Must Own Games for the DS
 

So I've got a DS now, and not a whole lot of time to wade through mediocre/shitty games (of which the DS seems to have plenty).

What games are out there that I absolutely need to play? (I'm also extra interested in games I can sit down and play for just 20 minutes at a time, since that's mostly all I have nowadays.)

Tetris DS and Planet Puzzle League are essential for those periods of killing 20 minutes at a time. Especially if you go the Wifi route and play 'em online. Tetris DS's 1P standard mode is different enough from previous games in any case, because of the way the lines set down and you can see a bunch of pieces that are upcoming. Mr. Driller is similarly a must.

And one oddball...Metroid Prime Pinball. Didn't expect much from this, but it really fits the bill for a game that offers cheap thrills in 15 minutes or less.

And there's that one package game that has Monopoly/Yahtzee/Boggle and Battleship on it. Very nice, especially with the touchscreen. I'm a Yahtzee whore, so that was sweet.

But I agree...There are a ton of crap games on the system that aren't worth 5 minutes of your time.

The great thing about the DS is that you can just flip it closed, no matter how much time you have to devote to a game. That being said, all of the Phoenix Wright games simply cannot be missed out on.

For fast plays, though, Meteos is fantastic, same with Picross and Mario Kart DS. Also if you're a Castlevania fan, both of the DS games are extremely fun.

If you can find it Wario Ware: Touched is another game you can just sit down and play for minutes at a time. Um, also if you're a fan of rythem games get Elite Beat Agents definitely. That's always a fun title.

For longer titles think about getting the Mega Man ZX titles as well as Final Fantasy 3. And since it can't be said enough, Phoenix Wright is just too good to pass up. It's probably one of the best series on the DS with replayability (for me anyways) set up high. And since it has a save anytime feature, it's definitely a time killer. Wasted a whole day playing Case 4 of the second game, pretty fun.

Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow
Castlevania Gallery of Labyrinth
Phoenix Wright 1, 2, 3 (Although I've only played 1, it's great)
Osu Tatakae Ouendan, Ouendan 2, Elite Beat Agents
Kirby Squeak Squad
Megaman ZX
Densetsu no Stafy 4
Daigasso! Band Brothers

Avoiding RPGs here.

So far, I completely agree with all the ones mentioned above. Especially Phoenix Wright.

I'll toss in Kirby: Canvas Curse. Definitely one of the most unique games for the DS. Really brought Kirby games into a new light. If you're into Pokemon, I'd recommend Pokemon: Diamond/Pearl. Both are fun and the Wi-Fi feature makes the game awfully fun.

If you need a quick fix game... I'd toss Wario Ware: Touched. Too damn quirky. :3:

Tossing out a recommendation for Elite Beat Agents and/or Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (and its sequel). If you hate rhythm/music games avoid like the devil, but otherwise check them out. Each round only lasts as long as the song, so you can play for as little or as long as you want. Another touchscreen-heavy game to try out would be Trauma Center. It doesn't take all that long to progress through each individual stage, but it may be difficult to return to if you keep putting it down (on account of difficulty going way up).

The king of short-but-addictive games is Puzzle Quest. It's Bejeweled with an RPG flair, and once you start it you instantly get sucked into the monotony of racking up mana and blowing up skulls.

Backing up the recommendation for Phoenix Wright / Ace Attorney games. They're actually one of the main reasons I bought a DS, and although I have a flash cart I actually own all 3 of the games released here (along with Mario Kart DS, which I bought while waiting for the flash cart to arrive). They're like an interactive book, so it's easy to start and stop it at your leisure. Plus you can save at nearly any point so you'll never have to lose data because you're in a hurry. If you like the series, you should also check out Hotel Dusk: Room 215.

I'll also throw in Trace Memory which is a previous game from the same publisher. A mystery/puzzle game that actually makes you think, some of the solutions were crazy sometimes. Plus they both have a really good story.


Trace Memory was some good times. It doesn't help that it's also ridiculously cheap, I've been seeing it at Game Crazy brand new for $11.99.

Mario Kart DS and that Animal Crossing game are pretty fun to play.

You can't go wrong with Clubhouse Games. It's like 40 different games on one card, ranging from card games and board games to stuff like darts and bowling. Definitely very pickup and play, but you could be enthralled with it for hours if needed. And it has plenty of multiplayer types available as well (single card, multi card, online).

This game came out over a year ago and I still play it from time to time ('sup OLDK). Highly recommended.

I've found myself devoting insane amounts of time to Advance Wars: Dual Strike. I'd say that it has more replayability than most other games on the console by a mile and a half.

Other games which have consumed far more time than is healthy: Clubhouse Games (aka 42 All-Time Classics), Contact, Pokémon Diamond/Pearl, Ace Attorney series.

I predict a bright future for LostSol.

This wouldn't be a bad topic to revive, though, since a number of new games have come out recently. Megaman ZX Advent is money, although it's continuing the series' trend of getting easier with each incarnation. I have to give Capcom credit, though, I actually found legitimate excuses to use most of the boss forms outside of the specific obstacles they're used for. It's been ages since the special weapons in a Megaman game were actually kind of useful.

I haven't played much DS, but from my experience, quite a few have been listed above already, such as Meteos, Elite Beat Agents, Kirby Canvas Curse, and Mario Kart.

Other games I can recommend are Trauma Center and Bleach (especially if you like the franchise). Other games that kinda fit your requirements and seems fun (but I've never played) are Geometry Wars Galaxies and Jump Superstars, if you do imports or the R4 thing.

I was always a sucker for puzzle games prior to getting my DS swiped last year but Meteos and TetrisDS were two of my favorite games on the DS. I had a lot of the ones already mentioned so I won't repeat those but if you're into puzzle games at all, those two are a no-brainer.

If you're a fan of Worms: Armegedon, Worms Open Warfare 2 does a good job of channeling the classicness that is Armegedon. I bought it knowing full well the fuck ups THQ has had with the Worms franchise but was more than pleasantly surprised with the quality of game therein. It makes a good sit down and play sort of thing, but rushing too much will end in frustration.

Also if you're looking for good story based stuff i second Pheonix Wright, Trace Memory, and Hotel Dusk: Room 215.

Wait... There's a WORMS on the DS? :confused:

I have Worms on the Dreamcast

Yep. There is. :|

Updating the list of must owns in my book, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is definite if you're a puzzle junkie. Mario Party DS for facing other people who have a DS in your area.

Yeah, Worms Open Warfare 2 (not the first one) is excellent, almost on par with Armageddon. Since the online multiplayer support got dropped from the upcoming Wii game, this game is your best bet for solid Worms action.

And speaking of Worms, when the hell was our last OLDK session? I need an excuse to get back into the game again.

I still love Zoo Keeper. More than you know. :gonk:

Name the time and place, and I'm there.

Off topic, answer your questions already, slowpoke.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike is a really fun play. However, the newest iteration of Advance Wars came out, Days of Ruin. Unfortunately, single-player wise, it is quite lacking (no more War Room or real unlockables), but they definitely shifted the emphasis to multiplayer, adding in Wifi support now.

I'd say Days of Ruin is worth a look for the actual gameplay and what seals the deal is the fun multiplayer addition.

Picross DS, Meteos - > awesome puzzle games.

New Super Mario Bros, Super Priness Peach - > Must-have platformers.

Animal Crossing: Wild World - > Amazing time waster (it's really quite fun and you can play it for a few minutes at a time or for a long time and enjoy it.)

Mario Kart DS - > for obvious reasons.

OMG, not a single mention of Contra 4. Get it. Now.

I also enjoy the following games that nobody else has mentioned so far:

Star Fox Command. Others may not agree with me, but this game is 1000000000000x better than Star Fox Assault and goes back to its roots.

Jump Ultimate Stars for the online play and er, lots of Shonen characters and crap. Plus, summonmaster will love you.

Digimon World Dawn (only get if you're a huge Digimon fan like me)

Maybe a bit short notice, but I'd be up for it tomorrow, about 10PMish your time. If that's not doable, then maybe we can do it at the same time next week.

And yeah, I had actually started on the questions on the first day, but I got sidetracked by school and Ninja Gaiden Sigma (basically the only thing I've been doing in my free time, which isn't much). I'll definitely have them answered by the end of this weekend.

What's not to love about a cigar smoking Hitler that runs a zoo and abuses his staff in Engrish? :tpg: I still play it every now and then, and I bought it at the DS' launch.

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/arti...07438_640w.jpg http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/arti...05610_640w.jpg

Such a cute gira-ooohhhh my Goooood!

Gonna have to agree. Zookeeper was a game that I wound up purchasing over Ebay because I wanted a copy badly enough. It's now on my "do not sell or trade" list, as it never gets old. The music is godawful but nevertheless, it's the most addicting game I own.

Oish. Play Expert Mode and I think you'll change your mind on that.



Anyways, little rant aside :riiight: , ZX Advent is a good buy, and certainly a challenge if you give Expert Mode a try. Star Fox Command is good too since it's one of the relatively few DS games I know of where you can play against other random people online that aren't on your friends list nor in close proximity to you.


One that I would not recommend, however, is Sonic Rush. It is rather annoyingly easy to die in that game, and more often than not, having rings will not save you. I don't know how Sonic Rush Adventure is in that regard, so I can't really give a valid opinion for that sequel.

In all fairness, it's not really hard to be better than Star Fox Assault. Assault was very, very mediocre, would have been much better if it weren't bogged down by more unnecessary ground missions.

Adding to the Advance Wars recommendation pool though. Both games are nothing short of hours upon hours of god dam fun.

Am I seriously the only one who thinks that Star Fox Assault wasn't actually as bad as people claim it was. :eye:

The ground missions didn't bother me... More or less anything with a Landmaster involved.

Adding on to my list... Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! 1 and 2 and Elite Beat Agents. Any rhythm game fan will love this series.

And Sonic Rush is a good game if you wanna get thrown back into the old Sonic days.

No, you aren't the only one. Yeah, there were a lot of ground missions, but a few silly lines aside the voice acting was decent (like holy crap, Slippy doesn't sound like his gender is ambiguous), the graphics were pretty good and the music was pretty sweet. Sweet enough at least, that some tracks from it are featured in the music arsenal of Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

Star Fox Command is a little different from what you would expect from a Star Fox game with the need for a bit of strategy, but it is more traditional in the sense that it's all flying.

I'd say get Phantom Hourglass perhaps? I mean, it doesn't last an awful long time and I suppose you really need time to play it...but when you're not doing that same temple (over and over and over and over...) it's IMMENSE and the note taking system was really fun for me. I loved the puzzles. I hope more games integrate that kind of feature.
Otherwise, I found Pokemon Link really addictive (also known as Pokemon Trozei). But that's because I love Pokemon and I love puzzle games.

Other than that, I'd say Elite Beat Agents is a MUST own title. And you only have to play it for a few minutes at a time!

I haven't tried Phantom Hourglass yet, but I have beaten Windwaker. I would recommend Warioware

Oh, and why's that? Got a REASON you'd recommend that? Something to prove you aren't spamming like a crazy motherfucker? I've already deleted 3/4 of your posts. Don't give me a reason to do it to all of them.

Seconding the recommendation for Kirby : Canvas Curse.. AWESOME time-waster. I mean i've recently found myself hating most games, they take way too long to finish (I hope i ain't outgrowing games :gonk: ) but canvas curse is like, pick the ds up, play a stage, fold it up and go on with your day. You'll eventually wanna go back to it, and therein lies its secret. GET IT!

A Side Note : Huh? Colonel what? Is that you skills?? When did you... And when did Aardark get demoted?? WOW i've been away for long..!

Pokemon Pearl and Diamond.

Incredible fun. Seriously.

Corrected. That should only ever be an 'and' if you're a complete Pokémon obsessive. Either of those games will do for a regular gamer (but I agree, I have Pearl and it is very good).

If you like logical type puzzle games, and can cope with the idea of importing a Japanese game (though perfectly easy to use without knowledge of the language), then I'm going to throw in a recommendation for Puzzle Series Vol. 5: Slitherlink. Absolutely brilliant game and completely addictive.

Yes! Canvas Curse is perfect not because it's action packed, but because the gameplay works in a bite-sized way. The touch mechanics are extremely easy to grasp and it's just plain old fun. It's like why Tetris, only instead of falling blocks you have a spinning pink puffball who can morph into some very weird forms! And no buttons!

Also the music is freakin' great.

I'd recomment:

Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (all of em')
Trauma Center
Mario Kart DS
Megaman ZX (and Megaman ZX Advent)
Contra 4
Hotel Dusk
Castlevania Dawn Of Sorrow
Castlevania Portrait Of Ruins

There's alot of great games for the nintendo DS but it all depends on what you're looking for.