New for Nintendo DS - Rayman, Space Invaders and Touch! Kirby's Magic Paintbrush !

March 24th, 2005, 08:32 Posted By: wraggster

News from <a href="http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=3604&lsaid=219793" target="_blank" >Lik Sang</a>

<BLOCKQUOTE>Among other low profile releases, three new hot and exciting smash-hits have arrived in stock for the Nintendo DS in the last few days. After getting the preorders dispatched, it's now time for us to go into the action.

<b>Rayman DS</b>

Ubisoft's limbless hero Rayman reaches all the way back to 1995 with a lush 2D platformer for PlayStation, Saturn and Jaguar. The title did everything beautifully and earned a space in the hearts and memories of gamers, but it wasn't till 5 years later when a sequel would arrive. Like Super Mario 64, Rayman 2 moved into the 3rd dimension, and once again did everything perfectly. IGN for example said "if you love platformers, you must buy Rayman 2: The Great Escape -- it's that simple", and even "if you mildly enjoy platformers, you must buy the game." What was called by many "one of the best 3D platformers ever created" was released for PlayStation, N64, Dreamcast and PC. Now the French magic has touched the NDS, and is now shipping, one week ahead of its actual release date.

While many found Super Mario 64 DS took a hit from the lack of analogue stick, Rayman seems to improve upon the touch screen solution. Unlike the center of your 'virtual stick' being where ever you drop the stylus, here an actual analogue stick is shown on the bottom screen, and stays put. You can still adjust it's position and size if needed though, and this prevents running your stylus smack into the side of the screen. All 45 levels from the original Rayman 2 are here, from waterfalls to lava caves and pirate hideouts. Across the diverse environments Rayman will not only do the usual running and jumping, but skiing, swimming and flying, along with riding rockets and whirlwinds just to name a few. If you're tiring of trying to collect all 150 stars in Mario, Rayman is here to refresh your apatite for the 3D platformer.


<b>Space Invaders DS</b>

One of the first and most well known videogames of all time, Space Invaders has hit just about every console in history. Now the NDS proves it's no exception this Thursday, when Space Invaders DS arrives from Japan. As if you needed proof of the games popularity, over there in the late 70's, the game was so amazingly popular that it caused a coin shortage until the country's Yen supply was quadrupled! This handheld edition combines the vintage game play of that legendary shoot-'em up in classic mode, but with an extra New Era mode too.

New Era mode takes you on a 60-level world tour, battling waves of invaders in 20 different locations around the globe, eventually reaching a showdown with the UFO mother ship on the moon. Power-ups and new weapons help in destroying the fleet, while puzzle elements have been added to the mix too. When defending Big Ben in London for example, you need to shoot the ships above in a certain colour coded order. The power-ups that'll help you save our planet include protective shields, rapid-fire shots, column-clearing laser beams and some all important back-up in the form of additional support craft. Space Invaders DS looks set to unleash the addictive shooting on a new wave of gamers, and again, will be in stock from Thursday.


<b>Touch! Kirby's Magic Paintbrush DS</b>

As mentioned with the original 2D Rayman, the 'lush game' had wonderfully colorful and bold visuals. It's rare titles have such a style, but Touch! Kirby's Magic Paintbrush is such a treat for the eyes. This is somewhat fitting, as Kirby's world has literally been turned into a painting by an evil sorceress. Using your stylus as a magical paintbrush, you'll help Kirby return the world back to normal. By drawing lines you can create new paths for the automatically moving Kirby, ramps to speed him up, or walls to stop him heading into spikes or such. You'll need to keep an eye on the amount of paint you have left though, being careful not to run out.

11 different various attacks come in handy for enemies, which are pulled off and upgradeable via power ups by jabbing the pink blob himself. There have been a lot of remakes for NDS so far, which are fine, but it's nice to have something fresh, totally original and only possible on NDS, and Touch! Kirby's Magic Paintbrush is all that.
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