Bangai-O Spirits Avoids DS Codes With... Modem Noise!
Yesterday I got a first-person look at D3Publisher's Nintendo DS iteration of Dreamcast favorite Bangai-O Spirits, which has enjoyed a March release in Japan and should be arriving stateside toward the end of the summer.
Bangai-O Spirits still looks as seizure-inducingly confusing to my eyes as it did on the Dreamcast, but the 2D shooter could easily become a serious addiction if I dared to pick it up and dive in. With 160 levels and four-way multiplayer and a level editor, Spirits packs a lot of punch, especially the omnidirectional attack, which reminds me a little bit of Rez and E4 - continuing the Dreamcast theme.
But it's the level editor - or rather the means of sharing your created levels - that's so astounding. Not only does the level editor work in realtime, meaning you can help yourself on-the-fly if a level frustrates you (and it will), but you can share levels with your friends. Without friend codes.
How, you ask? You'll save your level to an old-fashioned sound file on your PC, and then email or publish it on the web. All your friends have to do is hold their DS up to their speakers, play the file, and - presto - the level data, transformed into sound, is reconstituted by your pal's DS. It's even easier in person - just hold your DS up to another and let the speakers and microphone do all the work.
It sounds like a cranky baby modem, but it works like a charm and circumvents those endlessly frustrating codes. Bangai-O and Dreamcast fans, take notice!
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 12 June 2008
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: bangai-o spirits, ds, friend codes
I wonder what sorts of magical levels you could create if you interspersed the normal level editing sound with different types of background noise.
cool idea!
"man, check this out. I made this level from a mashup of "Hammer to fall" by Queen and "Confide in Me" by Kylie. It freakin rawks dude! The boss shoots hearts. From his crotch!"