LF advice on DS for couples, also US v. EU

grandin

So I've been off consoles ever since I hocked my Xbox for the crack that is WoW, but lately I've been hankering for some milder, portable entertainment and have my sights set on the DS. My ladyfriend is also rather smitten with the DS, but it is a naïve lust at the moment, and I want us both to be better informed before we buy.

I'd like to hear some opinions on the DS for couples. Positives, negatives. Recommended 2-player networked games. Things to avoid. Also, we live in Paris (she's French) and I'm wondering if anyone knows whether or not European DS games/systems are compatible with American, and vice-versa. With the dollar as weak as it is, and prices already higher in general over here, I'm tempted to make my purchases on my off-trips to NY (cheapest consumer electronics on the planet, far as I know). I just don't want to buy a US DS and find that I can't play any games I get back in Frenchie-land.

General game recommendations would also be appreciated. I like FPS and 3PS, racing games, platformers and RPGs. She likes RPGs, racers and puzzles. There will be no Nintendogs.

Thanks for any help!

G

BigDes

DS'ssss are all region so you should have no trouble with that, similarly you can play people from all over the world with the wi-fi. As for games, well there're are tons of them. For Rpgs especially it's a good buy what with Final Fantasy III, the huge back catalogue of GBA rpgs and also Dragon Quest 9 coming in the future. Unfortunately there aren't many trad FPS or 3PS games on the DS with the exception of Metroid I think. To be honest your best bet for that is the PSP.

japan

All DS systems are identical. You just need to use the correct power adapter for your outlet voltage. Games bought anywhere in the world will work with any DS. Play-asia.com and Videogamesplus.ca both ship worldwide and have US games for far less than their EU equivalents, the only thing you lose are translations to languages other than English.

Honestly, if you're both fluent in English there's no reason at all to buy DS games from European retailers.

grandin

Yeah, I had a feeling I was screwed when it came to FPS. The PSP is a beauty and all, but I have a deep, burning hatred for Sony (and all their proprietary hijinx) and refuse to give them any of my money.

Thanks for clearing up the all-region issue, BigDes. That's a huge relief. When they're selling for $129 stateside (or if you know where cheaper, holla) vs. 145 euros (=$187) here, I think I know where I'll be buying...

grandin

Japan,

Thx for the buying advice - coming from a Glasgowegian (is that right) and a European, it's very heartening. I assume this is how you get your games? It's still cheaper, even after shipping?

G

japan

Yeah, I import pretty much all my (new) DS games. The prices for new games work out £7-£12 cheaper per game even including shipping, once they start to get discounted the savings are reduced a bit. Theoretically, I think I should be paying import duty and VAT on the stuff as it arrives, but I've never had to. I don't know if the French Customs people are more efficient in that regard.

Oh, and it's "Glaswegian" btw.

BigDes

grandin wrote:

Japan,

Thx for the buying advice - coming from a Glasgowegian (is that right) and a European, it's very heartening. I assume this is how you get your games? It's still cheaper, even after shipping?

G

I buy all my ds games from Movietyme.com, they're fast and more importantly despite them imported they cost around £20 which is a tenner saved, they're currently selling Phoenix Wright 2 for £16.99.

Daedalus

Metroid Hunters is a beautiful FPS, but there are essentially no other ones worth mentioning. I don't know why somebody doesn't just steal Metroid's controls and make a good one. A nice port of Quake 1 would even be fine. But nobody seems interested for whatever reason.

Marlor

You should have no problems with region-locking on your US DS, games from Europe will work with it. Games from the US will of course work with a European DS too. In fact, I'd recommend getting US import games since they are cheaper.

There is only one tiny issue with Region Compatibility: some DS games reportedly have problems with playing multi-cart local multiplayer if the game cartridges are from different regions.

It's not a big deal, just something you should be aware of if you are importing. I haven't had an issue with this personally, but then I rarely play multi-cart local multiplayer.

Caswynben

It is also worth mentioning that there might be issues when playing local wireless games when the games are from a different region. Can anyone confirm this? Will Mario Kart from Europe work with American Mario Kart?

Nicholololas

It usually depends on the title, but if you're buying more than one copy of a title, just buy it in the same region - even if the games may seem identical (Animal Crossing is a good example).

Marlor

Caswynben wrote:

It is also worth mentioning that there might be issues when playing local wireless games when the games are from a different region. Can anyone confirm this? Will Mario Kart from Europe work with American Mario Kart?

Yeah, I mentioned this in my post above.

IIRC, Mario Kart is OK, but most games have issues with multi-cart local multiplayer if the carts are from different regions. This is presumably not an intentional lock-out, it is probably just due to the games being slightly changed between releases in different regions.

Maybe this is why Mario Kart works fine... it has to work between different regions for the internet multiplayer.

Sir Landshark

My fiance and I had a blast playing Mario Kart and Tetris on local wireless. Tetris especially never got old, the new push mode is awesome, and of course there's classic mode as well.

Too bad she lost her Ipod and we had to sell her DSL to cover the cost of a new one...but if you have the monies, I'd say do it.