DS games

[JAL-18]

So I realized today that I'm pretty sure my brother has an extra DS or two lying around somewhere. While I'm at college so I can't check just yet, I started thinking (justifying?) to myself that having a handheld game device would be nice as a good, easy way to pass the time, and is a "genre" of gaming that I haven't really gotten into before beyond some of the Pokemon games. If my suspicions are indeed true, I will take it off his hands for my own consumption. However, I don't know what games to buy or what are considered the "must-haves." I poked around on Gamespot for a bit and came up with this list, but I'd appreciate any fellow DS owner opinions.

Infinite Space (GD thread got me interested in this, and probably also in the DS in general :p )
GTA Chinatown Wars
Chrono Trigger
The World Ends With You
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Advance Wars Dual Strike
Big Bang Mini
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Any others I should add/remove? If you've played the above, what did you think of 'em? Feel free to incorporate DS compatible games from GBA as well.

[Bowkers]

That list is pretty much all I play. Actually that's a lie. There's only two games on that list that I play constantly on that list, Legend of Zelda and Advance Wars. Both are highly addictive, both take up a lot of your time. The plus side to Advance Wars is you can, if you can find someone, play against them, so you can spend, maybe three hours attacking each other. Hugely entertaining, and I honestly feel handheld consoles aren't given enough praise. For what they do, I have ounces of fun with them.

P.S your missing that brain training game :p

[Starblade]

Honestly I didn't like Phantom Hourglass much at all, mainly because of the whole "go back and beat the same dungeon after literally every other dungeon in the game" thing. I also recommend buying the other two Castlevania games for the DS (Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin), Kirby Superstar Ultra (cutsey but just as fun as it was on the SNES), and Meteos. Also instead of Dual Strike, buy Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. It's far more balanced, and a better game in general if you ask me (also parts of it are hilarious).

[Kapp'n]

Other than the "go back and beat the same dungeon after literally every other dungeon in the game" (which is really annoying) as Starblade said, I really enjoyed Phantom Hourglass and would certainly recommend that to you.

In addition to your list, Id add Sonic Rush and perhaps New Super Mario Bros and Metroid Prime hunters. All are great fun, if alittle easy and on the short side.

[Starblade]

Do people still play Metroid Prime: Hunters online? I might have to get back in and pull out Triskelion again.

[Corsix]

If you can, try out Elite Beat Agents (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Beat_Agents). It's a music/rhythm game which I've found highly addictive in SP. MP using one-cart and wireless game sharing is also good.

[Bowkers]

Broken Sword: The Shadow Of The Templars is also another one that is keepinh me at my DS for ages. You go around solving puzzles and mysteries, and it's an hugely entertaining game. A new game, and one which has impressed me thus far.

[Kapp'n]

Do people still play Metroid Prime: Hunters online? I might have to get back in and pull out Triskelion again.
Yeah surprisingly, I never fail to find a game.
I'm still abit out of practice mind so I've not been doing all that well lately.

Mario Kart DS wouldn't be a bad choice either, if your into your racers atleast.
If you have a Wii handy or live near a gamestation with a DS download station near by, you can download a demo of MK as well as a few other games which is pretty neat.

[Saberdark]

If you like strategy RPGs, FFT:A2 is a pretty good game. That is, if you can get past the silly storyline, because where it really shines is the gameplay.

I'm going to third the Phantom Hourglass recommendation. Its really fun once you figure out which motion is attack and which is roll.

[Beholda]

I must point out that Advance Wars: Days of Ruin > Advance Wars: Dual Strike.

DoR is more focused about skill than 'having the better commander' and the map editor is 10000 times better (you can put 99 buildings instead of 50 and you can save 50 maps instead of 3) and so is the graphics and realism.

I really don't understand the Nintendo Wi-Fi system. Whenever i try to connect it says 'move into range of an access point' but my friend can connect and we are in the same neighborhood. So i have to subscribe to something? I really wanna pwn somebody in DoR. (Maybe i have the incorrect idea altogether. Wi-Fi DOES let you play online technically right..?)

[Starblade]

So i have to subscribe to something?

No, but the access point has to be registered to the DS.

[JAL-18]

Okay, think I'll switch Days for Ruin in for Dual Strike.

Any GBA era game suggestions? Not only are they probably cheaper right now, but I want to have something to look forward to when I finish the current batch of games. This whole handheld thing is like a whole new world (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kl4hJ4j48s&feature=related) of gaming to dive into and explore around in. :D

PS - I have contacted my sources and I am told that there is indeed a DS waiting for me to pick up on Easter weekend.

[Starblade]

There are way too many good GBA games to mention. The Fire Emblems are good (try and get the first one, just titled Fire Emblem in the English versions of the game, over Sacred Stones though), Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission, Castlevania Aria of Sorrow (and Circle of the Moon if you like a challenge), Link to the Past (a graphically better port of the SNES game), and Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland (a remake of Kirby's Adventure for the NES) are all fantastic games.

Incidentally if you DO get Aria of Sorrow, if you have it inserted into the DS when you start a new game of Aria of Sorrow, you get a free bonus item to help make things a bit easier.

[Beholda]

Lol basically the only things i play on DS are Advance Wars games. In my opinion they are the best games. My friend consistently tries to get me to get GTA Chinatown Wars on DS by saying it is "The best game ever made". I really cbf getting it -.-

When i was on holiday in Malaysia and the only thing that entertained me was my DS i also found the Simpsons game to be very fun, maybe because i was just too bored though....

[Integrity]

Nightmare in Dreamland FUCK YEAH. I stayed up all night one night I couldn't sleep and beat the Meta Knight campaign in one go.

The Final Fantasy ports are good, if you're into that kinda game. Elite Beat Agents owned face. I've been playing this goofy little game called Big Bang Mini - it's essentially a silly Galaga-esque shooter except twitchier. The World Ends With You is actually quite an incredible game. uh...

That's about all I can think of now.

[Master Chief]

Disgaea DS is a great SRPG, similar to Final Fantasy Tactics but much more comprehensive and quite funny as well. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for GBA is fun, but really easy to break if you know the right skills to get.

Etrian Odyssey 2 is a great roguelike RPG for the DS. You go through floors of a labyrinth, mapping the maze out on the bottom screen while fighting monsters and finishing quests. There's a basic storyline, but you're meant to use your imagination with your characters. It's very difficult, but a lot of fun.

Also, any of the WarioWare games for GBA and DS are worth buying, they're so much fun. You complete little five second microgames, one after the other, getting faster and more difficult as you go. Each set of microgames is tied to a theme, depending on the game. In Twisted, you spin the DS or GBA to play the games (it has a gyroscope inside). In Touched, you use the stylus. The normal Mega Microgames just uses standard GBA controls.

[OhJohnNo]

A DS can play GBA games, so I give you this advice.

Get Metroid Fusion. Get it now.

It is the best GBA game ever to exist in my opinion. It should match up well to most DS-only games, and is a must-have for anyone who is fond of handheld consoles. The story is fantastic, the gameplay is typical of the Metroid series (Good, but much puzzle-solving) and the graphics are awesome. The Boss fights are particularly challenging, yet very, very fun, and each requires very different tactics than the last to beat.

So yeah, go get it. NOW!!

[Kapp'n]

Yeah I have to agree, Metroid Fusion is my favorate GBA game, infact one of my favorate games all together!
Quite challenging and plenty of hours worth of fun inside the little cartridge means id certainly recommend it to you.

[Starblade]

It's a bit too linear for a Metroid but other than that it's a pretty good game. It's pretty tough at times too (fuck that spider boss).

On a side note the DSi comes out tomorrow, which has access to a DS Shop where you download stuff.

[OhJohnNo]

That spider boss is my favourite, but did you notice he's not a spider, he only has six legs? :p
And it is a bit linear, it's hard to break away from the plot enough to focus on picking up hidden items. But I like linear games. Lots. :D

[JAL-18]

Don't mind if it's linear if the story's worth it. I've also heard you can get bonuses if you hook it up to the GameCube version of Metroid Prime. (Which, incidentally, was omgwtf awesome)

[Flagg]

I've been staying with my sister the last few days and was fortunate to play on one of my Nieces DS's.

They had DS Mario Kart and needless to say ive been HOOKED on it! I don't know how many Mario Kart fans there are out there, but they have tracks from the SNES version, the N64 version, the GBA version, arcade as well some original tracks. Its the perfect blend of past, present and future and im surprised after all this time, just how fun Mario Kart is still!

I'm seriously debating wether to get a DS now just for Mario Kart!

[Starblade]

Don't mind if it's linear if the story's worth it. I've also heard you can get bonuses if you hook it up to the GameCube version of Metroid Prime. (Which, incidentally, was omgwtf awesome)

If you hook up Metroid Fusion, Metroid Prime gets the Fusion Suits to replace the basic Power Suit, Varia Suit, Gravity Suit, and Phazon Suit with the four suits you get in Fusion. Metroid Fusion gets an unlockable picture gallery (nice pics too). Metroid Zero Mission when hooked up unlocks the original Metroid on Metroid Prime, and gives Zero Mission addition photo galleries (including all of Metroid Fusion's ending pictures and galleries).

[Genome]

got my self a DS the other week. currently hooked on the professor laytans curious village. sort of puzzle / mystery game hybrid. mostly puzzle based though.

thinking of getting either zelda, broken sword or final fantasy XII next.

DSI looks like a huge rip off.

aparently its 50% more money for slow internet, slightly bigger screen, music, but all the files have to be converted into some odd format nothing uses first and a camera you cant print from.

basically gimicks you possibly wont use. I cant say for sure as i havnt tried one, this is just what i have heard.

[Starblade]

I bought one because my DS lite was sort of breaking. The cameras are just as worthless as you think they are (one in back, one pointing at you for whatever reason they decided it needed that), but not because you can't print from it (since there is such a thing as a computer to solve that problem for you), but because you can't fucking zoom in on anything so short of shoving a DS in someone's face you're not taking a good picture. The music manipulator is something I'm never using because it supports one format very few people actually use it seems (though it can apparently convert some stuff to old time 8-bit music tunes which is awesome), and it does come with storage for downloading stuff (the internet browser is a bonus so I don't mind it being sort of terrible). I just hope the DSi download ware gets as good as the Wii's stuff is. Another bonus (for me) is that I no longer leave fingerprints all over the damn thing because they switched the finish of the case. Also I'm planning on dicking around with homebrew stuff on my older DS lite.

[Genome]

sounds like i havnt missed out on much then lol. if my DS ever breaks i may be tempted but i only got that a few weeks ago and im fairly pleased with it so far.

the store sounds promising but thats about it really. let me know if anything good crops up on it.

[Starblade]

There's a possibility it might do a Virtual Console sort of deal for GB and GBA games but so far that hasn't happened, and most of the DSi ware in Japan is sort of crap (some of it are really cheap, few level versions of big games like Phantasy Star Zero, though). Until the shop gets going and gets some not terrible stuff, you might as well stick with your current one until it breaks.

[Dorkdav]

No one mentioned Super Princess Peach? I enjoyed that game.

[JAL-18]

Hokay, an update (Oops, sorry, it got really big):

I got the DS a couple of weeks ago off my brother. He already happened to have Phantom Hourglass, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid Zero Mission, so I borrowed those off him as well.

First impressions: pretty sure he broke it or did something to it. It takes a couple tries to get it to turn on, and the touch screen doesn't appear to be as sensitive as it should be, but hey, he's a dumb kid, it's usable, and it was free for me, so whatever.

I decided to pop in Metroid Fusion first, as a way to "work up" to DS titles like PH. It was also my test case to see if I would like the side-scroller adventure, as literally the only other handheld games I've ever played were Pokemons Red, Gold, and Silver. I didn't go with Zero Mission first because I read Fusion had better controls and was more linear, which I figure would help because I'd have enough to be dealing with as it was.

Turns out that was a good choice, because the game started kicking my ass. My complete inexperience with this type of genre meant I was really, really bad at it. I would play the game in about 5 minute bursts, most of which consisted of dying and redoing the same thing over and over because I failed at combat and/or puzzle solving. Then school work started piling up and I set it aside for a couple weeks.

Picked it back up again yesterday and I've been absolutely hooked. Maybe my brain rewired itself or something, but I got over the initial hump of sucking a lot and hardly making progress and now I just suck a decent amount and I just make progress slowly. I've gotten to level 2 (TRO) and it's really hard to put it down now. I just want to run around and explore and do all the cool platforming bits. (Wall jumping from ledge to ledge up a tube shooting those purple alien bug monsters is so much fun!) The two bosses so far have taken me several go's to beat, mostly because I sit there dumbfounded that just shooting them a bunch doesn't work. (The 2D thing also throws me off a bit: I played Metroid Prime on the GameCube and so when I get in trouble in fusion I want to lock on to stuff and start switching beams. Or pull up the scan visor when I can't figure out a puzzle :D ) The only complaint I have so far is the story: it seems pretty basic and the dialogue feel overly expository. I'm willing to reserve judgment though since this is the beginning of the game and the gameplay makes up for it.

I've snuck some Phantom Hourglass in there as well when Fusion was giving me trouble, and the few bits I've played have been fun as well. I'm going to hold off on it though until I get through the Metroid games, as I have a horrible habit of starting a bunch of long adventure/RPG games and stopping half-way through to play another.) Having a lot of fun with this so far, though, definitely an area of gaming I've overlooked for too long!

[Starblade]

Metroid Fusion is difficult in places, mostly because of the sheer amount of damage enemies do (some can do up 3 or 4 energy tanks of damage at a time). It took me awhile to beat the first time, so just hang in there. Also charging up the beam cannon, then holding the button while jumping lets you hurt enemies while spinning in the air. This is fantastically useful. Enjoy!

[OhJohnNo]

Also, there is a tremendously unexpected twist near the end, accompanied by several smaller twists, so yes, reserve judgement on the story for the end of the game. :) It is quite a long game, though, and I had to use a walkthrough to finish it because
a) I am rubbish. :D
b) I couldn't solve some of the harder puzzles.

But anyone with more experience in puzzle-solving games should do better than I did. :spin:

[Gig]

The DS is so hit and miss for me. I bought Bust a Move a few years ago and thats a great game but, since then I haven't purchased anything for myself.

I find a lot of their RPGs are just bad JRPG imports. Bad spelling and all that. It makes for a very crappy game no matter how amazing and "innovative" it is.

Thats what I would look out for. Also keep an eye out for games that try to force you to use the stylus just because it exists. While its great from some games (Bust-a-Move) It's horrible on others like Harvest Moon.

[Starblade]

Bad spelling and all that. It makes for a very crappy game no matter how amazing and "innovative" it is.

I'd worry more about the grammar than the spelling, myself. A typo here or there is no big deal, but grammatical errors can really fuck up the flow of a conversation or confuse the player.

[Panzer General]

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin are the only DS games I have. They are all I need. A new DS game comes out Decenber 1, which I will buy. http://zelda.wikia.com/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Spirit_Tracks

I don't care to get a DSi.

For the GBA: The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.

[IcyPenguin]

DS:

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (the sequel to the one for the GBA)

It's a really nice game, a lot more races and jobs to choose from. A pretty big improvement over the first one because Laws aren't so ridiculous now.

Advance Wars (Days of Ruin, I think) is also a great game.

Oh, and all the Trauma Center ones. Intense surgical action! :D