DS Download Station Hands-On Review

When I heard that Nintendo World in New York City just got the first DS Download Station in the US I ran down the street to give this Station a try.

The first thing I noticed about the Station once I entered the store was that ... there was no Station! I was expecting to see a small kiosk or something similar, but there were none to be found at Nintendo World. Only after I spoke with an employee did I find out that the store itself was the Download Station and that I could use my DS Wi-Fi anywhere within the store to access the Station. Good to know if you plan to visit the NYC store and give this service a try (note to Nintendo, you might want to advertise the DS Download Station a bit in the NYC store). This setup is a unique case as when these DS Stations begin to appear throughout the country there will be an actual kiosk that will beam wireless demo versions of games and other downloadable content into a players’ Nintendo DS system.

After my initial confusion I whipped out my DS, took a seat, and started to look for a local Wi-Fi signal. Sure enough, within 10 seconds my DS found the "DS Download Station" signal and I quickly connected. Oh yeah, in case you are curious the station was "version one" (Nintendo expects to update the content on these stations once every three months or so).

Once my connection was established I was given a list of seven game demos and one movie I could download (you can view the interface in the above photo). The games demos were Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, Mario Kart DS, Meteos, True Swing Golf, Pokemon Trozei, and two different versions of Tetris DS, while the video clip was an "exclusive" Metroid Prime Hunters movie. I wasn't too interested in Mario Kart DS or any of the other games which were already on the shelves, so I decided to give Brain Age and Tetris DS a go. First up, Brain Age!

I have been really interested in giving this game a try ever since I first read about it several months ago. In Japan this game has been an absolutely monster success, so much so that it actually increased sales of the DS hardware. The first two versions of this game will appear in the US on April 17 and May 30 and have been localized for Western tastes.

Once I selected the demo it took around 15 seconds for the game to download into my DS and then begin. The menu for Brain Age appeared to be the same menu used for the full-version of the game, but most of the options were grayed out. I was able to access two "tests" (“Brain Age” and “Brain Training”) as well as the sudoku number puzzle.

I selected the "Brain Age" test from the touch screen and was quickly introduced to this “test” by the disembodied head of Professor Ryuta Kawashima (don’t ask). This first test consisted of a series of cognitive tests which required me to look at words that appeared on both DS screens. I actually needed to hold the unit sideways, like you would hold a book, and as the words appeared on the screen I needed to say the color of the word into the DS microphone. So if the word was red in color I simply needed to say “red” into the DS microphone.

Sounds easy, right? Well, there was one trick; the word itself was often the name of a color. So the word "blue" might actually be in green letters. Your brain might “read” the word “blue”, but you needed to say the word “green” in order to get the answer correct. It might sound simple, but it was a bit tricky to say the correct color quickly and accurately. The good news is that the DS's voice recognition, via the built-in mic, worked great, even in the loud Nintendo World store. After about 45 seconds you are done with this short exercise you get a score based upon the speed and accuracy of your responses.

The other mode, "Brain Training" was actually a math drill! Yikes! But wouldn't you know it, Nintendo somehow actually made doing math problems fun. Again, I needed to hold the DS sideways (actually the entire Brain Age game was played in this manner) but instead of words appearing, math problems would scroll up the left side of the screen. I needed to write the answers to these problems as quickly as possible on the touch screen. One nice touch is that before you begin the game asks if you are left or right-handed. If you are lefty the game flips itself 180 degrees so that the touch screen is on the left side. No wonder this thing is a best-seller, little touches like that go a long way.

The math problems were all fairly simple addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems and the handwriting recognition was quite impressive. Especially considering that I was writing as fast as possible, and there were times where even I couldn't understand what I wrote, the software rarely made a mistake. Once again at the end your time is analyzed (with five seconds added for each incorrect answer) and you are given a brain score.

Finally I gave the sudoku game a try. It was your standard sudoku game played on a 3x3 grid and the DS needed to be held sideways. The board appears on the touch screen and whenever I needed to enter a number into the board I just selected the appropriate box. Once selected, the sudoku board flips to the left screen and the entire touch screen allows one to easily write the number on the screen. If you get the number correct, you are rewarded with a little green checkmark. If not, you get the buzzer and have to try again. And you need to be careful because if you enter five incorrect answers you lose the game and need to start over again.

I was a bit disappointed that these three demos were so short (although the sudoku game took a few minutes to finish), but I have to say that I definitely see the appeal of this game. The interface was simple enough for your grandmother to use, and yet somehow I was having fun doing math problems. A lot of fun. Expect this game to become a monster hit in the states as well.

Once I was done playing the demo I turned off my DS and jumped back onto the DS Download Station. In theory I could keep any demo I downloaded in my DS for weeks at a time as you only lose the demo data after you turn off your DS. In fact, I still have the "Tetris DS Push Mode" on my DS and I expect to keep it on my DS until the game is released later this month!

With that being said, the next demo I tried was "Tetris DS Standard Mode". Again the demo downloaded into my DS in about 15 seconds and started right up. This version of Tetris was actually a "battle" version of Tetris where I was going up against the computer. This version of Tetris has been around for quite some time and should be familiar to many people. The computer’s board was viewable on the top of the DS while my board was on the touch screen. As rows are removed they are sent to the opponent’s screen, the first person to the top of the screen loses. Other than this “battle” aspect, it was a traditional Tetris game, only with a Super Mario Bros. backdrop and the ability to "capture" any single piece to save for later.

As for the gameplay, what more can I say? Tetris plus Super Mario Bros. background graphics plus Nintendo DS Wi-Fi plus classic Nintendo sound effects/music equals the best version of Tetris ... ever! Oh yes, this game is going to sell several million copies no problem.

After getting my butt kicked by the computer a couple of times (the computer was surprisingly difficult to beat) I downloaded the other Tetris demo, "Tetris DS Push Mode". A strange combination of Tetris, Donkey Kong, and tug-of-war I found that I enjoyed this demo above all the rest. You must compete against the computer and push him/it off the screen before he/it does the same to you.

Themed to the classic Donkey Kong arcade game, the Tetris field takes up both screens with you dropping shapes from the top of the screen to the bottom, while the computer drops shapes from the bottom to the top. In the middle of the screen is the mess of shapes which is constantly shifting back and forth between you and your opponent. Each time the player clears two lines the screen will move down a small amount and vice versa for the computer. Eventually one side will be pushed off the screen and the game will end.

Since you and the computer are building on the same playing field you really have to be careful where you place your shapes. That huge block of lines you're waiting to clear might be cleared by your opponent instead if you're not careful. The game is extremely fast-paced, even for Tetris, and the classic Donkey Kong animations and sound effects are fantastic. As I said before, of all the demos I tried this was the game I kept on my DS and have played it more than a dozen times so far. This game really is a great implementation of the Tetris and Donkey Kong license.

In addition to these three demos I downloaded and tried out the others as well. They all play as you might expect, such as the Mario Kart DS which allows you to try out a sample race. Overall the DS Download Station was simple to use, extremely fast, and allowed me to try out two of the most anticipated DS games of the year. What more could you ask for? Look for these Download Stations in a store near you later this March.

Posted by Gaming Steve at 1:00 AM | Comments (25) | Posted to DS | Review |