It won't change your world, but playing this after coming from Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, I can only say that this game is a masterpiece compared to it.
Giana Sisters DS is fairly conservatively built upon the foundations that the original game set up. Giana by herself has no abilities other than jumping (just like the first game, not even running!), and Punk Giana is the only powerup available - although unlike the original, she can't be upgraded any further.
This isn't to say that the game is a complete retread of the original. In fact, the original game's levels can all be found as an extra in this game, where they feel that much more bare-bones in comparison.
Levels have more verticality to them, and in each world's first nine levels are Red Gems that essentially act like Star Coins in the New Super Mario Bros. games.
In other words, levels are more often built to be thoroughly explored than in the original game.
But Twisted Dreams does all of this too, minus the Red Gems. What does DS do that Twisted Dreams gets so horribly wrong?
A lot.
Giana Sisters DS maintains the times and lives counter from the original game; the former keeps the length and scale of these levels in check, since the timer rarely goes above 300 seconds. There's considerably less empty space in the game's level design as a result, with blocks (both ? and Brick) filling up air decently well.
The fact that Giana can only jump and shoot fireballs also makes it so that there's a very limited moveset players are working with, which has been very much accounted for in the levels - unlike Twisted Dreams, where levels are often unforgivingly cheap just because players get a double jump.
Only Red Gems are mandatory for 100% completion, since normal blue gems only contribute to extra lives; this feels like a breath of fresh air compared to Twisted Dreams, which demands that players collect each and every gem for 100%.
Finally, the game just has more thoughtful design than its sequel in every way. Punk Giana has a ranged attack, allowing players to attack enemies from a distance; DS's smaller levels and easier difficulty also means that it doesn't need to put checkpoints everywhere like Twisted Dreams; Punk Giana is a proper powerup, meaning that players often have two hit points instead of one; Red Gems that have been picked up are lost after a death, unlike how Twisted Dreams lets Giana keep any gems collected after dying and respawning; the bubblegum powerup present in both games lets Giana survive with mercy invincibility in DS if she runs into an enemy or hazard, but kills Giana in Twisted Dreams alongside the bubble.
All that just comes to say that Giana Sisters DS is a competently designed and competently implemented platformer, which should be a given.
But considering this team would move on to make Twisted Dreams, even incorporating a Kickstarter campaign for it...
What went so, so wrong in the three years in between?
Giana Sisters DS is fairly conservatively built upon the foundations that the original game set up. Giana by herself has no abilities other than jumping (just like the first game, not even running!), and Punk Giana is the only powerup available - although unlike the original, she can't be upgraded any further.
This isn't to say that the game is a complete retread of the original. In fact, the original game's levels can all be found as an extra in this game, where they feel that much more bare-bones in comparison.
Levels have more verticality to them, and in each world's first nine levels are Red Gems that essentially act like Star Coins in the New Super Mario Bros. games.
In other words, levels are more often built to be thoroughly explored than in the original game.
But Twisted Dreams does all of this too, minus the Red Gems. What does DS do that Twisted Dreams gets so horribly wrong?
A lot.
Giana Sisters DS maintains the times and lives counter from the original game; the former keeps the length and scale of these levels in check, since the timer rarely goes above 300 seconds. There's considerably less empty space in the game's level design as a result, with blocks (both ? and Brick) filling up air decently well.
The fact that Giana can only jump and shoot fireballs also makes it so that there's a very limited moveset players are working with, which has been very much accounted for in the levels - unlike Twisted Dreams, where levels are often unforgivingly cheap just because players get a double jump.
Only Red Gems are mandatory for 100% completion, since normal blue gems only contribute to extra lives; this feels like a breath of fresh air compared to Twisted Dreams, which demands that players collect each and every gem for 100%.
Finally, the game just has more thoughtful design than its sequel in every way. Punk Giana has a ranged attack, allowing players to attack enemies from a distance; DS's smaller levels and easier difficulty also means that it doesn't need to put checkpoints everywhere like Twisted Dreams; Punk Giana is a proper powerup, meaning that players often have two hit points instead of one; Red Gems that have been picked up are lost after a death, unlike how Twisted Dreams lets Giana keep any gems collected after dying and respawning; the bubblegum powerup present in both games lets Giana survive with mercy invincibility in DS if she runs into an enemy or hazard, but kills Giana in Twisted Dreams alongside the bubble.
All that just comes to say that Giana Sisters DS is a competently designed and competently implemented platformer, which should be a given.
But considering this team would move on to make Twisted Dreams, even incorporating a Kickstarter campaign for it...
What went so, so wrong in the three years in between?