Introduction:
I was never much into portable gaming. Back in the day I had a gameboy, on which I only played tetris, a GBC on which I only played Mario, and a Sega Game Gear on which I only played Sonic. I watched the Advance, Advance SP, Advance Micro, and DS Phat pass me by, while I was gaming on PC, Genesis, Dreamcast, Gamecube and PS2. Around 2007 I completely quit console gaming and sold them all in favor of PC gaming. Then, last year, my wife gave me her old DSL that she never played, along with a few games she had for it, Super Princess Peach, Pokemon Diamond, Mario Kart DS, and Guitar Hero. I played Peach and MK until I beat them, played Diamond for a little while, and then the DS sat in my closet for months, because I just couldn't justify the price of games for it. Then, just this August, I discovered GBATemp and what a DS flashcart could do and some of the amazing games in it's library.
Games:
Here I will write mini-reviews/opinions on games I've played, but only the ones that stirred some emotions, good or bad. If I just turned it on, get bored with it in 5 minutes, I won't bother with a write up.
Sonic Rush:
This is how sonic looked and played in my fond memories, its just good old sonic fun. (Went back and actually played old sonic games with a Genesis emulator, wow your memory can play some mean tricks on you.)
The Legendary Starfy:
Very colorful, amusing platformer similar to the Mario games.
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia:
Very atmospheric, cool story, smooth animations. Haven't spent more than a couple hours on this one yet, but I'll be coming back to it once I finish some other titles.
Metroid Prime Pinball:
Very cool pinball game, with some good Samus action. Stuck with this one till I beat it, there's some mean bosses.
Ninja Gaiden - Dragon Sword:
Beautiful pre-rendered backdrops, cool moves and good touchscreen response, you shouldn't miss this one.
Animal Crossing - Wild World:
I'll admit I've killed a few hours with this one, although I still don't see what the point of it is. Not bad, semi-entertaining.
Feel The Magic XX/XY:
Weird, but amusing. What other game lets you puke up goldfish for love?
Phineas and Ferb:
A must for any fan of the TV show, and actually can be a bit challenging for a kids game.
Scribblenauts:
Good idea, almost pulled off. Eventually the buggy controls made me quit this one.
Legend of Zelda - Spirit Tracks:
Great cell shaded graphics, great gameplay, cool story, great puzzles. This is one of the games I'm currently playing. Did I say this game was great?
Clubhouse Games:
Some cool games, all done pretty well. One of the better compilation titles. Would be even better if more people played online.
Mario Party DS:
It's Mario Party on the DS. Yeah, thats about it. Works if you like this kind of game, some of the minigames are fun.
Professor Layton and the Curious Village/Diabolical Box/Unwound Future:
I admit it took me awhile to try this series out, but once I did, I didn't play anything else until I finished the story of each one. Great stories, good visuals, sometimes tricky sometimes cheap sometimes silly puzzles. The end of 3 alludes to another sequel, hopefully on the DS not the 3DS.
Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney series:
I was skeptical at first, but I beat the first couple in the first week, and I'm currently playing Miles Edgeworth. My wife thinks I'm wierd when I'm playing what looks like a boring DS game and I just bust out laughing.
Final Fantasy IV:
I never played the original, but this one is good. I've put about a dozen or so hours into it so far, but got stuck and frustrated, so I'll be going back to it when I finish a game or two.
Sideswiped:
A fun racing/crash game that doesn't take itself seriously, which makes it one of the only fun racing games for me on the DS.
Call of Duty 4 - Mobilized Warfare:
Just couldn't get into it. Loved all the COD games on PC, but this is just linear and bland.
Metroid Prime Hunters:
A real MP game on DS, who thought it'd be possible. Some of the best graphics on the DS, and definetly the best controls of any of the FPS's I've played.
MLB Power Pros 2008:
Oh thank you handheld gods, a decent baseball game for the DS! It took me awhile to find it, I was playing Master System emus to avoid the trainwrecks that are every other baseball game on the DS. It has sharp colorful graphics, good animations, good swing mechanics. It's not perfect, it could use better sound, right now the sound seems pretty minimal. It sounds fine, but the only thing the announcer says is the name of the batter. Also, the lack of a replay function sucks.
Madden NFL 08:
Yeah, its Madden on the DS. Pretty standard fare. Good replay feature though.
Panzer Tactics:
I wanted to get into strategy on the DS, but was overwhelmed by Advance Wars, so I opted for this game first to dip my toe in the water. It sucked me right in, planning out strategies and smashing the Wermacht as the Red Army is just fun.
100 Books:
Actually some good titles here, and the features as an e-reader are adequate.
Crosswords DS:
I am actually a big crossword fan, so this game is a lot of fun for me. And after I beat it there are a bunch of other crossword games too. As far as I've seen though, this is the only one with handwriting recgonition input.
New Super Mario Bros:
About what you'd expect from a new Mario title. I just can't get into it though, Mario slides around a lot more than he used to, it just doesn't feel right.
Super Mario 64 DS:
A port of the best game ever made (yeah, I said it,) it only disappoints, a little. The controls are a bitch to get used to, and you will no doubt have to redo some levels several times because of them. D-pads are just not made for 3D platforming, and the onscreen joystick is useless. The game itself though is great, with more stars, more playable characters, and minigames added to the list.
GTA: Chinatown Wars
More than I expected on the DS. I've spent hours just making money on drugs. I think the overhead view actually works, they couldn't do it 3rd person because of hardware limitations, and people forget how bad it looks straight top down.
Picross 3D:
Another game that surprised me, its surprisingly addictive, and satisfying when you finish a tough puzzle without making mistakes. It works to just pick up and play for 5 minutes, or for hours.
Zelda - Phantom Hourglass:
A direct sequal to the 2nd best game on the Gamecube, this one is mostly fun as well. I think the timer in the dungeons is a cheap way to add difficulty and play time, but for that this game is great. Customizing your ship, blasting sea monsters, exploring islands and dungeons is as fun as ever.
To sum up, the NDS is a much more capable system then I thought, and when paired with a flash cart, can provide almost endless entertainment for a bargan price. My only cons would have to be the weak hinge on the DSL, the slow speed of the wireless and the massive amount of shovelware.
TL;DR
Top 10 must have games for the DS:
GTA Chinatown Wars
Legend of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass
Final Fantasy IV
Picross 3D
Legend of Zelda - Spirit Tracks
Metroid Prime: Hunters
Ace Attorney - Miles Edgeworth
Professor Layton & the Unwound Future
Ace Attorney - Phoenix Wright
Super Mario 64 DS
Honorable Mention: Mario Kart 64, I own the actual game so I don't know how it is on a flash cart, but its a good racing game, better handling and graphics than the 64 MK.
I was never much into portable gaming. Back in the day I had a gameboy, on which I only played tetris, a GBC on which I only played Mario, and a Sega Game Gear on which I only played Sonic. I watched the Advance, Advance SP, Advance Micro, and DS Phat pass me by, while I was gaming on PC, Genesis, Dreamcast, Gamecube and PS2. Around 2007 I completely quit console gaming and sold them all in favor of PC gaming. Then, last year, my wife gave me her old DSL that she never played, along with a few games she had for it, Super Princess Peach, Pokemon Diamond, Mario Kart DS, and Guitar Hero. I played Peach and MK until I beat them, played Diamond for a little while, and then the DS sat in my closet for months, because I just couldn't justify the price of games for it. Then, just this August, I discovered GBATemp and what a DS flashcart could do and some of the amazing games in it's library.
Games:
Here I will write mini-reviews/opinions on games I've played, but only the ones that stirred some emotions, good or bad. If I just turned it on, get bored with it in 5 minutes, I won't bother with a write up.
Sonic Rush:
This is how sonic looked and played in my fond memories, its just good old sonic fun. (Went back and actually played old sonic games with a Genesis emulator, wow your memory can play some mean tricks on you.)
The Legendary Starfy:
Very colorful, amusing platformer similar to the Mario games.
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia:
Very atmospheric, cool story, smooth animations. Haven't spent more than a couple hours on this one yet, but I'll be coming back to it once I finish some other titles.
Metroid Prime Pinball:
Very cool pinball game, with some good Samus action. Stuck with this one till I beat it, there's some mean bosses.
Ninja Gaiden - Dragon Sword:
Beautiful pre-rendered backdrops, cool moves and good touchscreen response, you shouldn't miss this one.
Animal Crossing - Wild World:
I'll admit I've killed a few hours with this one, although I still don't see what the point of it is. Not bad, semi-entertaining.
Feel The Magic XX/XY:
Weird, but amusing. What other game lets you puke up goldfish for love?
Phineas and Ferb:
A must for any fan of the TV show, and actually can be a bit challenging for a kids game.
Scribblenauts:
Good idea, almost pulled off. Eventually the buggy controls made me quit this one.
Legend of Zelda - Spirit Tracks:
Great cell shaded graphics, great gameplay, cool story, great puzzles. This is one of the games I'm currently playing. Did I say this game was great?
Clubhouse Games:
Some cool games, all done pretty well. One of the better compilation titles. Would be even better if more people played online.
Mario Party DS:
It's Mario Party on the DS. Yeah, thats about it. Works if you like this kind of game, some of the minigames are fun.
Professor Layton and the Curious Village/Diabolical Box/Unwound Future:
I admit it took me awhile to try this series out, but once I did, I didn't play anything else until I finished the story of each one. Great stories, good visuals, sometimes tricky sometimes cheap sometimes silly puzzles. The end of 3 alludes to another sequel, hopefully on the DS not the 3DS.
Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney series:
I was skeptical at first, but I beat the first couple in the first week, and I'm currently playing Miles Edgeworth. My wife thinks I'm wierd when I'm playing what looks like a boring DS game and I just bust out laughing.
Final Fantasy IV:
I never played the original, but this one is good. I've put about a dozen or so hours into it so far, but got stuck and frustrated, so I'll be going back to it when I finish a game or two.
Sideswiped:
A fun racing/crash game that doesn't take itself seriously, which makes it one of the only fun racing games for me on the DS.
Call of Duty 4 - Mobilized Warfare:
Just couldn't get into it. Loved all the COD games on PC, but this is just linear and bland.
Metroid Prime Hunters:
A real MP game on DS, who thought it'd be possible. Some of the best graphics on the DS, and definetly the best controls of any of the FPS's I've played.
MLB Power Pros 2008:
Oh thank you handheld gods, a decent baseball game for the DS! It took me awhile to find it, I was playing Master System emus to avoid the trainwrecks that are every other baseball game on the DS. It has sharp colorful graphics, good animations, good swing mechanics. It's not perfect, it could use better sound, right now the sound seems pretty minimal. It sounds fine, but the only thing the announcer says is the name of the batter. Also, the lack of a replay function sucks.
Madden NFL 08:
Yeah, its Madden on the DS. Pretty standard fare. Good replay feature though.
Panzer Tactics:
I wanted to get into strategy on the DS, but was overwhelmed by Advance Wars, so I opted for this game first to dip my toe in the water. It sucked me right in, planning out strategies and smashing the Wermacht as the Red Army is just fun.
100 Books:
Actually some good titles here, and the features as an e-reader are adequate.
Crosswords DS:
I am actually a big crossword fan, so this game is a lot of fun for me. And after I beat it there are a bunch of other crossword games too. As far as I've seen though, this is the only one with handwriting recgonition input.
New Super Mario Bros:
About what you'd expect from a new Mario title. I just can't get into it though, Mario slides around a lot more than he used to, it just doesn't feel right.
Super Mario 64 DS:
A port of the best game ever made (yeah, I said it,) it only disappoints, a little. The controls are a bitch to get used to, and you will no doubt have to redo some levels several times because of them. D-pads are just not made for 3D platforming, and the onscreen joystick is useless. The game itself though is great, with more stars, more playable characters, and minigames added to the list.
GTA: Chinatown Wars
More than I expected on the DS. I've spent hours just making money on drugs. I think the overhead view actually works, they couldn't do it 3rd person because of hardware limitations, and people forget how bad it looks straight top down.
Picross 3D:
Another game that surprised me, its surprisingly addictive, and satisfying when you finish a tough puzzle without making mistakes. It works to just pick up and play for 5 minutes, or for hours.
Zelda - Phantom Hourglass:
A direct sequal to the 2nd best game on the Gamecube, this one is mostly fun as well. I think the timer in the dungeons is a cheap way to add difficulty and play time, but for that this game is great. Customizing your ship, blasting sea monsters, exploring islands and dungeons is as fun as ever.
To sum up, the NDS is a much more capable system then I thought, and when paired with a flash cart, can provide almost endless entertainment for a bargan price. My only cons would have to be the weak hinge on the DSL, the slow speed of the wireless and the massive amount of shovelware.
TL;DR
Top 10 must have games for the DS:
GTA Chinatown Wars
Legend of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass
Final Fantasy IV
Picross 3D
Legend of Zelda - Spirit Tracks
Metroid Prime: Hunters
Ace Attorney - Miles Edgeworth
Professor Layton & the Unwound Future
Ace Attorney - Phoenix Wright
Super Mario 64 DS
Honorable Mention: Mario Kart 64, I own the actual game so I don't know how it is on a flash cart, but its a good racing game, better handling and graphics than the 64 MK.
