"Minna no Nintendo" Channel Dragon Ball DS demo

[Dogasu]

So I checked the front page of this site and saw that a demo for Dragon Ball DS is up on the Minna no Nintendo channel. And since I live in Japan, have a Japanese Wii, and have a Nintendo DS, I thought I'd give it a go and then let you guys know my impressions.

The demo you download isn't just the first level from the game or whatever; it's an actual new level created just for demo purposes. After the title screen (which features Goku and ChiChi running around on Shenlong as Dragon Balls float throughout the air), you're taken to a random forest where we see ChiChi running around, worried that she'll be late. Goku, who just happens to be in that same random forest, sees ChiChi run by and wonders why she's in such a hurry. So, he decides to follow her.

The game, as I'm sure you've all seen from various videos online, is played from a top-down view. The action is stretched across both screens and is zoomed in quite a bit, so you actually need to pay attention to both screens to figure out where you're going. If you just focus on the bottom screen, you get lost very easily because the action’s zoomed in so much, so learning to pay attention to both screens is a must.

The controls are very much like the controls in The Legend of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass. You tap your stylus in the direction you want Goku to move and tap on enemy characters to attack them. There isn't an actual jump button, so, just like in Zelda, you have to tap on the other side of whatever ledge Goku's trying to get to in order to jump over it.

On the bottom of the screen is an icon that lets you change your attack style. Tapping it once equips you with your Nyoibo; tapping it a second time puts you back to fighting with your fists. The Nyoibo has a longer range but isn’t as fast as your fists, so there are advantages and disadvantages to both. You can also hold the stylus over Goku to charge him up, allowing you to do this kind of thrust attack that does more damage than regular attacks. It also lets you move giant crates around, which is something you need to do in order to progress through the demo. There's also this dodge move where you kind of vanish and then reappear beside an enemy, but I could never get the timing right and just decided to attack recklessly instead. Seemed to work well enough.

Unfortunately, you can't do the Kamehame-Ha in the demo.

I apologize for the constant Zelda allusions...but the demo really did flow a lot like a Zelda dungeon. You enter a "room," fight all the enemies that are present, maybe move a box around or something, and then move on. The puzzles didn't really get any more complex than "move a box over here so you can jump on it and proceed," but since it's just a demo, I can’t realistically expect anything more complicated. The demo kind of beats you over the head with tutorials every time you enter a new “room,” so the flow is kind of broken up by monotonous tutorials telling you how to do everything from moving your character to performing basic battle commands.

At the end of the demo, you run into ChiChi in a dead end. There, she’s pretty hysterical about being late, so you have to calm her down by having a boss battle with her. *Shrugs* ChiChi’s attacks by throwing her helmet blade thingee at you, shooting that beam from her helmet (which stuns you), and kind of flailing her arms about as she runs blindly toward you. The battle takes a while to complete, but it really isn’t too difficult if you use the Nyoibo to keep your distance.

After the fight, ChiChi tells Goku what she was rushing around for; she was going to the store to buy the newest game for the Nintendo DS, Dragon Ball DS. Goku thinks she’s talking about food, so ChiChi explains that it’s an action video game that features all of Goku’s friends. She also tells him that he can even use the Kamehame-Ha in the game. After the little advertisement concludes, you’re taken back to the title screen.

The demo uses all-original music, so it doesn’t look too likely that we’ll be getting any TV show BGM used as music. Bummer. Goku and ChiChi can both be heard making battle yells and grunting and whatnot, but any actual dialogue that they’re given is text-only (again…think Phantom Hourglass).

Overall, I’d say that the game looks like it’ll be…alright. The combat got kind of repetitive toward the end of the ten minute demo, so I hope the actual game will be able to keep me entertained for a little longer. Maybe the ability to go through the storyline of the manga will help distract me? Who knows? In any case, I feel like I have a better understanding of Dragon Ball DS and am more excited about its release than I was before I got to play the demo.

[NeptuneKai]

Thanks for the load of great information! I'm psyched for another Dragonball game, for some reason this is really reminding me of Gokuden for the SNES. It's going to be nice to play a DB game that isn't a typical "fighter". Here's hoping for a Japanese voice option.

[SonEric84]

haha That's cool, thanks for that. The part in the beginning about Goku seeing Chi-Chi all worried she's going to be late and running off with Goku in pursuit reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. Wish I could give it a try.

[The S]

A fourth-wall shattering demo with an exclusive level? Why don't more games have things like this?

[jaywonder]

I'm really hyped for this game. I wish it was coming out sooner in the states, though