Help me identify a video game
December 29, 2014 7:13 PM Subscribe
My niece is asking for my help figuring out the title of a Nintendo DS game she played many years ago. I, in turn, am asking the hive mind. I know it was released before the end of 2005, and a bit about how it's played. Help!
* Gameplay consists in part of casting magic spells by drawing symbols on the touchscreen.
* The graphics are sprite-based rather than polygonal - or at least the characters are sprites.
* It was definitely out before the end of 2005, because she played it before the birth of my nephew that December.
* It's not LostMagic or Okamiden.
* Gameplay consists in part of casting magic spells by drawing symbols on the touchscreen.
* The graphics are sprite-based rather than polygonal - or at least the characters are sprites.
* It was definitely out before the end of 2005, because she played it before the birth of my nephew that December.
* It's not LostMagic or Okamiden.
Spyro Shadow Legacy and Deep Labyrinth both seem to use this feature.
There's also a TVTropes page as well. Maybe one of the titles listed there?
posted by xenization at 7:20 PM on December 29, 2014
There's also a TVTropes page as well. Maybe one of the titles listed there?
posted by xenization at 7:20 PM on December 29, 2014
Wkipedia does have a list of Nintendo DS games. So if it's sufficiently annoying not to know, it's always possible to just do an exhaustive search.
Spyro Shadow Legacy, Castlevania, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire are the only ones that I could find that were out in the US before the end of 2005 and might have a rune-drawing spell mechanic. Harry Potter used polygonal graphics. Spyro seems to be sprite based, but while the backgrounds definitely are, it's not clear whether the characters themselves are grainy isometric sprites or low-count polygons.
Trauma Center was also out at this time, and there is a mechanic where you have to draw a symbol on the screen to activate quasi-magical powers, but I wouldn't call it casting a spell.
Also, holy cow was 2005 a good year for DS games.
posted by vogon_poet at 7:53 PM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
Spyro Shadow Legacy, Castlevania, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire are the only ones that I could find that were out in the US before the end of 2005 and might have a rune-drawing spell mechanic. Harry Potter used polygonal graphics. Spyro seems to be sprite based, but while the backgrounds definitely are, it's not clear whether the characters themselves are grainy isometric sprites or low-count polygons.
Trauma Center was also out at this time, and there is a mechanic where you have to draw a symbol on the screen to activate quasi-magical powers, but I wouldn't call it casting a spell.
Also, holy cow was 2005 a good year for DS games.
posted by vogon_poet at 7:53 PM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
Bit of a long shot but Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy?
posted by QueenHawkeye at 10:27 PM on December 29, 2014
posted by QueenHawkeye at 10:27 PM on December 29, 2014
I definitely played this game! The art was awesome! I remember it being hard to track down when it first came out; I don't think it was super-popular.
From my recollection, I think the story involved a kid, and much of the setting was in the woods. It had some RTS elements to the combat, and there was a world map had little dots for the different places you could visit.
I'm going to look through my games and see if I can find it, but if not maybe the additional description will ring a bell for someone else.
posted by duien at 10:58 PM on December 29, 2014
From my recollection, I think the story involved a kid, and much of the setting was in the woods. It had some RTS elements to the combat, and there was a world map had little dots for the different places you could visit.
I'm going to look through my games and see if I can find it, but if not maybe the additional description will ring a bell for someone else.
posted by duien at 10:58 PM on December 29, 2014
I was so sure I'd figured it out ... but I just tracked down the game I was thinking of and it's Lost Magic, which you mentioned isn't the one you're looking for. So my additional clues may be less helpful than I though.
posted by duien at 11:07 PM on December 29, 2014
posted by duien at 11:07 PM on December 29, 2014
It sounds like it might be Doodle Hex but it appears that only came out in 2008 (in the EU at least, according to Wiki)?
posted by threetwentytwo at 6:03 AM on December 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by threetwentytwo at 6:03 AM on December 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by littlesq at 7:20 PM on December 29, 2014