Skyler Orton
The Nintendo DS is sure to be remembered as one of the greats. Its library is fantastic and the system has gone down in history as the best selling handheld of all time. However, in the over 3,000 games for the system, some are sure to fly under the radar. Here are my top 5 that you need to play.
5. Elite Beat Agents
Elite Beat Agents is a must play for any fan of rhythm games. The (completely ridiculous) story follows a team of secret agents who must help people in need by… actually I’m not quite sure what they do. I guess mostly they sing and dance. That’s not the important part because the rhythm gameplay is incredibly addicting.
The game takes full advantage of the system’s touch screen and the player has to tap, flick and hold a wide variety of notes. Gameplay wise, my closest comparison would be a simpler version of the popular PC rhythm game Osu!. In fact, the two games are so close that Elite Beat Agents was an Americanized version of the Japanese exclusive Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan which inspired the modern classic.
That’s all without mentioning the fantastic tracklist of 1970’s-2000’s hits. Songs like Good Charlotte’s The Anthem, Avril Lavigne’s Sk8er Boi, Earth, Wind, and Fire’s September and The Village People’s Y.M.C.A. give the game a lot of personality. Sure to be a hit which will appeal to millennials world wide. Overall this is one of the best games on the system and more people should give it a try.
4. Lego Battles + Lego Ninjago: Battles
Those deep in the Nintendo community may have heard of some of these games. However, I would be willing to bet that very few hardcore fans give much thought to this duology of games. I think that’s a mistake since these two games are both very capable real time strategy games.
The gameplay takes full advantage of the touch screen, replacing the typical RTS mouse control scheme with the stylus. Lego Battles is a typical real time strategy experience, you have your factions units and structures just like in a game like Starcraft.
The spin-off Lego Battles: Ninjago takes many of the same elements but focuses on hero characters instead of a full army. While in many ways simpler, this spin-off has the same basic gameplay as the first game.
These two games should be counted among the best on the system. For any fans of the RTS genre, this series takes the depth of those systems and makes it easily accessible for a handheld console. For anyone who hasn’t taken the dive into RTS, the Lego Battles series is a great place to start the journey since it is easily approachable with its cartoonish artstyle and simplified mechanics.
3. 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
999 Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (we’ll just call it 999 from now on for my sanity) has become a bit of a cult classic in the years since the game’s release. It flew under the radar due to its M rating and proximity to the 3DS. However, those who give the game a try will find one of the best visual novels on the platform.
999 follows a group of 9 people who have been drugged and kidnapped to play in the masked figure Zero’s Nonary Game. They must work together and solve elaborate escape room puzzles in order to make it out alive. However, if anyone in the group disobeys a bomb planted in their stomach will set off killing them.
The gameplay alternates between story sections with classic visual novel elements, and elaborate escape room puzzles. The puzzles are just difficult enough to be fun, and make good use of the system’s touch screen to interact with objects. As such, there is a lot of variety in the gameplay to keep the player interested.
The game takes a lot of influence from the Saw franchise, and the game’s spiraling mystery is instantly intriguing and fun to unpack. The game offers a lot of replayability through multiple endings and paths so it’s well worth taking a look for any fans of visual novels and puzzle games.
2. Radiant Historia
Radiant Historia was severely underappreciated on release since it came out 4 days before the 3DS. As such, not many people have heard of this clever Atlus RPG. Radiant Historia follows Stocke, a special forces agent for the kingdom Alistel, who gains the power of time travel. The time travel is the main mechanic of the game as you soon play across two separate timelines. Knowledge gained in one timeline influences the other which leads to a very original mesh of gameplay and story.
Outside of the story, the individual battles are deeply strategic. The game uses a turn-based grid system where your party members’ attacks push enemies along the grid to set up devastating combos. This is a system I haven’t seen in any other RPG but it takes typical turn-based battles and makes them unique.
The game was poised to make a comeback with a 3DS port, but fate struck again and that remake Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology wasn’t released in North America until February 2018, after the Switch had already been released. It just wasn’t in the cards for it to become a major hit, but this fantastic game is still there for countless new fans to discover.
1. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
One final DS game that came out too close to the 3DS, Ghost Trick, is one of the most creative puzzle games on the system. Created by Shu Takumi, creator of the wonderful Ace Attorney series, Ghost Trick follows an amnesiac ghost, Sissel, who must find his identity before he fades from existence.
As Sissel, you can’t directly move. Instead you possess the objects in your surroundings to move and interact with the world. You use the stylus to slide Sissel’s spirit between objects in increasingly complex rooms.
The gameplay is incredible but, as with any Shu Takumi game, the stories and characters have endless charm. Takumi has a way of writing mysteries that are simultaneously engaging while also having lighthearted moments and charming characters.
The game wasn’t a hit with general audiences but it gained an enormous cult following in the years after its release. Now it fortunately has gained appreciation and even got a release on modern consoles.
Did we miss any games? The DS has countless games, it was a very difficult list to pick. Let us know in the comments below.
