Electron Hut: Kyle Bedell’s Blog

Katt gave me an early Christmas present this year: an import Nintendo DSi! I haven’t had too much time to tinker with it, and the menus are all in Japanese (no language selection in this firmware; more on that in a second), but here’s a breakdown of what’s new.

• The unit is covered in a matte finish, as opposed to being glossy
• It’s a little wider and a little thinner than the DS Lite. The build quality is also better.
• It comes with two cameras, a 0.3MP one on the center of the hinge and a 1.3MP one on the top cover
• It has an SD card slot and upgradable firmware!
• Opera is preinstalled
• The screens are larger (3.25 inches as opposed to 3.0 inches), but they run at the same resolution as the older DS models
• It comes with a “DS Shop” application (much like the Wii’s)

So far, the build quality has been fantastic, and the screens are definitely better in terms of color and contrast. My only complaint is that unlike the other DS models, there’s no way to switch the firmware language to English. I’m hoping the homebrew community finds some way to convert Japanese units to north American ones at some point…

With that, here’s a bunch of pictures!

Known in Japan as It’s A Wonderful World, The World Ends With You is a role-playing title from Square-Enix’s Kingdom Hearts development team and Jupiter (known for portable titles like Pokemon Pinball, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Picross DS).

Anti-social protagonist Neku wakes up in the middle of the busy Shibuya district with no memory and a cryptic warning on his cell phone from “The Reapers”, telling him he has to reach “104” in a specific time limit or “face erasure.” Attacked by strange creatures (called Noise) and baffled that nobody can see or hear him, Neku quickly teams up bubbly Shiki Misaki to combat his attackers and piece together the reasons for his involvement in “The Reaper’s Game.”

Much of The World Ends With You revolves around the game’s unique combat system. Neku can equip various pins that he finds in the game world, each of which grants a specific power or ability. As one fights battles, these pins grow stronger, and can even change into entirely different pins. Neku’s partners, while unable to equip pins, can pull off various combination attacks by navigating through strings of arrows (think Dance, Dance Revolution). This can be fairly overwhelming (not even considering the clothing and food systems, which I’ll cover in a minute), so the game will automatically control your partner for you if you’re not feeling up to the challenge.

The combat itself is as difficult or easy as you make it. You can switch between difficulty settings at any time (Easy mode reduces pin drops and the amount of experience you gain per battle, while Hard and Ultimate modes increase both). There’s also a level/drop rate slider; you can set your level (which determines how many hit points you have) anywhere between one and your current maximum. For each level under the maximum that you set the slider to, your drop rate for pins increases by one. Make the game tougher for yourself and you’ll reap the rewards of additional pins!

Each area of Shibuya has its own brand charts and shops. Clothing purchased from these shops can grant you additional powers, defense, attack, or hit points, and each purchase from a shopkeeper makes them like you a little more. Shopkeepers that like you will offer additional items and be more willing to explain the abilities of the clothes that they sell. The brand charts influence your attacks; wear a popular brand and you’ll find yourself twice as strong as you usually are. Wear a weak brand and watch as your attacks function at 50% effectiveness. You can influence the charts by fighting multiple battles in a single area; fight five or six groups of enemies wearing the worst brand on the chart and you may find that it has moved to the top!

The catch with all of this is your bravery score; each item requires a specific level of bravery to wear it, so even though you may be able to purchase that awesome jacket, you may not be able to wear it until you’ve become brave enough to put it on.

Finally, there’s a food system in place to help you increase your statistics. Every 24 hour period, your characters can eat 24 ‘bytes’ of food. Food has immediate effects when ingested, and after fighting a few battles can be digested for a permanent increase in statistics. Everything from noodles to coffee cakes are available, and you can experiment with different combinations of food to build your character exactly the way you want.

If that wasn’t enough, there’s also a cool multiplayer minigame called Tim Pin Slammer available. It’s strange cross between paper football and Battling Tops™ that has to be played to be understood, but the basic gist is that you need to use your pins to knock your opponent’s off of a board. By battling with other The World Ends With You players, you’ll improve your pins (just like if you were fighting battles).

For those who like to socialize, there’s a Mingle option built into The World Ends With You. This mode places your DS in a ‘sleep mode’ with the wireless turned on. Every time you encounter another The World Ends With You player in Mingle Mode, you’ll swap ‘character cards’ that allow you to purchase items that player was carrying at any time. You’ll also earn more pin points to help improve your pins. What makes this mode great is that it also works with DS systems that are just using their wireless connections; you can earn pin points from any DS owner you encounter, not just The World Ends With You owners. Additionally, you may randomly gain extra pin points just by being in an area with WiFi signals (from routers, computers, or what have you).

The audio in The World Ends With You is some of the best on the system, being comprised of decent (wow!) J-Pop tunes of all different styles. The 2D visuals are, hands down, the best the Nintendo DS has to offer. It’s obvious that the Kingdom Hearts team was responsible for the title’s art assets; the game oozes color and vibrancy from every pore.

If you’re an RPG lover with a Nintendo DS, The World Ends With You is a must-buy. Rarely do we get a DS title so deep and polished here in the States, and its multitude of features, amazing combat system, compelling story, and fantastic audio and visuals will have you floored the moment you turn the system on. This one’s a keeper for certain.

The fourth entry in the acclaimed Ace Attorney series, Apollo Justice does a bang-up job of continuing the Phoenix Wright legacy. While old fan-favorite characters have made themselves scarce seven years after the end of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations, the new cast is nearly (but not quite) as charming and funny as Gumshoe, Edgeworth, and Maya were. A few new gameplay elements and an interesting storyline keep the formula fresh as well.

Some things never change, and Apollo Justice, like the Ace Attorney games before it, is a point-and-click adventure title at heart. Each case introduces you to a crime of some kind (now with upgraded visuals for the DS!) and places the defense of the supposed-perpetrator in your hands. Scour scenes for evidence and interview involved parties to get enough background information to go to court, then cross-examine witnesses and present evidence to get to the truth!

Apollo Justice mixes up the traditional formula a bit with some new additions. Forensic evidence plays a larger role in this game than in the previous ones in the series, and you’ll be able to examine evidence in full 3D. Psych-locks have been removed, replaced with a new “Perceive” system where Apollo can catch people in the act of lying by noticing their nervous habits. In addition, Emma Skye from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney’s extra fifth case fills in for Detective Gumshoe in Apollo Justice, allowing you to dust evidence for fingerprints, take shoeprints, and conduct other nifty forensic analysis.

While I’m not a huge fan of the new soundtrack, Apollo Justice’s graphical presentation has been upgraded substantially. Character sprites and environments are substantially more detailed than in previous Ace Attorney titles (which were all ported from the Game Boy Advance to the Nintendo DS for their North American release). The transition from GBA ports to a native DS title might seem subtle at first, but once you see the old 2D diagrams transform into 3D scenes, you know something’s changed for the better.

In the end, Apollo Justice is full of what makes the Ace Attorney series great: hysterical writing (Capcom’s English localization team is fantastic), interesting cases, and entertaining characters. The new additions do a great job at freshening up the series’ forumula, but don’t expect anything drastically different here. If you didn’t like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney or the other games in the series, Apollo Justice won’t change your opinion. That being said, adventure lovers and fans of the series will have a grand time with Ace Attorney’s latest rookie lawyer.

Plus, you get to yell “OBJECTION!” and point your finger in a menacing fashion at people. How awesome is that?

Hooray! It’s shipping day for Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney! Let’s hope that this entry in the Ace Attorney series is a good as the previous three.

Review to follow after I’ve finished it!