Hands-on impression of Pokemon Dash

[Dogasu]

Today, November 3rd, 2004, Nintendo held a Nintendo DS event in Nagoya, Japan. The event, called the Nintendo World Touch! DS, was held to basically show off the Nintendo DS, as well as the new games that are coming out for the GameCube and Game Boy Advance. There were dozens of booths open to allow people to play these games first-hand, and one of the games happened to be Pokemon Dash. There were maybe eight Pokemon Dash booths, and there were tons of kids lined up to play the first DS Pokemon game.

I got a chance to go to this event, and Pokemon Dash was the first game I played. After waiting in line for about 20 minutes, I was able to play a demo of the game for five minutes, which allowed me to go through about two levels. After being forced to pick Pikachu and a rather generic field (that's all that was available in the demo), it was time to start the game. The first level was nothing more than a simple race. Using the stylus, I controlled Pikachu around the course, racing through a number of checkpoints before reaching the final goal. The race was exteremely simple, and my guess is that it was an introductory level to allow players to get a feel for controlling the characters with the touch screen. The second level was a bit more stimulating. In this level, you ran around from island to island, occasionally taking to the skies to get to the next island. You see, once you got to a certain point, you would hook up to a bunch of balloons and rise high above the race field (this was accomplished by touching the "Rise" icons that would appear on the sides of the screen). This is where things got interesting--players were presented with a zoomed-in portion of the map on the top screen, and the goal was to find the area of the race field that was the same shape on the bottom screen. Once you did that, you had to line up your shadow to the bullseye at the bottom, and once that was done, you released your Pikachu from the balloons (you did this by touching the "Dive" icons on the side of the screen). If you lined your pokemon up correctly, Pikachu would land on the checkpoint and get extra points. If not, your pokemon would be stunned for a moment, allowing the other characters to race ahead of you. The level repeated this a few times--you would take to the skies, find whatever area is presented on the top screen, and then try your best to land your Pikachu on the target. I saw some players miss and accidentally send their Pikachu plummeting into the water, so it's not quite as easy as it may seem.

While I was forced to play as Pikachu in the demo, other playable characters seemed to be Torchic, Teddiursa, Meowth, Bulbasaur, and Munchlax.

The controls for the game were easy enough. The game didn't use any of the buttons on the DS at all...everything, from selecting your course on the main menu to running on the field, was controlled using the stylus on the touch screen. Overall, it worked pretty well, and it didn't take long for me to get the hang of the controls. Graphics-wise, the game was alright. Nothing too special, but nothing about the game looked bad either. Of all the games I played at the event, Pokemon Dash was the only one that had me looking at both the screens. Sound-wise, I couldn't hear too much because of all the noise in the convention center, but I did hear Ikue Ohtani voicing Pikachu. I also think that the music in the game was a weird mix of the ending theme to the Deoxys movie, but I'm not too sure about that.

And before anyone asks, there was nothing at the DS event about Diamond/Pearl. Ah well.

All in all, it looked like a fun game to kill an hour or so, but, like Pokemon Snap, I can't imagine this game having too much of a replay value.

I'll have pictures up soon.

[Aarkan]

That sounds cool. I wonder how the emerald compatability and multiplayer work though. Cause if you can load up other guys and get advatages and stuff and maybe train guys for certain "dash" stats (like contest stuff) it could be actually competitive and fun.

[Dogasu]

Finally got the pictures uploaded. Behold my inability to hold a camera straight (in my defense, though, these were taken while I was in line, so I couldn't get the best angle).

The Box. Nothing you haven't seen before.

The Title Screen. You start the game by selecting an option with the stylus. The red button is for single player mode, while the blue button is for multiplayer mode. The little wrench icon at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen is to set up your options.

The radar, which is located on the top screen. This is the radar for a regular race.

A list of the race results.

Here's a race starting. The game seems to use the same countdown noise that the Mario Kart games use.

Here's a race underway. The red arrows tell you which direction to go.

Here's Munchlax! The player has found the X-shaped island that's shown on the top screen, so we know he's on the right track. Pikachu dives on the bottom screen when you stroke the "Dive" button with the stylus.

A close-up of the radar. The PokéBall icon is one of the checkpoints.

And that's it. I was told by an employee of the event that we weren't allowed to take pictures (even though another employee told me earlier that it would be alright), so I had to put my camera away.

[P0RYG0N]

"everything, from selecting your course on the main menu to running on the field, was controlled using the stylus on the touch screen"

I never really got how it would be easy to hold the stylus in one hand, and the DS in the other. But, I guess it's something I'll just have to see for myself...

[Dogasu]

I never really got how it would be easy to hold the stylus in one hand, and the DS in the other. But, I guess it's something I'll just have to see for myself...

Well, the systems at the event were bolted down to these tables, so we couldn't actually hold one to get a sense of what it feels like to play it. However, since the game seems to ONLY use the stylus, there shouldn't be too many issues with hand cramps or anything like that.

[Sceptile_Master]

I know this is a little off topic but what other games did you play, and what were your impressions on them.

[Thunderchu]

Wow, looks cool and it's in 3D, yup I'm really gonna buy this game... ^^

[mr_pikachu]

After seeing these screenshots, I'm feeling even more hope for the eventual coming of a 3D Pokemon game, beyond what even Diamond and Pearl can hope to offer. *sighs wistfully* Someday...

[Dogasu]

Wow, looks cool and it's in 3D, yup I'm really gonna buy this game... ^^

The game's not in 3D. It's all 2D.

[Crazy]

I know it didn't look 3D to me at all. Why isn't it 3D? I mean the big thing about the DS is 3D. Looks like they could've done that on the GBA. Or is that for the GBA?

[Sceptile_Master]

Yeah I'm not to keen on the idea of pokemon dash. Thay should spend the time on diamond and pearl instead.

[Rudoku]

Yeah I'm not to keen on the idea of pokemon dash. Thay should spend the time on diamond and pearl instead.

What do you think they're doing now?

[rinku]

Dash would almost certainly have been developed by a seperate team than the prime team working on Diamond Pearl, or as a development exercise to get them used to the DS system. You can be pretty sure nothing gets in the way of the main game development.

[Filb]

Might come a bit late, but since I don't live in Japan (yet? lol) and had to wait extra-long for my Nintendo DS + Pokémon Dash because I also wanted to get the Japanese 7th Movie DVD which came out on December 21st, I only got the game a few days ago.

So, umm, donno' if anyone's still interested in this, but here are my impressions:
http://filb.greenchu.de/games/dash.php

I'm sorry for not being multilingual with my site
Maybe a basic Babelfish translation might help?

I also put some of the in-game music on my site (in order to save webspace it's not in optimal quality, though).

[Misty]

The DS isn't that good at 3D - it's pretty much equal to the N64.

But for 2D it's quite good. Which is why I'd be happy if they'd stick to 2D(especially for Diamond and Pearl) - I'd much prefer high-quality 2D(like the Playstation and Saturn) over cruddy 3D(see mentioned Playstation).

[Sceptile_Master]

Whoa Is pokemon dash really out in japan.

PS: Flib that mudkip plush in your avatar OWNS where did you get it from.

PSS: To misty the N64 was more powerful than the saturn and the PSone.

[Sceptile_Master]

Whoa is that spanish on the website. The pikachu graphics look real good considering it is on the DS.

[Misty]

The N64 was rather poor at 2D - its hardware was specifically built for 3D.

[Crazy]

The DS isn't that good at 3D - it's pretty much equal to the N64.

But for 2D it's quite good. Which is why I'd be happy if they'd stick to 2D(especially for Diamond and Pearl) - I'd much prefer high-quality 2D(like the Playstation and Saturn) over cruddy 3D(see mentioned Playstation).

You haven't seen Super Mario 64 DS have you? It is smoother and better looking than the N64 version. The DS is MADE for 3D not good 2D(although it can do it). Where did you get these lies from? The thing is 150$. It had better be made for 3D. For that I could buy a PS2 or another Xbox.

[Jeff]

Whoa is that spanish on the website. The pikachu graphics look real good considering it is on the DS.

Nah, Filb's site is in German

Anyway a bit off topic but I've been getting mixed responses as to the AG compatibillity. Is Dash compatible with all GBA Pokemon games or just Emerald?

[Misty]

It's compatible with Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Fire Red, and Leaf Green.