Bargain-bin diving

Who says you need digital distribution to get fun games at low prices? Admittedly, the bargain bins are usually stuffed with things you shouldn't buy at any price, and if everyone waited for the bargain bins, the industry'd likely collapse—but if you're just looking, like I was, for some low-risk, potentially-fun DS games to play, you might just get lucky.

Post-Christmas is a particularly good time to go bargain-bin diving. Lots of decent titles might have been passed over or simply ordered in too-high quantities, and retailers need to get rid of them. This time, I picked up three titles, all for less than $10 each. In alphabetical order, they are: Boing! Docomodake DS, Prey the Stars, and Rubik's World.


I probably had too-high hopes for Prey the Stars, expecting it to tap into my newfound love of the eating-things genre. This Koei Canada title promises copious masticating adventure (using the "get bigger to eat bigger things" mechanic I'd recently fallen in love with) as well as a number of deeper chowing mechanics.

Unfortunately, as I found myself facing a very samey-feeling set of flat arenas which added more and more mechanics as one progressed through the story mode, I started to get both bored and annoyed. The new mechanics weren't really very entertaining, leaning more towards chaos than genius as they were layered on. By time I'd cleared just the first row of arenas I was really starting to get sick of being blindsided by attacks both environmental and from my competitors, turning a hard-earned near-win into a last-place finish in the space of seconds. I think this one might be going to the sell pile soon.


I probably would not have given Rubik's World a look were it not for the interesting Rubik's Puzzle Galaxy: Rush WiiWare release that hit not too long ago from the same developer. Let's face it, the cover made Rubik's World look like the worst kind of shovelware, particularly with its horrible font—the box has a weirdly laid-out spine, too, making it look almost counterfeit next to my other games. Inside, though, there's a handful of fun and creative little puzzle games—not bad considering I paid $9 for it. (Rush does not appear to be in the package, so don't let the fact that you may already have that game stop you.)

Not everything in the package is great; there's some boring filler, and the Rubik's Cube game is just really poorly thought-out. The mode that promises to teach you to solve the thing—something I confess I've never really been good at—is nearly incomprehensible. But for the bargain-bin price, I'm willing to ignore the crap and be happy with the rest. Will probably keep this one till I grow tired of it.


I've saved the best for last, as you probably guessed. Boing! Docomodake DS is a puzzle-platformer starring NTT Docomo's mascot, Papa Docomodake. Played with the d-pad and the stylus simultaneously, you can split little mushrooms off Papa and use them to build ladders, throw at enemies, you name it. It's a really creative and fun game, especially when you consider its licensed heritage.

The one problem I have with Boing! is its mapping of jump to d-pad up (instead of, say, L); it makes some jumps needlessly tricky. But it's a small complaint, and the game is good fun. If you see this one in your own bargain bins, don't hesitate. Definitely keeping this one.