The Excitebike one is pretty cool — presumably, the song’s volume determines the ramps that appear on the track.
You can play simple instruments along with your songs! The barking dog and meowing cat effects in the above clip are way cute.
Also, the video’s second half has that Mario visualizer we’ve talked about a couple times. You can collect coins as music plays — apparently, Lakitu also uses the song’s volume to determine what height he leaves the coins at.
This clip shows four filters that can be be applied to your music, like adding more reverb. They don’t seem really useful, but the pseudo-chiptune effect could be cool!
Here’s another DSi sound feature that most will find pointless — replaying segments of an audio file. Unless you’re trying to figure out lyrics, learn how to play part of a song, or teach yourself another language, you’ll likely never use this feature!
The button on the very bottom right, under the loop button, allows you to quickly designate a track as a “Favorite,” adding it to a playlist.
“When you walk awwaaayyyyy …” You’ve probably already seen this element of DSi Sound that allows you to adjust the speed and pitch of songs.
Apparently, Nintendo execs Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata initially couldn’t decide whether to include DSi Sound with the DSi or provide it as a downloadable application. Though there isn’t much value to a lot of the program’s functions, I’m glad DSi Sound was thrown in as something extra to play with.
We’ll not dilly-dally with an introduction; we came to lay it down, so let the down-laying commence:
You can hotswap carts with the Nintendo DSi, pulling out one game and dropping in another, without having to turn your system on/off. Stan64 mentioned this feature last night, but we dismissed the idea as crazy! Then we saw this short video:
The power button may have more power than before. Unless we’re totally reading this wrong, the power button will bring up the menu in DSWare applications, similar to the Wii’s Home button. It may also act as a reset button in DS games.
You can use the DSi camera to make a daily calendar album of pretty much whatever pictures you want. The idea is to create a visual diary of things you see while walking around with your DSi.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has a few random ideas for future DSWare applications, such as “a Zelda calculator, an Animal Crossing clock, street maps for various large cities, or possibly a simple Tetris.” This is stuff off the top of his head rather than confirmed holiday releases, but it’s interesting to see what he has in mind for DSWare.
Two more visualizers have been revealed: one featuring tapping feet, and another featuring a wireframe globe surrounded by constellations. The Mario one shown below is the same visualizer we detailed not too long ago!
Yes, another one of these random DSi lists! It’s the only handheld-related thing that’s actually more exciting to us than Wonder Pets DS, right now.
You will be able to listen to music while the DSi’s lid is closed, so long as you have a pair of headphones hooked up. I wonder if you can use the shoulder buttons for basic playback functions?
The DSi will not only have “improved sound quality,” as we’ve mentioned previously, but it will also have higher volume settings. Play it loud!
DSi Sound’s recording function will allow users to record only 10 seconds of audio, max. Unless you’re the Micro Machines guy, don’t expect to tape a podcast with your DSi.
One of DSi’s Sound’s music visualizers will allow you to play a simple sidescroller with Mario. We’re not sure about the specifics, but you’ll be able to press the L and R buttons to change the song’s tempo and running speed. You can also jump and collect coins.
Shigeru Miyamoto helped develop DSi Sound, which makes sense when you consider the program’s wacky features and his work with Wii Music.
Great stuff, right? Oh, and here’s a photo of the DSi’s Japanese packaging, if you haven’t seen it yet:
