Ideas for Nintendo DS Games

[Outrider]

Alright, for anybody who read the topic on the finalized design for DS, you know that I had I'm really interested in how Nintendo could use the two screens in gaming. IGN had an article a couple weeks ago that listed their own ideas, plus some fan-submitted ideas, and some of them sounded really cool.

What I want to know is if you could make a game for the Nintendo DS, what would you make and how would it utilize the new features? Would it use the touch-screen? Dual-screens? Microphone? Wi-Fi? Go into the third-dimension(Remember, only one screen can support 3D at once)? Or would you combine them all?

Come up with your best ideas and post them here.

(Err... I'll think up a few ideas of my own and post a little later. )

[Getintothegame]

This list is from Gamecube at IGN Boards, about the currently announced games for the DS. (Info means that IGN has info on it)

Just incase you didn't know your favorite game was coming out on it.

Nintendo
Animal Crossing DS | [INFO]
Legend of Zelda: Four Swords DS [NEW]
Mario Kart DS | [INFO]
Metroid Prime: Hunters | [INFO]
PictoChat | [INFO]
Super Mario 64X4 | [INFO]
Super Mario Bros. DS | [INFO]
WarioWare Inc. DS | [INFO]
12+ Additional Titles TBA [NEW]

Activision:
Spider-Man 2 | [INFO]

Atari:
Title TBD

Atlus:
Caduceus [NEW]
Choro Q DS [NEW]
Jinsei Game DS [NEW]
Shin Megamitensei DS [NEW]
Snowboard Kids DS [NEW]

Bandai:
One Piece | [INFO]
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed | [INFO]
Several Titles TBA

Banpresto:
DRAGONBALL Z | [INFO]

Capcom:
Mega Man Battle Network DS | [INFO]
Viewtiful Joe | [INFO]
Gyakuten Saiban | [INFO]

Electronic Arts:
Madden NFL 2005 | [INFO] | [Q4 2004]
Need for Speed | [INFO]
The Urbz: Sims in the City | [INFO] | [NOV 2004]

FromSoftware:
Several Titles TBA

Hudson Soft:
Bomberman DS | [INFO]
Several Titles TBA

Koei:
Dynasty Warriors [INFO]

Konami Corporation:
Frogger 2005 [INFO]
Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour [INFO]
Several Titles TBA

Majesco:
Title TBA

MezCo Studios:
Cerulean Dreams | [INFO]
Dark Reflections | [INFO]

Namco Limited:
Pac-Pix [INFO]
Pac?n Roll [INFO]
Mr. Driller [INFO]
RPG Title TBD

Paragon 5
Trouballs DS

Sega Corporation:
Sonic DS [INFO]
Project Rub [INFO]

Square Enix:
Egg Monster Heroes [INFO]
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles [INFO]
Dragon Quest Monsters [INFO]

Tecmo:
Monster Rancher [INFO]
Team Ninja Project DS [INFO]

Telegame
Ultimate Brain Games | [INFO]
Ultimate Card Games | [INFO]

THQ:
SpongeBob SquarePants [INFO]

Ubisoft:
Rayman [INFO]

Vivendi:
Title TBA

Anyway, I really like the idea of Snowboard Kids and Mario Party on the DS. SSB DS, would be cool, too.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Getintothegame on 2004-07-29 00:29 ]</font>

[Outrider]

Snowboard Kids? Oh man, I loved that game. Of course, I only played the first one, but it was so much fun.

Getintothegame, if you don't mind me taking one of your ideas, I'd like to throw out some things I've thought about for a proposed Super Smash Bros DS.

Obviously, the game would play similar to the N64 and GCN versions. Your goal is to knock opposing characters off the stage, racking up damage onto them so that you can knock them further away.

What they should allow is wireless multiplayer, allowing you to challenge anyone in your immediate area. During the E3 presentation, I seem to remember Reggie saying that the system could jump out of sleep mode when it detects other systems, so this could be used here.

Using the name feature from Melee, you could track your stats during all these multiplayer battles.

Trophies could make an appearance, and perhaps you could trade them with other players? Something along those lines.

Now, onto the meat of what I was thinking of. I'm sure anybody who's played Smash Bros has had this happen to them: You're fighting in a big four-player match and you each split up to have one-on-one battles on opposite sides of the screen. But oh no! The level is too large, and now you can't see what's going on. Here's where the two screens come in:

I realize this will sound just like another map, but bear with me. The bottom screen would be used to show your character and what's immediately surrounding them. It would probably have to be more zoomed in than usual gameplay, but this will be remedied by the second screen. This second screen can show the full map. Think of it like Fixed-Camera Mode.

Just think about it for a second. While you're having a fast-paced battle with one opponent on the bottom screen, you can glance up to the top screen to make sure the other fight is going your way, or perhaps to check that a projectile won't be heading your way anytime soon.

My only concern with this is the 2D/3D issue. As only one screen can do 3D at any time, I wonder if perhaps the close-up screen should be in 3D while the fixed-camera screen would be 2D. My only concern is that it would still be readable by the player. In other words, I wouldn't want to have the foresight to look at the 2D fixed-camera screen to see a Bob-Omb thrown at me, only to misjudge it when shifting to the third-dimension on the close-up screen.

EDIT: And right after posting this, I thought of something. Wouldn't it seem like sort of a waste to create sprites for everything being done on the top screen as well as character models for what's going on on the bottom screen? Perhaps both of them should be in 2D, and the difference could just be done using the scaling feature that's been so prominent in many GBA games. I think that could possibly solve the problem. Of course, I don't know too much about the technical power of the system, so perhaps it wouldn't be to hard to deal with the 2D/3D problem. I dunno.

Well, that's my basic ideas on Smash Bros DS. Feel free to comment on them or come up with your own ideas. I'll be back later with another game idea or two.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Outrider on 2004-07-29 00:47 ]</font>

[Getintothegame]

Very nice ideas, very detailed, and nice, I must say. Have anymore?

Well, do remember that Nintendo does have 12 more titles TBA. I'm almost confident SSB will be in that list.

[Skett]

Ok, Outcast (its easier to remember than Outrider), here is one of my ideas:

-In a PSO-like game, you would have the camera behind the character. Now (try to think PSO here), if you have a gun, you could just tap the screen where you want to shoot.

Techs (or magic), you could control the magic. For example, a Zonde attack would have you write across the screen from your character to the enemy in a zig-zag motion, in a pattern often seen with lightning.

My most exciting (for me) is the ability to control your sword. You use the stylis to create a line that your sword would follow. Example, you draw a line up, down, across, than diaginal and your characters sword would actually follow it.

I have not made any ideas to what the other screen would be but the WiFi would obviously be used online and the microphone would be used as voice chat.

-Another example I read on some site from a reader (sorry, cant remember anything else) had a great double/touch screen combo. Its a racing game and the higher screen is the windshield, showing the road as you drive.

The lower screen would have the stearing wheel and the other things you would see in a car (Speed, ect). You would use the stylis to steer the vehicle with the steering wheel. Not a bad idea.

That is all I got for now but I will post with more stuff.

[DruidMettool]

Yay! They're making a Dragon Quest Monsters for the DS!

Too bad it'll never come to America, though