Square-Enix to US: No Paddle for You

Apr. 4 12:59 PM by Alicia Ashby

At first there were rumors, but now it's brutally official. Yeah, Space Invaders DS and Arkanoid DS are coming to the US... without the paddle controller. On the upside, Wired reports that if you already have a paddle controller, the US software is going to support it.

Since the only fun aspect of Arkanoid DS is being able to use the paddle controller, this is incredibly lousy news. Space Invaders might still be playable, but unless Arkanoid DS gets an overhaul it's not even worth $20. Heck, I got it for free and still felt ripped off.

Comments

A crying shame as I was actually kind of curious to see if you could somehow get the paddle controller to work with Nervous Brickdown... which is easily a much better Arkanoid game on the DS than Arkanoid DS.

 

I wonder if the reasoning for this is what you said in your original Ark post about the paddle controller being designed for the DS Phat. I've had a lingering suspicion that they originally designed it that way to keep from alienating existing consumerbase (since presumably, a GBA port designed to fit perfectly into the Lite would not even be functional with a Phat), but with American GBA Port accessories (Guitar Hero) now being designed for the Lite, seeing the old- paddle controller that juts halfway out of a Lite would cause people to react... well, basically the same way you did.

It's a tricky business.

 

KouAidou: the Guitar Grip works with DS Phats too!

 

Yeah, the Guitar Grip kind of increases my frustration with the Taito paddle. The Guitar Grip is really a pretty good-looking accessory that works with both DS models. The Taito paddle has some issues with DS Lites due to a design element meant to accommodate the Phat.

 

How on earth does that work? I'm just wondering. Is there some kind of extension so that it fits in all the way, or what?

 

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