Quick Look: Giana Sisters DS

Love this rendition.

As for the fireball. If this remake is faithful there should be a powerup that gives the ball homing. But mah... all this did for me is make me want to fire up the emulator and play the original. But I finished that one 20 years ago and it's all a dream. I'd rather see a cool remake of Turrican. That would be awesome.

Great Quicklook guys. Just bought the game because of it.

@buzz_clik said:

@RVonE: This was my immediate thought. I really need to make a SID-licious blog dedicated to The Great Giana Sisters music.

Make it so.

Yep, they hit the nail on the head for this one. I played it for a few hours when it first came out and (aside from the sweet music) it's just a simple, bland, boring game.

The original was kinda neat back in the day, but Mario has evolved since then. Giana Sisters have not.

I'm really digging the soundtrack, but aside from that, man, what an uninspired, dull looking game. And calling it a classic on the box art seems pretty . . . ridiculous.

I think I could stomach the bland gameplay just to listen to the music. Also, I love the fireball and its sound.

Not getting any sound after the first 2 sec.

Or I guess it's at 0:06 “Jeff we are checking out... " maby its just my phone but I never have problems with other videos.

All of the music in this game is really cool. I can't believe I haven't heard of it before now.

I bought this last month when I saw it listed on newegg.com because I couldn't believe it existed. I played it on the C64 as a kid - I got it from a friend who got it through "nefarious" means, and I always assumed it was some homemade bootleg deal. The fact that it's real, it got a remake/sequel, and that it appears on a NINTENDO system just blew my mind. I had to own it.

I dunno. This seems like it's okay. I would play it. *shrugs*

This game is awesome. I can't say I really agree completely with the video. The controls are spot on and the game is a blast to play. I've owned it for over a month and I very much enjoyed this one.

I never had any issues with the jumping. It felt perfectly fine to me and I never had any accidents in the game to blame on the controls. If I messed up, it was my mistake.

On a side note, the music is great in this game. Feels like something straight from a Amiga!

The existence of this completely boggles my mind,

@RockmanBionics I remember Hülsbeck from way back, I absolutely had to have his work in my collection, among greats like Rob Hubbard and Jonathan Dunn. Imagine all the good feelings I had when I saw Hülsbeck's name on that downloadable War of the Worlds game.

So what is so bad about this game according to Ryan? Sure, it's not especially pretty, and mechanically it's a clone of Mario, but otherwise is there anything about the level design, controls, presentation, etc. that's a big problem? I understand some apathy, but honestly, this looks fun enough for what it is. I guess I'm just not seeing what's so contemptible - it's exactly what it says on the tin. Maybe being a Professional Games Journalist(TM) has left Ryan jaded, but I don't need to be shocked and amazed by new mechanics or stunned by pretty graphics and polish to have some simple fun.

@Argyle said:

I bought this last month when I saw it listed on newegg.com because I couldn't believe it existed. I played it on the C64 as a kid - I got it from a friend who got it through "nefarious" means, and I always assumed it was some homemade bootleg deal. The fact that it's real, it got a remake/sequel, and that it appears on a NINTENDO system just blew my mind. I had to own it.

Wow! You are a bonafide representative of the barely-there target market of this game. Someone who actually played Giana Sisters as a child and is genuinely nostalgic. My god, how many of you can there be?

This sounds like a game that Ashens would look at

This looks like a poor ripoff of Super Mario Bros.. Why not just play Mario instead?

I played this on the Amiga BEFORE I ever played Mario on the NES. Tragic, really, I know.l

@electrikalien: Oh man, I played the crap out of this game on the C64 as a kid!! It was so frustrating towards the end and very stressful for a kid to beat that dragon. Then you find the princess looks like a lamppost.. Thanks for posting that vid!

@electrikalien: Oh man, I played the crap out of this game on the C64 as a kid!! It was so frustrating towards the end and very stressful for a kid to beat that dragon. Then you find the princess looks like a lamppost.. Thanks for posting that vid!

this is actually one of the better platformers on the DS. It's got a nice feel to it (contrary to what Ryan is saying in the video), it's got pretty graphics and music, and it's got a gaming pedigree. Fans of old school platforming should definitely check it out, since there aren't many platformers on the DS that can offer such simple, retro fun as this game.

Gosh Giana Sisters, We had that at my old work place. Seen it on the shelf for two years. Wow only now released in US. Really strange to see this.

This is even more weird now that it's on a Nintendo system.

Soundtrack sounds good but can't touch the mad beats of the C64 main theme:

I gotta be honest. Commander Keen was my Mario rip-off of choice, and it seemed to have a lot more to offer. Keen 4 did, at least. Would love me some Keen 4 on a console.

What are that buttons with the condom and the dildo for?

The music sounds like something out of a Nexon game.

yeah, the game is pretty easy. but it's fantastic. I don't get the negativity.

Forget the game itself, that music is fantastic!

@Meatsim: That's what I love about it, Nintendo allowed them to release a sequel/remake to one of the most well known blatant Mario ripoffs on Nintendo's own platform. No Tengen style bootleg cartridges were needed, that's pretty amazing.

@sear: @vaxick: The thing with the controls are probably that they are spot on at feeling like the original C64 game, but not as a Mario game, so depending on if you see it as a Mario clone or a sequel to a classic C64/Amiga title I suppose your appreciation for the controls may vary.

Looks pretty terrible.

Looks awfully floaty. Constantly having to adjust the view just to see where you're jumping is... not good.

What are that buttons with the condom and the dildo for?

I can't help thinking that bootleg Mario doesn't really work when you're selling it on the same console that has real Mario. Especially when there's been a Mario game released recently. Oh well, I guess that's what you get from a January release.

@Grumbel said:

@Rexicon said:

What are that buttons with the condom and the dildo for?

Bubblegum, gives you a bubble with which you can float around. You can see it at 17:40 in the video sp4rky posted.

Yeah, this looks pretty fun, actually. Just got it off Newegg. For $15, you can't go wrong.

I played the shit out of this game back on the C-64.

I was so happy about this QL- I wouldn't have known this game actually got a domestic release otherwise. It may have middling early stage design and reuse assets like crazy but it's a competent little platformer. I'm having a good time, anyway, and the music's awesome. Having missed the C64 entirely this is a neat trinket with a novel history behind it.

It is REALLY funny to me that owls are the default badguys in this because I have VIVID memories of thinking Super Mario Bros goombas were owls when I first played the game.

Also getting a very Kid Chameleon vibe out of the power-ups and enemy animations/design.

I am really, unironically digging this music.