[dr_teng]

Much like the other megathread thread, post general DS and game discussion in here. If there's a game you think is going to be BIG and deserves it's own thread, feel free!

Brief overview -

The DS is selling like mad, it's the fastest selling system to date and it doesn't look like it'll be stopping anytime soon. There's two flavours of the DS. The original, and the Lite. The original had more of an 80's design to it and a screen that was difficult to see during the day. The Lite is the newer, sexier version of the DS. Much better screen, nicer design, longer battery life as well. It's come out in a variety of colours, the some current ones are pictured below.



There's also been a few limited editions, Nintendogs, Zelda, and so on. Also an outrageously priced Pikachu DS.

Some of the features include two screens, one being a touch screen. Microphone, with voice chat available in select games. Local wireless and wifi access. Some accessories you're going to want to look into are the rumble pack(only useful with a few games), but more importantly, a screen protector. The best one is the Hori.

Upcoming Games :

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 - A proper sequel to one of the most popular tactics RPGs of all time.
TGS 07 trailer


Sonic Chronicles - The Dark Brotherhood - As tremendously ridiculous as the Sonic games have gotten lately, becoming more or less masturbation fodder for furries, this game looks surprisingly good. Will Bioware be able to create a solid RPG out of the Sonic universe? Guess we'll find out.
Nintendo Media Summit interview


Bangai-o Spirits - A sequel to the Dreamcast game, as far as I can tell. If you're a fan of those crazy ass shooters like Ikaruga, this is something you'll want to keep an eye out for. The image looks kinda crappy, but seeing it in motion makes it look like a ton of fun.
Japanese gameplay trailer


The World Ends With You - Coming out next week, Square is making an original RPG(rare now, I know!), and it's got a pretty awesome style and getting well-reviewed so far.
Japanese trailer


Final Fantasy IV - One of my favourite RPGs of all time(mostly due to nostalgia, I'm sure)is getting a 3d remake from Square. I think 1-3 are worth passing over unless you're a huge fan of the series, but starting from 4, you can get started on the good Final Fantasy games.
TGS 07 video

[dr_teng]

Recommended Released Games : (I'll work on this later, there's an assload of good games for the system)

New Super Mario Bros. - The first real Mario 2d platformer in what, a decade? This has sold like 15 million copies(seriously)and it's pretty solid. It's also really fun to hear your significant other playing it and yelling at how fucking cheap it is, if you're into that sort of thing.


Pokemon Diamond & Pearl - We have a thread about this already, and it's well deserved. Pokemon totally rules, no matter what age you are. Be warned, the people that bought this from the other thread quickly became hooked and put in dozens of hours.


Castlevania : Portrait of Ruin - The latest side scrolling action RPG in the Castlevania line. Some people thought it was too short, but it's an easy 10-15 hours of gameplay + tons more if you want to unlock everything. Some of the best action on the DS.


Mario Kart DS - This may well be my favourite Mario Kart ever, and I'm a big fan of the franchises. Perfect control, plenty of fun challenges, online multiplayer, and not only are the new courses excellent, it brings back a ton of the old courses.


Advance Wars : Days of Ruin - The latest in the Advance Wars franchise. Turn based strategy, so it's not for everyone. This takes the franchise in a bit of a new direction, with a darker and more realistic feel to it, with less emphasis on special abilities.


Final Fantasy III - A 3d remake of Final Fantasy III, which until this release, was never officially available in North America. It still plays like an older RPG, but it's way better than Final Fantasy I or II. If you liked those, you'll love this.


Kirby : Squeek Squad - While not the best Kirby side scroller, it's certainly the best one available right now.


Elite Beat Agents - This is the game you get if you take Ouendan and remake it for North American audiences. Though some people have faults with the song selection, it's still an excellent game.


Kirby : Canvas Curse - One of the earlier and certainly one of the more unique games for the DS. Instead of being a traditional Kirby side scrolling action game, this game features Kirby as a puff bull of sorts. You draw lines with the stylus and he rolls down them. You solve puzzles, fight enemies, and it's just a blast.


Trauma Center : Under the Knife - The original game that started off the series, which is now available on Wii. You're a surgeon and you operate on people with the stylus. Brilliant idea. My only problems were later in the game, when you're operating less on awesome stuff like shards of glass lodged into someone's heart, and more on ANIME PLOT VIRUS ROBOTS. Still, really fun.


Phoenix Wright : Trials and Tribulations - The last game in the Phoenix Wright series. It ties up all the loose ends from the previous games, as well as introducing new enjoyable characters. You could tell that they'd learned a ton about how to tell a story by this one, because it was top notch all the way through. The lawyer games continued with Apollo Justice, which I'll add to this list later.


Hotel Dusk - In a similar vein to Phoenix Wright, this is basically a story that you interact with. However, it's set in a hotel with many mysteries. Your character is an ex-cop, now salesman, looking for his old partner. He shot him during a criminal investigation, and while he's assuming dead, our main guy knows he isn't. Heavy on the text, but quite worth it. Characters were really well done, the style is gorgeous, and the film-noir feel was perfect.


Professor Layton and the Curious Village - This game has been getting tons of hype lately, which I'm sure any of you that were at Katsucon saw. Creative puzzles with free weekly downloads, and a top notch story behind it.


Legend of Zelda : Phantom Hourglass - The direct sequel to Wind Waker. Using a similar style and heavy use of the touch screen, they've put together a really fun Zelda game. This is what I'm playing through right now.


Ninja Gaiden : Dragon Sword - The Ninja Gaiden guys certainly had a challenge ahead of them, to translate that fast paced action to a touch screen interface, but they managed to pull it off.


Contra 4 - Ridiculously tough is how I'm going to put it. If you've played Contra, you know what to expect, but I find this one more difficult than any of the others.


Animal Crossing - Make friends, go and trash your friend's villages online, go fishing, make gardens, that's the kind of game that Animal Crossing is. It's a pretty relaxed game where you just go around and do whatever. Some people get super hooked on it!


Nintendogs - Pretty much the cutest series of games in existance. Though I've linked to my favourite dogs, they have a number of different versions. The different versions allow you to have different dogs, and I think you can trade with your pals and get other dogs as well? I'm not sure. It's pretty much a virtual pet that you raise and have fun with.

[dr_teng]

Out of print and import games :

The best places to buy out of print games are either locally(check your local classifieds or craigslist)or on Ebay. Places like Gamestop usually rip you off unless you have coupons. I personally like Playasia for my import needs. The DS is a region free system, so you won't have any problem playing imports. Scores from games that aren't on Metacritic, such as Tingle, were taken from Gamerankings.

If you purchase the games using the links below(or any of the title links in the above post), you're helping out Cosfu a little bit, so thanks!

Play-asia link
Ebay link

Castlevania : Dawn of Sorrow - (out of print) A terrific game in the vein of Symphony of the Night. It's considered better than Portrait of Ruin, though I enjoyed both equally. A side scrolling action platformer with a ton of replay value and some RPG elements. You can level your character and so on.


Advance Wars : Dual Strike - (out of print) Considered the better of the two Advance Wars on the DS, though I prefer the second for the less heavy reliance on special powers. Colourful and entertaining with a lot of challenge, plus a few online features(though the online was improved in Days of Ruin).


Jump : Ultimate Stars - (import) Think of Smash Bros, but for the DS. This is a sequel that packs way more characters, levels, and online multiplayer into the mix. I didn't end up getting terribly far because I don't understand Japongo moon language, but I'm sure there's translations available on gamefaqs or whatever.


Ouendan - (import) The first game I ever imported. Great music, hilarious story and cutscenes, even without understanding Japanese at all, it was a blast to play. Be warned, get a screen protector before you play this game, it'll almost certainly cause your DS screen to be scratched. Best music game on the DS. A sequel came out, and there's the English version, Elite Beat Agents, however, I still find the original to be the most fun.


Phoenix Wright : Ace Attorney - (out of print) I'm sure you've all seen the internet memes. The first game introduced the series and the great characters, had some super fun cases, and was generally a good time all around. While I felt the second game got bogged down(especially in the last two cases), the first and the third game kept me hooked.


Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland - (import) Don't play this without a guide, seriously. It's a fun Zelda style adventure, and it's HILARIOUS, but if you play it without a guide you'll think it's the worst thing ever. Due to the high prices of importing it, I'd say don't bother unless you get a really good deal, or you're a big Zelda fan. Keep in mind, I agree with the review score if you play without a guide.

[Melelin]

Oh good, I've been meaning to get Ouendan 1 & 2 for a while; will this help you out indefinately, or would I have to order them soon?

I also wanted to throw out, my friend imported the DS version of Taiko Drum Master (http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-49-en-15-taiko-70-2050.html) a bit ago; I played it a bit, it's quite amusing for a rythm game. Another thing on my list to buy XD

[dr_teng]

Oh good, I've been meaning to get Ouendan 1 & 2 for a while; will this help you out indefinately, or would I have to order them soon?

I also wanted to throw out, my friend imported the DS version of Taiko Drum Master (http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-49-en-15-taiko-70-2050.html) a bit ago; I played it a bit, it's quite amusing for a rythm game. Another thing on my list to buy XD

Doesn't need to be soon, do it whenever you feel like. If you click the link and order, we get a small percentage, and whenever we get the check, we put it towards server costs/upgrades/etc...

I've heard of Taiko Drum Master, but never played it. I'll go check out some reviews for it, once I clear out my DS backlog of games. Getting close!

[Spazzeh]

I'm not sure how you guys feel about this, but I would recommend Cooking Mama 2, if you have the cash to spare. I find it an adorable game to play, though I guess some people might find is repetitive.

Edit : It also makes me feel better about my bad-to-okay cooking skills in real life. :D

This post has been edited by Spazzeh: 17 April 2008 - 11:28 PM

[Honey-sempai]

I looooooove the Kanji Dictionary for the Nintendo DS.

You can get it at Yesasia.com here...

I'm in my fourth semester of Japanese now and it's a really useful tool. Kanji dictionaries were always such a pain in the ass because it does take relatively long to look up a Kanji since you have to figure out the significant part (called "Radikal" in German) of it, then browse to that section and count the remaining strikes to look it up further.

Now you can enter the Kanjis into the DS very easily with the touchpen. Even though the Kanjis you write look very strange the program recognizes the right one almost every time.

While there may be not as many Kanjis and combinations as in a regular digital Kanji dictionary the module for the DS only costs about a 10th of the price of a real digital Kanji dictionary.

It's a great thing for beginners and especially recommendable for anybody who owns a DS and wants to learn Japanese.

[DarkFujin]

Castlevania : Dawn of Sorrow - (out of print) A terrific game in the vein of Symphony of the Night. It's considered better than Portrait of Ruin, though I enjoyed both equally. A side scrolling action platformer with a ton of replay value and some RPG elements. You can level your character and so on.

Awwww, man. This was my first DS game, but I sold it after beating it. I didn't know it was out of print, it was really fun. Not as fun as Symphony of the Night, but still fun.



Another great out of print game is Tetris. It's a bitch to find, and if you try to buy it on Amazon or eBay or something right now it's hella expensive, but if you're lucky enough to find it used locally, it's well worth it. It has different modes based on classic Nintendo games (Mario, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Balloon Fight, Yoshi's Cookie) and each mode is different. Of course, there's the classic Tetris mode, and you can play wirelessly with your friends. It also features nostalgic music, and references to many classic Nintendo games (for example, there was a loading screen or something that had the sprite of the professor dude from Gyromite).

[Mukino Kuneka]

I just beat Phantom Hourglass a couple hours ago. It was really neat, even though my drawing skills apparently fail. The ending was cute, too. The beginning of the game gives enough information so that if you haven't played Windwaker yet, you've still got a general idea of what went on in it.

Makes me think I should play Windwaker now. . .

I need to pick up that Professor Layton game next time I'm in Toys R Us, too (I have a giftcard for $20 from buying my DS Lite) - I tried out one of the puzzles on the site (eerily enough, it was one of the ones I always struggled through as a kid), and it's really addictive. :3

I want Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, too, for the new Eeveelutions. Bwa ha ha.

[DarkFujin]

I need to pick up Phantom Hourglass again. I gave it up after the 20th time it sent me to the Temple of the Ocean King.

And I need to get Professor Layton too. It looks cute.

[dr_teng]

Awwww, man. This was my first DS game, but I sold it after beating it. I didn't know it was out of print, it was really fun. Not as fun as Symphony of the Night, but still fun.

Another great out of print game is Tetris.

They re-released Dawn of Sorrow in a REALLY ugly ass package for about $20 around September I think? I believe that was a limited run as well, and seriously, the package looks like such a piece of shit.

Tetris is pretty awesome, but the online prices for it are nuts. $30-$50? Yowza.

Makes me think I should play Windwaker now. . .

You really should. While there's one annoying part in the middle of the game, and some people didn't like all the sailing(I personally enjoyed it, but just in case, get the transportation thing early on), it was a top notch Zelda game and such a beautiful style.

[DarkFujin]

They re-released Dawn of Sorrow in a REALLY ugly ass package for about $20 around September I think? I believe that was a limited run as well, and seriously, the package looks like such a piece of shit.

This one?
http://i40.photobuck...konami-best.jpg

LOL I'M GOING TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE GAME BOX TO PUT ON THE GAME BOX!!


As for Tetris, I was able to get it at Gamestop a few months ago, but it still cost like $25 and didn't even have the cover art or instruction manual. And it has someone else's data on it, so every time I beat a level it takes me to the next uncompleted level, which is a pretty high level, and I can't figure out how to delete the saved data.

[Mukino Kuneka]

You really should. While there's one annoying part in the middle of the game, and some people didn't like all the sailing(I personally enjoyed it, but just in case, get the transportation thing early on), it was a top notch Zelda game and such a beautiful style.

The big reason I didn't get it in the first place was (besides not having a Gamecube) because of the style. XD Just goes to show one can't judge a game by it's deviation from the norm (although I never really understood why they opted for that style instead of sticking with OoT and MM's style).

[Chibiscut]

I need to pick up Phantom Hourglass again. I gave it up after the 20th time it sent me to the Temple of the Ocean King.

I think I quit after the 3rd time. I still have it but the only reason I'd pick it up again and continue is so I could keep customizing my boat. Just ain't my cup of tea, I guess.

But god dammit fuck that stupid temple, fuck its stupid guards, fuck its stupid sentries and fuck its stupid purple gas. The only reason I haven't sold it yet is because I'm torn between wanting to finish it (and continue customizing my boat, dammit) and the 20 bucks it'd get me.

In other news, does anyone know if the Trauma Center game worth getting and playing? Or is it going to frustrate me to the point I have to take my DS into the back lot and beat it with a chainsaw?

[dr_teng]

In other news, does anyone know if the Trauma Center game worth getting and playing? Or is it going to frustrate me to the point I have to take my DS into the back lot and beat it with a chainsaw?

To elaborate on my mini-review up in the original posts, it's worth getting, yeah.

But it does get pretty difficult towards the end. Just keep in mind that one of the button makes cutscenes zoom by super quick, which you'll really want to know, since the story is such an enormous waste of time when you want to get down to cutting people up.

[DarkFujin]

I'm curious about the Tingle game. I've been meaning to get it for a while (once I have the money to import it from Europe) but you said you need a guide. Why is that? Is it hard, or is it so ridiculous you have no idea what you're supposed to do, or what?

[dr_teng]

I'm curious about the Tingle game. I've been meaning to get it for a while (once I have the money to import it from Europe) but you said you need a guide. Why is that? Is it hard, or is it so ridiculous you have no idea what you're supposed to do, or what?

The best way I can come up to describe it is if you took all the Jewish stereotypes (throw in whatever ethnicity your local region considers cheap) and made them into a game, this would be it.

Pretty much EVERYTHING you do requires rupees. First off, you have a tower where you need to pour rupees into, to access new lands. Want to enter areas? Rupees. Want to have a bodyguard, because your fighting is near worthless without it? Rupees. Guess what happens when you take damage? You lose rupees. Want to sell an item to a merchant? If you price it so much as 1 rupee too high during negotiations, they'll take your item and give you 1 rupee total, even if it's worth hundreds, or thousands of rupees.

The only real guide you need is for rupee negotiation.

http://www.importgamers.com/tingle/ < That was what I was using.

[DarkFujin]

I assume you can't just cut down grass and get a shitton of rupees like in the other Zelda games, right? Damn. You end up swimming in rupees in those games.

[dr_teng]

You got it. The only way to make rupees is by helping people out, or by killing creatures, taking the materials they leave, and cooking up stews and such that you can sell to people.

[Blackfish]

The best way I can come up to describe it is if you took all the Jewish stereotypes and made them into a game, this would be it.

Well I know what to get my Jewish boyfriend for his birthday now, thank you.

I'm looking forward to Tactics Advance 2 since my DS is only being used for Phoenix Wright 2 and the occasional Pokemon Pearl. I also need to beat Trauma Center which is pretty fun but does get to be a bitch at the end.

Is Wario Ware: Touched any good compared to its predecessor?

[Bandersnatch]

As for Tetris, I was able to get it at Gamestop a few months ago, but it still cost like $25 and didn't even have the cover art or instruction manual. And it has someone else's data on it, so every time I beat a level it takes me to the next uncompleted level, which is a pretty high level, and I can't figure out how to delete the saved data.

“Saving: Your scores will be automatically saved at the end of every game. To delete this data, press and hold the L Button, → on the +Control Pad and SELECT before the Nintendo logo is displayed after starting Tetris DS.”

[DarkFujin]

“Saving: Your scores will be automatically saved at the end of every game. To delete this data, press and hold the L Button, → on the +Control Pad and SELECT before the Nintendo logo is displayed after starting Tetris DS.”

Yay! Thank you so much. No wonder I couldn't figure that out on my own, it's a stupid button combination. I couldn't even find it on Google. lol.



Also, has anyone played The World Ends With You yet? I'm not sure if I want it or not. I'm not a big fan of Square-Enix's stuff ever since the Squaresoft and Enix merger (basically, their new stuff) but I'm glad they're releasing something new and it looks unique enough to maybe be fun. So... I know it just came out, but has anyone played it yet?

This post has been edited by DarkFujin: 24 April 2008 - 04:10 PM

[Melelin]

My roomie's been playing it, and really enjoying it (though I haven't had a chance to play it myself yet since there seems to be only one save file.) It seems there's some unique gameplay elements (like, apparantly controlling two characters at once on the seperate screens o.O), and you get stuff in game for playing with other people, or apparantly, playing while there's other people playing their DS in the area. Like, not even that game, you'll get stuff if they're just doing random stuff, it sounds kooky.

I wish I could give a better description but.. yeah. Haven't played it yet *shrugs*

[dr_teng]

Just FYI guys, today's Amazon deal is :

Advance Wars : Days of Ruin for DS for $17

Plus, Amazon is having 5 other DS deals today. Just check the gold box. Each one will last 3 hours, sometimes they have really nice prices!

[Melelin]

Now that I've finally gotten The World Ends With You and played through it a bit myself, I'm going to add to my former statement that, yeah, it really is worth getting. Basically, you play as this kid, Neku, who uses pins/psychic powers to kick the crap out of the things out to get him. The thing is, you play with a partner (IE, the character on the top screen;) attacks for Neku are controlled with the stylus exclusively, attacks with the partner are controlled with either the arrow keys or the lettered buttons (if you're left handed.) They share health bars and such across screen, so, you have to be able to multitask at least a little to keep up with it.

The story seems very good so far; I'm not even horribly far in, and there's already a few twists that got thrown in that completely blindsided me and left me blinking at the screen for a few minutes, wondering when the game was going to go 'haha, just kidding!'. I also know I managed to miss stuff, but there's a new game + for fixing all of that, so, no problem.

And I will say, I'm extremely happy with how they handle the difficulty in the game. There's different levels of difficulty that you can basically change on the fly between fights, and even going further than that, you can choose to temporarily delevel yourself. Doing so increases the drop rate of enemies, playing on a harder level will net you better stuff. It's actually really great, I've been playing through with my character severely deleveled (hard, yeah, but the drops are great,) but the few times I've run into a boss I couldn't beat, I just pop it up to a slightly better level and have at it. It really removes the frustration that I've had in some squeenix games before (IE, too easy on the monster fights but so ridiculously hard on the boss fights that you have to grind for hours just to fight them.)

There's a minigame too, though I haven't tried it out yet; from what I can tell, you use your pins in almost a pog-ish manner, except they have different stats, but I may not be 100% correct.

(I'll say, I found it highly amusing when I ran into someone on the street who was talking about cosplay.)

Tl;DR version - it's a good game. Buy it before spoilers inundate the interwebs!

[Mukino Kuneka]

*makes mental note* I will be buying that shortly, then.

I got Professor Layton yesterday, and I've been playing it like mad (which, incidentally, is why I'm awake at this hour). Pretty much everything in the story is connected to puzzles, and there are over 100 of them.

You get three hints on each puzzle, but you have to pay 1 hint coin every time you need one. Fortunately, hint coins are plentiful, depending on how you play. The graphics on the cutscenes are really similar in quality to the cutscene graphics on KH: Chain of Memories, which is slightly disappointing (the website was better), but it's still really neat to see animated cutscenes on a handheld.

Basically, if you like/are good at brain teasers, then it's really worth buying.

EDIT - Beat it. XD It took me about 8 hours, so it's a really short game, IMO. The storyline was really quaint, and horribly cliched, and there's supposed to be a sequel. But there was a neat little twist to it near the end.

This post has been edited by Mukino Kuneka: 28 April 2008 - 02:34 PM

[DarkFujin]

I'll have to pick up The World Ends With You when I have more money. Unfortunately, that might not be until after Fanime. Hopefully I'll have enough money before then. I hope I don't get it spoiled for me.

I recently picked up Megaman ZX: Advent. It's a little old, yeah, but whatever. I hate all the new RPG Megaman shit (.EXE and Star Force and all that). I never played the original Megaman ZX so I don't know how well it follows that, but in Advent you can chose as either a boy or a girl. As far as I can tell so far, it's the same game no matter which one you chose, except they play a little differently (the boy has a buster gun and the girl has a laser gun). I haven't played too far into the girl's story though, so I don't know if they're the same gameplay or not. There's a lot of anime cutscenes and terrible, exaggerated anime-style voice acting, but you can skip that if you don't care about it. I think it's pretty fun so far though.

[Chico_Chan]

Also, has anyone played The World Ends With You yet? I'm not sure if I want it or not. I'm not a big fan of Square-Enix's stuff ever since the Squaresoft and Enix merger (basically, their new stuff) but I'm glad they're releasing something new and it looks unique enough to maybe be fun. So... I know it just came out, but has anyone played it yet?

Yeah that's exactly how I felt. No been a fan of Squeenix for a while, but I was very interested in this game. I like it, but I unfortunately can't afford it since ACEN tickets ate up all my money -_-

[MYK]

I've had WEWY for two weeks now, and I have to agree with the statement that it's one of the better Squeenix games.
I was severly disappointed that the fashions didn't change your character's on-screen looks, it would've been fucking hilarious. The fashion system as a whole is kinda strange, I tend to ignore it. I mean, after all, if you win enough battles it's your stuff that ends up being at the top of the fashion list, and then your getting bonuses on your pins.
The endgame was beyond tedious but worth it, I think, because of the plot elements that were revealed. I'm currently powering my way through the after-game, which is really kinda fun.
The minigame--Tin Pin Slammer--takes some getting used to, especially when you're trying to figure out which pins to use. >.> It also makes for a nice diversion when you get bored of wading through text-scenes.
Overall, I highly recommend this game; it took me about 5-6 days to reach endgame, and now I'm just taking it slow with the aftergame.

edit #1: oh, and, sorry for the necro...
edit #2: to whomever wrote the frontpage article--nice WEWY!fuckery pictures in there.

This post has been edited by MYK: 18 July 2008 - 07:59 AM

[DarkFujin]

Ah, yeah, my Blockbuster actually has DS games now, so I was able to rent TWEWY and try it out.

I have to agree with MYK and Dr. Teng (on the article) that it was kind of disappointing that you couldn't change your character's physical appearance. And the fashion thing was kind of weird. I was hoping it would give me some challenges by making my pins weaker or something, but instead it just made whatever I was wearing popular, so all my stuff got stronger.

As for the battle system, I didn't think it was that bad at first. I was somehow able to control Neku and Shiki the way Square-Enix intended, where we could pass the light puck and everything. But of course, Shiki isn't your partner for the entire game, and each partner has a a different way of fighting, so I gave up and just let the computer control them.

In the beginning, the characters pissed me off, but after playing the game for a bit I found myself getting attached to the characters and the story. I kept wanting to play to find out what happens next.

But yeah, there was definitely too much text, and this is coming from someone who plays text games like Phoenix Wright. It also got a little repetitive at times. At first, I had leveled myself down and fought everything I could so I could get cool pins. About halfway through the game though, I got tired of fighting confusing battles so I set myself to the highest level I could go, and only fought the bosses/things I had to fight to get the game done faster.