Nintendo DS

Ever since I've read about the release of the Nintendo DS lite, I was toying with the idea of getting one, especially when I read about the fun Zeke got out of it, way back then. At that time, it was cheaper than the DS, it was smaller (one main gripe about the original DS was its hefty size, which made many people stick with the Gameboy Advance SP instead), and all the good games were coming up.

It's about a couple of months ago, when I started toying with the idea more and more seriously. Was posting in STOMP forums regarding the DS vs the Playstation Portable (PSP) and in the process, sorta figured out that I DO want a DS. The PSP may be more technically-advanced, it may be a super-duper multimedia device, but what made me choose the DS is that you simply can't get that kind of gameplay you get on a DS elsewhere.

Where else do you tap a stylus on the screen to the beat of a song? Where else do you get games with 2 screens? Where else do you get you get your Mario/Zelda/Pokemon fix? Only the DS it seems. The games on the PSP may be great but I can't help but to have the 'I've already played something like this on the Playstation or PC before' feeling.

Ryan's getting a DS too, cool huh, so decided to get them at the same time. The nice thing about having friends with a DS is that the DS has various wireless link-up modes, depending on game. You can:

1. Link up with another DS (or more) in the vicinity with the same game and battle against each other
2. Link up with another DS (or more) without the game you have (host), have the other DS (client) load the game off yours, and battle! (However, options are usually limited on the client side)
3. Play on the Internet via your wireless router (only some games)

Back to the story. Met up with Ryan in Kinokuniya in Bugis, Heading to Sim Lim later. There was this 20% discount offer but I didn't see anything I really want.



It's highly recommended, but upon going home and looking through sample pages, it's not quite my cup of tea.



A novel consisting of letters between estranged husband-and-wife in the aftermath of having their son become a vicious murderer at age 15. But not too keen on reading such a long novel for now.

Went to Sim Lim. With LOTS of difficulty comparing prices, looking for all the games (can't find Elite Beat Agents anywhere), scouting for promotions, calculating what's the best deal, mulling over the various colours, we finally came to a decision. The white DS. Turquoise (that blue-green colour never fails to impress me. Except Bianchi's idea of making it look more like a snot-green) would have been great, but hardly anywhere sells it, and those places don't exactly have good bargains. Heck, i'd just paste a couple of stickers on it to personalise it. White goes best with stickers and decals, at least. After several trips up and down the whole place, finally got the white one (black's sorta too mean-looking, and the blue simply isn't the purple-blue they did the GBA SP in that I liked).

Hung around a little more at Bugis junction, got a drink, bought pastries for family from Four Leaves (taste was disappointing except the brownies, to be honest.)

Too eager to twiddle with shiny new DS, so I unpacked it right in the middle of the MRT carriage and fired up New Super Mario Bros! And 5 minutes into playing, this kid in the MRT came in and exclaimed that I was playing the same game as him! Took a peek and saw his white DS. Lovely. Smiled and told him I just bought it (it's an excuse to be totally newbie at the game. I was like still trying to figure out the controls and all, and he was literally staring at my screen.)
Cute!

On the way back and met neighbour on the bus. She said that Charlotte's Web the movie is quite good, despite lukewarm reviews. Oops I haven't even started on the book. Back home, and some product camwhoring. Oh did I mention the other game I bought is Pokemon FireRed. It's a GBA game but the DS can play all GBA games using the other game slot. Played a little of Pokemon Red (old Gameboy Colour version, circa 1998) on emulator and it was mildly fun, though the dated graphics and slowness of the emulator made me give up on it. FireRed is a nice remake done in better colours, and from first impressions it's quite true to the style of Red.







Oh I got this Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 GBA cartridge lying around. Picked it off a footpath long long ago (2 years?). Someone must've dropped it or something. Plugged it in, but sadly it didn't register.

Time to bring out the contact cleaner spray and a cotton bud! This is the age-old trick used to revive wonky RAM and PCI slots in computers, game cartridges and slots and scratchy headphone jacks and plugs.

Spray a little of the contact cleaner spray on the cotton bud, then scrub the hell outta the golden contacts in the cartridge's inside.





Leave it to dry until you don't smell the cleaning spray. Plug cartridge in and viola! Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2! Sadly, it plays and feels exactly like the version I had played on the Playstation, so I'm not too keen on playing it again.

Played minigames on the New Super Mario Bros cartridge - they have a ton of stylus-based minigames on it so that cartridge's a really good deal. Slowly saw my scores drop from each try of the game to another, and realised I was really sleepy.

And asleep, I was.



Oh and on the same day my normally-thrifty parents bought this really cool vacuum cleaner that doesn't use conventional bags or filters but a air cyclone inside to get rid of the dust. It has lotsa funky buttons and doodads and handles really nicely. And sucks (as in, suction, not 'gee this sucks') really powerfully. And most importantly, not as noisy as the old one! Dyson's this really funky British vacuum cleaner manufacturer. And despite the high price, many people just can't get enough of it, including at least 1 rock star who loves to gush about his 3 Dysons even though he wasn't paid to do so.