• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Great Giana Sisters Remake Coming to DS (PR, Screens)

C

CTLance

Member
So a Giana Sisters remix, i.e. a new version of a game from more than twenty years ago actually feels old? Who would have IMAGINED that. :D
ThaiGrocer said:
There are SID files that you can search for then use something like chipamp + winamp to play the songs. there are also other ways to play sid files.
Click to expand...
Anything less than original hardware is an insult, but in a pinch I always recommend Sidplay2(/w).

Sidplay2(/w) also offers support for the HVSC, aka orgasmotronic treasure trove of love and chipmusic. Lesser beings call it the High Voltage SID Collection. Pay them no heed, they're probably insane, and their feet smell like onion bagels.

Seriously, If you at any point in time have ever liked SID music you owe it to yourself to download the HVSC and play it in a "worthy" player.
 
M

Mar

Member
CTLance said:
So a Giana Sisters remix, i.e. a new version of a game from more than twenty years ago actually feels old? Who would have IMAGINED that. :D

Anything less than original hardware is an insult, but in a pinch I always recommend Sidplay2(/w).

Sidplay2(/w) also offers support for the HVSC, aka orgasmotronic treasure trove of love and chipmusic. Lesser beings call it the High Voltage SID Collection. Pay them no heed, they're probably insane, and their feet smell like onion bagels.

Seriously, If you at any point in time have ever liked SID music you owe it to yourself to download the HVSC and play it in a "worthy" player.
Click to expand...

It's also worth mentioning there is now a fully functional SID player for iphone in the app store. It has online and offline play (download and cache from HVSC), or click a button and it will download all 36000 tracks (it took all night for me). It even has song lengths which is a requirement in my opinion.

Emulation seems pretty good. You can switch it to 8580 if the 6581 is having trouble with some of the newer tracks.

BUT. It has one major flaw. And unfortunately, for me personally, makes the app kind of useless. There's no random or shuffle.

I've waited over 10 years for a real mobile SID player, so I guess I can wait a few more months for the author to patch in random play... At least he better.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
El-Suave said:
First (?) short review in my copy of the German magazine M! Games: 63%

The reviewer says it's a bit too old fashioned and slow paced for its own good. Also it seems to be made for beginners and gets challenging only in the later half of the game.
He says that people who played and enjoyed the original will like the game and the nostalgic throwbacks (like the music) though. It's just not a very modern game with innovative features.
Click to expand...

So it delivers precisely what it sets out to do, and then gets lambasted for it? Oh, the logic of videogame reviewers never ceases to amaze me. Still, scores are worthless, his comments are precisely what I wanted to hear.
 
D

DDayton

(more a nerd than a geek)
Mar_ said:
It's also worth mentioning there is now a fully functional SID player for iphone in the app store. It has online and offline play (download and cache from HVSC), orclick a button and it will download all 36000 tracks (it took all night for me). It even has song lengths which is a requirement in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Wait.

The player has an "auto download SID tracks" button?

It downloads (from up to) 36,000 tracks?

Even if it were just 3,600, there is really no way that all of those are public domain tracks. SOME of them have to be pulled from games OR adapted from other media.

In other words, it sounds like Apple allowed a copyright infringing application on their service.
 
S

SecretBonusPoint

Banned
Canz it be go-time plases?

Its April 3rd, it's supposed release date, and cannot find the game to buy anywhere other than the german Amazon. No placeholders or anything on all the big UK retailers.

A press release from March said:
Now, The Great Giana Sisters are finally back! Publisher dtp entertainment and developer Spellbound Entertainment in co-operation with Bitfield are going to release their new adventure on Nintendo DS in June 2009.
Click to expand...

But no concrete date from that.

Halp?
 
C

CTLance

Member
Just a late heads-up, spellbound and bitfield reps are now reading and posting in the dtp forum, dispensing some infos such as:
Will the game use even the hidden dark soundtrack of Giana sisters? It was never used directly in the original C64 version, only just in the hacks.
Click to expand...
We were all surprised to discover that "hidden" tune when we listened to the sid files on PC, but we decided not to include that track at the new Giana Sisters DS game.

By the way, a few chords and a remodeled melodies of a theme in the DS game are also based on the C64 highscore track, but only very subtle. So the whole official C64 music as heard in the original game (excluding the mentioned hidden track) should be featured in the DS soundtrack.
Click to expand...
The highscore track itself isn't featured in the game:
All 6 pieces of music from the original soundtrack (except the highscore-track) are included in the new Giana Sisters DS as remixes and there are another 20 pieces inspired by the original music.
Click to expand...
Eh. The forum is pretty dead, so you guys still have a chance to pummel them with questions.

Tangent: I really hope my late birthday gift from some friends will be this game. Wish me luck, guys. :D
 
T

Totalriot

Member
Got the game yesterday from amazon.de.

I've played now up to world 4, with 10 stages in each world. The stages are very short. There is a time limit of 250 seconds per stage but it rarely takes more than a minute to finish each stage. There are 2-4 red diamonds in each stage. If you collect them all, a bonus stage opens up.

There are two new features:
Bubblegum, which makes you fly, if you blow into the microphone until you hit an object and a soda-Bottle, which can destroy walls

The game is fun but it is really really easy. World 3 seems to be a little more difficult than the other thre I've played so far, hopefully, it does not stay this way. There are achievements in the game but most of them are kind of boring and easy to obtain, like finish the first stage or collect more than 5000 diamonds. The only one that sounds interesting is "survive the retro stage".

The music is superb. I love the remixes. Overall, I like this game but I am a little disappointed about the difficulty. My girlfriend, who never played the original, really loves this game.
 
E

Enk

makes good threads.
No word yet as to a possible US release of this? I'd like to import it but it's gonna cost up to $60 to do so. ;-(
 
B

BobFromPikeCreek

Member
Totalriot said:
Got the game yesterday from amazon.de.

I've played now up to world 4, with 10 stages in each world. The stages are very short. There is a time limit of 250 seconds per stage but it rarely takes more than a minute to finish each stage. There are 2-4 red diamonds in each stage. If you collect them all, a bonus stage opens up.

There are two new features:
Bubblegum, which makes you fly, if you blow into the microphone until you hit an object and a soda-Bottle, which can destroy walls

The game is fun but it is really really easy. World 3 seems to be a little more difficult than the other thre I've played so far, hopefully, it does not stay this way. There are achievements in the game but most of them are kind of boring and easy to obtain, like finish the first stage or collect more than 5000 diamonds. The only one that sounds interesting is "survive the retro stage".

The music is superb. I love the remixes. Overall, I like this game but I am a little disappointed about the difficulty. My girlfriend, who never played the original, really loves this game.
Click to expand...
I'm about halfway through world 5. The game is slowly getting tougher. It just has a really gradual difficulty curve.
 
T

Totalriot

Member
BobFromPikeCreek said:
I'm about halfway through world 5. The game is slowly getting tougher. It just has a really gradual difficulty curve.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've noticed the same. Plus I am in world 6 now and for the first time I've missed a red gem.
 
B

BobFromPikeCreek

Member
Since I'm a super awesome master game pro, I'll post two ultra secret levels I found.

Level -1
In level 4-3, go right until you get bubble gum. Activate the bubble gum and fly all the way back to the level's start. In the absolute top-left most corner of the level is a hidden block, so float below that and fly up into it. When you activate it you'll unlock level -1.

Level -2
Play level 6-7 until you reach the first flower checkpoint. To the right of it is a bazooka bee. Bounce off it's head directly upward and you'll activate a hidden block opening level -2. -2 is a bit more interesting than -1.

I'll post if I find more.
 
C

Conrad Link

Member
Guess I'll be eBaying it, doubt it will ever come out in New Zealand. ;(

Sounds awesome though! Maassss C64 memories.

And I love how it finally ended up on a Nintendo system hehe, I love Super Mario Bros. and Giana was always my bizaro Mario, great stuff.
 
C

Cranehand2ndComing

Member
Jefklak said:
Wow awesome platformer ! :D

This reminds me of the good old days... I actually think of Xargon, anyone ever played that?

xargon2.jpg


Hm, okay, it doesn't look like it at all but Xargon also has those crystal thingies. (Edit: emeralds)
Damn I miss '90-style (western) platformers...
Click to expand...

Was this Epic Megagames? Looks a lot like Jill of the Jungle.
 
Allan Holdsworth

Allan Holdsworth

Member
Finished World 4, pretty good old-school platformer (I never played the original, btw).
It doesn't touch NSMB, but it's quite enjoyable, at least for a platformer fan like me.
 
C

CTLance

Member
Apparently the game gets pretty punishing at around world 8.

I finally got around to ordering this. Can't wait to hold it in my hands and squeal in delight.

Did anybody notice that the title screen changes according to your DS system time and date? It switches between a day and night version, and apparently recently it also showed an easter bunny version. Now there's a literal Easter egg. :D


dtp forum summary:

(The german part of the Giana DS subforum is practically dead. All of the following was posted in the english part. Huh. That doesn't sound too promising now, does it...?)

http://www.pikomi.de/giana.html
-> additional artwork, decompile SWF for vectorized pics
Pikomi is the alias of Alex Pierschel, the artist working on Giana Sisters DS.

giana_sisters_title_3.gif

There was an additional artwork pack on spellbound.de, but since they're fiddling with the servers it vanished again. I failed to get it the first time around, so I hope it'll be uploaded again. Expect to find it here: spellbound.de -> Support -> Downloads

Maria isn't in the game, which makes the title ("Giana Sisters") a bit ... misleading? Still, spellbound staff hint that it may have been intentional and that a this issue might be explained "later". (Hopes_for_sequel++)
 
S

SecretBonusPoint

Banned
Finally grabbed a copy of this. Its every bit as amazing as I'd hoped. Perfecting each level as I go is cool, and nice to hear it gets a lot more difficult later.

The music sends shivers of pure rapture down my entire body.
 
Allan Holdsworth

Allan Holdsworth

Member
I finished it about a week ago.
It starts to get challenging around World 6, before it's mostly easy.

I wonder if there are other secret levels besides X1 & X2.
What's the point of World 9?
 
J

jarosh

Member
at world 6 right now. it really is a great little game! charming, fun, with pitch perfect controls, awesome music, cute art and sprite work, clever level design... it's adorably simple but that's what makes it so appealing. however, it's also piss easy most of the time (so far) and from the looks of it rather short.

but it is much better than nsmb. and i liked nsmb.
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
BobFromPikeCreek said:
Since I'm a super awesome master game pro, I'll post two ultra secret levels I found.

Level -1
In level 4-3, go right until you get bubble gum. Activate the bubble gum and fly all the way back to the level's start. In the absolute top-left most corner of the level is a hidden block, so float below that and fly up into it. When you activate it you'll unlock level -1.

Level -2
Play level 6-7 until you reach the first flower checkpoint. To the right of it is a bazooka bee. Bounce off it's head directly upward and you'll activate a hidden block opening level -2. -2 is a bit more interesting than -1.

I'll post if I find more.
Click to expand...
ooooh, nice find. Looks like X-1 is the level
that runs through the title screen in the background.

I've found X-2 before (totally by accident, and actually thought that was the proper level ending for a sec). :p
 
D

darkwings

Banned
I finished the game yesterday, it is maybe the best platformer on DS so far. I cant believe how little hype this game has.

imo:

GGS > YI2 > NSMB
 
R

Rlan

Member
Where would one order the game from if I'm from Australia? PayPAL preferred, but I do have a credit card.
 
T

Totalriot

Member
I've finished the game on the easter weekend. One warning: If you want to play the retro levels (With the original music!!) you must not die.

I've finished without dying, my girlfriend died a few times. I can access the retro levels, she can't.
 
C

clockradiospeakers

Member
So, when you guys say it gets more difficult in the later stages, is it still only relatively difficult? Or am I really going to have my platforming skills tested? I'm tired of otherwise good games being ruined by being too easy.
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
clockradiospeakers said:
So, when you guys say it gets more difficult in the later stages, is it still only relatively difficult? Or am I really going to have my platforming skills tested? I'm tired of otherwise good games being ruined by being too easy.
Click to expand...
First 5 worlds are total pushovers. 6 and 7 are ok.


World 8 is making me wish I'd still be playing that piddly 5th world in Hatsworth.
 
Allan Holdsworth

Allan Holdsworth

Member
Totalriot said:
I've finished the game on the easter weekend. One warning: If you want to play the retro levels (With the original music!!) you must not die.

I've finished without dying, my girlfriend died a few times. I can access the retro levels, she can't.
Click to expand...

You mean 8-10? I never got "game over" because I always went back to get lives, but I died a lot.


darkwings said:
I finished the game yesterday, it is maybe the best platformer on DS so far. I cant believe how little hype this game has.

imo:

GGS > YI2 > NSMB
Click to expand...

I find NSMB and YIDS significantly better. Must be because because I don't have nostalgia for the C64 version.
 
plank

plank

Member
Anybody knows what maria looks like? The two character design posted I'm guessing are the same person. I've seen Giana in game play videos in the old game, but never saw the other one.
 
C

CTLance

Member
Maria isn't in the game => no artwork available.

...

Aaaaaah. Thank god it rained today, I got to skip most of my gardening chores and sit on my comfy couch playing Giana Sisters.

All I can say is: It's amazingly awesome. We need more games like this. While I admit that it starts off easy the challenge is increasing gradually. I appreciate that fact, by now I have reached the perfect difficulty for my taste (world 7).

Let's hope the plea for a (losslessly compressed?) OST release is answered favourably.
 
C

CTLance

Member
I have come into possession of the official cover as a PDF file... without the freakishly ugly USK logo. My source made it awfully clear that this isn't meant for public distribution.

Strictly theoretically speaking, would anybody else be interested in this? I guess if there's interest I'll harass the poor guy/gal some more, to see if I can share it. No promises, but you never know.

...

I wonder if I'd be allowed to snip out the covered area and post it, sort of like a DIY patch. Probably not. Stupid copyright.
 
P

Prime Blue

Member
CTLance said:
without the freakishly ugly USK logo
Click to expand...
I don't get it. They could make the USK logos so much bigger by rotating them 45 degrees:

15834n4.gif


Then use the remaining space for the game title (preferably in Courier New) and the other logos. Or simply drop that stuff – imagine the thrill of surprise you would have with any purchase!

Though personally, I'd take it one step further, introducing "Jugendschutzbänder für Sehgeschädigte".

30hwhhe.gif
 
C

CTLance

Member
:lol
Prime Blue, awesome. You forgot morse code and Braille on those banners, though. Blind guys want to play videogames too! "Wenn schon, denn schon."


...Only one guy is interested? I thought there would be more demand.
Just to be clear, the cover would be shared via PM's since posting a link here would definitely be "public distribution". So send me a short PM if you're interested (or post here) so that I can send you the link - if I get clearance to do so, of course.

Damn, I sound like an attention whore. Should have just posted it on /v/ and applied for the witness protection program or something. Doing the right thing is annoying.
 
HUELEN10

HUELEN10

Member
CTLance said:
:lol
Prime Blue, awesome. You forgot morse code and Braille on those banners, though. Blind guys want to play videogames too! "Wenn schon, denn schon."


...Only one guy is interested? I thought there would be more demand.
Just to be clear, the cover would be shared via PM's since posting a link here would definitely be "public distribution". So send me a short PM if you're interested (or post here) so that I can send you the link - if I get clearance to do so, of course.

Damn, I sound like an attention whore. Should have just posted it on /v/ and applied for the witness protection program or something. Doing the right thing is annoying.
Click to expand...
I want it, so please PM me!
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
CTLance said:
I have come into possession of the official cover as a PDF file... without the freakishly ugly USK logo. My source made it awfully clear that this isn't meant for public distribution.

Strictly theoretically speaking, would anybody else be interested in this? I guess if there's interest I'll harass the poor guy/gal some more, to see if I can share it.
Click to expand...
do eet
 
C

CTLance

Member
Huh, now would ya look at that. I just discovered that I can't send a PM to seven recipients at once. Wink wink, nudge nudge, know what I mean?

Much ado about nothing, CTLance edition. :D

In other news, the artwork pack resurfaced on spellbounds server!
http://www.spellbound.de -> support -> scroll down
Direct link:
http://spellbound.de/upload/games/giana_sisters/giana_sisters_artwork_pack_01.zip
90 KB, two 1024x1024px gifs. Eh. Still, two pics > no pics. Nice of them to share some of the good stuff. Also, one of my fav pics is in the zip, so I'm certainly not complaining.

e862j6.gif

I just love this for some reason.
 
C

CTLance

Member
Hrm. Cursed thread necromancy again!

Forum noose:

dtp has opened a webshop and offers some girl-/kid- TShirts, some coffee cups, and pins. Nothing for burly muscular men like me. ;) Srsly though, it's targeted at females and kiddos.


...and there I was, hoping for an Udo coffee cup. It would have been the perfect wake-up coffee cup. :(

Trivia: Udo is the forum nickname of the owl enemy, adopted by the spellbound guys.
And_now_you_know.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Would you agree that Nintendo has always been better as a portable platform holder vs. a home console one?
Opinion Platform 2
52
2K
SirTerry-T replied
Super Mario RPG Remake | Review Thread
Analysis Review Hype 2
50
4K
Danjin44 replied
Another Code: Recollection | Review Thread
Analysis Review Hype
28
2K
Thick Thighs Save Lives replied
Nintendo Switch 2’s biggest competition isn’t PS5 or Xbox – it’s portable PCs
Opinion Hardware 2
74
4K
Deerock71 replied
[GameSpot} Nintendo Switch 2: 11 Features We Want, From Backwards Compatibility To 3DS Support
2
52
4K
Edgelord79 replied
Top Bottom