While I thoroughly enjoyed Super Mario Galaxy sometimes I want one less dimension in a platforming game. The glory days of 2D platformers are long over, but not for handhelds. Next year Namco Bandai has a Kekkaishi: Kokubourou Shuurai and Gegege no Kitarou: Youkai Daigekisen games scheduled for the Nintendo DS in Japan. Both games are based on anime licenses (read: not coming to North America) and both tackle jumping in different ways.
The Kekkashi game has players freeze enemies in cubes, which can be used as makeshift platforms. In the Gegege no Kitarou game you glide around using Gegege’s jacket. Out of the two platform exploration mechanisms Kekkaishi: Kokubourou Shuurai, which comes out on February 28, sounds more interesting. But you get to run around and shock stuff as Gegege’s game, which comes out in April. Neither game sounds revolutionary, but with the sparse selection of 2D platformers Namco Bandai’s games deserve some attention. Now, which one should I choose…
