A Couple of Years After

See this item here?

It's one of my bag must-haves - along with my wallet, keys, mobile phone, kikay kit, and planner. If you haven't figured out what it is, it's my 2 years and 4 months old Nintendo DS Lite. Since it is it's 2nd year, I'm giving you two reasons why this here is special to me: (1) it was given to me by Rai as a birthday gift and (2) the cover artwork is me (back when I was still sporting a semi-curly hair), drawn and colored by none other than Rai (yep, he draws and is good at it :) now that's a Rai trivia for you).

Two years ago, I was still bent on purchasing a PSP. I remember chatting with him about this when he suggested NDS Lite instead. He thought it matched my personality better. I had to research and check out the difference between those two as well as the games available for each one. I later found out that some people think that DS is for kids while the other is not. If that's what Ken meant when he suggested DS for me, I can only guess. :p

Honestly, I'm not much of a gamer. As a kid, I didn't spend much time playing family computer or what-have-you's and was more into reading. The end result is that now, I can't relate to most people when they discuss 80's games. Being a late bloomer that I am, I am discovering some classic and/or famous games because of this handheld game console.

In two years, this handy gadget became a reminder of some sort of how Rai has influenced me to nurture that kid in me. It kept me company during long MRT rides. It had been a tool to inculcate fun bonding moments with our close office-friends. I'd say it has served its purpose... and still continues to do so. :)

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Scribblenauts - Write Anything. Solve Everything

This is one of the best games ever made, and by best I mean intuitive, clever and original. In this age where everybody relies on graphics, gameplay and originality are usually compromised. Unsuspectingly 5th Cell, the makers of Scribblenauts for NDS, was able to pull out from their magic hat a never before seen trick.



Retrieve the starite

With Scribblenauts you can virtually write any object to help you solve each level. You can use the freehand notepad or the keyboard to conjure almost limitless possibilities.

With over a hundred levels, each rated by a four star difficulty, your objective as Maxwell is to complete each scenario and acquire the starite. Earn ollars as you progress to purchase new levels. After completing each level it will turn to a star icon to represent your completion, reentering the level will trigger advance mode where you are to complete the level 3 times in a row with the added challenge that any item used during the attempt cannot be used again for the duration of the challenge.

There are two types of levels: puzzle and action. Puzzles are levels where you are faced with a situation that you need to solve like producing an item that fits the requirement, whereas action usually deals with trap doors, switches and may require some dexterity. Of course, this game is not without flaw and the main problem would usually be the tendency of action levels becoming repetitive, but one would argue that it depends on the limitations of one's imagination.



Here's a list of interesting/useful objects I often use during gameplay.
Note: I'll be updating the list from time to time whenever I find something worthy ;)

Combining objects

• Glue
  
• Paste
  
• Tape

Connecting objects

• Cable
  
• Chain
  
• Rope
  
• Vine

Digging

• Jackhammer
  
• Shovel
  
• Spade
  

Flight Small scale (short flight but useful in tight spaces)

• Jetpack
  
• Magic broom
  
• Magic carpet
  
• Wings

Medium scale (permanent flight but limited power to tow)

• Pegasus
  
• Pterodactyl (faster)
  
• Sphinx
  

Big scale (bulky but more powerful) Needs runway

• Plane (all variations)

Omni-directional and floats in air

• Balloon (hot air balloon)
  
• Bomber (stealth bomber and can drop bombs)
  
• Rocketship
  
• Space shuttle (same as rocketship)
  
• UFO (the tractor beam below can lift objects but can also be troublesome)

Hooking

• Fishing rod
  
• Grappling hook

Platforms

• Bridge ladder
  
• Drawbridge

Friendly super powered beings

• God
  
• Superhero
  
• Zeus - see God

Interesting Villains

• Gorgon - turns people into stone, upon defeat, the head can be used once.
  
• Medussa - see Gorgon
  
• Vampire - turns people into ghouls
  
• Witch - uses a wand to turn people into frogs and eats them (ugh)

Unclassified but quite useful

• Blackhole - destroy almost everything in radius before dissipating
  
• Electricity - electrocutes (SPOILER: works wonders on switches)
  
• Garlic - kills a vampire upon contact
  
• Ghost - for scaring unarmed people, does not kill unless provoke
  
• Lightning - see electricity
  
• Magnet - easily attaches with glue, attracts metal
  
• Mech - mobile and shoots bullets!
  
• Poison - very useful for taming beasts such as T-Rex.
  
• Metal spike - very very destructive on contact
  
• Sun - lights a dark area and kills vampires
  
• Thunder - see electricity
  
• Toxicwaste (solid) - make animals sick on contact, turns humans to mutants
  
• Tractor beam - pulls anything in range
  
• Wormhole (destructive) - works exactly like blackhole
  
• Wormhole (intergalactic) - pulls from space a random intergalactic hostile being

Establishments These things don't have much use but usually spawn something

• Heaven - God
  
• Hell - devil
  
• Tomb - spawn limitless zombies (limited to a few onscreen)

Just Interesting

• Edy - summons a T-Rex with bandanna and cannot be tamed
  
• Maxwell - evil look alike that steals items
  
• Meteor - if dropped from sky, destroys everything including Maxwell
  
• Nuke - once activated, destroys everything including Maxwell
  
• Starite
  
• Teleporter
  
• Tsunami - destroys everything including Maxwell
  
• Time machine
  
• Win - gives you a useless starite

You are free to contribute by sending me PMs or post it in the comments below ;)

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