GamesRadar - DS Features

Five in-game deaths that actually made us sad (Advance Wars: Days of Ruin )

Apr 4, 2008

More and more games seem to be plucking our heart strings to great affect and eliciting a genuine sense of woe amongst players. Here we look at five recent videogame deaths that have made us appropriately gloomy for all the right reasons and ponder how they succeeded in stoking the cold blue flames of our sadness. ...

The 21 Hardest Nintendo games ever (Advance Wars: Days of Ruin )

Mar 10, 2008

From the stinging paper cuts delivered by their early Hanafuda cards, to their dual screen screammaker Contra 4, Nintendo have been responsible for a downpour of tricky titles to douse even the most resilient gamer's spirit. Join us as we descend Jacob's ladder through the circles of hell, into the belly of the Game Over beast. ...

The Top 7... games we want announced at E3 (Animal Crossing: Wild World)

Jul 13, 2008

It's everyone's favorite time of the year again, when thousands of overcaffeinated journalists descend upon E3 with their live-blogged, 2000-word diatribes on the most minor of details. The objects of their unending speculation? The biggest games of the show, which, oddly enough, have been known to the gaming press for months and will surprise literally no one.

That's why we're interested in games that haven't been seen, announced or ...

Animal Crossing two-minute tidy-up (Animal Crossing: Wild World)

Nov 23, 2007

November 23, 2007 We hadn't touched Animal Crossing: Wild World for the last 11 months, so we thought we'd visit our town to see how everyone was doing. To our dismay, there were weeds everywhere. Feeling some weird need to see our town in order again, we thought we'd see how long it took to pick them all. It was about 35 minutes, non-stop. But a video of that would be boring, so we've condensed it into 2 minutes and set it to the Benny Hill Music! ...

Animal Crossing Dream Town (Animal Crossing: Wild World)

May 2, 2007

While MySims looks adorable, there are many of us here who refuse to get excited about a cutesy town simulator thats not Animal Crossing. We know its coming and we cant wait until we get to send each other more messages and outfit our homes with songs that can only be acquired on Saturday nights. Without further adieu: 1) Outdoor pursuits How about a fitness trail through the woods, or a soccer lawn? So theres actually something to do when your pal suggests going for a walk. 2) Games room Wed ...

Busted Cheats: Week 1 (Ben 10: Protector of Earth)

May 29, 2008

Here at CheatPlanet we're always trying to sort through the cheat submissions to find the tiny nuggets of helpful information hidden among the hundreds of moronic submissions we receive each day. It's a thankless job, one that we keep working on only because of our love of cheats and the happiness we feel when looking into a child's smiling face after he or she unlocks the second set of weapons in GTA IV (Call GUN-555-0100) and ...

MGS4 makes last stand against casual games (Brain Age 2)

Jun 9, 2008

“We’re in the era of casual games, and it’s time to say ‘this is for the hardcore gamer’,” says Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear Solid 4. “So it’s really, really important [MSG4] succeeds.” Has he got a point? With budgets spiraling (a decent next-gen title costs anywhere from $20-40 million) companies are becoming more risk-averse, keener on pumping out sure things than trying out new ...

Top 7... Cutesy Characters We Want to Beat the Crap Out of (Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day)

Apr 21, 2008

Admit it - you’ve thought about choking quite a few videogame characters to death. Whether it’s an annoying sidekick or a particularly tough boss, there’s no denying that the urge to bust somebody in the mush hasn’t seized you. There are a lot of deserving punks we could put into this article - but the most aggravating offenses come from the cutest characters. Those fluffy types just there to make a game more ...

Gaming supermen (Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day)

Aug 7, 2006

What the hell did people do all day before the internet? In just the past year, user-generated sites like YouTube have become everyday destinations for virtually anything that's ever been recorded, broadcasted or even conceived of - and that includes gaming. A recent thread over on the Penny Arcade forums called out the best you'll-never-pull-this-off video game moments captured on video, and wouldn't you know it, YouTube pretty much as them all. Prepare to feel worthless. We perused the list ...

It's yoga for your mind (Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day)

Mar 31, 2006

Fifty-six. That's the average age we editors at GamesRadar are getting when we first fire up the mind-twisting Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day. While our memories of the average '80s weekend may vary, none of us quite hits that age bracket just yet (and in fact, our scores seem to get better quickly, at least at first). But it doesn't matter - this mental Twister mat isn't about competition. We recently had a chat with two guys responsible for translating and porting Brain Age to ...

Previews Roundup (Cake Mania)

Mar 14, 2007

Sometimes we come upon a massive amount of information for a few of the more well-known games (looking at you Stranglehold ), while more often than not we receive very little info on smaller titles. Today, we present to you a smattering of DS previews so you know what to look forward to in the coming months. Hamtaro Ham Ham Challenge Out: March 15 (Japan) Writing out the full Japanese title would fill this entire column, but since it has the word atsumare in it, which means “gather ...

The cheesiest videogame songs EVER (Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia)

Sep 23, 2008

You’ll often hear about games lauded for their exceptional soundtracks. Some succeeded with NES-style bleeps, others had orchestral scores or fully licensed songs that lent credibility to a medium struggling to be more than a toy. ...

Game names corrected by spell check (Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia)

Jun 5, 2008

You know that red line that pops up in Word, Firefox or any other program with a spell check? It's helpful, don't get us wrong, but they really should spend some time working on spell check's virtual intuition. When we typed "Firefox," just now while writing this article, the red line asked if we meant "firebox." Um no, we didn't. And that's what happens countless times every second across the world when people type in video game names - ...

Castlevania: the mega-interview (Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin)

Mar 12, 2007

Thanks to Game Developers Conference taking place in San Francisco last week, we were able to score a rare chance to sit down with Koji "IGA" Igarashi, the current producer of the Castlevania series. Though he was more than prepared to discuss the upcoming Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP, we managed to tease details on the future of the series, namely its next generation installment, out of him. Keep reading to find out the most comprehensive, up-to-date Castlevania ...

Portrait of secrets - packed with spoilers (Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin)

Dec 15, 2006

Another year, another Castlevania, right? Aside from a few brief lapses, we've been enjoying a quality castle quest every year since 1997's Symphony of the Night. With that one game, the entire series changed - instead of a straightforward action-slashfest, the games became an open-ended exploration of Dracula's castle, riddled with secret passageways, hidden bosses and an untold number of bonus features. That tradition continues with Portrait of Ruin. Even though we've long since finished the ...

Portrait of Ruin interview (Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin)

Sep 23, 2006

If you've been a happy Game Boy or DS owner at any point in the past five years, you're likely a fan of the immortal Castlevania series. Each one pits a lone hero against the forces of Dracula, but the latest entry in the series, Portrait of Ruin, bucks that trend by teaming you up with a magical young girl. To get the straight talk on the change, and just generally gush a little praise, we sat down with series creator Koji "IGA" Igarashi and composer Michiru Yamane. GamesRadar: Portrait of ...

Chronicles of Narnia first look (The Chronicles of Narnia The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe)

Jul 11, 2005

With over 85 million books sold worldwide it was only a matter of time before CS Lewis' staggeringly successful Chronicles of Narnia novels were adapted with a princely Hollywood budget for the big screen.This Christmas, Lewis' fantastical world of Narnia will be magically conjured to cinemas courtesy of Disney's movie of the first book, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.Disney is touting Chronicles as its biggest ever movie release and, to complement its planned ...

10 games that need the Mega Man 9 treatment (Contra 4)

Aug 12, 2008

Pardon our geekboners, but holy f**k Mega Man 9! Instead of dragging our boyhood hero through any more tired Star Forces or Battle Networks, those understanding folks at Capcom are giving us the Mega Man game we’ve always wanted.

What took ya so long? And more importantly, why haven’t other games turned to their pixilated roots when MM9 is making it look so damned easy? Tecmo Bowl is about to rise ...

Gaming's biggest movie rip-offs (Contra 4)

Jan 7, 2008

The relationship between games and movies has always been a tense one. There's something almost violently alchemical about the way the two media usually react to each other. It's like getting hit by a yellow, piss-soaked snowball. Either element can be unpleasant enough on its own, but put them both together and something far more horrible happens. Games of movies, movies of games, they're both usually about as much fun as the death of a clown at a ten year-old's birthday party. But still we ...

The Top 7... New franchises that already feel old (Cooking Mama)

Sep 8, 2008

Mario is a cultural phenomenon. Final Fantasy is epic. Resident Evil, Fallout, Diablo... all of these classic franchises will eventually be tossed away, but they won't be stamped with expiration dates anytime in the foreseeable future.

Other franchises started growing mold before they even left the grocery store shelves.

The somehow-less-inspired franchises may sell millions, contain lovable ...