I'm a new DS owner. What do I need to play?

[gabe]

My girlfriend just got me a DS for my birthday, and I'm pretty stoked, but I also have no idea what I've missed in the past 5 years or so. Anyone willing to help me navigate the library? I'm looking to gain a little insight beyond the Metacritic top 10.... Shmups? Non-shmups? Anything I should import?

[robthebanks]

Oh man, there's a lot. Too many to list, but here's some off the top of my head:
Space Invaders Extreme
The Dark Spire
Castlevania
Dementium: The Ward
Final Fantasy remakes
Dragon Warrior remakes
Rhythm Heaven
Chibi-Robo
Ketsui
Etrian Odyssey
Orcs and Elves
Kirby Canvas Curse
Moon
Shin Megami Tensei:
Professor Layton
Super Mario
Hotel Dusk
Metroid Prime

[brokenhalo]

seconding ketsui, it's pretty much the only thing i play on my ds. other than that i just picked up "big bang mini" on the cheap and it's pretty awesome.

[speedlolita]

Ketsui is ace on DS, even if it is just death label.

[Elixir]

Go import the Ouendan series.

[Vexorg]

I don't get a lot of use out of my DS these days, but here are some of my favorite DS games over the years:

Meteos
Ouendan
New Super Mario Bros.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Picross DS
Animal Crossing (a bit of an acquired taste though)
Kirby Canvas Curse
Electroplankton
The Phoenix Wright games

[Drum]

Bangaio Spirits
Super Princess Peach (I liked it quite a bit better than NSMB - the less said about Yoshi's Island DS the better)


I will second Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow (best game in the series, I think) and Kirby Canvas Curse. Also Space Invaders Extreme (haven't played the sequel, but probably just get that - most report it as being the same but better).
Shin Megami Tensei looks pretty badass - haven't played that yet.

If you never owned a GBA, there are a TON of great games on that (I think it's 10x the system the DS is, and the DS is ok).

EDIT: Won't apply if you got a DSi.

[Skykid]

Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow (best game in the series, I think)

Wow, that one heck of a recommendation. I've never played DOS but if it's that good I'll go a grab a copy - I need a new fix after my GB/GBA back to back Dracula outings.

[Drum]

I should warn you that that's a minority view even if it's an unimpeachably correct one. Most people who disagree seem to have some sorta chip on their shoulder, or just harp on about the re-used assets (fair enough, but some of the new spritework is great), the animu art in the talking head cutscenes (while ignoring that the story is actually pretty good for a CV game) or say that the level design isn't up to much (which is true - but it's certainly better than Symphony, or really any in the metroidvania series other than Aria). I should ALSO warn you that I'm not a big Castlevania fan in general, though I've played every game in the series, so mine is an 'outsider' opinion.

[xris]

Big 'Vania fan here, I gotta go with Order of Ecclessia on being the best on DS. It's easier on the item collecting, but way harder.
Warioware Touched (or Tilt!)
Geomwars Galaxies
Big Bang Mini

[gabe]

I don't get a lot of use out of my DS these days

If you never owned a GBA, there are a TON of great games on that (I think it's 10x the system the DS is, and the DS is ok).

These two comments just about sum up why I'm so late to the DS party. I have a GBA, which doesn't get much use anymore. Not because the games aren't great, but because I've reached the ironic point in my life where I can finally afford to buy all (or most) of the games that I really want, but no longer have the time to play them all. With my gaming time at a premium, handheld gaming was the first to go.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for a decently priced copy of Ketsui... I'm really interested in arcade style GAMES. There seems to be no shortage of epic-story-semi-games for the DS. In fact, I just picked up a few of them from Amazon:

• $15.55 - Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
• $19.99 - The World Ends With You
• $16.39 - Hotel Dusk: Room 215

$51.93 - Total (shipped)

[ColonelFatso]

My complaint with DoS (and metroidvanias in general) is the insultingly-easy difficulty. If I want to be hand-held through a series of hoops I can watch a bad action movie. If I'm playing a Castlevania game I expect to at least have to play it.

[Drum]

'Insultingly' easy compared to what? Games in general? Heck no. It's one of the harder games in its genre - certainly harder than the Metroid games. Do you hate them? The only tougher Mvanias are Ecclesia and Circle of the Moon, which are both legitimately tough. Weird comment.

[Square King]

Definitely go through the GBA library. Lots of great titles in there.

Knights in the Nightmare is a blast. SRPG/shmuppy (!) hybrid. Complex, deep, different.
Henry Hatsworth
Nanostray II is kiiinda neat, but not a must-buy
All of the Castlevanias, especially for GBA
Space Invaders Extreme is neat
Ketsui DS is pretty rockin'
Final Fantasy III and IV, if that's your bag
Advance Wars series

[Bloodreign]

Space Invaders Extreme
Space Invaders Extreme 2
Ultimate Mortal Kombat DS
Nanostray
Nanostray 2
New Super Mario Bros
Space Bust A Move
Labyrinth (spiritual sequel to Cameltry)
Konami Arcade Classics
New Zealand Story Revolution (this is probably the best of the Revolution titles, the others are meh, this one kind of stays true to the original game)

[mesh control]

Pokemon

[Jockel]

Go import the Ouendan series.

[Mortificator]

I haven't seen Contra 4 or Metal Slug 7 mentioned (though MS7 is also on PSP).

[Specineff]

Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ.

Don't dismiss it because of the title. It's pure old-school action.

[Davey]

I have a GBA, which doesn't get much use anymore. Not because the games aren't great, but because I've reached the ironic point in my life where I can finally afford to buy all (or most) of the games that I really want, but no longer have the time to play them all. With my gaming time at a premium, handheld gaming was the first to go.

I reached that point a couple years ago, but due more to pickiness than anything else. It has only gotten worse over time... I swear in a few years I'll just be playing one game over and over again. VOOT probably won't have any online following anymore, so I wonder what it'll be.

Anyway, by strange coincidence I was toying with the idea of getting a DSi (XL?) in the near future, because then I'd have something to do with the rest of my lunch hour besides read (socialize? meh.). Any opinions on these?

- Tetris DS
- Puyo Puyo 15th Anniversary
- Mr. Driller Drill Spirits

[ColonelFatso]

'Insultingly' easy compared to what? Games in general? Heck no. It's one of the harder games in its genre - certainly harder than the Metroid games. Do you hate them? The only tougher Mvanias are Ecclesia and Circle of the Moon, which are both legitimately tough. Weird comment.

CV4, which is by FAR the easiest Classicvania and even easier than plenty platformers of its time, was several orders of magnitude harder than DoS at any point except its final boss, which was the only boss I remember dying to.

EDIT: Maybe this is just indicative of platformer difficulty in general these days, but I've never found a Metroidvania (except the aforementioned OoE) to be much of a challenge).

[CMoon]

Taking this thread full circle:

The DS works best for me as a handheld old-school RPG machine (especially since this genre hardly exists on consoles anymore.) Most of my time with the DS has been on games like this, thus:

Etrian Odyssey 1&2 (3 is on the way)
Dragon Quest 4 & 5 (6 and 9 are on the way)
and, SMT: Strange Journey is out in two weeks.

Certainly the system has a lot of other rewarding titles, but these did more for me than the rest...

[Momijitsuki]

Trauma Center: Under the Knife and Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2.

[CMoon]

Anyone play the Rune Factory games?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I'd have to say SNK Playmore's Metal Slug 7 is pretty good on the NDS platform with some new Metal Slugs to check out...sure would've nice to play it on a bigger screen setup on the ol' MVS hardware. Yeah, MS-7 is known as Metal Slug XX on the PSP platform these days.

I'd recommend picking up NDS Lite with the GBA slot and a Taito rotary knob controller so you can properly play Space Invaders Extreme, Space Invaders Extreme 2, Arkanoid and Space Bust-A-Move as they all support this cool optional NDS controller setup.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BrianC]

Any opinions on these?

- Tetris DS

It's good for online and offline multiplayer, and has some fun modes, but due to the infinite rotation in traditional offline single player modes, not the best for classic Tetris.

Here are some I recommend:
Advance Wars Days of Ruin
Bangai-O Spirits
Bleach Blade of Fate
Castlevania Order of Ecclesia
Contra 4
Elite Beat Agents
Etrian Odyssey II
Knights in the Nightmare
Konami Arcade Classics
Labrynith/Mawashite Koron
Legend of Kage 2
Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks
Metal Slug 7
Meteos
Metroid Prime Pinball
Namco Museum DS
New Super Mario Bros.
Ouendan
Pac 'n Roll
Picross DS
Puzzle Bobble DS
Retro Game Challenge
Sonic Rush
Sonic Rush Adventure
Space Invaders Extreme
Trauma Center
Trauma Center 2

[Cuilan]

$19.99 - The World Ends With You

Excellent choice. That's what I was going to recommend. I've spent close to 200 hours on that game.

[evil_ash_xero]

Contra 4
Lunar Knights(can't believe nobody recommended this)


If you have a DS and not a DSi, you should snag a few GBA games.

Astro Boy
Metroid Zero Mission

Are both great choices

[Wonderbanana]

Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ.

Don't dismiss it because of the title. It's pure old-school action.

Cheers - didn't even know this exsited! Just ordered it

[Lordstar]

A noticed you have already been shopping for games, good ones at that. Nice to see your not just going the SD card DownloadDownloadDownloadDownload route.