Giana Sisters DS

Last updated
Giana Sisters DS
GianaSistersDS.jpg
Giana Sisters DS cover art
Developer(s) Spellbound Entertainment
Bitfield GmbH [1]
Kaasa Solution (Ouya, PC, Android)
Publisher(s)
Producer(s) Armin Gessert
Steffen Ruehl
Andreas Speer
Designer(s) Severin Brettmeister
Jean-Marc Haessig
Christian Wild
Alex Pierschel
Programmer(s) David Salz
Daniel Matzke
Artist(s) Christian Wild
Marcus Koch
Alex Pierschel
Composer(s) Fabian Del Priore
Platform(s) Nintendo DS, iOS, Mac OS X, Apple TV, Android, Ouya, Microsoft Windows
Release
April 3, 2009
  • DS
    • EU: April 3, 2009
    • AU: August 16, 2009
    • NA: February 22, 2011
    iOS
    February 9, 2010
    OS X
    October 17, 2011
    Android
    November 23, 2011
    Ouya
    June 28, 2013
    Windows
    October 23, 2015
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) Single-player

Giana Sisters DS, also known on other handheld platforms as Giana Sisters, is a platform game developed by Spellbound Entertainment in cooperation with Bitfield GmbH for the Nintendo DS, iPad, iPhone, and Android. It was published by DTP Entertainment in Europe and Destineer in North America. It is a spiritual sequel to the 1987 Commodore 64 release The Great Giana Sisters . A version for Microsoft Windows, re-titled Giana Sisters 2D, was also released.

Contents

Gameplay

Giana Sisters contains over 80 levels to be explored for hitting blocks, collecting crystals, finding secrets and eventually complete the stage. Despite having the same retro jump'n'run gameplay, the game distances itself from the 1987 game and its plagiarism of Super Mario Bros. , it has all new touch screen and microphone abilities allowing the Giana sisters to make use of various power-ups to aid their adventure. A world map allows for stages to be replayed after completion. It also contains a remake of all of the levels from The Great Giana Sisters as an unlockable.

The biggest drawback for Giana Sisters DS is the lack of multiplayer support, and the original sister, "Maria", doesn't appear in the game. The name "Giana Sisters" may refer to the actual forms of Giana's character (cute or punk).

Levels

The game is separated into 8 worlds, and all of them have 9 normal stages and 1 bonus stage. These worlds don't have a distinctive style, except for world 8, which contains volcanic (infernal) stages combined with mazelike castles. World 3, 6 and 7 are more wintery in their style, while world 4 takes place on small islands. Bonus stages are unlockable levels with a heavenly style, except for the world 8 bonus, which is a remake of the original Commodore 64 game. Updated versions of these original levels are scattered through world 1 to world 5 as well. The brand-new stages are more complex in their level design, as all of them have exploration and occasional right-to-left and vertical progression as well. World 6 is generally considered as the point where the more serious adventure starts. At the end of the stages a flag awaits which is either blue or red, depending on the collected red crystals. The stages have various settings: overworld, rainy overworld, mountain/winter, cave, castle (the majority of the boss stages are castles), volcanic/infernal (found in world 8) and heaven (bonus stages). Levels also include time a limit and various checkpoints in them. The checkpoint is a potted flower, while the timer is always set to 300, except for the infernal levels, where it is set to 666. There are secret levels as well in the game. Some of them can be reached by hitting hidden blocks, like in the original Commodore 64 game, while others can be reached only after completing the regular game.

Plot

Giana is a young girl who fell asleep one evening while admiring her precious treasure chest. As she fell into a deep sleep, magical powers emerged from the treasure chest, bathing Giana's bedroom in a brilliantly bright light. Vibrating with mystical energy, the treasure chest fell off the bed with a crash. The lid flew open. Giana's sparkling blue diamonds spilled out of the treasure chest and disappeared into a deep, black hole.

Giana, awakened by the light (and the noise), leaped off the bed and followed her prized diamonds into the darkness. She suddenly found herself in a magical world. Giana's diamonds were scattered all about her. She started to collect her diamonds and then decided to find out more about the secret of her magic treasure chest.

Development

The game marked the return of Armin Gessert to the Giana Sisters series that he created in 1987. It was developed by German-based developer Spellbound Entertainment. The graphics and artwork were provided by German illustration artist Alex "Pikomi" Pierschel. The music is based on Chris Hülsbeck's compositions from the original 1987 game, arranged by Fabian Del Priore. The game's executive producer was Armin Gessert, the man behind the programming of The Great Giana Sisters. Manfred Trenz and Chris Hülsbeck got an additional thanks in the game credits as well.

Release

The game was released in Europe by DTP Entertainment in April 2009. Later that year, it saw a release in Australia as well. In February 2011, the game was made available in North America by publisher Destineer through online outlets such as Newegg and Walmart.

It was ported to iPhone in February 2010, iPad in July and Android devices in November 2011. The iOS and Android versions feature new touch controls and HD resolution graphics. The port was published by Bad Monkee. The HD version was part of the Ouya launch lineup in 2013. [2] The HD version was also released on OS X in October 2011 and Windows in October 2015.

Armin Gessert died only a few months after the release of the game.[ citation needed ]

Reception

Giana Sisters DS was met with positive response, citing good controls and catchy music. The biggest credits were given to Pikomi's standout animation and artwork, but the game was criticized for being too easy for seasoned players, and somewhat unoriginal too. The lack of multiplayer and the removal of some old-school power-ups were also criticised, although the bubble gum and the soda power-ups were met with a positive response.[ citation needed ]

The iOS port was ranked the most downloaded game app during its month of release in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Norway.[ citation needed ]

Sequel

In 2012, Black Forest Games developed a new installment of The Great Giana Sisters tentatively titled Project Giana stating that the "Project Giana is the grandchild of The Great Giana Sisters". The game features music from The Great Giana Sister's original composer Chris Huelsbeck and the Swedish "SID metal" band Machinae Supremacy. [10] It was released on October 23 for PC with later releases on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, Nintendo eShop, and possibly Ouya. [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Great Giana Sisters</i> 1987 video game

The Great Giana Sisters is a platform game developed by the West German company Time Warp and published by Rainbow Arts in 1987 for home computers such as the Commodore 64, Amiga and Atari ST. Players control Giana to explore a magical world inside their dreams; to wake up, they must find a giant diamond. They traverse side-scrolling stages while avoiding hazards such as monsters and other enemies. These can be defeated by using power-ups, which grant the player abilities such as firing projectiles and making enemies fall asleep.

<i>Wario Land 3</i> 2000 video game

Wario Land 3 is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color. In the game, Mario's archrival Wario must free a mysterious figure who is trapped inside a music box. It was followed by Wario Land 4 in 2001. It was also released for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in 2013, and as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service on 8 February 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Huelsbeck</span> Musical artist

Christopher Hülsbeck, known internationally as Chris Huelsbeck, is a German video game music composer. He gained popularity for his work on game soundtracks for The Great Giana Sisters and the Turrican series.

<i>Boulder Dash</i> (video game) 1984 video game

Boulder Dash is a maze-based puzzle video game released in 1984 by First Star Software for Atari 8-bit computers. It was created by Canadian developers Peter Liepa and Chris Gray. The player controls Rockford, who tunnels through dirt to collect diamonds. Boulders and other objects remain fixed until the dirt beneath them is removed, then they fall and become a hazard. Puzzles are designed around collecting diamonds without being crushed and exploiting the interactions between objects. The game's name is a pun on balderdash.

<i>Pokémon Diamond</i> and <i>Pearl</i> 2006 video games

Pokémon Diamond Version and Pokémon Pearl Version are role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS in 2006. They are the first installments in the fourth generation of the Pokémon video game series. They were first released in Japan on September 28, 2006, and released in North America, Australia, and Europe in 2007. Pokémon Platinum, a third version, was released two years later in each region. Remakes titled Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were released for the Nintendo Switch worldwide on November 19, 2021. A prequel, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, was released for the Nintendo Switch on January 28, 2022.

<i>Libble Rabble</i> 1983 video game

Libble Rabble is a 1983 puzzle arcade video game developed and published in Japan by Namco. The player is tasked with using two colored arrows, Libble and Rabble, to wrap them around pegs and surround small creatures known as Mushlins to "harvest" them under a time limit. The player can also uncover treasure chests that will have the player searching the stage for items in order to access a special bonus stage. It ran on the Namco Libble Rabble hardware, one of the only games to do so.

<i>Remindelight</i> 2006 video game

Remindelight is an action role-playing video game developed by Japan Art Media and published by Taito for the Nintendo DS on September 28, 2006, in Japan. The player controls four characters with different abilities, navigating an overworld and fighting enemies using the D-pad, touchscreen and microphone. The story sees the four player characters seeking to restore the scattered pieces of the ripped-apart Book of Happiness, and bring happiness back to the world. Reviewers at Famitsu enjoyed the battle system, calling it innovative and saying that it made good use of the Nintendo DS hardware.

<i>Crystal Mines II</i> 1992 video game

Crystal Mines II is a puzzle video game designed and programmed by Ken Beckett for Color Dreams. It was licensed to Atari Corporation for the Lynx handheld system. The game is a sequel to Crystal Mines for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Both releases are similar to Boulder Dash, a genre which has since become known as "rocks and diamonds" games.

<i>Bleach: The 3rd Phantom</i> 2008 video game

Bleach: The 3rd Phantom is a tactical role-playing game for Nintendo DS based on the popular manga written by Tite Kubo. It was released in 2008-2010 and is published by Sega.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spellbound Entertainment</span> Former German video game developer

Spellbound Entertainment AG was a German video game developer based in Offenburg. The company is best known for the Desperados series.

Armin Gessert was a computer game developer from Germany. Along with Manfred Trenz and Chris Hülsbeck, he was one of the developers of the 1987 computer game The Great Giana Sisters for Commodore 64. His previous employers included the labels Rainbow Arts and Blue Byte. He was the founder of Spellbound Entertainment.

<i>Gardening Mama</i> 2009 video game

Gardening Mama is a gardening simulation-styled minigame compilation video game for the Nintendo DS, and it was later ported to iOS in 2010. It is a spin-off from the Cooking Mama series.

American Girl is a series of video games developed by various studios and distributed by American Girl.

<i>Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams</i> 2012 video game

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is a 2012 platform game developed and published by Black Forest Games for Microsoft Windows. It is the successor to the 1987 Commodore 64 title The Great Giana Sisters and sequel to the 2009 re-imagining Giana Sisters DS. The game was funded through crowdfunding website Kickstarter, reaching its goal of $150,000.

<i>Runner2</i> 2013 video game

Bit.Trip Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien is a 2013 side-scrolling platformer developed by Gaijin Games. The game is the sequel to Bit.Trip Runner (2010) and was released as a downloadable title on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Wii U, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, and iOS. Versions for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch were later released in 2016 and 2024 respectively. The PC, Mac, Linux, and Wii U versions were self-published by Gaijin Games, and the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions were published by Aksys Games.

Giana may refer to:

Giana's Return is a fan-made sequel to the videogame The Great Giana Sisters. A German-Austrian-French team, the founders of the independent studio Retroguru in 2011, developed the game from 1998 to 2014.

<i>Final Fantasy III</i> (2006 video game) 2006 role-playing game remake

Final Fantasy III is a Nintendo DS role-playing video game and a remake of the 1990 Family Computer game, Final Fantasy III.

References

  1. ↑ "Giana Sisters DS on mobygames.com".
  2. ↑ "Giana Sisters leaps onto XBLA today, big plans ahead". 20 March 2013.
  3. ↑ "Giana Sisters DS for DS". GameRankings . CBS Interactive . Retrieved 2012-09-04.
  4. ↑ "Giana Sisters for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  5. ↑ Ponce, Tony. "Review: Giana Sisters DS". Destructoid .
  6. ↑ Dillard, Cobbie (3 August 2010). "Review: Giana Sisters DS". Nintendo Life .
  7. ↑ Theobald, Phil (March 2011). "Giana Sisters DS". Nintendo Power . Future US. p. 85. ISSN   1041-9551. Sure, it's not innovative, but that doesn't mean that it can't be fun
  8. ↑ Lettieri, Peter (2010-02-12). "'Giana Sisters' – Brothers Beware, the Girls are Back!". TouchArcade . Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  9. ↑ Kautz, Paul (6 April 2009). "Review: Giana Sisters DS". 4players.
  10. ↑ "Giana Sisters: Twisted DreamsGiana Sisters: Twisted Dreams - a platformer with a twist!". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  11. ↑ "Project Giana by Black Forest Games".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.