Um, yes. I’m probably not taking my PSP on holiday, you see, but I’ll need Disgaea. And I was curious. And I just love Disgaea and seem to need every single version ever. (Although, somehow, the sequels don’t count. I’ve got the second game, but have never played, and haven’t ordered the third one.)

Anyway, I started a new game. Shame the initial “Etna waking Laharl” stuff isn’t skippable, but the story sections before each levels can be avoided. I’ve done a few early levels, but haven’t created any new characters as of yet. (I think in this game I don’t want to create anyone less than “Average”, which is going to require a fair bit of Mana.) A cleric will be first, followed by a rogue, then one of each of the mages. Not sure where I’ll go after that.

First impressions are that it’s a little rough, graphically, both in terms of the sprites and the movement, but nothing that hurts things too badly. A lot of sound seems to have been cut out, but nothing I care about. (I tend to play with sound off, anyway, in the PSP version.) The buttons and interface are the same as ever. The view is cramped compared to the glorious widescreen loveliness of the PSP version, but the top screen map is very useful indeed and is a good trade. In fact, after playing this version for a bit, the lack of map in the other versions may make them unplayable. We’ll see.

Pity I can transfer my save between the PSP and DS versions, but never mind. I’m only actually about twenty-five hours into the PSP version in all the time I’ve had it, which is nothing in Disgaea terms. (I’ve played it on many occasions, but not for very long each time.)