Come on, DS - DJ's Blog - Operation Sports

DJ's Blog

Come on, DS

Posted on November 16, 2008 at 12:14 AM.

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I'm sitting here on a Sat. night reading the UFC results (sucks to have to work) and while there's a break in the action, I wanted to offer up some thoughts/suggestions as to what would make for some interesting sports titles on the DS - a genre that's sorely lacking for quality titles on that machine.

Yes, Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff is coming out next week and I am really excited about that. I hope, hope, it comes close to matching the on-field experience of Tecmo Super Bowl, perhaps still my favorite game of all-time. Sure, re-naming the teams and rosters will be a pain, but once you get it done, it should help add to the enjoyment.

Football on the DS hasn't gone that well, though. Madden has tried, but largely failed. I owned last year's version and while the paper football was fun, the actual on-field gameplay was very limited. No inside running. No deep passing. Very difficult to user-control anyone on defense aside from linemen. Graphically the player models were OK standing still, but in motion became clippy and guys would often warp through an opposing player.

Tecmo, it looks like, has the player scale down and 11-on-11 for their game works well. Madden's players are too big, take up too much space and that makes for a tough game of football - at least a game to find enjoyment out of.

So, that got me to thinking, what could companies like EA do to market sports titles better to the DS and its owners? Here's a few ideas I have:

Football
-NFL Street doesn't do it for me, but the idea of 7-on-7 intrigues me. If EA is dead-set on using old PS1 player models, then just eliminate some of the players and open up the field. Trust me, I've played in 7-on-7 leagues and you can still get a very "sim" experience out of it. Run with a QB, 3 WR, 3 OL and a RB and then match up on defense accordingly.

Baseball
-I really like Power Pros. You'd never know it was a sim game by looking at it, but take the time to play it and those little guys play a great game of baseball. This year's verison played great but the lack of a season mode was a game-killer to many. So, if we can get a full season mode in Power Pros, baseball would be golden. I'd still like to see a game similar to Baseball Simular 1.000 (SNES) on the DS, as I think that mix of RPG elements and sports worked well.

Basketball
-I said I didn't like NFL Street but for basketball, I'm a big fan of NBA Street. I say create a scaled-down verison of NBA Street for DS. 3-on-3 would work better than 5-on-5 (see my football theory above) and it would be a fun pick-up-and-play game.

Hockey
-I say either go all the way old school and bring back the NHL 94 engine or do something along the lines of NHL Hitz.

Golf
-True Swing Golf has the right idea, it just needs some refinements in the touch screen swing mechanic. I haven't played Tiger Woods on DS, so I can't comment there. Mario Golf wouldn't hurt either, Nintendo (wink, wink)

Boxing
-OK, Punch-Out! is coming to Wii, how the heck is this thing not being brought back on DS. Talk about a perfect match. You could have your opponent on the top screen and then control Mac (or whomever the lead character would be) on the bottom screen with the stylus. Or just use button control. Either way, I see no reason why a game like this couldn't be brought to DS.

I could go on and on, and perhaps I will at another time. I think Lesnar-Couture is getting underway.