Nintendo 3DS: Is MYST Coming To The 3DS?

The  Nintendo 3DS has proven to be a very popular console since its launch just over a week ago. The 3DS launch games for March/April have been highly publicised throughout the Media, and even some of the games scheduled for later in the year have already appeared on online retail sites such as Game and Amazon etc.

Imagine Mini Gamers surprise therefore when we discovered that a 3DS version of the best-selling MYST game was also scheduled for release at the end of this month. Why had we heard nothing about about this version until now?

In fact, Mini Gamers only found out that the game was being released for the Nintendo 3DS after searching on the Play.com website for new 3DS releases. There is no boxshot at the moment, but the the overall  preorder information on the website clearly states that the 3DS version of this game is scheduled for release on April 22nd 2011.

If you are a gamer, it is likely that you have already heard something about the MYST franchise, which has been re-released countless times in several different formats since its debut on the PC over eighteen years ago. Its more recent incarnations have also included the iPhone and the Nintendo DS.

For those of you to whom MYST is a complete mystery, however, the game puts players in the role of someone called the Stranger, who uses a special book to travel to the island of Myst.

Once in the game, players can then use other special books (which are all written by an explorer named Atrus) to travel to several worlds known only as 'Ages'. Players must help people trapped in the dimensional fissure of MYST's tropical island by finding clues in different locations and solving puzzles.

MYST is probably best described as a completely open-ended point-and-click puzzle adventure, and therefore the game has several endings, depending on the course of action that each player takes.

The original PC game was very popular and was commonly thought by many videogame critics and publications to be "The best-selling PC game of all time" until 2002, when it was finally overtaken by The Sims franchise.

Nevertheless, the Nintendo DS version, which was released in 2007 proved to be a lot less popular. The game was criticised for its lack of a clearly defined plot, which could be one of the reasons why the 3DS version of MYST has so far not been highlighted as an April 3DS release game, however, there is just no way of really knowing why this intriguing and innovative game has been virtually kept secret until now, all we can say at this stage is: its a MYST-ery!

Remember to keep checking in with the Mini Gamers blogsite for more news on this game as it develops.






Sources:

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/simslivinlarge/news_2857556.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myst

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/myst/id311941991?mt=8

http://nds.gamezone.com/products/item/myst_nds/

http://www.play.com/Games/DS/4-/18658497/Myst/Product.html?searchtype=DS&searchsource=0&searchstring=Myst+3DS&urlrefer=search&strefer=DS&searchfilters=s%7bMyst+3DS%7d%2bc%7b362%7d%2bc%7b10047%7d%2b

NB: All images displayed in this blog post are taken from the iPhone and PC versions of Myst