Top 17 DS Games
OMalone
Board games are cool yo. The rules are simple: Use your balls to push your opponent's balls into oblivion and the first person to push a certain number of balls off the table wins. You take turns, and can move 1, 2, or 3 balls a turn provided they are in a line. If your balls have numerical superiority in a line, you can push your opponent's balls. The game has 8 AIs of varying difficulty, and a WiFi multiplayer mode. Theres even a PC version of the game (available at his site) which can play against people using the DS version.
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Setsuzoku no Puzzle
Concept: its a tile-matching game. So simple, yet somehow the combination of simple puzzle gameplay with the very well done animations make this a very good time-killer.
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Stravingo's Blog
Pocket Physics
Anyone here played "Crayon Physics"? Pocket Physics is a physical construction kit for your pocket, allowing you to draw objects on the touch screen, then watch as they become "physical" and interact with other objects they come into contact with. The game allows you to create solid objects (such as walls, floors, etc) that are unmoving, and dynamic objects which are affected by gravity and can be moved. Drawing can be done while the scene is in suspended animation, or while everything is in motion. It also has support for the DS Motion Card.
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LOCKJAW
LOCKJAW is the ultimate tetromino stacking game because it lets you set the rules. The level of customization available is vast, and with some tweaking will let you create your perfect Tetris experience.
Download (includes DS GBA and PC versions)
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TetattDS
Quite the addicting little Tetris Attack-style game. The objective is to create rows or columns of 3 matching symbols to remove them, and keep the stack from reaching the top. The game has 3 modes: Endless, which streams blocks nonstop; VS Self, which like the name implies means you're playing yourself; and WiFi, which allows you to play other people through the TetattDS server. Graphics and controls are very fluid, and you'll find yourself playing for tens of minutes on end. Both button and stylus controls are seamless.
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Flatware's Blog
PuzzleManiak
PuzzleManiak is a port of the Portable Puzzle Collection, which was created by Simon Tatham. To put it simply, its a collection of 27 puzzle games which are played using the touch screen. The collection supports custom themes and is available in 7 languages. One of the most prominent features of PuzzleManiak is the support for all your scores to be sent via WiFi to the PuzzleManiak server, where they are displayed for all to see. There is also a daily challenge which can be downloaded from the main menu.
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POWDER
Nethack purists may disagree, but POWDER is easily the most playable roguelike available. Originally, the game was designed for the GBA, so all commands have been mapped (quite well) to the buttons and d-pad. For those not familiar with the genre, basically this is a hack'n'slash RPG; the toned down graphics allow for a very large number of commands, and really make the game very strategic and deep. With the release of version 093, the game is now entirely playable with the DS' touch screen, although button actions are still preserved if you prefer that. The goal is to defeat enemies, gather items, levelup, and make it to the 25th floor to defeat Baezl'bub (referred to as "ascending"). This is one of the more overlooked homebrew games, probably due to its somewhat bland appearance in screenshots. You owe it to the dungeon crawler inside to check this game out.
Download for NDS
Download for GBA
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BulletGBA/Vulkanon
For those itching for a little more action, I'm going to refer you to the GBA. Those familiar with the gameplay of bullet hell will feel right at home here, as thats exactly what these two games provide. BulletGBA is bullet hell simulator, containing a vast database of attacks patterns which you can play through consecutively, randomly, or just pick and choose. Its meant to be played vertically, so those with Gameboy Micros would hold it sideways while playing. Vulkanon is more of an actual shmup, with your bullet stream actually being controlled by a button rather than always on. The objective is to beat the boss of each of the 4 stages. Both games save the entire replay of your best run and push the limits of what the GBA is capable of.
Download BulletGBA
Download Vulkanon
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A Touch of War
A good real-time strategy game on the DS? Makes you wonder why we haven't seen any from a commercial developer. A Touch of War is your standard medieval RTS, made to collaborate almost flawlessly with the DS' control setup. Almost all commands are done using the touch screen, L or R switch the screens, and you can move around the map with the d-pad or face buttons. It supports both left and right handed layouts, up to three (suprisingly smart) AIs, fog of war, and a multiplayer mode via WiFi.
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GeoWars
You'd almost think it was commercial. GeoWars is professional from the graphics, to the sound, to the controls, to even the story. Basically this is another shmup, with a unique control scheme. Ship movement is done via the d-pad/face buttons, while the direction of your bullet stream is controlled with the stylus. There are 22 seperate levels to play, all with enemies streaming towards you.
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Warcraft: Tower Defense
Probably one of the most well-known DS homebrew games. Warcraft: Tower Defense is an adaption of the famous WC3 mod. Its akin to an RTS; enemies will walk in along a designated path (determined by the map), and your goal is to kill them before they reach the end. This is accomplished by strategically placing towers which fire projectiles at the enemies. These towers are purchased with your limited funds, and can be upgraded to different types, destroyed, etc. You can download new maps or design your own.
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Meteora
The only genre I could think that this game falls under is "galactic god war". Peaked your interest? Basically you are the god of a planet, which is located at the bottom of your touch screen. You war with other gods, who are somewhere above the range of the top screen. Battle is done using mana, which is slowly repleted as you use it. This mana can be used to fuel other attacks, shields, upgrades, or even melded into raw shrapnel which can block opposing attacks or be used as a weapon itself. As you shoot your mana off screen in their direction, a HP and shield meter will inform you if you've made a hit. Oh, and did I mention this is all done with the stylus? Meteora really is quite hard to describe, and is one of the most unique in this entire list.
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MegaETk
This is Mega Man done right. The game is a bit deeper than most homebrew, including 8 stages with 3 levels and a boss each, and a shop where you can buy upgrades (new weapons, more hp, new abilities, etc). The controls and physics are solid, and what you would find in any other Mega Man game. Now we come to the sad news. Unfortunately MegaETk is not DLDI compatible, which means for a majority of you reading, no saves, music, or touch screen use. I have found however that the NoFAT version is fully playable via the NORflash mode of the EZ-Flash 3 in 1, so not all of you have to miss out.
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QuakeDS
It is a little buggy, but for the most part Quake runs quite smoothly on the DS. There are three versions of QuakeDS; the standard version, infrastructure for playing on WiFi, and ExRam for utilizing the RAM found in some slot-2 carts. As far as setup is concerned, you either need the full version of Quake, or you can download and install the shareware version here. Once you've obtained either of those, create a folder on the root of your cart called "id1". Find the pak0.pak and pak1.pak (you'll only need the first if you're using shareware) in your Quake directory, and copy them to the "id1" folder you just created. Place this in the root of your cart.
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DS Doom
Ah, Doom. Probably the single most ported game in history. Unsuprisingly, it runs flawlessly on DS. To setup, you just need to extract the "doom.nds", "prboom.wad", and "prboom.cfg" to the root of your cart. Now you just fetch the *.wad file from the version of doom you're going to use (doom, doom2, tnt, ultimate, shareware can be found here), copy it to the root of your cart and rename it "doom.wad". DS Doom also supports WiFi play; see the readme for instruction on setting that up.
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Lemmings DS
Its almost amazing how well some games port to the DS. Lemmings DS is an exact replica of the classic Amiga game, with the stylus of course replacing the mouse. The package includes the original 120 levels from the Amiga game, 100 levels from Oh-No! More Lemmings, and all 72 levels from Xmas Lemmings ‘91, ‘92, ‘93 and ‘94. The port features automatic progress saving, an on-DS level editor, and the ability to download and play new levels. Installation consists of extracting the archive to the root of your cart (make sure the files stay in the LemmingsDS directory).
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DScent
A great game which plays fantastically on the DS. Probably my favorite listed here. Descent is a 3D FPS which was originally released in 1995, where you pilot a ship - which moves in full 3D space - through underground mines. The objective is to go through the solar system and eliminate a virus which has infected all the robots being used in the mines (the very ones that are your enemies throughout). You may seem a little lost when trying to set this up, but its actually quite simple. First of all you'll need to download the archive below, and extract it to the root of your cart. Next you must obtain and install the game Descent. Now the game must be updated to 1.5. First get the "1.0 to 1.4a" patcher located
here, and place it in your Descent directory. Run that, and follow the same process for 1.4a to 1.5. Finally, you just copy the "DESCENT.PIG" and "DESCENT.HOG" from that same directory, and drop that into the root.
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