I’m about to spend three weeks in Europe, and I’m thinking of buying a Nintendo DS to take with me for all the plane and train rides in my near future. Does anyone have any favorite games for that system? I’m a fan of Mario-type games, sports games, and some strategy/simulation-type games, and if you highly recommend something that doesn’t fit into any of those genres, I’ll take a look at that as well.
Any thoughts?
(Mods, I couldn’t decide between Cafe Society and IMHO for this; please move it if I chose poorly.)
I liked Puzzle Quest quite a bit. It’s a puzzle game (dur…) with an RPG framework: you play a hero trying to save the world from an evil god, except whenever you get in a fight with a monster, you play a game of Bejewelled. Surprisingly addictive.
Well, obviously, Super Mario 64DS. It’s an extensive remake of Mario 64 with more levels, new objectives in the old levels, the ability to play as Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, or Wario (each of whom has unique abilities), new power-ups, etc. It also has a suite of fun mini-games that make good use of the touch-screen and stylus (which is good because the main game is basically unplayable using the stylus, I just use the old-fashioned control scheme).
I haven’t been able to get as many DS games as I’d like, unfortunately, but I’d strongly recommend Final Fantasy III for anyone who likes old-school console-RPG’s. It’s a modern 3D remake of the original Japanese FF3 (not the old US 3, which was actually Japan’s SIX), which has never been available in North America prior to this version. It’s really fun, has characters who can dynamically change class as you go, and the story is more of the light-hearted silly kind you’d expect from Dragon Quest (formerly Draon Warrior in north america), or the earlier FF’s (like 4J/2US; remember the Spoony Bard line? or Yang’s wife’s solution to helping him get his memory back?). It’s fun, and has amusing characters. The only thing that might be an issue is if you can’t get past the cutesy/super-deformed style of graphics, but if you like Mario I’m betting that’s not an issue.
It’s decended from Tetris Attack on the SNES* and now uses the stylus for control instead of a D-pad-controlled cursor. With that development, it is now as addictive as crack. Actually, my wife and I refer to it as crack.
I am enjoying puzzle quest and picross (but I was addicted to that before the gameboy game). Chocobo Tales kept me busy for ages. Phoenix Wright Attorney was pretty interesting. If you like crossword puzzles the NYT Crosswords is great and if you like Zelda a new game just came out (there’s a thread on it somewhere here).
Tetris DS - Duh, it’s Tetris. Perhaps the greateest game ever made, and it works well on the DS.
Mariokart DS - Take the best elements from all the previous Mariokarts and put them together. That’s this game.
Trauma Center - Difficult as hell (for me anyway) but fun… Until I get frustrated and put it away for a few months. Then fun again, then frustrating. It’s a vicious cycle.
Bomberman - The multiplayer classic. Great for groups (8 way wifi play off 1 cart…)
Zelda - My best friend bought the new Zelda the other day, he’s quite taken with it (I have never liked Zelda) I played it multiplayer with him, which was fun, even if it was rather limited.
Metroid Prime: Hunters - I’ve only played the mulitplayer, but it was great fun. I hear the single player is great too.
Another vote for Planet Puzzle League. It’s the best ‘puzzle’ game I’ve ever played. It’s better than Tetris. And the game has many modes of play, so it never gets old.
I also like Clubhouse Games. A collection of 42 games like Solitaire, Cribbage, Mah Jong, Dominoes, Bowling (good use of the touchscreen for that), Darts (ditto), and others. It’s great to play when you’re just waiting for something or killing a few minutes, because the games are short and don’t require intense concentration.
I second Clubhouse Games. Nothing like a good old fashioned game of Solitaire to pass the time. Other stuff on there like Chess and Backgammon are fun too of course. And you can play online against real opponents if you’re in range of someone’s wi-fi.
My number one most played game on the system is Advance Wars DS. Unfortunately, it’s apparently pretty hard to find now. It’s a turn-based strategy war game that’s a ton of fun. It’s one of those games where you can play the same map over and over and have the game work out differently every time.
I highly recommend New Super Mario Brothers as well, especially if you like the old school 2D platformers. It’s one of those you can play through relatively quick, but if you want to explore a little and finish everything 100%, there’s a ton of gameplay to go through. It’s definitely challenging too.
And the new Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is excellent. Check out its thread here for some details.
Advance Wars DS is awesome. Most addictive turn-based strategy I’ve ever played.
Mario Kart DS rocks my socks. I really like the vintage circuits where you race on courses from past Mario Kart games. Mission mode is surprisingly addictive as well.
Metroid Prime: Hunters was very good, but had slightly disappointing main bosses.
Yoshi’s Island DS is a great platformer, and much more challenging than New Super Mario Bros. Just beating it is tough, and after doing so, I’m having one hell of a time doing 100% completion (i.e. ~perfect runs). Some levels I’ve all but given up trying to get that 100 score on.
I third this. I have never seen it in any store, however, it was made in a very limited run I think. I was still able to get one from Amazon, and it is seriously addicting and fun.
Mario Kart is also brilliant, especially when linked up with other DS users.
I’ll offer up Advance Wars with the rest. Other recommendations…
Elite Beat Agents A rythm action game with some fun storylines. Hotel Dusk An adventure with a great art style. 'though there are some dodgy translations. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl As with Mario everyone should try a pokemon game at least once.
I’m currently enjoying Contact, which is a quirky little sci-fi RPG of sorts. The idea is that you’re actually playing…yourself. A scientist in another dimension managed to contact you via your DS. He needs your help, which you provide by guiding the kid who’s tagging along with him and manipulating his environment in various small ways.
The basic gameplay is still the good old “hit things with other things until they go away”, but the storyline is fun, and some of the special abilities are interesting. You acquire various decals that you can “peel” with the stylus and stick on the screen to do different things–summon the scientist’s dog to help you, turn critters on the screen to farm animals, teleport back to the converted pirate ship they’re traveling on, and so forth.
You play as one of the slimes from the Dragon Quest series, out to save your fellow Slimenians. The two main modes of play are a sort of Zelda-ish adventure mode and a tank battle mode (in which you can load ammo you’ve gathered into your cannons, fight off boarders, or infiltrate the enemy tank while your crew does the shooting). It has lots of (fairly simple) puzzles and is stuffed with bad puns and Dragon Quest VIII references. It’s a lot of fun to play.
Whenever I start playing Big Brain Academy I have a hard time putting it down. Lately I have been playing Picross. I can say that Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Brothers are very good games, though for some reason I find NSMB much more difficult than it should be.
There is a game coming out next Tuesday that I am looking forward to. It is Duck Amuck, based on the Chuck Jones(I think) cartoon. It is apparently a set of various minigames in which you try to drive Daffy Duck crazy. There are teasers for it on YouTube, unfortunately none of them show actual game play.