You are somewhat correct… these days.
But in days gone by there were no standardised game engines, no Unity or Unreal, so hardware was created in a way to facilitate best practices and make common game types easier to create. With the DS some might call it’s capabilities an included game engine.
“billboards” is the official terminology for displaying 2D sprites in a 3D engine!
Here’s some in Smash Bros Ultimate
Here’s a nice summary of what the DS offered for 2D https://www.liranuna.com/nds-2d-tuts/lesson-1/
I love this but hate it at the same time. It’s cool to see how many techniques devs have up their sleeves, but is also kind of like having a magician’s act spoiled for you. I read a few posts. But am going to pretend I didn’t see them 
Thanks for posting this. It must have been like coming home when Treasure developed Bangai-O Spirits for the system - so many sprites!
On a related note I find very little has been documented about the system’s 3D capabilities other than the vertex limit, Z-buffer, and support for stuff like cel shading (great for visibility on the low res display). Would I be right in saying that the DS doesn’t do floating point math? I notice that the vertices of polygons often look like they are snapping to different coordinates instead of moving as smooth as the camera.
Correct. MaBoShi has a custom/hand-made physics engine because it needed to work with the integer maths supported by the DS.
For me, it’s not the act being spoiled but an amazing toolkit with a big sign on it saying “imagine the possibilities!”
I’m split as well. I find it interesting finding out about the tricks programmers and designers used, but at the same time it can very much ruin the illusion. I think it has a bigger impact when it’s entirely visual - like the man who runs the fishing pond in Ocarina of Time only having his upper half drawn to the player.
That’s really cool. Does that mean the DS version plays exactly like the Wii game? Can you transfer back replays for the other two windows?
I can’t tell the difference between Wii&DS MaBoShi, but I don’t know how exact they match internally.
The DS version only shows you one window, so it’s arguably more difficult due to no interaction from other windows. No replays and no hi-score saving, as is the nature of DS Download Play.
Gaming perfection. Although I never play the DS version. I love how it’s an 8-bit style “de-make”.
That music! I really need to get this on download play to my DSi XL.
I’m surprised they didn’t include this with Trailblaze: Puzzle Incinerator (which is an expanded remake of the Square game on DSiWare)
Gah, wish I knew this existed back when the DSiWare shop was still up.
It should still be on the 3DS eShop - try searching for it (try Flametail if you’ve got a North American 3DS). I wish I picked it up for one of my DSi XLs though, since the game is played in book mode.
fun fact via lead programmer Micky Albert - the opening/ending pictures in the game were drawn by professional wrestler ASUKA.
If you buy it and are happy to CFW/homebrew you can transfer the 3DS game to your DSi. See the ripping thread.
Gorgeous!
You’re making me want to buy another one hnnnggg
Catching up on my game cleaning. I actually ordered these back in December, so I’m more than a little behind:
So my original Fat DS has stopped charging. A new battery has not solved it. Charge cable still charges my GBA.
Any ideas?
My guess would be a blown fuse on the mobo.
Random question, but could anyone with Chrono Trigger DS test to see if the original SNES opening was left in if you wait at the title screen? I’m pretty sure it was, at least on my US copy that I sold, but my new EUR copy only shows the animated introduction which is somewhat irksome. I also started a new save in classic mode with movies off and it still doesn’t change that.
