TrulyObscure - article - pawn2pong - Better - Worse - Same? Recent Nintendo Games

If you don’t have Mario Kart DS, and you have a Nintendo DS, you are missing out. Go get it. On the other hand, if you like Metroid and you like pinball, you still might not like Metroid Prime Pinball. Finally, Donkey Kong Country 3. isn’t the best game around, but if you haven’t tried DKC2 you’ll find it has plenty to offer.

Let’s break it down. Mario Kart DS is the first Nintendo DS game to make full use of the Nintendo WiFi capabilities and allow you to play online (at McDonald’s, for instance, free). Not only is it a lot of fun in single player, especially now that you can play against the computer in Battle Mode, but the multiplayer is a lot of fun. Sure, the system has some bugs- dropped connections, a lack of meaningful communication between players, no way to gracefully bow out of a match or allow additional players in… but it’s still a surprisingly rich experience for a handheld, and really easy to setup. Long and short- Mario Kart DS is a rare game that kids and adults can enjoy, that is deep on gameplay, easy on the eyes, and offers something new to a favorite series. The controls are odd and tough to get used to, but the new features make up for it.

Samus… oh, Samus, beloved ball of alien-destroying fury. You are probably the best pinball game on DS (which doesn’t have any other decent ones to speak of), but you could’ve been so much better. Alas, even the inclusion of the rumble pack (which slides into the GBA slot) couldn’t save you, since it doesn’t add a whole lot. Not only are you far too hard on me during mission mode, you don’t give me a way to save my progress. And with a very small number of tables, it almost seems like you were a bonus game expanded a bit. The boss battles are kind of fun- once. If other games make use of the rumble pack, then we’ll talk, but it seems a shame for Your Roundness to go to waste on a short, less-than-exciting game.

Last, but not least in Donkey Kong Country 3. It’s a GBA game, unlike the DS games above, and is a basic platformer- fun, straightforward, plenty of secrets. Like all Donkey Kong games, you either love the characters or hate them, and the same goes for the gameplay. Unfortunately, if you’re already a fan, then there’s not much here that is new. If you’re not a fan, there isn’t much here that’s different. The graphics and sounds are good, and the game is certainly fun. And the game is long enough, you can expect several hours of Dixie and Kiddy grabbing bananas.