10 games we'd like to see made for DSi

It’s out soon, but gamers and journalists alike are still slightly unsure of what the DSi means for portable gaming.

Will the DSiWare download service herald a flood of innovative, genre-bending software, or a load of worthless fluff? And will there be a load of standalone boxed releases that take advantage of the console’s new features, or will Nintendo keep the DS in the loop?

Whatever path Nintendo takes, it’s worth remembering that its new handheld has some interesting features at its disposal. As well as having larger screens and a couple of cameras, the DSi packs twice the processing punch of the plain old DS, and a lot more memory to boot.

While that will mainly be utilised for the new console’s multimedia features, it seems reasonable to assume that any DSi-only games will be allowed to take advantage of the extra headroom at some point in the future.

We thought we’d have a look at what titles we’d like to see on Nintendo’s new handheld. We’ll look at some of the major franchises, and what the DSi could add to such proven formulas, as well as a couple of interesting developers who might be able to make use of the system in some way.

As always, we’d love to hear your own proposals in the comment section below.

10 games we'd like to see made for DSi

It’s been almost three and a half years since the sublime Mario Kart DS, so we think a new handheld Mario Kart is in order.

What unique features could the DSi allow? Anyone who’s played Mario Kart in the arcades will know that the cabinet takes a picture of your gurning mug prior to each race, proceeds to apply a Mario ‘tache (or some other feature) then plants the snapshot above your kart for your mates to see as you burn past.

Mario Kart DSi could include a similar feature, which would add a great deal of personalisation to online battles. Of course, there would be major policing issues to consider - it’s unlikely that people would stick to snapping only their faces…

Like Mario Kart, it’s been about three years since we saw a Metroid game on a Nintendo handheld. For a DSi version, we’d like the extra processing power and memory to be used in creating a full-on 3D Metroid adventure - not just the glorified arena-based FPS of Metroid Prime: Hunters on DS, however accomplished it was.

We could also envisage a particular weapon or scanner that requires you to physically ‘aim’ the DSi, using the camera to sense movement.

You can say what you like about GTA: Chinatown Wars - Nintendo showed us that it was possible to build an enormous, immersive and cohesive 3D world on the DS a good year and a half before Rockstar arrived on the scene.

While we're all obviously excited by the announcement of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, we'd like to a see a sequel on DSi, keeping the same art style and core mechanics that worked so well on the similar DS hardware but shifting Link to an all new world.

Nintendo always uses every hardware trick up its sleeves for Zelda games, so camera implementation would be a dead cert - perhaps using it to aim Link’s bow, or taking pictures of real-world objects in order to solve colour-based puzzles.

It’s unlikely that a DSi update of Pokemon would tinker too much with the zillion-selling formula, and Game Freak is hardly renowned for pushing the technical limits of Nintendo’s hardware, but we can imagine some novel uses for the DSi’s cameras.

How about having to lure rare species of Pokemon into the open by creating a bespoke environment from snaps you’ve taken?

Perhaps the Herbisnore (to make one up) likes a leafy backdrop, so you could take a snap of the holly bush in your garden and paste it into the game. Maybe Fishguff (Nintendo should be paying me for these) likes a serene aqua-blue environment, so you could take a close-up pic of your sea-kelp shower gel bottle to lure her out.

In both Race Driver: GRID and Trackmania DS, premier DS racing game developer Firebrand allowed you to design, build and compete on your own tracks. We’d like to see more of these games on DSi, with the added ability to scan in textures using the camera.

We want to whiz past billboards with our grinning faces on them, and skid around tracks veneered with the wood-effect finish from our dining room table.

How about pimping your car in a similar way? There’s plenty of storage for such things on the DSi, after all. If you could take these designs online, we’d be even happier.

No camera-related features here, but we think it’s about time we saw a new, fully 3D F-Zero on a Nintendo handheld. The DS, after all, never got one.

The added processing punch of the DSi would open the way for the series’ renowned lightning-quick gameplay, and the superior, larger screens would undoubtedly help with visibility amidst all the garish colours being thrown about.

And dare we dream of wi-fi multiplayer?

The title that pushed the DS into millions of young female hands, and Nintendo firmly into the realm of casual gaming, will inevitably see a sequel. But how might a DSi version of Nintendogs make the most of the hardware?

Imagine teaching your pet to react to gestures using the inner hinge-mounted camera. A downward motion for ‘Sit’, a circular one for ‘Roll over’ – there’s plenty of scope for boosting the player’s attachment to their virtual pet. And for making them look an idiot, of course.

I’m not even sure it it’s technically possible to use the DSi camera in this way, but it would certainly open up a whole range of input possibilities.

This quirky French developer specialises in taking familiar arcadey gameplay and applying plenty of unusual twists (as with the recent Big Bang Mini on DS).

The studio's art style tends to stray towards the abstract, so we can imagine a zany 2D shooter on DSi where the enemy sprites are taken from your own picture collection. Picture the looming shadow of a screen-filling end-of-level boss, which turns out to be… your mother’s disembodied head.

I’m sure Freud would have something to say about that, but there’s no doubting it would be an interesting experience.

Why put such an average game in our wish-list? Well, although Drawn to Life on DS fully deserved the 6 out of 10 score we gave it, conceptually it was very clever indeed, allowing you to sketch your own platform character before setting off.

The DSi would allow us to complete the circle and put ourselves in our very own platform adventure.

For those who grew up wishing they were Sonic or Mario, it’d be wish fulfilment time. The idea could be extended to the world itself, with player-snapped objects replacing the usual floating platforms and lollipop-shaped trees.

As Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise showed, Microsoft-owned Rare remains willing and able to work with Nintendo on their portable platform. This fact, coupled with the added processing power of the DSi and the already proven stylus interface leads us to imagine a streamlined version of their classic N64 first person shooter, Perfect Dark.

Now that Nintendo’s online setup is in good working order and commonly used, we could just picture the multiplayer possibilities of such a release. Each player’s face could be scanned onto their avatars via the DSi camera, just to add that personal touch.