DS games

[Dion]

In an attempt to reorganize the "recommendation lists" on the Wiki (and to give Nix some work) I've started this thread in which we recommend good DS games.

The Criteria
Game must be fun to play, game play must hold up. “Significant” games don’t matter in this list. Instead we focus on games that you could pick up if you bought a new console and just want something fun to play.

Fun to whom?
It is to cumbersome to vote on each game, but if there is something on the list that you don’t understand how people CAN like, please whine some in the thread and we’ll find out the general consensus soon enough.

Oh and if they exist on several different platforms or in several different iterations we only recommend the best/latest title unless the story plays a vital part, then you can recommend all games in the series. You don't need to give me anything but the title of the game but if you want to help you can do it in this order "Title - Year of release - Developer - Publisher". If they are published in both Europe and America you just need to put in the year it first was published (discounting Japan unless it's the only country of release since most people on the board probably are western).

The list
The Dark Spire - Success - 2009 - Atlus
Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard - 2008 - Atlus - Atlus
Knights in the Nightmare - 2009 - Sting Entertainment - Atlus
Rondo of Swords - 2008 - Success - Atlus
Rhythm Heaven - 2009 - Nintendo - Nintendo
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2009 - Atlus - Atlus
Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier - 2009 - Banpresto/Monolith Soft - Atlus

We also need a good solution for choosing which developer to credit so we don't have any inconvenient slashes in the middle of our spreadsheet... Any ideas? Oh, and I can't decide if I should count "The" when I'm sorting the games. Tell me what to do  

[schild]

Hm? Sometimes more than one company works on a game and in the case of the SRT games it's Banpresto/Monolith. Pretty unavoidable there. Were there any other problem games?

[Dion]

Hm? Sometimes more than one company works on a game and in the case of the SRT games it's Banpresto/Monolith. Pretty unavoidable there. Were there any other problem games?

Nope, not yet. But there where quite a few on the PS2 list. Same goes for publishers, on for America and one for PAL regions are common with some more obscure titles.

[ezrast]

Probably most of the things in this quaint old thing (aww, my first post!). Mostly Meteos and Trauma Center though.

[schild]

As far as publishers go, the American one.

As for release dates, American year.

As for developer, depends.

Also:
Drawn to Life
Final Fantasy IV
Lost in Blue (I or II or both)
Mega Man ZX
New Super Mario Bros.
Cooking Mama
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Hotel Dusk: Room 215
Trace Memory
Lunar Knights: Vampire Hunters
Rune Factory 2
Steal Princess
Bangai-O Spirits
Retro Game Challenge (AKA Game Center CX)
N-Plus
Elite Beat Agents / Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!
Rittai Picross
Soul Bubbles
The World Ends with You / Subarashiki Kono Sekai
Meteos
Korg DS-10
Lock's Quest
Shiren the Wanderer
Ketsui DS

That's off the top of my head. I'd have to dig around for more.

And I take offense to your inclusion of Rondo of Swords. It was pretty fucking terrible.

[Dion]

I haven't played it, or most of the other games on that list. These are games I hear good stuff about and I decided to include as much shit as possible for now and then remove unwanted titles.

[Yegolev]

Drawn to Life

Garbage.

And I take offense to your inclusion of Rondo of Swords. It was pretty fucking terrible.

It was way better than Drawn to Life.

[schild]

Drawn to Life

Garbage.

And I take offense to your inclusion of Rondo of Swords. It was pretty fucking terrible.

It was way better than Drawn to Life.

Drawn to Life is more fun if you call it Penis to Life.

[Ingmar]

Puzzle Quest?
Ace Attorney series? (Arguable whether they really constitute a 'game' as such)

[schild]

Puzzle Quest DS is probably the worst version of the game.

Having played all the Phoenix Wright titles, the first one is probably still the best. So, yea, Phoenix Wright.

[Sjofn]

Puzzle Quest is still fun on the DS, even if it's a little blah compared to some of the other versions. I really like using the stylus for it.

Big fat seconded for Meteos though. I love that game. <3 <3

[Margalis]

Chinatown Wars is good.

[Rendakor]

Etrian Odyssey (The original, since you included the 2nd one)
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
Harvest Moon
FFCC: RoF and EoT (They're both good)
Disgaea DS (Not as good as the PS2 version but 100% more portable, and who owns a PSP anyway?)
Time Hollow


Knights in the Nightmare was fucking awful.

[hanzou]

I second the FFCC series.  It was some of the most fun I've had playing a co-op game in ages.

Also:
Electroplankton and, while I have been avoiding them(for fear of once again becoming depressingly addicted to children's games) I heard the latest iteration of the pokeman series are excellent.  Anyone have a definitive word on Platinum?

[Druzil]

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

It's probably the best game of the series and a great turn based strategy game overall.

[Yegolev]

Drawn to Life is more fun if you call it Penis to Life.

I'm doubtful that even something awesome like drawing a dick and balls for every item would have made that game fun.  Or good.

Rocket Slime is decent.

[schild]

Rocket Slime is decent.

Good call. The only tolerable Dragon Warrior game ever made.

[Hindenburg]

I find the lack of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! 2...disturbing.

Also, it's Devil SURVIVOR.


Kirby: Power Paintbrush
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
Trauma Center and Trauma Center 2
NINJA GAIDEN: Dragon Sword

[Yegolev]

I googled "what game is rocket slime cloned from" and the tenth link was:
http://www.f13.net/index.php?itemid=295

[Slyfeind]

I'm doubtful that even something awesome like drawing a dick and balls for every item would have made that game fun.  Or good.

Not enough people realize the awesome is drawing half the game yourself. Yes, putting dicks and balls all over the place makes it fun, but also putting a cartoony face on everything, or making your character look like Satan. So you get whole levels where Satan is jumping around on floating penises, shooting        out of a gun.

[Ratman_tf]

I just picked up a DS a week ago.   Gonna get Front Mission. I loved that game, even when it was only available as an untranslated ROM.

 

[Soulflame]

My overall take on Platinum is that if you like pokemon games, you'll like Platinum.  Of course, I also have a nagging feeling I could have reset Pearl and replayed that, and saved myself $30.

[Trippy]

Question about this game: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor

Can you trigger the day advancements at your own pace? Or does that mechanic "push" you along whether or not you want to advance the day? E.g. not knowing anything about the series but can you stay on one day and level up/train up your characters as much as you want?

[Dion]

I'll update the list later, I've been busy the last few days.

[Lounge]

Question about this game: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor

Can you trigger the day advancements at your own pace? Or does that mechanic "push" you along whether or not you want to advance the day? E.g. not knowing anything about the series but can you stay on one day and level up/train up your characters as much as you want?

To an extent.  There are free battles you can do which do not cost any time.  The game makes it fairly obvious when you are going to do something which triggers a time advancement.

[Trippy]

Okay, thanks.

[Hindenburg]

Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure. Megaman meets british gentleman meets puzzles meets bits and pieces of steampunk. 

[Khaldun]

Shin Megami: Devil Survivor is a lot of fun...I'm surprised at how much it's grabbing my attention.

[Sairon]

Don't miss Planet Puzzle League if you like puzzle games, arguably the best 3 in a row puzzle game out there. Excellent multiplayer as well.

[fnddf2]

Contra 4.  I don't know if a lot of people here consider this game too difficult to enjoy or not, as this seems to be the primary complaint about this game.  But it was very well received in general.  I know I sure got my money's worth.  I love Contra in general, and there is so much bonus material.

[Dion]

I'll update the first post when I get home sometime so probably sunday or monday.

[Jain Zar]

I'd list the worthwhile games I have in my collection but it would be ignored like every other time I ever write any recommendation lists so what's the point?

Besides, Schild hates Dragon Quest games.  And if you hate Dragon Quest games the only game I can recommend is "Let's shove a chainsaw dildo up your ass".

Dragon Quest 4 and 5 on the DS are fucking sublime and one has to be a raging douche not to like them.  Average Metacritic scores on them are low 80s, actually higher than Etrian and its sequel.