DSi-enhanced games to work on DS

By Tom Bramwell Published 2 April, 2009

Plus: new Zelda is probably enhanced.

Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime has said that games that take advantage of the DSi's additional new features will still probably work on DS and DS Lite.

"Our expectation is that most of the content will be, call it, DSi-enhanced [rather than] DSi-exclusive," he told MTV.

"Why? One-hundred-million installed base of DS. Developers are going to want to leverage that installed base and yet they'll want to provide extra content via the features of the DSi, like the camera. That's my expectation as to how it will play out."

He went on to add that it "would be reasonable to talk about that after we've launched".

And in a sexy little snippet just after that, MTV asked him whether The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks would be DSi-enhanced. Fils-Aime said: "Wouldn't that be nice?"

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • videogangs #1 3 years ago

    Mine's already been shipped, should turn up today :-P

    Probably a good thing though, I did think that neglecting the massive legion of existing DS owners would be stupidity incarnate.
    Edited by 1 at 02/04/09 @ 08:51

  • sifujames #2 3 years ago

    Don't care about Zelda being "enhanced" or not, just get Link off that m*****f***ing train

  • Nova5lag #3 3 years ago

    Snakes on a Train? Link on a Plane? Stink in a Frame? DSi gives me pain?

  • menage #4 3 years ago

    "will still probably work"

    Whooo, that makes me feel very secure.

  • videogangs #5 3 years ago

    I think the train thing will probably work, Nintendo always manage to bring charm to odd ideas with their big franchises. Even the slightly tedious boat sections in Wind Waker weren't that bad.

  • insincere_dave #6 3 years ago

    I now demand my public apology.

  • penhalion #7 3 years ago

    How about anything that uses the extra features will most probably not work.

  • sifujames #8 3 years ago

    @videogangs

    The sailing in WindWaker (while dull) fitted as it was part of the games central conceit (that Link could control the wind) and also sailing fits into a world where you fight enemies with swords, arrows and magic. But where does technology like steam trains (and paddle steamers in Phantom Hourglass) fit into the world of Hyrule? Link now seems to be in 19th century America, not a land of princesses, magic and annoying fairies who say "hey!" every 30 seconds. It'll be a fun game, but it's just a really bad fit. Link rides a horse, not the footplate of a train. What's next - Link driving the Hylian version of a Model T?
    Edited by 1 at 02/04/09 @ 10:17

  • Fuser #9 3 years ago

    Why shouldnt Link be riding a train? Are Hyrulians too stupid to invent them even though they can make gigantic clock towers and all sorts of other mechanical stuff?
    More to the point, surely the Zelda team know what is acceptable in Hyrule better than anyone here.
    The game will be brilliant and fun, just like Hourglass was - and as long as it is, then it doesnt matter whether Link is in a horse or a train, surely?
    Edited by 1 at 02/04/09 @ 10:17

  • penhalion #10 3 years ago

    @Fuser

    Many a franchise has been ruined by the developers putting new blood onto it. While that is unlikely to happen with Zelda. They came pretty close with wind waker (hence the climb back with twilight princess). People don't associate link games with hours of pointless wandering around a near barren ocean and I'm guessing they aren't looking forward to hours of pointless track building and train driving through barren vistas either. It doesn't inspire confidence to see that the train looks awfully like the boat did, even down to the single cannon.

  • wittynic #11 3 years ago

    They should just hurry up and squeeze Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask (or both) onto a DS cart.

  • scouserfuller9 #12 3 years ago

    @wittynic - Don't you prefer playing through new quests rather than repeatedly going through old ones? OOT has been released on four different occasions and MM twice with the third not far away in Japan on the virtual console so what's the point? I think the buttons/touch screen for those two games on the DS would be a real hassle anyhow and that's why they haven't already been released.

    As for Spirit Tracks seeing Link in a train makes it look like Nintendo are making a mistake but so was seeing him cel-shaded in 2002 and riding a boat in 2003 yet they all ended up as games people loved! Seeing him ride a plane sounds a joke but it could easily happen in the future!?

  • sifujames #13 3 years ago

    @ scouserfuller9

    Cell shaded Link a mistake? In what way? It's a game about a little elf-type boy fighting monsters while rescuing a princess - if that's not a perfect match for cel shading, then I don't know what is. And as I mentioned before, sailing (in a ship with sails) does match (well IMO anyway), as Zelda is (normally) a game set in a time/world where that kind of transport, along with riding horses makes sense
    Edited by 1 at 02/04/09 @ 12:34

  • LiamK #14 3 years ago

    So, did you miss the massive public outcry about "Celda" then?

  • sifujames #15 3 years ago

    @ LiamK

    Lol, no I didn't miss it, I just never agreed with it. I think Windwaker is by far the best looking of all the Zelda games. I found everything about its graphics absolutely stunning. It'sl one of the most graphically complete games I've ever seen, and I still can't understand what people found to complain about it. They wanted a realistic Zelda game? Photo realistic elves and fairies? I just don't get it

  • scouserfuller9 #16 3 years ago

    I much prefer the cel-shaded graphics in Zelda. When I first saw screenshots of WW I was crying for it to be realistic but the videos had me convinced this is what suits the game best! I'm not confident we'll be seeing Link in this form come his next Wii title though!?

    @sifujames - I didn't say the game was a mistake I said it was critizised for it's style making it look one just like Spirit Tracks is being critizised by many for having Link riding a train. Read more carefully in the future.
    Edited by 3 at 02/04/09 @ 17:38

  • Zaltan #17 3 years ago

    I agree with sifujames.

  • LiamK #18 3 years ago

    Sorry, I misread your comment and thought that you were saying that there wasn't a public outcry over it, which there clearly was at the time. I love the style, personally, and that seems to be the opionion that most now have.