Giana Sisters DS

Overview

Giana Sisters DS is a remake/sequel of The Great Giana Sisters, Time Warp Productions' infamous clone of Super Mario Bros.. This new game was coded by developer Spellbound Interactive. It was released for the Nintendo DS in Europe and Australia in April 2009 and in North America in Fall 2011. The game features extensive graphical updates compared to the original, as well as touchscreen and microphone supported gameplay elements. This game was also ported over to iPhone and iPad under the names Armin Gessert's Giana Sisters and Giana Sisters HD respectively. Giana Sisters DS was Armin Gessert's last game before passing away of a heart attack on November 8, 2009.

Like the original game, Giana Sisters DS is singleplayer-only. The kind and peaceful Giana swaps out with her more hardcore sister, the red-headed Maria, when she grabs a power-up, and then Maria trades back once she takes damage; the Giana Sisters version of Mario growing larger when he touches a Super Mushroom and then shrinking back down to normal size when he is harmed.

Story (taken from the manual)

Giana is a young girl who fell asleep one evening while admiring her precious treasure chest. As she fell into a deep sleep, magical powers emerged from the treasure chest, bathing Giana's bedroom in a brilliantly bright light. Vibrating with mystical energy, the treasure chest fell off the bed with a crash. The lid flew open. Giana's sparkling blue diamonds spilled out of the treasure chest and disappeared into a deep, black hole.
Giana, awakened by the light (and the noise), leaped off the bed and followed her prized diamonds into the darkness.
She suddenly found herself in a magical world. Giana's diamonds were scattered all about her. She started to collect her diamonds and then decided to find out more about the secret of her magic treasure chest. Is Giana dreaming? You decide!

Gameplay

Giana Sisters DS is a platformer very similar to Super Mario Bros . Giana runs and jumps her way through each stage collecting diamonds. She can also jump on enemies and swap places with her sister Maria, who can also throw fireballs at her foes. The sisters must also face off against a fire-breathing dragon at the end of each world, starting with the second. There are nine worlds in the game. Worlds 1 through 8 contain eleven stages each, including bonus stages. World 9 contains only two.

World 8-11 is a special stage that contains all thirty-two stages from the original Great Giana Sisters, one after another.

Items

• Blue Diamond - Collect 100 of these to gain an extra life.
• Red Diamond - Collecting every red diamond in each world unlocks a bonus stage.
• Punk Ball - Swaps Giana out for her sister Maria. Maria can break blocks, shoot fireballs, and take one extra hit.
• Soda Pop - Destroys blocks, extinguishes fires, and pushes enemies back.
• Bubble Gum - Allows Giana/Maria to fly. Can be controlled either by blowing into the microphone or, thankfully, buttons.
• Flower Pots - These act as checkpoints in the game.

US Release

Published by Destineer, Giana Sisters DS was originally planned for a March 2011 release and despite early reviews, the game wasn't released until the following fall. Sometime around September/October 2011, the game was finally available in extremely limited quantities in North America, and was only made available for sale in select retailers, including Wal-Mart. The game went by largely unnoticed; in fact, nowhere on Destineer's website does it even mention Giana Sisters DS. The game retails for US$19.99 but due to the game's rarity, prices online go about as high as US$60.