neurological dryer lint

back in december '04 i picked up a DS while out in indiana with renee and her family. i figured it would reach the level that the original gameboy had back in the day - a great mixture of pick-up-and-play titles (tetris, dr. mario) and deep, enveloping classics (zelda: link's awakening, final fantasy legend, mega man).

but besides mario 64 and wario ware, i couldn't find any games worth getting. the PSP was out, and its featureset was too attractive to ignore, so i traded up. the game selection was (and still is) fairly weak - i still play lumines, street fighter alpha 3 and lemmings, but it's become more of a portable media player than a game machine. there are a handful of promising titles on the horizon: every extend extra, lumines 2, sonic rivals, lego star wars: the original trilogy, and metal gear solid: portable ops.

so why did i pick up a DS lite last night? well one, the hardware addresses nearly all of the gripes i had about the original DS hardware - the size and the screen's brightness. two, software is really starting to pick up for the system. new super mario bros. had both renee and i laughing last night - it's a well-crafted, entertaining experience, with a perfect balance of the old mario games and new additions. it's really a sequel to the SNES super mario world at heart. surprisingly it's a little tough - tougher than you'd expect from a 2d mario game.

i'm also planning to pick up one of the brain age games to see if the hype is justified; and of course tetris DS. i'm very excited about the castlevania title that's coming, and i'm on still the fence about mario kart. there's also a star fox port and of course zelda: phantom hourglass. so the software list looks much more promising, and the system is actually worth keeping around.