Tiny Cartridge

Though the Bubble Bobble series has been ill-treated on the DS — suffering everything from terrible packaging to a game-ruining bug — I’ve held onto the hope that Taito would one day release a handheld follow-up to 2002’s wonderful Puzzle Bobble Online (PC).

The game had it all — six-player online combat, cooperative mechanics, and even a chat box for griefing other PBO players. Taito’s newest announced DS title, Space Puzzle Bobble, won’t have all of that, but it still has some interesting features:

• online multiplayer for up to four players
• paddle controller support
• budget price for Japan
• dinosaurs in space (Dinosaucers!)

I’m pretty pumped about all of that. As for why I’m still wishing for the return of a six-year-old Puzzle Bobble game that hardly anyone remembers, there was more to PBO than just its feature list:

“I stole my first kiss from the woman I’d eventually marry [shorly after discovering] PBO. She fell asleep that night with her head on my chest, hours before I closed my own eyes.

I could see everything in my life finally coming together in bubble form. Cannons were angled, balls were shot and bounced down bends into tucked-away corners, and a burst of of confetti rained down with the cleared rows as Bub and Bob hopped up and down in victory.”

That explained, enjoy some Space Puzzle Bobble screens!

Art Style: Orbient trailer (there are a couple spots where the video seems to hang as the source clip buffers).

Reader Koralina added this comment in our earlier Orbient post, countering our enthusiasm over the possibility of more bit Generations remakes:

“When you upgrade graphics and/or sounds of bit Generations games, you completely lose the idea. These games can’t be upgraded, they represent perfect minimalism.”

After seeing the Orbient trailer, I’m inclined to agree with this opinion — it doesn’t have quite the same “charm” (ugh). The game’s solid mechanics haven’t changed, however, and JC is reviewing the game for Wii Fanboy as we speak, so I’ll wait to hear from him before I decide whether to purchase this or not.

I feel guilty having this attitude, as I’m one of those internet forum jerks who declared that bit Generations for WiiWare would be a day-one download — yet, here I am, grasping at whatever excuse to delay the purchase.

Would the situation be any different if Nintendo released a GBA-perfect port of Orbital, with its simple graphics and audio? Maybe, but then there’d likely be a lot of dicks complaining about the company’s “lazy releases.”

Without any preceding announcements or media coverage, Nintendo put out what looks like a WiiWare remake for its stylish and immensely fun Orbital GBA game (gameplay video above), originally released in 2006 as part of the Japan-only bit Generations series.

Priced at only 600 Wii Points, Art Style: Orbient is cheap enough to try out even if you don’t know anything about the GBA release — it’s like Katamari Damacy, but in space and with an emphasis on gravity.

I wonder if there’s more to the remake than its new graphics? Hopefully, Orbient adds onto Orbital’s stellar soundtrack (puns always intended).

Additionally, two more Art Style titles are planned for WiiWare this October, likely bit Generations remakes as well. Hopefully, one of them will be Dotstream. That shiz was all the way live.

Bomberman Blast also debuted on WiiWare today, which is pretty cool, I guess, but it doesn’t have dinosaurs.

Apparently, it’s a weekend for research and reflection at Tiny Cartridge, which means I get to jump onto one of my favorite sandboxes: the ridiculous difference in the reception of DS games versus, say, Xbox 360 games. Check out the top twenties for each system at Metacritic. Only three of the top DS games are scored at 90 or above, whereas nearly the entire top twenty for the 360 boasts metascores of 90 and up.

What is it that boosts 360 scores so much higher than DS scores? Graphics, game size, ease or presence of multiplayer… there are a lot of options to consider. I think the one that isn’t considered often enough is sheer enjoyment. What do you really get out of it? I love my 360, but pound for pound, I tend to get more out of DS games.

I’ll revisit this soon, with some actual comparisons (and maybe even organized thoughts, man, and ain’t you lucky to see ‘em), but would love to hear the thoughts of others.

As we promised last night, some rambling about the distribution of game videos!

At first glance, it seems that the video sites don’t care about handheld games, or perhaps don’t think their audience does. But their content is determined largely by PR firms who release the videos or publish on the games’ official websites.

Console games — even Wii games — have larger budgets than most handheld games, and that probably includes higher PR budgets as well. With a higher budget, the PR firm may simply do more, including producing frequent trailers. Or not. Who knows?

There’s also a greater occurrence of multiplatform games between the PS3, 360, and Wii. Many videos for one of those systems, then, will be listed under the other systems’ categories as well, artificially inflating the count. On a side note, it’s pretty irritating to click a Wii game trailer and see PS3/360 game footage.

Really, there’s a lot of statistical research that could be done on this topic, but I kind of prefer to just make up stuff. I’ve done enough science for one lifetime.

GameTrailers:

• Xbox 360 - 10,649 videos, 39%
• PlayStation 3 - 9,218 videos, 33%
• Wii - 3,596 videos, 13%
• Nintendo DS - 2,364 videos, 9%
• PlayStation Portable - 1,703 videos, 6%

GameVideos:

• Xbox 360 - 3,943 videos, 36%
• PlayStation 3 - 3,061 videos, 28%
• Wii - 2,009 videos, 19%
• Nintendo DS - 986 videos, 9%
• PlayStation Portable - 875 videos, 8%

A note to publishers: Though portable gamers play with smaller screens and weaker hardware, it doesn’t mean that they care less about seeing videos for upcoming releases! … Or does it? Dun Dun DUN!

Come back tomorrow morning for some of our theories/thoughts on the matter!

Everyone seems to be putting up one of these, so here’s my quick review of DQIV: Chapters of the Chosen!

Three details that are fab:

1. Rotating the 3D world with the L & R buttons. This is really fun for some reason, and it helps you find doors and other hidden surprises.
2. The church organ music that plays when you save (to save, you have to confess your sins in a chapel).
3. *Spoiler* The sense of accomplishment you feel after purchasing a shop for Taloon and moving his family from a meager village to the town of Endor.

Two details that are butt:

1. Party Talk removed — Taloon’s colorful “Appraise” text makes this feature’s omission sting even more.
2. Can’t skip repeated dialogue. It’s 2008!

Score:

• One Cautery Sword and four sleeping Bullfinches

[Image via Ofqgga]

For this week’s Tiny Contest, we picked up this “Washing Day” Fashionable Jacket DS cover from Gamecon. The hard plastic case will protect your DS Lite while also lending it an irresistibly huggable quality.

We’re also giving away a Virtual Console copy of the newly-released Super Dodge Ball, a game that is awesome, but will sadly be overshadowed by Mega Man 9.

The rules are the same as last time. Starting now and ending at 11:59 PM Monday, September 29, every real comment you make (as in, not contest entry spam) on this and upcoming posts will enter you for these prizes. Commenting on this post counts as one entry, and on any post after this counts as two. We’ll work out logistics (who gets what, trading Wii friend codes, etc.) when we get there. Good luck!

As magnificent as Super Dodgeball was for the NES, its Virtual Console release this week will be completely overshadowed by Mega Man 9’s arrival on WiiWare.

It must be even worse for Sega Genesis platformer Vectorman, which also hits the Shopping Channel today.