Wiggler’s Nest – DS Tour ’05

I’ve got some great coverage of the NINTENDO DS GAME ON TOUR 05 so if you have any gaming pride you will take a read and you will attend the event. There are some great competitions and a lot of games to play. Wiggler’s Nest by Lutomes

Incase you don’t know already there is an event they call the NINTENDO DS GAME ON TOUR 05. Now I am strongly recommending that you attend if you are anywhere near one of the event locations. The full details of the event locations are at http://www.nintendo.com.au/ This article will be more of a complete recap of the day’s events as opposed to my regular editorial. But give my full thumbs up to Nintendo on this event, they are really doing a good job promoting the DS. There isn’t and angry wriggler to be seen over this entire article.

Now before I describe the event in detail I’ll throw down my opinions. This has to be as good if not better than the original Poke Tour back in ’99. There were great competitions, enthusiastic staff and heaps of games on display to play your heart out. I played in 4 player Mario 64, Metroid Prime and Pokemon Dash, as well as some vs on other games like Polarium and Yoshi Touch n Go. You can get an idea of the layout of the displays in these photos DS Tour 01DS Tour 02DS Tour 03DS Tour 04DS Tour 05

As for the games on display, if you go to the above list you can get an idea of the lineup. My only disappointment was the fact there was only 1 copy of Yoshi Touch N Go and Mr Driller which aren’t out here yet and I would have liked to spend a bit more time on those games. But it was more than made up for by the Metroid Prime vs matches I was playing, not to mention that 2 player Yoshi Touch n Go is also amazingly fun. Pokemon dash is a bit boring, but maybe it gets better if you link it up with a real Pokemon game and get to use your own Pokemon (or maybe not). As well as this you can get a card, and as you play the games on display they will stamp it. Fill up your card and you go into a draw to win a DS with Mario 64. I must say I was freaking out as they read out the winner to be Mitchel…(short pause because nobody came forward)…Hodginkinson. As my brothers name is Mitchell (Thompson) we were indeed on edge as it was being drawn.

All the competitions on for the day were excellent, I’m going to be upfont and say that I enjoyed them so much because both my brother and I both won DS t-shirts. There was a large Metroid Prime Hunters standee with holes in it where you could throw tennis balls and there was apparently a prize. But I was more involved in the games on display and never saw anyone playing it. They also had special multiplayer events where guests could go head to head and they gave out DS T-Shirts. They might have had a Metriod Prime match in the morning but I only got there at lunchtime.

About an hour after being there and playing other games, they announced they were starting a Mario 64 DS competition. So my brother an I walked over and they started asking Nintendo questions. They asked who was Mario’s Brother was and somebody called out Luigi. Then they started making us put our hands up, for the next question “”Who does Mario rescue etc etc.”” I raced up with my hand and was one of the first 3 people along with my brother and they made us play paper scissors rock. The other person was knocked out and it was down to my brother and I, and I won the next hand. Unfortunately my brother couldn’t answer the last question in time. The Mario 64 lineup was myself, 2 little kids, and one person from the DS Tour staff.

Now the match was hard, first round was Peaches slide and I came 2nd on that next to the staff member. The round was hard, he really knew his game. There was much swallowing of characters and chasing of stars. But Next round was Peaches Castle where I whooped his arse. We were chasing each other around and that chain chomp is a nasty bitch, almost lost me the round. Now tasting sweet victory I was awarded a stylish DS T-Shirt. Unfortunately they only come in medium sizes which would have been fine on any other member of the 10 year old crowd. I don’t think I’ve had this much fun in a long time, those little kiddies didn’t have a chance.

Next up they formed a line infront of Yoshi Touch N Go. There were half a dozen people, then my brother, 2 more people, myself, and then another half dozen or so. Now this guy was insanely good at Yoshi TAG, he beat everyone there up until my brother. Yeah I trained him well in gaming in a brother, he’s been playing since he was so little. I’m sure he could play games before he could read properly, and I think games have raised him well in return. My brother was tearing up the field and was over 200m infront of this guy before the other guy died off. Anyway continuing through the line even I messed up an egg shot and was knocked out. After over 15 wins to the DS Tour crew member and only 1 loss (to my brother) he lost a match to some girl. We do suspect the match was thrown so we could actually have a finals match however. My brother cleaned her up in a best of 3 finals playoff to collect a DS T-shirt of his own. We were now both quite smug with our trophies proving our gaming greatness.

Finally to close out the article, congratulations to Nintendo for their best tour to date. I have had the privilege of attending many of these events in the past. A few Poke Tours, and a few other general Nintendo Tours that were all nothing more than a few consoles on display. So clear your calendars for the 15th-17th April if you are in Victoria and 22nd-24th if you are in Sydney. You really need to attend this tour.