Best/essential DS games

[Lionheart]

So at this late hour, as it were, a confluence of factors has led me to consider acquiring a Nintendo DS for the first time. Before I spring for it, though, I need to know that there are enough games for the system I'd actually enjoy to justify it, and frankly after browsing on Amazon and Best Buy and such, I'm skeptical.

Would you fine people be so kind as to suggest games which you believe are the best in the catalog?

Just an FYI on my gaming tastes: I don't like puzzle games without some other element involved, and I'm not big on platformers, though I am open-minded towards them. I like RPGs, and the RPG titles for the DS are the primary appeal for me right now, but a lot of them are remakes of old SNES titles and such and I need to know that I would really get enough further enjoyment out of them compared to the old versions to make it worth it.

[JRX]

Etrian Odyssey I and II
Pokemon HeartGold, SoulSilver, Diamond, Pearl and Platinum
Contra 4
Henry Hatsworth
Scribblenauts

[Doctor Tull-eus S. Venture]

Final Fantasy IV DS

Yes, this is a remake, but it is one of the best instances of an already legendary game getting the royal makeover treatment.

I've played the SNES version, had it on my ZSNES emulator, played it on the PS1 collection, and I have it on the GBA. This remake is totally worth playing through.

[Curt Hawkins Fan]

Mario Kart.

[bjork]

I used to give the most playtime to Animal Crossing. I wish I still had a DS when the Phantasy Star game came out, it looked pretty sweet to me.

If you go for any GBA titles, Ninja Five-O is a *must.*

[heyguesswhatidid]

Bowser's Inside Story is pure greatness as is GTA Chinatown Wars

[Bo Rida]

Jul 14, 2010 12:07:53 GMT -5 heyguesswhatidid said:

Bowser's Inside Story is pure greatness as is GTA Chinatown Wars

Definitely those two. Mario and Luigi: Bowser's inside story is an amazing RPG, there's also it's predecessor Partners in time but that's not quite as good.

Zelda Spirit Tracks is really good too although you'll have to blow into the mic which means it isn't a great game to play in public.

I'll also second Animal Crossing, it's not for everyone but if it clicks it'll last you a year.

If you have someone to play multiplayer with then add Mariokart and 42 all time classics/clubhouse games (same game).

[Deleted]

I wasn't so hot on Henry Hatsworth myself, but the concept is great. It fuses a platform/action game with puzzle gameplay VERY well but is VERY tough, and the platform levels themselves IMO aren't anything memorable.

Advance Wars Days of Ruin is a must, big time. In my opinion the entire Advance Wars franchise is must own (except for the insanely unbalanced Dual Strike, to hell with IGN's scores that game is just plain broke and it sucks) and Days of Ruin is just plain awesome. Add on to the fact they did a reboot to the story so having the buy the previous ones isn't needed (although Advance Wars 1 and 2 would be in my top 5 favorite portable games ever, with AW2 probably being #1) and it's just plain awesome. VERY dark story (especially by Nintendo's standards), very well balanced, map creator, online play and map swapping...just awesome.

For concept alone I would go Scribblenauts but you might be better off waiting for Super Scribblenauts to come out if you want the gameplay to match.

New SMB is good if you know you'll try to 100% it and find all the coins like in Super Mario World or something like that. If you think you'll put it down once you beat Bowser don't bother. I beat it in two days, no warps, with little trouble at all.

Clubhouse Games i've considered just because it's a pretty balanced and varied collection of card and board games and at a pretty cheap price for $20. VERY good game for a road trip or waiting around. Works well for an open up, play for 5-10 minutes, then put down game. Heck, I got a road trip coming up soon myself, maybe i'll cave in and get it myself.

I have yet to try the new Warioware D.I.Y. but Touched is very good, although now a little hard to find. Even though it is almost (if not) 5 years old you'll be paying full price just for rarity alone.

A new Tetris game just came out for the DS, which I would snag if you're interested. The Tetris DS with the Nintendo characters that came out a few years ago goes for INSANE prices, like to the tune of about $50-$60 and up. They made that first run of games then just stopped.

Sonic Classic Collection ought to be cheap nowadays, and you really can't complain about Sonic 1-3, and Sonic and Knuckles (and being able to play Knuckles in Sonic 2 and 3 just like the Genesis days) is hard to beat unless you can already do that in some capacity (for example, I have the Sonic Mega Collection on Gamecube, so it doesn't do me much good).

I would suggest the Phoenix Wright games, but there's so damn many of those it honestly gives me a headache just thinking about it. Maybe someone else in here can shed some light on that.

Rhythm Heaven is good if you're into music games. If not, don't bother. Trust me, just by reading that first sentence you should know if you'd like it or not.

If you're an old school gamer then Retro Game Challenge is high on the list just for the old-schoolness of it all. It has all of these various 80s style 8-bit games that are honestly just plain fun, although it hits you over the head with how retro and old school it is...though there are some hilarious gamer in-jokes. Plus the games themselves have various exploits and so on, and there are even in-game videogame magazines and publications that have interviews, previews of new games (which you eventually unlock) and even reveal cheats and exploits for the games you already have unlocked.

[Bobeddy]

Jul 14, 2010 13:16:58 GMT -5 @geneyussrevolution said:

I would suggest the Phoenix Wright games, but there's so damn many of those it honestly gives me a headache just thinking about it. Maybe someone else in here can shed some light on that

I would definitely second this suggestion.

The first one is just called Ace Attorney:Phoenix Wright.
The second is 'Justice For All', then the third is 'Trials and Tribulations'.

I say you could pick up any of the games and enjoy them, but as there is a story that runs through them, I'd recommend playing them in order.

I really can't endorse the series enough, in fact I bought a DS in the first place just to play the first Phoenix Wright game.

Apart from the main three, there are two spin-offs, Ace Attorney:Apollo Justice which is set a few years after the PW story and you play as another lawyer.
Then there's Ace Attorney Investigations:Miles Edgeworth, which changes up the gameplay a little bit focusing a bit more on evidence gathering.

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Elite Beat Agents.

[James McCloud IS John Godot]

Lux-Pain has virtually no gaming element, plays like a virtual novel, often gives you no clue what to do, can be difficult to get the 'true ending' without a guide and has the most atrocious localisation in the history of anything.

You should get it. It's still awesome, I think.

[Alucard]

Of stuff I haven't seen mentioned yet:

Chrono Trigger
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (and the other SMT game)
Both Trauma Center games
Most of the Bleach games are decent fighting games that play a lot like Guilty Gear, and the DS' fighting game selection is sparse at best

All I can think of for now.

[Orange]

New Super Mario Bros.

Mario Kart

Mario Party DS

If you are a sports fan, Tecmo Bowl DS

Super Mario 64 DS

[bjork]

Also, I don't know why you would, but if you go to buy a copy of Cardfighter's Clash for DS, there are two different carts. The initial run is glitched, and you can't finish it or something. The newer run has the glitch fixed.

The fixed copy has a black and white background behind the logo on the cart's sticker, the buggy one is all color. A heads up, just in case.

[RKTaker]

new super mario bros

[Mr. Emoticon Man, TF Fan]

If you like RPGs, try the Luminous Arc and Rune Factory games; they're awesome, and are some of my favorite games on the DS. The Fire Emblm game is pretty fun, too, though not really as good as other titles in the series.

[Lionheart]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

Right now, this is what my hypothetical short list of titles to acquire initially looks like:

Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver - I have been a pokemon fan since approximately sixth grade. I make no apologies for totally marking out about your lead 'mon following you around, etc.

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin - I played the GBA Advance Wars series and got a kick out of them, haven't heard anything bad about DoR besides people objecting to the SRS BIZNESS aesthetic change.

Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes - Heard nothing but good things about this game. The tactical role-play combat aspect should be the chocolate on the puzzle game pill that I usually find hard to swollow.

Final Fantasy IV DS - I'm actually not that enthused about the new 3D graphics, I would have preferred they had just done totally pimped out versions of the old 2D sprites, but it is FF4. 'Nuff said.

Tecmo Bowl Kickoff - I generally have no use for serious "simulation" style sports games. The more realistic they try to be, the more I notice how unlike the real sport they are. This, however, looks like a fun video game which happens to be about football, which I find much more appealing.

Metal Slug 7 - What can I say, I just love Metal Slug. Kinda disappointing it looks like they may as well not have used the lower screen at all, though.

Dragon Quest IX - I've never followed the Dragon Quest series closely, and I frankly don't like the art style and the battle system as much as some of the comparable franchises, but this seems to be getting great reviews, tons of hours of gameplay and the ability to jump into someone else's quest and do co-op sounds really cool.

[AFN: Judge Shred]

All the Dragon Quest remakes are fantastic and hold up very well. I would have to look at my collection to pick others.

[Facepalm]

The Professor Layton games are also pretty good; not much in the way of replay value, but still very entertaining.

[MrBRulzOK]

Kirby Superstar Ultra is a pretty fun title with six different games ranging from easy to not so much as well as a handful of minigames, some that weren't in the original version, though it would definitely be much better if you could find someone to play it with. It is basically a remake of Kirby Superstar after all.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is another good choice. I picked that one up for ten bucks, and it proved to be a pretty fun title.