Alrighty, here's the deal. Coming into this E3, I was really only excited about two things: what Nintendo would announce and what new information people would be able to gather about CTDS. I heard before the expo even started that a demo of the game would be available for play at the SE booth/arena. So I knew it would only be a matter of time before some tasty morsels of new information about the port would surface. And surface they did. A lot of my questions have been answered, thankfully. And now, I'd like to share all this information with you all, in case you guys haven't been scouring the internet as I have, looking for any bit of new info on the game that you can. My sources include IGN, 1UP, and DS Fanboy. GS is missing from the list only because by the time they got around to posting their preview, I'd already seen the other sites' previews. No harm done, I suppose, but to tell you the truth, it's really starting to annoy me that GS is so consistently behind on providing updates on DS games. I see everything they post days or even weeks before they post it, thanks to the sites aforementioned. I doubt fans of the consoles have this problem. /endrant
Sorry about that guys. I don't know what got into me. Getting back on track, here's all the new information I've found. If you've already seen it before, great. Please don't be rude towards me for posting "old information", if that seems to be the case for you. I've already experienced plenty of that. In any other case, I hope this makes your day.
- The anime cutscenes from the PS1 version are included.
- The touchscreen displays an automap of the room you're currently in that will show more of itself as you explore the place.
- You can also use the touchscreen to move Crono, much like you were able to move the guy from Dragon Sword and Link in Phantom Hourglass.
- Battling can also be done using the touchscreen by navigating through a series of menus. The actual game will still be on top, I believe.
- There are revisions/expansions to the dialogue. For instance, in the Super Nintendo version, when Crono's mother awakens him at the game's outset, she keeps it short and to the point, saying, "Ah, Leene's Bell makes such beautiful music! You were so excited about the Millennial Fair that you didn't sleep well, did you…? I want you to behave yourself today!" Now she is a bit more chatty, saying, "Dear me, I forgot how beautiful Lenee's bells sound. You must have been so excited about the Millenial Fair that you couldn't sleep last night, could you? Well, you had better not let that giddiness get you into any trouble. I want you to behave yourself today!"
- There are two meters visible directly beside your character. The orange meter on the top shows your health, and the green meter on the bottom charges while you get ready for the next attack. You can see the names of the enemies that you are battling on the touch screen.
- The game can be navigated entirely by using the stylus.
- A single-screen version of the game, just as it appeared on the SNES, is planned to be included on the cartridge.
I think all that remains now is for us to get to see some dual-screen gameplay vids to see all this information in action (oh, and seeing what the multiplayer and WiFi options will be). As it stands, I'm a little unsure and confused. I mean, have they altogether replaced the battle menu that showed your characters' names, their bars, and how much HP and TP they had left, replacing it with two RTS-like bars? Another question I have is whether or not it's possible to start up a NewGame+ file using a different version of the game than the one you initially beat the game with.