some debate over whether or not Final Fantasy VI is the best Final Fantasy ever created. Final Fantasy VI Advance does not disappoint. It's practically the same game previously released as Final Fantasy III in the United States, but with a more accurate translation. It's just as good as it ever was. If anything, this version is even better than the original.
Final Fantasy VI uses a slightly improved version of the Active Time Battle system previous Final Fantasy Advance titles use. Each character gets a single special ability from their inherent class. As in FFIV, a character's class cannot be changed.
| System: | Gameboy Advance (DS-compatible) |
| Score: |  4 (Good) |
After playing Final Fantasy III for the Nintendo DS, Final Fantasy V Advance came as a breath of fresh air. It's basically a port of the original game to the Game Boy Advance, although the graphics and sound have been subtly improved. (Specifically, gradients have been added to the game windows, and the battle screen backdrops have been spruced up.)
