Nintendo Okie

I’m a big fan of unique, interesting game experiences.  One of those avenues is the indie game scene where people put together a game based on a simple idea and many times it’s enough to justify a full game.  These experiences can be anything from the simple yet challenging game play of a game like Canabalt.  Nintendo also has a line of these games that were originally released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan known as bit Generations.  They’re simple games designed with minimal graphical output, despite that the games can be very challenging. 

One of those games I recently played was Dotstream.  This is a racing game that will instantly bring Tron to the mind of veteran gamers and Disney fans.  The movie featured a sequence that had people racing on motorcycles that would leave trails of light behind.  In bit Generations Dotstream, a racing game, you play as a beam of light.  There are five other colored beams of light that you are racing against in a two, sometimes three lap race.  The game also combines that Tron look with a few Mario Kart style power ups.  There is a star that will essentially remove all the obstacles from the track and another power up that will slow down time, and the other racers even more, allowing you to catch up to or add distance from other racers. 

There are three gameplay modes available in Dotstream.  You have the Grand Prix which has you competing in a series of five races, known as drawings.  Your position at the end of the race determines how many Grand Prix points you get.  If you finish the Grand Prix with the most points the next series of races unlocks.  There are five in total that get progressively harder.  I can tell you that you will probably not finish any of these races on your first attempt.  Unlike games like Mario Kart you have a limited number of times that you can crash before you are forced to retire and score 0 points for the race.  You start with a default of 2, but after the first lap you have the ability to enter the pits to obtain as many of these chances as you’re willing to give up track position for.  Luckily, if you accrue enough of these it’s fairly easy to catch up as long as you know the layout of the track you’re on.  These chances can also be used to provide a bit of a speed boost.  You have to balance the reward of the speed boost against the risk of crashing as this pool of points is combined.  Use too many speed boosts and you might not have enough points to avoid a crash. 

One of the more interesting aspects, and strategic points of the races, is the ability to block the paths of other racers.  Two racers cannot occupy the same line in a race.  The light that follows your racer occupies a space.  You are allowed to cross these lines to change lanes, but you cannot follow directly behind another racer.  This becomes a very strategic part of the game as well.  You can use this to your advantage by blocking small lanes and forcing other racers to waste time going around obstacles or even causing them to crash.  These track positions also come into play to determine your speed.  Staying close to other racers causes you to speed up.  You will very quickly learn that you have to balance this boost in speed, which is required to win races as you always start out slower than everyone, against the risk of running into the obstacles on the track.  Some of these obstacles move, adding another layer of complexity to the already challenging races. 

There are a number of different types of obstacles on the track.  Solid objects will cause you to crash upon impact.  Objects that are filled with dots cause you to slow considerably, but don’t harm you.  There are also spots on the track that will give you a temporary boost and some that will slow you down.  Luckily the response of your racer is very tight.  You simply need to press up or down to control your position on the track.  The R button is used to give you a speed boost if you have the points and the A button deploys any power ups you’ve obtained.  The B button is your break, but I found that it’s completely unnecessary and quite detrimental to apply the breaks in this game. 

Dotstream also has a free race mode that you can enter to play a single race on any track you’ve unlocked.  The other mode in the game is called Formation.  This mode took me a while to understand before I finally figured out exactly what to do.  It’s the more laid back mode in the game where you’re simply moving along a track that has very few obstacles to get in your way.  You’re simply trying to collect as many dots as you can.  These dots are placed randomly throughout the track and running into them causes you to collect them.  As you perform better another line will appear to help collect these dots.  Pressing the appropriate formation button will cause this new line to move in formation with you giving you some control over this new line.  It’s a very interesting mode, and once you figure out exactly what it’s asking you to do you’ll probably really enjoy it.  It’s a great way to relax and unwind if you do not want something too deep. 

The bit Generations/Art Style games are very simple in their presentation.  There are no flashy graphics to behold.  Dotstream is built upon simple geometric shapes, mostly squares and straight lines and this in combination with your colorful racers provides a simple, yet stimulation visual presentation.  The music in the game is a nice mixture of dissonant noises and chip tunes.  At times it might remind you of the sounds of an old dial up modem connecting to the internet on top of a simple tune. 

Dotstream is also scheduled to make the move to the Art Style line on WiiWare with the release of Art Style: Light Trax.   That game will take the simple side scrolling style of Dotstream and enter the third dimension taking you up walls, around corners and through long tunnels.  The added resolution of the Wii over the GBA will make it a bit more visually appealing and smooth to look at, but I expect the same fun, simple and addicting game play will remain intact.  This GBA game has really sparked my interest in the WiiWare title and I’m very much looking forward to it when it comes out.  If you’ve got the chance to get your hands on an import copy of this game I would suggest you do.  It’s a bit expensive, but if you’re into simple fun it’s a good game to look for.  If you’re not willing to spend upwards of $40 on it then waiting for the WiiWare game would probably be recommended.