[Jeff Garneau]

I've been playing around in Shiren DS for a couple of hours and: It's still the same game as the SNES Shiren the Wanderer, plus a few cosmetic changes and slightly tweaked gameplay. There seems to be some kind of cooperative play through Wi-Fi, which is probably the biggest addition to the game. They've also added a tutorial dungeon that you play through the first time you start the game which is probably helpful if you're new to the game and speak Japanese.

Anyways, apparent changes: I don't really remember being able to go back a level when you reach the stairs in the Super Nintendo version, and it might really kill the game as one could use that feature to level up quite a lot (it randomly regenerates the previous floor). On the other hand, grinding levels is possible in the original through a variety of less obvious ways.

The furthest I got was to floor 19, which is just before the last town. The first two new monsters I saw apparently had no special abilities but could do more damage than their contemporaries. The third one was actually a pretty deadly shellfish-type thing that shows up in the mine shaft (along with Kid Tank). It only did one damage per hit until it died, when it makes a 3x3 explosion (knocking out walls) that either reduces you to 1 health or just does 45ish damage outright. I'm not sure which it is. They turn red and stop doing anything when they're in critical condition, though, so it's not too bad. Later on, before the bridge, I ran into some assassin-looking enemy whose only power, it seemed, was to do a lot of damage but not have a lot of HP itself. Finally, there's a new enemy in the marsh which can render your scrolls unusable until you reach the next level of the dungeon.

This game is really filled to the brim, however, with minor tweaks. First off, there are a lot more people just wandering around the dungeon who you can talk to. They seem to have a lot to say, so there are probably new quests to get involved with. The drop rates seem to have been messed with a great deal: I think they might have completely eliminated Medical Herbs, while Heaven and Earth scrolls drop all over the place. Scrolls and wands can be cursed now, but all that seems to do is prevent them from being read/waved (Nodorus can hit them with their curse spell, too). Somehow I walked into a pit trap, but instead of taking me to the next floor it just did 6 damage. Go figure. Items become identified whenever you reach a town. Flame priests seem to do a lot less damage while Kigni Tribes are appearing a lot earlier than I remember and hurting me a lot more. Ghost Mushas appear exactly over the Kimen-Musha corpse, so if you stand on it they won't appear until you move. I think that Minotaurs got swapped out of the first floors they appear in in favor of Ether Devils. I didn't see any of the black crustacean things in the swamp that hit twice. You can now select which of Fei's problems you want to attempt. You get the idea.

I guess all these changes do add up to something, but it's still not really clear if it makes the game too easy. Sure, the minotaurs were kind of cheap and those black crab things did a lot of damage, but you can still lose levels and have your equipment rust in the marsh, and you still get hit hard in Table Mountain. Getting your scrolls cursed can be really bad. Old Man Tank is still Old Man Tank. If you don't like the ability to backtrack, don't. Fei's Final Problem is undoubtedly still almost impossible without abusing copy pots. Is it still Shiren the Impossible? Maybe. If you're that much of a stickler for things, go play Nethack.

On an aesthetic note: much of the animation has been smoothed out. Many monsters seemed to have had frames added, a lot of the effects have been overhauled, and there's a really showy idle animation for when you've been turned into a rice ball. The arrows for the stylus on the touch screen are a lot more intrusive than you'd think. Sorry DAIS, there doesn't seem to be a sound test (though I haven't really tried all the menus as I'm afraid of deleting my file). The music sounds to me just like the SPC set, except maybe a little cleaner.

Forgot to mention: I like it and its save feature is perfect for playing on the go! Are you ready to outwit dangerous monsters and cunning traps to reach the legendary golden condor!? If you still have questions or want to whine about changes, feel free to post in the thread!