[Doraemon Nobita to Midori no Kyojinden DS] Good Looking Action Game

This is an action game based on the popular "Doraemon" anime/comic. Here is the official site for game. The story is about how Nobita became interested in a small plant but couldn't grow it because of lack of space. Dorarmon helped him out by using a futuristic drink to make the plant walk, talk and think like normal people. Nobita became good friends with the plant and together they went on an adventurous journey.

There are 3 gameplay movies here in this page. The game play is also explained here. From time to time, you can use the gadget from Doraemon to fight off enemies or solve puzzles. You can also ask for help from your friends like Shizuka, Suneo and Gian. They can also put on those gadgets and help you out in the adventure.

There are also a number of mini-games and you can manufacture new gadgets from items. See the screenshots here.

This game can also be used to provide extra materials for the Wii's game - "Doraemon Wii, Battle for the Gadget King". The details can be found here.

DS Game Sales Data in Japan

According to Famitsu, the number 6 best selling game in Japan from 3/3/2008 to 3/9/2008 is "Soma Bringer" with over 17,000 copies sold during that period. The accumulated sales is over 71,000 copies. It is a very popular RPG game.

In 9th place is "Doraemon Nobita to Midori no Kyojinden DS" with over 14,000 copies sold during that period. This is a very elegant action game from SEGA based on the popular Doraemon comic/anime.

In this reported week, 2 games from DS is in the top 10 spots. 16 of the top 30 game sales spots belong to DS games while 8 belong to Wii games.

[Soma Bringer] Video Trailer

This RPG really looks awesome and deep. I think it has great potential to ported to the North America market.

[Sangokushi Taisen DS] Awesome Way of Taking Down A Castle

This funny looking man actually has a very awesome skill. It costs only 3 units of morale. When this skill is used, the card's attack on castle will increase and the amount of increase will be more when there is less time remaining in a game. I tried it before and when there is less than 10 units of time left, it can KO the entire castle in one blow.

So there are a few ways to use this card. But mostly they are defensive strategies. Since the card has the ability to stay hidden at the beginning of the game, you can sneak to the enemy's castle this way with some luck.

DS Game Sales Data in Japan

According to Famitsu, the number 4 best selling game in Japan from 2/25/2008 to 3/2/2008 is "Soma Bringer" with over 53,000 copies sold during that period. It is a highly acclaimed RPG game.

In 7th place is "Sekaiju no Meikyuu II Shoou no Seihai" with over 22,000 copies sold during that period. The accumulated sales is over 108,000.

In 8th place is "Bokujou Monogatari Kira Kira Taiyou to Nakama Tachi" with over 19,000 copies sold during that period. The accumulated sales is over 55,000.

In this reported week, 3 game from DS is in the top 10 spots. 13 of the top 30 game sales spots belong to DS games while 7 belong to Wii games.

[Hokuto no Ken] Afterthoughts

This game is just awesome. I finished it a week ago and I just kept playing it again and again to enjoy the scenes and the story. It is really a text-book example of how to reuse materials from comics or established franchise in a game. You don't need superior graphics. You don't need 3D. You don't always need online elements. All you need is to be faithful to the core of the materials. You need a good presentation and execution of of your game play to match the materials.

BTW, check out this Japanese online game for Hokuto no Ken - http://www.hokutonoken-online.jp/. It is a MMORPG in which the player can experience the world of the comic. The idea seems awesome but somehow it kind of illustrates my points above.

[Sim City DS 2] Much Better Than the First One

This is the second Sim City game on the NDS platform. It is going on sale in Japan on 03/19/2008. The first one was released in US in June and in Japan in February. The review is actually pretty mixed. The good thing is that the game captured the essence of the original PC game. The bad thing is that the graphics is below decent and there is only a save slot.

So let's see how this sequel will do. Here is the promotional page from Famitsu. And here is the official web site of the game.

And here is a promotional video of the game.