Giana Sisters DS

Giana Sisters DS
Giana Sisters DS cover art.
Developer(s)	Spellbound Interactive
Publisher(s)	NA Destineer EU DTP Entertainment Bad Monkee (iOS)
Designer(s)	Severin Brettmeister, Jean-Marc Haessig, Christian Wild, Alex Pierschel (Art)
Composer(s)	Chris Hülsbeck, Fabian Del Priore
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS, iOS, Mac OS X, OUYA
Release date(s)	EU April 3, 2009 NA February 22, 2011 June 4, 2013 (OUYA)
Genre(s)	Platform

Giana Sisters DS is a platform game developed by Spellbound Interactive for the Nintendo DS, iPad, and iPhone. It was released on April 3, 2009 in Europe and subsequently in North America on February 22, 2011. 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.

Details

Development

The game marked the return of Armin Gessert to the famous title he created in 1987. It was developed by German based developer Spellbound Interactive.

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.

Features

Giana Sisters DS contains over 80 levels to be explored for collecting crystals and finding secrets. Distancing 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 graphics and artwork was provided by German illustration artist Alex "Pikomi" Pierschel. The music is based on Chris Hülsbeck's classic compositions from the 1987 game, arranged by Fabian DelPriore.

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 also ported to iOS in July 2010. The iOS version features new touch controls and HD resolution graphics. The port was published by Bad Monkee. On March 20, 2013, it was announced that the HD version would be part of the OUYA launch lineup.^[1]

Armin Gessert died only a few months after the release of the game.

Reception

Giana Sisters DS was met with positive response, citing good controls and music. It was criticized for being too easy for some and unoriginal.

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

Sequel

In July 2012, Black Forest Games started a Kickstarter campaign for a new installment of The Great Giana Sisters tentatively titled Project Giana stating, "Project Giana is the grandchild of The Great Giana Sisters." The game features music from The Great Giana Sister's original composer Chris Hülsbeck and the Swedish "SID metal" band Machinae Supremacy.^[9] It was released on October 23, 2012 for PC with later releases on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, Nintendo eShop, and possibly Ouya.^[10]

References