My mates DS arrived today, so he brought it into work to show me. Fair play, looks better than I expected game-wise, but fuck me are the buttons small! The console looks and feel's cheap as hell, the dual screen's are clear enough, but metroid play's like ass. How the hell are you supposed to look around and *not* shoot as soon as you touch the screen? I doubt I will buy one now, the button's are too small for my big manly hands! What are your thoughts? those who have had them a while now, does it get better the more you use it?
I didn't get Metroid because I have the Japanese version but I would say that playing Mario on the D-Pad is a pain in the arse at times. THe bottons are fine for me but the D-Pad is too small. Makes my thumb tired playing just for 1 hour. L & R buttons are nicely placed though. Yakumo
I have giant North American man-hands and I agree - the DS' buttons are small, but I accomodated quickly enough. The D-pad is a vast expanse of thumb lovin' compared to the infant-sized pad on the GBA. As for all this 'feels cheap' talk, what the hell are you people smoking? It's solid with a luscious texture. It doesn't creak or flex and the hinge is smooth and sturdy. Where's the cheap part? And, as a freebie, I offer this English lesson: plurals don't use apostrophes. Ever.
The buttons bothered me for just a second, but I was soon acclimated to them, and now, I don't really mind the small size. Besides, the size of the unit definately makes up for the small buttons - I went to try and use my SP last night, and it just felt far too tiny. The D-pad definately feels larger than the SP's, and the shoulder buttons feel rather solid as well, and are definately easier to use. And Tach, it sounds like your friend had screwed with the control settings - the default setting on Metroid is the left trigger is fire, a tap on the screen is jump. I didn't find that to be too problematic, at least for me. But don't expect great things from First Hunt - it was designed from the ground up to be a "look, we have a 3d FPS running on a handheld! It's got wireless!" sort of thing. If you find running around in cramped arenas and shooting at stationary enemies and the occasional Metroid to be exciting, then be my guest, but the whole thing is really just a glorified tech demo. But, you'll be able to decide for yourself soon enough. :smt023
I'm glad you brought this up. I played my mates DS for the first time tonight. It kicked ass. Both Mario and Metroid are great to play. FPS's are brilliant with the stylus control. I thought I was going to hate the DS - I was sure of it. But after a few moments you get completely adjusted to the way it works. Brilliant piece of kit. Tony
The Buttons are a bit on the small side, but like anything else, you're bound to get used to them. Initially I did scoff at the touchscreen element since I've been using PDA's for nearly a decade and have gotten over the initial fascination with the technology. But, after playing the Metroid demo at a store, I really liked the control scheme where the stylus controlled your view using the bottom screen and the left trigger did the firing...very intuititve and as good a FPS experience as you're likely to get on anything short of a true keyboard/mouse combo.
In my play test, the buttons did seem a bit small, as did the D-Pad. I think it may because they don't stick out as much as the D-Pad on the GBA SP. A bit flatter. I just ordered one w/ Mario 64 and Feel the Magic...should've restrained myself, but I couldn't help it! :smt043
Did they already release Metroid in the US... where I live, but never go game shopping b/c I have mountains of games? Man, I'm out of touch.
Not out yet, but nothing I'm looking forward to, it seems standard FPS fare from the demo with N64-ish visuals. Perhaps that's a good thing for a portable, but after playing the beauty that is Feel the Magic, it's clear that's really the type of game the DS will do best, not FPS' with gimmicky controls. Feel the Magic is so oozing with style and so refreshing I just can't be bothered to play other games of standard genres on it. Games like Feel the Magic, that new ubiSoft dating sim, Animal Crossing DS, I think these are the type of games where the DS will really stand out.
If they give me Banjo Kazooie, a Donkey Kong Country Collection, and Zelda OoT, I'll be the happiest man ever. Even though BK can't happen. :-(
