Gaming The Most Under-rated NDS games

[TheStump]

GBAtemp's Most under-rated/overlooked NDS games :yayds:

You may ask yourself now and then "what’s the BEST 10 NDS games" sure you've got Mario, Metroid, Starfox etc. All huge franchises and that’s great cause we all know these titles from young to old but what about the little guys, the little companies (some) that produce a gem title that doesn’t succeed based on a lack of attention or region issues.
Well this list is a great start getting back to some of the NDS roots and a well rounded view of what makes the NDS so different from any other console.
If you’re ever run out of big titles to play or are having an issue with your flashcart not running a new game, this list is a good place to come back to if you want something to play in the meantime.

UPDATE: I've ruled out games that have now become very popular on the essentials list. After word of mouth a lot of these games may end up off the list. eg. Jump Ultimate Stars and Phoenix Wright.

So without further ado...

-Aqua Panic
-Asphalt Urban 1 and 2
-Atari Arcade Retro Games
-Age of Empires - The Age of Kings
-Another Code/Trace Memory
-Avalon Code
-Bangai-O Spirits
-Barnyard Blast
-Big Bang Mini
-Bionicle Heroes
-Bomberman
-Bomberman Land Touch
-Boulder Dash: ROCKS!
-Brain Challenge
-Cars: Mater-National
-Chibi Robo: Park Patrol
-Chicken Little
-Chrono Twins
-Chousoujuu Mecha MG (J)
-Civilization Revolution
-Command & Destroy
-Contact
-Contra 4
-Crash Bandicoot - Mind Over Mutant
-Crash of the Titans
-Custom Robo
-Daigasso! Band-Brothers (J)
-Danny Phantom: Urban Jungle
-Deep Dungeon/Labyrinth
-Dementium : The Ward
-Densetsu No Stafi 4 (J)
-Dig Dug - Digging Strike
-Digimon World DS
-Dokapon Journey
-Dragon Quest: Joker
-Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
-Drone Tactics
-Dungeon Explorer: Warrior of the Ancient Arts
-Ecolis: Save the Forest
-Elebits: Adventures of Kai and Zero
-Electroplankton
-Eragon
-Etrian Odyessey
-Feel the Magic
-FFTA2
-Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales
-Frogger - Helmet Chaos
-From the Abyss (J)
-Front Mission
-Garfield's Nightmare
-Geometry Wars
-Glory days 2
-Great Giana Sisters DS
-Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
-Hotel Dusk
-Hoshigami
-Jackass: The Game
-Jet Impulse
-Jump Super Stars (J)
-Jump Ultimate stars (J)
-Justice League Heroes
-Ketsui Death Label
-Kim Possible: Global Gemini
-Kim Possible: Kimmunicator
-Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning
-Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ
-Lock's Quest
-Lode Runner DS
-Lost in Blue
-Lost Magic
-Luminous Arc 2
-Lunar Knights
-Lux-Pain
-M-06 (J)
-Magical Starsign
-Magnetica/Actionloop
-Metroid Pinball
-Miami Law
-Miss Spider's Harvest Time Hop & Fly
-Moon
-Monster House
-Mr. Driller - Drill Spirits
-Mr. Slime Jr.
-Music Mon-stars
-My Pet Shop
-My World My Way
-N+
-Napoleon Dynamite
-Nanostray
-Naruto Path of the Ninja
-Need for Speed Carbon: Own The City
-Neves
-New Zealand Story Revolution
-Nodame Cantabile
-Orcs & Elves
-Operation: Vietnam
-Over the Hedge
-Pac-Pix
-Panzer Tactics
-Pawa Puro kun Poketto 8 (J)
-Pinky Street: Kira Kira Music Hour
-Pirates of the Caribbean 2
-Point blank
-Prey the Stars
-Princess Debut
-Prism: Light the Way
-Puyo Pop Fever
-Puzzle Series: Vol. 10: Akari (J)
-Puzzle Series Vol. 11 - Nurikabe (J)
-Puzzle Series Vol. 5: Slither Link (J)
-Race Driver: Create and Race
-Rhapsody
-Rayman DS
-Robocalypse
-Resident Evil DS
-Rondo of Swords
-Roogoo Attack
-Rune Factory 1 and 2
-Scurge: Hives
-Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
-Simcity DS
-Slingo Quest
-Soma Bringer (J)
-Soul Bubbles
-Suikoden Tierkreis
-Summon Nights: Twin Age
-Super Monkey Ball - Touch & Roll
-Super Princess Peach
-Super Robot Taisen OG
-Taiko No Tatsujin DS Touch De Dokodon!
-Tao's Adventure: Curse of the Demon Seal
-Tenchu: Dark Secret
-Time Ace
-Time Hollow
-The Humans
-Theresia
-The Rub Rabbits
-The Sims 2
-Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
-Tomb Raider: Legends
-Touch Birdie Golf
-Touch Detective
-Touch Detective 2 1/2
-TouchMaster
-Touch Mechanic
-Trackmania DS
-Transformers: Autobots/Decepticons
-Trioncube
-Ultimate Spider-man
-Viewtiful Joe Double Trouble
-WordJong
-XG Blast
-Yosumin DS (J)
-Zoo Keeper


Big thanks to PanzerWF for keeping the list updated.

Some of the (J) (which means Japanese Localization) category games have community translations projects, check the Translations Index Topic to see if the game your looking for has one.

UPDATED @ post#394
10/03/09 Curent List

**the red games are a must play for any DS fan.
By all means if we missed a gem, lets us know

 

[MaHe]

Uh, maybe we should decide by voting. Because in my opinion, half of these weren't overlooked without a reason, but because they really suck.

But yeah, add Bomberman to the list.

 

[FAST6191]

I agree with MaHe but 4 Game Fun Pack - Monopoly + Boggle + Yahtzee + Battleship sucked for monopoly (one of the worst AI monopoly I have ever seen) but the rest of the games kept me entertained for a little while.
Not as much overlooked but overshadowed (contact and children of mana released alongside with Gyakuten Saiban 2 and FF3 shortly thereafter): Magical Starsign
Monster Bomber deserves a play from any puzzle fan as well.
On the flip side it was not very good at all but I still enjoyed Mage Knight - Destiny's Soldier.

 

[PURPLEMUSTANG]

After completing magical starsign ,I have concluded that it is a must play RPG.As children of mana became repititive MS kept on having plot twists that entertained me untill the end.

 

[TheStump]

^ i was very tempted to add that '4 in 1 game' FAST.

also regarding the voting scheme, i cant really figure out how that would work, either way im still gunna have to nominate games for people to vote for giving them even less to chose from, i thought it would be easy starting out with a few and building the list of what members feel deserve to be in the list...or NOT in the list.

so how about that, if you think a game dosent deserve to be in the list them make a note of it, or if it does also make a note of it in your posts.

 

[pacha69]

what are the rom numbers for m -06 (j) and pawa puro kun poketto 8 ? because i can't seem to find them in my collection.

Otherwise the rest should be on the list. They are not top notch games, but they are etertaining. nanostray is great, but a little difficult.

 

[Hadrian]

Mario Vs DK 2 & Asphalt gt2

 

[BlueStar]

Single player Bomberman Land Touch kept my attention more than most games.

 

[Lacrimosa]

nanostray is great, but a little difficult.

Am I the only one that believes that Nanostray sucks because it's TOO EASY?

I hope Nanostray 2 will be more like Ikaruga: HARD and tricky. More enemies, explosions all over the screen and more ships to choose.


Nanostray had perfect graphics but I don't like to give 40 euros for a game and completing it in 3-4 hours. It sucks dammit.

 

[Mewgia]

Replace Jump Super Stars with Jump Ultimate Stars, because JUS is a much better game. Though how either one of those could be considered overlooked I do not know...And Resident Evil DS isn't the kind of game I would call overlooked either.

And I might have to contest that Kim Possible:Kimmunicator nomination. I mean...Kim Possible? O.o, how could that kimpossibly (Oh dear god...I said it x.x) be good?
Also, Over the Hedge and Pac-Pix I've not heard good things about...

 

[mikeosoft]

i can already forsee hotel dusk on this list in the future. just a great title that will never get the sales it disserves.

 

[Harsky]

DS games? Damn. I wanted to nominate Rythymn Tengoku.

 

[[M]artin]

Jump Superstars should be replaced by Jump Ultimate Stars.

 

[Satangel]

Great thread!!!

 

[monkeymachine]

Hmm.. I'm sure IGN had a similar article up a while ago, not sure how similar the lists are though

 

[Gamesphere]

WTF Kim Possible.....

 

[Gamesphere]

WTF Kim Possible.....

EDit:

Slow connection double post

 

[capt.fruitcake]

nah this one has better games in it. a few are the same though.

 

[WeaponXxX]

nanostray is great, but a little difficult.


Am I the only one that believes that Nanostray sucks because it's TOO EASY?

I hope Nanostray 2 will be more like Ikaruga: HARD and tricky. More enemies, explosions all over the screen and more ships to choose.


Nanostray had perfect graphics but I don't like to give 40 euros for a game and completing it in 3-4 hours. It sucks dammit.

Nanostray is not about beating the game...with the online score system the game was about who can achieve the highest score...

 

[monkeymachine]

nanostray is great, but a little difficult.


Am I the only one that believes that Nanostray sucks because it's TOO EASY?

I hope Nanostray 2 will be more like Ikaruga: HARD and tricky. More enemies, explosions all over the screen and more ships to choose.


Nanostray had perfect graphics but I don't like to give 40 euros for a game and completing it in 3-4 hours. It sucks dammit.

Nanostray is not about beating the game...with the online score system the game was about who can achieve the highest score...

Yeh nanostray was pretty fun. Especially with the dual weapon glitch/cheat!