Nintendo DS Favorites/Recommendations

As my DS Lite died and I am a new owner of shiny D Si XL (big screen, soooooo pretty...), I'm going on a bender of my old favorite games and noticed there's no DS thread. Oh sure, there's a 3DS thread, but I'm looking to discuss the plain DS games.

So what are your favorites?
What would you recommend?

As an RPG player I can't recommend Dragon Quest 9 enough. It is FULL of old-school RPG goodness and the online free downloads keep it fresh for quite some time.

I also recommend either Castlevania title, though I favor Dawn of Souls over Order of Ecclesia.


C'mon folks, what have you got to say about the good ol' DS?

The best of the best DS games....for me would be....

• Mega Man Zero Collection, 4 games in 1, and admittedly one of the best series.

• All 3 Etrian Odyssey

• Yu Gi Oh! World Championship 20XX...whatever the latest game on the DS is...

• Izuna Legend Of The Unemployed Ninja

• Rondo Of Swords

• Drone Tactics

...the last two seriously Needs More Love

edited 20th Aug '11 11:51:21 PM by Signed

Seconding Etrian Odyssey

I see your Izuna and raise you Shiren The Wanderer.

Also, you should definitely get Order Of Ecclesia.

And also, Little Red Riding Hoods Zombie BBQ. Fine game for the price.

edited 20th Aug '11 11:56:44 PM by Schitzo

Ah, the DS. I'm still attached to mine, and I've had it practically since it was first released, specifically the red and metallic one that game with Mario Kart DS. And it turns out the DS is the system I have bought the most games for (20).

I've got most of the big-name titles, but here are some of my favorites.

• Hotel Dusk. I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS ENOUGH. My favorite DS game, by far, due to absolutely stellar writing. Bought it on whim to boot.
  • Last Window: The Secret of Cape West. The sequel, also highly recommended, and with another great story and better gameplay. Imported this for my birthday, completely worth it.
• Meteos. An awesome little puzzle game, quite challenging in some places, but always fun to play.
• The World Ends With You. Certainly not your average RPG. Gameplay took some getting used to, but pretty fun once you get the hang of it. The intricate story and characters is what really sold me.
• Order Of Ecclesia. My first Castlevania game. Challenging as FUCK but still very rewarding.
• Ace Attorney Investigations. My personal favorite game, as a whole, out of the Ace Attorney series, even though there are individual cases from the others that I would rank higher. AND WHERE'S MY GODDAMN SEQUEL CAPCOM?!
• Ghost Trick. Also HIGHLY recommended. Everything about this game flows seamlessly, and is definitely one of the best titles for the system.

The one DS game I still desperately want to play? Tales Of Hearts. I tried the English translation demo patch, which was enough to get me hooked on the story and combo-crazy battle system.

edited 21st Aug '11 12:03:20 AM by Eschaton

Seconding:

• Mega Man Zero Collection
• Meteos
• The World Ends With You

Thirding:

• Etrian Odyssey (series)

I recommend:

• Knights In The Nightmare - If you're looking for something truly off-the-wall mechanics-wise, look no further than this (or TWEWY, although arguably this is weirder.)

edited 21st Aug '11 3:47:21 PM by AweStriker

Let's see...my collection consists of:

• Final Fantaay IV
• Dragon Quest IX
• Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded
• Final Fantasy Tactics A2
• Radiant Historia
• Chrono Trigger
• New Super Mario Bros
• Spirit Tracks
• Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
• Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
• Bowser's Inside Story
• The World Ends With You

Custom Robo Arena warrants a mention.

Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time. Bowser's Inside Story is great, but I like Pi T just as much. The only thing I find different about it (aside from the obvious things like playable Babies and it plays more like Bowser in the sequel) is that its more difficult.

One game I've been dying to pick up is Yoshi's Island DS. I've played the original front and back, holy crap I STILL do, and in fact its what I play most of the time I play my DS. I hear its basically similar to the original game, but hell if it is it must be fantastic.... Unfortunately the only copy I've found (about three weeks ago) costs 40. Freaking. Dollars. And you know what? That was used. Wtf.

Well damn, I come in here just to recomend DQIX and the OP beats me to it.

Oh well, I guess I can still recomend the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games. They're pretty good if can stand dungeon crawlers and are a lot more forgiving than most.

Seconding Hotel Dusk and the World Ends with You, and nthing the Mega Man Zero collection.

Try Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors if you enjoy good (if not somewhat ridiculous) stories and don't mind that it's mostly hands off.

Anything with the Shin Megami Tensei subtitle is a good investment. I've yet to play any of its mainline games or spinoffs that I haven't enjoyed.

• Animal Crossing Wild World
• Pokemon Platinum, Heartgold/Soulsilver, Black/White
  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
• New Super Mario Bros
  • Mario And Luigi Partners In Time or Bowsers Inside Story
• Legend Of Zelda Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks
• Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days or re:Coded
• Sonic Rush, Rush Adventure, Colors
• Kirby Squeak Squad or Super Star Ultra

Most of these are or were in my collection.

You got a D Si XL? If you have a credit card, connect to the nearest Wi-Fi network and download Shantae: Risky's Revenge right away. We need more good downloadable D Si games, dammit!

edited 21st Aug '11 5:50:24 PM by Zennistrad

My absolute favorite DS game (quite possibly my favorite game in general) would have to be Ghost Trick. When I first finished it I thought it wouldn't have much replay value, due to the linear nature of the gameplay, but it turns out I was wrong. Picking that game up again is like re-reading a favorite book.

Super Scribblenauts. No doubt.

How did nobody say Scribblenauts earlier? That's like the niftiest thing on the system.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is a good pick if you love them dungeon crawlers and Mons games.

• Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Dawn of Sorrow and Order of Whatever
• Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
• Radiant Historia
• Pokemon (of couse! cue facepalm)
• Etrian Oddyssey I II & III

I'll just edit this list and complete it when I get home....

Ah the DS, it really had some great games.

• Trauma Centre 1&2 (damn tough though, but who cares it's awesome!)
• Ace Attorney (all of them! Even Apollo Justice and AAI)
• The World Ends With You
• Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor
• New Super Mario Brothers
• Hotel Dusk (also pretty tough game)
• Trace Memory

Of those, Ace Attorney, Hotel Dusk and Trace Memory are adventure games iirc. The World Ends With You is a JRPG with stylus based combat, Devil Survivor is a Turn Based Strategy JRPG, New Super Mario Brothers is...a platformer and Trauma Centre is this stylus based surgery sim thing that is incredibly over the top and includes things like defusing a bomb with surgical tools and stuff- just as awesome as that sounds.

Is Ace Attorney really that good?

Well I personally love it, give the first one a shot or borrow it off a friend or something and see if you like it.

Apollo Justice gets a bit of flack for replacing the main character and AAI gets flack for just being continuity porn but I think they're still pretty decent games in the series.

Oh shit I've completely forgotten about checking out Ghost trick! I'm guessing it's really good?

edited 23rd Aug '11 5:52:38 AM by ShadowScythe

• Yu-Gi-Oh! - Nightmare Troubadour/Spirit Caller/Stardust Accelerator/Reverse of Arcadia/Over the Nexus

• Ace Attorney Series

• Final Fantasy III

• Final Fantasy IV

• Mega Man Zero Collection

• Mega Man ZX Series

• Kirby: Squeak Squad

• Fullmetal Alchemist - Dual Sympathy

• Pokémon Heart Gold/White

• Professor Layton Series

• The World Ends With You

• Time Hollow

• Disgaea DS

• Ghost Trick

• Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors

• Pokemon Ranger series

• Kingdom Hearts - 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts - Re:Coded

• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series

• A Witch's Tale

• Atelier Annie - Alchemist of Sera Island

• Dragon Ball Z - Attack of the Saiyans

• Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions

• Sonic Colors

Let's see, some of the standouts of my collection are:

• the Ace Attorney series (including Apollo Justice and Investigations)
• Golden Sun Dark Dawn
• Radiant Historia
• Megaman Star Force series
• Megaman ZX series
• Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor
• Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey
• the Mario And Luigi series
• The World Ends With You

As you can see, I'm a bit RPG buff.

My favorites, in descending order:

• Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors
• Ace Attorney
• The World Ends With You
• Devil Survivor
• Hotel Dusk

edited 23rd Aug '11 9:35:05 AM by INUH

How did I forget to mention Mega Man Star Force?

Indeed it is.

It's also apparently in the same universe as Ace Attorney, though you never meet any of the characters. Phoenix and Payne's suits cameo, though.