Why did I put off playing Contact for so long?

Could you please...?

Without the Nintendo DS, my passion for video games would not have grown to what it is now. Even though I've been a regular gamer since I was four years old, I didn't give the activity much thought throughout the first half of my life. I was essentially a Nintendo exclusive player who seldom ever ventured outside of first-party or name-brand AAA games. When you were younger and had to depend on birthdays, holidays, and rentals with your limited allowance to enjoy gaming, that was simply the way things were.

I was a college student making my own money by the time the Nintendo DS Lite came out in 2006, so I was more ready to take chances. I went to GameStop one day and bought a copy of .Touched in WarioWare: After playing it for only one weekend, I knew that accepting the unusual would be my actual passion in this pastime. It would be my first "weird" game.

And I gave it a hug. During the Wii and DS period, I purchased almost every strange and unconventional game that came across my desk. I simply wanted to play anything other than the Mario, Links, and Madden games from my childhood, regardless of quality.

Make Contact was for a long time one of my most anticipated games. It was worth noting since the combination of elaborate, pre-rendered bottom-screen visuals and straightforward, 2D top-screen graphics checked off enough boxes on my odd crap checklist. The only issue was that I had saved aside any extra cash for it since it was supposed to come out precisely one month before the Nintendo Wii. After snagging a cheap UK edition of the game on eBay two years ago, I finally got my hands on it. This month, I decided to see what insanity I've been missing all these years.

Photo courtesy of Moby Games

I don't blame you if you can't recall Contact. On a system that was overflowing with them, this RPG is quite specialized. The game, created by Grasshopper Manufacture, followed Terry on the bottom screen and the Professor on the top screen as they collaborated to find the gem-like cells that fuel the Professor's spacecraft that has crashed. You, the player, serve as an ever-present third party that connects Terry and the Professor in their mission. Although Terry doesn't know you exist, the Professor does, and he would like it stay that way.

By taking down the fourth wall between you and the Professor, Contact is able to reconsider the role that a player plays in a video game. In contrast to media like movies, TV shows, or books, games allow the user to take control of the experience. But in conventional games, such agency is mostly ignored. Sure, several have already shattered the fourth wall, but very few allow you to play a more significant role in the narrative than just managing the protagonist.

Not only is your presence acknowledged here, but you are also expected to play the part of the deceitful intermediary between Terry and the Professor. It's clear during the first hour of the journey that something is up with this entire scenario. Many warning signs surface during your private discussions with the Professor, and as Terry gathers more cells from more eclectic islands, the layers of truth gradually become visible. I won't give too much away, but the Professor reminds me a little bit of Atlas from Bioshock, which is surprising given that Contact came out more than a year before the masterwork from Irrational Games.

The image courtesy of Moby Games is shown in and .Get in touchis undoubtedly strange in comparison to its peers, and the same can be said of the game's gameplay. There aren't many RPGs on the market with a real-time battle system like this one. Terry assaults without hesitation. To switch to battle mode, just direct him toward an adversary and click the B button. Terry will handle everything else. The only thing the player really has to worry about is his health and ability to utilize special attacks since he will level up on his own as he strikes and blocks. Terry will pick them up on his own via fighting, but he won't use them until you specifically order him to. You may either feed Terry to restore his HP or get out of fight mode and flee if it seems like he is ready to collapse.The combat scenes here are similar to a less visually appealing version of the scenes from the Japan-only Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru, best known in the west as The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls. When the Prince of Sablé came across an opponent in that game, the two would engage in a cartoonish cloud of combat with no user action other than utilizing an item or fleeing. Basically, that's what we have here, with the exception that conflicts aren't confined to the many creatures and monsters that inhabit the area. Any NPC in the game may be fought, and doing so can alter both the plot and how other players see you. You never know when murder will turn you into a monster in the eyes of the public. It's possible that someone is searching for a terrible lad.Fortunately, if you want to play the part of the little goodie two shoes, it's simple to prevent inadvertently hurting the townspeople. You should be OK as long as you don't push the B button or the combat symbol on the touch screen. Nevertheless, it's a strange battle system, and I had no idea what to expect. Actually, I lost my life in battle against the first enemy I encountered—akin to a granny experiencing her first game of Super Mario Bros.. I died again on the first island around twenty minutes later after unintentionally engaging a much stronger foe.(Yes, I am aware that I shouldn't be stating, "I died," given that Terry is now a distinct character from the player. However, saying it that way makes me feel better than being honest and acknowledging that I contributed to a man's death.)

.Yes, Contact may be challenging. It may be quite frustrating to see Terry miss hit after hit. When you combine it with the fact that many of the peculiarities of Contact are left unanswered, you have a formula for a game that most people will steer clear of.Not to add, the timing of its stuck-ness was really poor. Before a number of other well-known Nintendo DS titles, such as Pokémon Ranger, Final Fantasy III, Yoshi's Island DS, and Elite Beat Agents, it was published in the US. It's understandable that this got lost in the hustle given the upcoming Wii launch. The dismal sales of Contact in Japan may have been attributed to the shadow of Mother 3, which was released less than a month after the latter reached shop shelves.Though I believe the world is ready for another look at Contact, I may have been disregarded back in 2006. Its unconventional fighting, inventive storyline, and sticker system that allows you to transform all of the foes on screen into bunnies who will still attempt to kill you all contribute to its unique quality. It's a very bizarre game, and I wish more people now would give those oddball games that people used to be too ready to write off.