bit Generations

The first 3 games of Nintendo's highly anticipated "nu-retro" series for the GBA has been released in Japan. I was lucky enough to get my hands on dotstream and DialHex for quick review and to be quite honest I came away with that elusive feeling that I had just experienced something "special" in the realm of gaming.The first thing that struck me about both these games was the clean, simple design. Its essentially effective and yet deceptively beautiful. Combine this with quite possibly the most perfectly matching soundtrack ever created and you have a retro gaming experience that leaves you feeling like you've just discovered something on the cutting edge.

Dotstream is a simple racing type game similar to a Tron style bike race. Each dot is trailed by an endless coloured line which can both impeed and improve your progress depending on how you "ride it". You can use boosts to get ahead of the other racers yet these boosts also count as "lives", so if you get hit by an obstacle and you have zero boosts left then its instant retirement from the race.

The gameplay is addictive and especially challenging. You un-lock new courses by getting a typical gold medal in each category. Bottom line is its simple, fun and addictive..... and then there's that music!

I can't stress enough how awesome the music is in all three games. Being a fan of electronic music for years I can especially appreciate the awesome programming and production on these tracks. Warping FM synth lines interlock with retro stabs and 8-bit break beats... it becomes such an integral part of the experience. I can honestly say that I would buy these games for the music alone!

DialHex is no exception either. This puzzle title is soothed by laid back break beats and 8-bit swirling pads which fit perfectly with the mood of the game.

You are presented with a large empty hexagon which starts to quickly fill with different coloured triangles one after the other. The object of the game is to use your hexagonal icon to rotate and join similar coloured triangles until they match and dissapear Tetris style.

The gameplay takes a little getting used to. After hours of Tetris o the DS I had to shift my brain a little to get the hang of the hexagonal blocks, but once it clicked it was like video game crack... I was hooked, I know I'll be back to this for many a late night hour. The pace is actually quite frantic as the triangles start to drop extremely fast and before you know it you're quickly trying to match up colours before your hexagon screen fills up.

Some may be put off by the simple appearance of the bit-generations series and some may even dismiss it due to it being such a late GBA cycle release. However those gamers who appreciate pure gameplay and an overall themed experience of style will simply fall in love with these addictive little gems.

Each title is currently only available in Japan for a nice price tag of 2,000 yen. Import here.