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bit Generations-esque Art Style covers by Stephen Gibson (click for a larger version).

“The Art Style series on DSi is the perfect follow-up to the bit Generations series. The one thing that didn’t make the jump to digital distribution though was the stylish little boxes that each game came in. I decided to try and create artwork for each of the new games, following the same structure and style of the bit Generations boxes.

And yes, these are the Japanese logos. Since the original packages were Japan-only (and half of these aren’t out in the US and Europe yet), I decided to use those to begin. I’ll put together some Western variations soon.”

~~The deviantArt watermark is distracting, but other than that,~~ these are great, very much like the original minimalist bit Generations covers.

[Update: Stephen removed the watermark! Yay!]

In other Art Style news, apparently Nalaku released in Europe as Kubos last week. What’s the deal with Europe having five (out of six) Art Style titles, while the U.S. only has two? At this rate, autumn will arrive before North America receives Hacolife.

Buy: U.S. Matte Black and Blue DSi

Import: Japanese Nintendo DSi (White, Black, Pink, Lime Green, Metallic Blue)

tags / boxart / art style / bit generations / dsiware / nalaku / hacolife / picopict / pictobits / aquia / aquario / decode / somnium / import / ec

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“The Legend of Zelda Part 1” by YMCK (PiCTOBiTS)

The first half of this track is typical “Zelda remix” fare, but at around the 3:00 mark, YMCK turns it into something magical. Seriously, they totally killed this PiCTOBiTS/PiCOPiCT remix.

By now, you should have realized that I did not exaggerate about Art Style: PiCTOBiTS’ greatness. If you’ve yet to appreciate this essential truth, then either:

You haven’t purchased the DSiWare game yet, or
You don’t have any damn sense about

I know last week was expensive for Nintendo nerds, what with Punch-Out!! and Boom Blox: Bash Party out at stores, and Majora’s Mask on VC, but if you haven’t picked up PiCTOBiTS yet, you’re really missing out! And if you’re one of those forum/blogger dudes who refuses to buy the game but loves carping on the internet about DSiWare’s selection, basically you’re a dick.

tags / the legend of zelda / ymck / medley / art style / skip / pictobits / picopict / chiptunes / ec

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

A good day for DSiWare news

Art Style: PiCTOBiTS now available on DSiWare!

The second-best DSiWare game, Art Style: PiCOPiCT (right under Art Style: Hacolife), is finally available in North America as PiCTOBiTS. It is imperative that you purchase this addictive puzzler, if nothing more than for its YMCK remixes of classic NES/Famicom songs:

Make sure to read my PiCOPiCT review, too.

Real talk: Dragon Quest Wars looks like ass.

As exciting as the idea of Fire Emblem developer Intelligent Systems teaming up with Square Enix to create a strategy game for DSiWare sounds, these screenshots make the 3D game look like total Buttsville, a town widely known for its population of butts.

Dragon Quest Wars will release in Japan this June for 500 Nintendo Points, and will allow up to four players to battle online with Dragon Quest monsters.

tags / dsiware / skip / pictobits / picopict / ymck / art style / dragon quest wars / square enix / intelligent systems / ec

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Super Mario Bros. Part 5” by YMCK.

I promise this will be the last PiCOPiCT post for a while! I put up this particular chiptune track — a tribute to Super Mario Bros.’ “flag music” — because it goes along with some cool stuff I hoped to share about the DSiWare title’s last stages (Spoiler alert! For a puzzle game!).

PiCOPiCT features 30 stages, the first half comprised of “Omote” puzzles, while the second half are much harder “Ura” levels that you have to purchase with in-game coins.

The second-to-last Omote and Ura levels will both have you clearing block groups to form an 8-bit sprite of Super Mario Bros. antagonist Bowser, while playing that remixed Castle theme I posted last week.

The last Omote level has block groups that appear as letters, dropping 2-3 symbols at a time while slowly revealing a Toad sprite. If you manage to follow the characters without failing the stage, you’ll notice that the stream of letters spell out, “Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!” By the way, the song embedded above plays throughout this stage.

The much more difficult final Ura level again throws down letters, except the displayed scene now shows Toad, Mario, and Princess Peach gathered together. The message has also changed and instead spells out, “Thank you Mario! Your quest is over. We present you a new quest. Push button B to select a world.”

Just like the original Super Mario Bros. game! Please note that I’m not sure if there’s more text after that last sentence — I’ve never lasted long enough to get past that point without either failing or completing the stage.

tags / super mario bros / chiptunes / ymck / picopict / skip / dsi / soundtrack / dsiware / art style / ec

/ permalink / / 3 years ago / Comments (View)

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

PiCOPiCT’s “Ending” (Credits) song by YMCK.

Lots of readers enjoyed the last PiCOPiCT song we posted, so here’s another track from the throwback DSiWare puzzle game. This medley has bits of Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and other classic NES titles — all remixed by Japanese chiptune group YMCK.

I mentioned before that unlocking this song in PiCOPiCT’s Sound System mode costs 500 coins (playing through a mid-game stage earns around 30-50 coins), but that’s actually just for the track’s first half. The second half is priced at 1000 coins! Fortunately, I had nothing better to do than grind for coins while waiting for my wife and her friend to get ready to go out last night.

tags / art style / picopict / ymck / soundtrack / chiptunes / skip / dsi / dsiware / ec

/ permalink / / 3 years ago / Comments (View)

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Super Mario Bros. Part 4” by YMCK.

This entire track cost me hella coins to purchase in PiCOPiCT’s Sound System mode — most of the game’s songs are broken into several segments, with later portions priced higher than earlier scraps.

One of the YMCK tracks (there are 17 in all) costs a ridonkulous 500 coins to unlock, the equivalent of 10 playthroughs of a mid-game puzzle. Tigga, please.

You might need to turn your volume up to hear the above tune, a remix of Super Mario Bros.’s dreadful Castle theme; I’m not the most technically minded guy, so you can assume that the most ghetto of setups was used to transcribe this song’s bits onto my hard drive. Imagine a Fisher Price microphone paired with a funnel, and you will have a romanticized idea of my recording setup.

See also: Nintendaan’s PiCOPiCT video

tags / art style / chiptunes / dsiware / ec / picopict / skip / super mario bros / ymck / dsi

/ permalink / / 3 years ago / Comments (View)

Tiny Review: Art Style: PiCOPiCT

Can you believe how many downloadable Art Style games Nintendo and Skip have released lately? Seven in just the past four months! And they haven’t been crap, either!

Art Style: PiCoPICT, released through the DSi Shop last night in Japan, is a fun mix of Picross and Quarth.

Three details that are fab:

Coins. As you clear block forms, you’ll earn coins that will go towards unlocking alternate “Ura” levels, as well as stage music — classic songs from NES titles, remixed by chiptune group YMCK. Also, you can listen to the tracks with the DSi closed.
POW button. When the forms are dropping faster than you can manage, or when you find the puzzle screen littered with immovable blocks, hitting the POW button clears the bottom rows and drops the scattered pieces. After you hit it, though, the amount of blocks you can pick up at a time decreases by one. If you don’t mind giving up your music money, you can buy back a block space by spending five coins.

Fan service. The classic NES sprites, stage music, and even typeface are all ploys to grab the attention and money of nostalgia-bitten nerds, but they also contribute towards PiCOPiCT’s attractive, colorful presentation (even the stage select screens look fantastic), and their integration doesn’t detract from the puzzle game’s addictive mechanics.

Two details that are butt:

Only one gameplay mode. With 30 stages in all (including the 15 Ura levels), though, that single gameplay mode will last you a while. And it’s only 500 Nintendo Points!
No multiplayer.

Score:

So good, I almost forgot that DSiWare still lacks third-party software.

tags / art style / dsi / picopict / review / import / dsiware / skip / ec

/ permalink / / 3 years ago / Comments (View)

Konami’s Quarth for the Famicom. Auntie pointed out the connection between this game and the new DSiWare game Art Style: PiCOPiCT, and it’s pretty clear that the new game shows influence from Quarth. And by “shows influence” I mean “is just different enough to be considered a different game”.

Players shoot squares up toward shapes in Quarth to form rectangles, while the little squares are dragged into place in PiCOPiCT, and must also match the color of the rest of the pieces to count. It’s basically a variant!

A variant with YMCK music, which is significant.

tags / quarth / art style / picopict / puzzle / famicom / jc

/ permalink / / 3 years ago / Comments (View)

New DSiWare, Art Style games →

Nintendo of Japan announced several new games and applications coming to its digital download service for the Nintendo DSi this Wednesday (January 28th), including several “excerpts” from existing puzzle titles and two new Art Style releases.

Art Style: PiCOPiCT (500 Nintendo Points) combines Picross with falling blocks and Nintendo franchises. It also features chiptune tracks from YMCK!:

Art Style: Somnium (500 NP) features slide puzzles:

Chotto Panel de Pon (500 NP): Panel de Pon, or Planet Puzzle League, without multiplayer support.

Chotto Suujin Taisen (500 NP): Based on a Mitchell Corp.-developed puzzle-battle game that never made it to the States, but received positive import impressions. Includes WiFi support for up to four players.

Chotto Asobi Taizen: Jikuri Trump (500 NP): Bits from Clubhouse Games, including Blackjack, Poker, and more. Features local multiplayer, but no online.

Hobonichi Rosenzu (500 NP): Map application for train/metro routes in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Fukuoka, Nagoya and Sapporo. Users can search for stations and routes, as well as add bookmarks, notes, and photos to the map.

DSi Solitare (200 NP): Solitaire, Klondike, and Spider with cat shapes on the cards!

DSi Clock: Slide Show Type (200 NP): A clock using photos taken with the DSi. Also has alarm/sleep functions — you can even record your own alarm sounds! This is the first in a series of planned downloadable Clock apps.

tags / dsi / dsiware / ymck / art style / picopict / picross / ymck / somnium / panel de pon / planet puzzle league / mitchell / suujin taisen / hobonichi rosenzu / dsi solitaire / dsi clock

/ permalink / / 3 years ago / Comments (View)

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