Gaming Favorite Offbeat/Lesser Known DS games

[VmprHntrD]

I've been thinking that most the time when someone always does thsoe 'I want to buy' lists or 'favorites' all you ever really see are the 1st party games, long standing series titles, and primary 3rd party company franchise material. That gets boring, real boring.

I figured perhaps we could try and pick up a list here with stuff that's not so blatantly obviously good, but is out there and maybe somewhat ignored. SO leave off the Marios, Castlevanias, Megamans, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc stuff and be creative.

What games would you recommend to someone wanting to try something fun but maybe different that just never got much love out of the mainstream sites or lists seen on forums?

I would recommend:
Brothers in Arms DS -- ...because it's a functional and quite fun, even if a bit short, WW2 shooter that has competent environments and controls, and can get difficult playing on the unlocked harder modes.

Electroplankton -- ...because it's just an offbeat non-game that lets you mess around with audio and environments where each time whatever you do will be a bit different. Not good for long plays, but for short, or if you like to compose music and record to the PC it's a keeper.

Lionel Trains: On Track -- ...because despite the fact the visuals are crap of an early GBA era level, the gameplay is surprisingly fun. The game is Railroad Tycoon Lite on the go basically where you pick a region, build, expand, and pick up new services.

 

[lagman]

*Nervous Brickdown
*Nodame Cantabile
*Yukkuri Tanoshimu Otona no Jigsaw Puzzle DS: Sekai no Meiga 1: Renaissance, Baroque no Kyoshou
*Yukkuri Tanoshimu Otona no Jigsaw Puzzle DS: Sekai no Meiga 2: Inshou-ha, Kouki Inshou-ha no Kyoshou
*Black Jack: Hi no Tori Hen
*Touch/Mistery Detective

 

[Sinkhead]

Nervous Brickdown

- Sam

 

[Icarus]

Brothers in Arms isn't really lesser known actually. It's a great game but I would never ever pay full retail price for a game like that. It's just too damn short. You can even beat the game in a day if you play it for a few hours.

Another great game that got kinda bad reviews is Touch Detective. If you like any kind of adventure games, you'll definitely love Touch Detective. The storyline, the characters, the graphics and the music are really good. Not excellent but I think it's above avarage.

 

[WeaponXxX]

I am playing Nervous Breakdown right now and enjoying it

The draw your own paddle level reminded me of Pac-Pix which is another lesser known great game.

I loved Lost Magic which yet another game that didn't get much mainstream love

 

[TeraS]

lost magic has a long story and is really great

im gonna try nervous breakdown later on today

 

[Zalda]

Lost Magic is great indeed

 

[VmprHntrD]

Glad to see this topic working out so well already as it's inspired a few people to try out some interesting passed over stuff. Keep em coming!

 

[swiitness]

Not sure if its lesser known, but Glory Days 2 for me.

 

[Issac]

Mystical Ninja DS... though It may need some japanese knowledge.. hehe...

 

[ShadowXP]

New Zealand Story Revolution! Great little platformer. Tingle's Balloon Flight, Pac'n Roll, Point Blank DS, Deep Labyrinth, Custom Robo Arena, Theme Park.

All great games

 

[VmprHntrD]

How is Deep Labyrinth? I've read nothing but shoddy reviews of it spewing a lot of common hatred so I never bothered. It seemed like it would be decent, but seeing stuff like 'bad touch control' among other things set me off to it.

 

[Pigwooly]

I never understood why they don't release Goemon in the US. Everyone I know absolutely loved Legend of the Mystical Ninja for SNES.

 

[clockworkvictim]

I liked Zookeeper, which I know isn't lesser known, but not often talked about.

 

[VmprHntrD]

I really liked Zookeeper too, one of the few puzzle games that kept me interested and I'm disgusted I got rid of it. I mean I've had others, and they bored the crap out of me like Tetris DS for one as nothing just holds up to the value of the old GB/NES one as it just was the best balanced and hard, no gimmes. The DS one was a huge turnoff due to the rapid level the speed built up, and in doing so compensated with never-die bottom of the pit because you could just roll the piece anywhere until it fit. That ruined it right there...and the other modes were a snore.

Puzzle League and Zookeeper I found the most amusing. For a time Mr Driller was cool but I ditched it as it got boring fast as it was one of the few games I had for awhile...zoo made it go into disuse so I ditched it.


I know it's also not a little known title but if you're a fan of Star Trek even just a bit, that DS game for it Tactical Assault is pretty damn slick. Even if the story mode can get a bit boring for some, the amount of unlocked ships and combat ability against some pretty smart and aggressive AI really does it justice in melee mode (even has a multiplayer offline mode too.)

 

[sdcheekz]

Thanks im going to give zookeeper a whirl.

 

[jesterscourt]

I remember seeing screenshots for LostMagic and thinking "wow, this is going to be awesome" and then running out to Fry's to buy it, and then being really disappointed and selling it for a loss on Ebay a few weeks later.

 

[Jei]

Honeycomb Beat is pretty good if you're into puzzlers, it have some good visuals and music to go with.

 

[VmprHntrD]

I've been thinking about Honeycomb Beat, but it gives me nasty flashbacks to polarium and the like sucking so so hard.

**EDIT: Went on IRC and 'found' this and Nervous Brickdown. Despite my computer being ungodly slow, HB ran at 90-95% speed since no 3D was in play. It is a lot like polarium, just a bit more versatile. Puzzle mode wasn't bad but the evo(marathon) mode wasn't much fun at all as it just was endless line clearing until goal. NB ran due to 3D shifting bg at 25% speed, seemed like it maybe a fun arkanoid rip off, but I can't tell at that rate.

I tried to like that game, but the puzzles were just a one line pile of suck and got boring very fast. I hoped the marathon mode would have done something, but that quickly hit the wall.

HB has generally the same puzzle mode and marathon so that's why I teeter on blowing the $15 on it. I know it has more ways to crack the puzzle, and you can do it in more than one move which helps, but still makes me wonder. The video clips I've watched that IGN hosted seemed good but I just wish I could try first. Maybe wait and see if Gamestop gets a used one in and go from there because you can return them for cash/credit.