April 5th 2010 marked the 1st birthday of the DSiWare shop. With over 150+ games available on the service, Nintendo has proven that it’s portable download game service works well with small developers and gamers alike. With the recent release of the Nintendo DSi XL, I thought it would be best to look over some of the service’s best games as well as notable upcoming games for newcomers and curious gamers. This is the best of the best, from what I played as well as from general consensus.

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XL Invasion!

Nintendo let loose 3 main releases in the US today, for which they held a launch event at the Nintendo World Store for. These releases were WarioWare D.I.Y, America’s Test Kitchen: Let’s Get Cooking and the leader of the pack: the latest member of the DS family, the Nintendo DSi XL! Yep, it’s a pretty big day for the Big N! To check out all 3 items, me and my friend Drzgamer (the guy who makes sure this site doesn’t explode in your face) headed downtown to Nintendo World.

We got at the event around 11:40 am, 40 minutes after it started. To my surprise, there wasn’t that many people there for the triple threat launch. Of course I knew it wouldn’t be a Pokemon kind of crowd, but I still expected a little more turn up. However, this might have turned out to be advantageous for my friend Drzgamer! How do you ask? Well he managed to get interviewed by Gary and Allison of Nintendo Week! It’s possible that he may show up in next week’s episode of Nintendo Week talking about WarioWare D.I.Y, so look out for the kid in the Megaman 10 shirt!

Allison, Drz & Gary!

After signing some release forms, we chatted a little bit with Gary & Allison. The hosts of Nintendo Channel’s weekly show really do know their stuff! After the interview, me and Drz decided to check out the new games on the table. Drz went on to try out WarioWare D.I.Y, while I met up with a Nintendo World Store rep and demoed the DSi XL with 2 games.

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Rain may have put a damper on the Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver Launch event at Toys R Us, but Nintendo World decided to give it another shot today, and success came in spades! It didn’t look like it from outside, but once you go pass those heavy doors..man I couldn’t even walk!

Drowning in the sea of Pokefans

It was exciting to see everybody interact. Seeing Pokemon fans from young to old connecting via the game’s union room or the Pokewalker..it gives me a fuzzy feeling inside. Aside from the massive battle/trading/PokeWalker fest, the store was holding a tournament for those who stepped up for the challenge, and they were giving away Pikachu hats and Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver bookbags with every purchase. Not much in the way of swag, but it didn’t matter. If you were smart, connecting your PokeWalker with anybody you can nets you tons of virtual swag & watts (PokeWalker currency) for your game. I got tons of both thanks to all of the Pokefans I met. Speaking of which, I met some old Nsider (Nintendo’s now extinct official forum) buddies which was a great treat.

Pikachu, doing what a Pikachu does.

While seeing the massive amount of people having fun was great, meeting some of the more dedicated fans was awesome. Rayquaza & Ho-oh heads, the heroes from Pokemon SoulSilver & HeartGold, hell even Red was there to join in on the fun. They were prime examples of a true blue Pokefan, and they were fun to talk with too! Hours go by and the store remains steadily packed. Pokelove goin all around.

Best of show?

Overall, this was probably the most packed event that the Nintendo World Store held this year so far. One of the most fun too. Can Super Mario Galaxy 2 or Metroid Other M top this? Who knows. But you can bet that I’ll cover them both.

Flickr Set

Today marks the day thousands of Pokemon fans kick it into overdrive for the release of the latest Pokemon games, HeartGold & SoulSilver. Nintendo held a event for the 2 games at Toys R Us Time Square Station, setting up a little road to show off and demonstrate the Pokewalker. Sadly, the rain decided to hate Pokemon today and it poured randomly from a drizzle to a heavy shower, limiting the amount of tours.

Rain will not stop the Pokewalk?

But the rain won’t stop this Pokefan! I recorded one tour just for those who couldn’t make it, braving the rain in my poorly equip poncho. Check out the first part of the tour after the break.

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Flipper

DSiWare

Developer/Publisher:  GoodByeGalaxyGames/Xform

ESRB Rating: E for Everyone

Price: 500 Nintendo Points on the DSiWare Shop

Fun Fact: The developer is an amazing team of 1!

Flipper tells a very simple tale of a boy and his quest to save his titular goldfish, Flipper from the evil intentions of ghosts, pirates and robots. Simple as that sounds, don’t let it fool you: Flipper is definitely one of the most charming and unique games on the service.

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Dark Void Zero

DSiWare

Developer/Publisher:  Other Ocean/Capcom

ESRB Rating: E for Everyone

Price: 500 Nintendo Points on the Nintendo DSiWare Shop

You’ve got to hand it to Capcom. They sure know how handle retro games, be it remakes (Bionic Commando Rearmed) or brand new affairs (Megaman 9), It’ll be high quality stuff. Their newest retro based game, Dark Void Zero does not disrupt that fact.

You can tell Capcom spent alot of time on this game simply on all the backstory they created for the game. From dual screened arcade cabinets to Jimmy Fallon (Seriously!), the “history” of Dark Void Zero is definitely something fun to read up on.  You can start off here at Capcom Unity.

However, is all this marketing hype simply hiding a lame attempt at promoting the release of Dark Void on the 360 and PS3? After a great game session, I’m going to have to say no!

Oh, Capcom!

As soon as you boot it up, Dark Void Zero tosses retro charm in your face. As seen above, you actually have to blow into the DSi’s microphone to get to the game’s main menu. (Of course if you’re in public and prefer not to do so, you can simply press A) You are greeted with fantastic bitmusic from Bear McCreary  (Battlestar Galactica) and a simple menu. Select your difficulty and start up the game by learning about the backstory of Earth’s struggle with the Watchers, an alien race trying to create a stable portal to invade Earth fullforce.

Hover & Kill

Teaming up with the brilliant scientist Nikolai Tesla, you take control of Rusty and jet pack your way into facilities, stealing keycards and shooting badguys. The top screen gives you a metriodvania-type map, while the touch screen houses all of the gameplay. Using the map, you must run, gun and hover towards objectives that Nikolai sets out for you. Simple controls and clear settings make for great handling in this plataformer/shooter.

Decent enemy and weapon/item variety ensures that things don’t get stale and secondary objectives such as finding old captain’s logs and eliminating enemy scientists give you reason to explore every nook and cranny of the map. Doing this all while fantastic bitmusic plays proves to be one of the most fun and polished experiences on DSiWare. However, it’s because of all this that it’s one flaw becomes incredibly apparent. It ends too soon.

Dark Void Zero only has 3 levels. Why must something so fun, end so quickly? Sure, you can replay the game on higher difficulty settings (Easy, Normal & Hard) and try to best your highscore, but I still would have liked to see some more of Rusty’s adventures in the void.

Overall, I would recommend Dark Void Zero to those who want a good quick (maybe too quick) action game during commute or to those already crazy with the Dark Void universe.  (That was early!) Capcom, I hope you continue working on projects like this, making retro styled games in line with your big console releases. Make Lost Planet Zero happen!

+Incredibly fun & polished

+GREAT MUSIC

=You fight the same boss over the 3 levels, albeit with improvements.

-It’s short.

-Did I mention it’s short?

(Edit – Winner has been picked! Please check the email you used to comment to see if you have won!)

Already at the middle of January, I hope time keep this speedy pace. I want this month to be done already, it’s always the most dull (for me anyway!) and nothing fantastic happens. But enough of that, let’s talk video games!

Darksiders (360/PS3) "Think God of War meets The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" - IGN.com

This month starts with heavy hitters (Bayonetta, Darksiders), a little DS rpg flavor in the middle (Sands of Destruction, Glory of Heracles), and ends with a Wii flavored bang (Tatsunoko VS Capcom, No More Heroes 2) as well as some potentially great downloads (Matt Hazard, VVVVVV).

VVVVVV (PC/Mac) "VVVVVV is a fantastic little indie game that's worth experiencing." - Kotaku.com

So what new games are you planning on picking up for the rest of this month? Share it with everyone else, and your comment may be randomly picked to receive a Star Trek Online PC Beta Code! (Include “STO” at the end of your comment to be eligible. This is only up to Sunday @ 11:59 pm, then I’ll just give it away on Twitter.) Only one winner will be selected. Please make sure your computer can run it so the code doesn’t go to waste!

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom (Wii) "TvC should prove to be a must-buy for fighting fans that own a Wii" - G4TV.com

As for me, I was planning to pick up Bayonetta on the PS3, but after seeing first hand the sloppy port job SEGA gave it, I decided to avoid it. (At least until it’s patched?) Darksiders will take it’s place, as it looks attractive and fun. Nothing this month for the DS, saving that for Edgeworth next month! Tatsunoko vs Capcom & No More Heroes 2 are definitely on my Day-1 list, been waiting for these games for what feels like forever!

I loved the demos for VVVVVV & Matt Hazard: Blood, Bath & Beyond, but they both suffer a small problem. Both titles are priced at $15, which feels like a tad too much. VVVVVV is a game everyone should try, it’s  simply fantastic. I would love it to be ported to DSiWare for 1000 Nintendo Points. You must simply try the demo. Matt Hazard continues his saga, parodying games and such, this time in a side scroller ala Metal Slug. Co-op is fun, but again feels $5 too much.

I’ll try to write whatever I can about these games as I get them, otherwise until next month!