I have a new level of respect for the Nintendo DS and it's abilities now that I've started my adventure in "The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass."
Nintendo's new innovative game play technology has those of us who grew up with the original NES re-thinking the way we play videogames. It's obvious that the successful development and release of the Nintendo Wii has triggered a revolution in video game technology, but the Wii does not stand alone.
From black and white to color and then advanced, the Nintendo Game Boy has dominated the hand held market for what seems like forever. When my finacee bought me a Nintendo DS for my birthday, I was looking forward to titles like "Super Princess Peach," "Guilty Gear Dust Strikers," and "Sonic Rush." I thought that the concept of dual and touch screens was a clever step towards the future of video games. I had no idea that the system had anything else to offer in the way of interactivity.
My DS had not been used in several months when I finally decided that it was time to start playing "The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass." As I expected, it is one of those games that once you start playing it, you don't want to put it down. The game follows the storyline from the best selling Game Cube title "The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker."
Since I started the game in early December, I have found myself desperatly seeking answers from online walkthroughs more than once. On one such occasion I was stuck at a part in the game where I was told that Link had to blow out two candles in order to trigger the opening of a dungeon door. I spent nearly thirty minutes running Link around the island he was on trying to figure out how to make him blow out these candles. I even had Link leave the island to go back and check the previous islands he visited to see if I missed anything along the way. It never occured to me that I had to actually blow into the DS microphone in order to blow out the candles. Maybe I missed the commercial that highlighted the microphone feature, but I was...blown away...
On another occasion I found myself having to yell at a character in order to buy something from him. Then later on I found out that in order to copy one mark on my top screen map to the map on my bottom screen I actually had to close the DS and open it back up. If these things sound little and unimpressive to you, consider that the last hand held system I owned was a SEGA Game Gear. When you look at in perspective like that you can't help but appriciate how far technology as come and it's exciting to think about where it's going to go.
2 comments:
I got weird looks on the bus for blowing into my DS. XD
But, yeah, Phantom Hourglass is absolutely ingenious with its interactivity. I thought I was almost done until today (plot twists are fun, no? ;) ).
On another note, your writing is really good in this article; if I didn't know better I would think you were a professional journalist!
I'm trying to get the last sea chart so I can get the last pure metal. I hate the temple of the Ocean King and those darn phantoms...
Thank you very much for your kind feedback! I've never considered myself a very good writer. I have a limited vocabulary and I don't remember the difference between verbs and adverbs, but I am passionate about the topic so I guess that says something.
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