Nintendo DS: Going Out on Top
Nintendo DS: Great system, or greatest system?
Answers to that question will be all around the place, but there’s no denying that Nintendo’s dual-screened handheld system delivered some of the best experiences around in its time on the market. Despite its incredibly rocky start, it ended up being in the right place at the right time as some of our game developing brethren in the east were looking to make their creative ideas work on a platform that allowed for risks. Some of them, however, looked to continue making games they wanted to make without any concern for sky-high budgets. Here, have five of them.
1. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow: The Metroidvania subcategory of Castlevania games moved over from Game Boy Advance to DS in Dawn of Sorrow. It contained an intricate soul system that allowed for experimentation — and you know it’s fun when you can fastidiously farm for souls and items and don’t feel sick of it hours later. Additionally, the animated sprites fans had been hoping to see again since Symphony of the Night made their glorious return on a system where 2D games didn’t face any silly criticisms. It may not have been a game praised for its originality, but it was one of the best on the system in its genre.
2. 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors: Aksys Games made a gutsy move in deciding to localize a Chunsoft-developed visual novel, but the reaction and sales it received proved the risk paid off. 999 has some of the best characters and one of the best stories ever seen in the medium, and achieves it better than its big brothers. It’s one of the few games where obtaining every ending is well worth the time, and it’s the kind of game that will stick with you long after you’ve finished it. We can only hope the sequel, Good People Die, can live up to even half of what it accomplished.
3. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride: Playing Dragon Quest V makes me wonder why many other Japanese RPGs haven’t looked to it for inspiration. To put it simply, it has the kind of “heart” that needs to be seen in more games these days. It’s the touching story of a protagonist coming of age, getting married, and having children of his own. It all happens in a world full of strife and villainy, meaning everyone involved has to deal with hardships no average person should have to tolerate. It’s not only one of the best games in the Dragon Quest franchise, but one of the best JRPGs period.
4. Kirby Canvas Curse: The DS’ launch window period was rife with uncertainty for the platforms future, one where onlookers were sure that Nintendo had made an inexcusable gaffe and made the next Virtual Boy or N64. Enter Kirby Canvas Curse, the game that showed early purchasers that unique and innovative experiences could be made using the system’s touchscreen. It was also considerably more difficult than HAL Laboratory’s previous Kirby games, along with some high replay value if you wanted to collect everything. It may be tough to find these days, but it’s still worth playing.
5. Mario & Luigi: Bower’s Inside Story (Note: I did not write the review to this game, but that’s OK): The Mario RPGs give the player the kind of whimsical enjoyment many other games in the genre fail to provide, and Bowser’s Inside Story is no exception. This one featured the perfection of its reflex-intensive battle system, and gave players three characters that were always fun to play. Couple that with an excellent localization from Nintendo’s Treehouse, and you have one of the most downright fun RPGs on the system. Partners in Time may have been a lackluster (but still good) follow-up in Alpha Dream’s Mario & Luigi franchise, but Bower’s Inside Story realized the concept’s potential and managed to be the best game in the Mario RPG sub-franchise.
The DS provided some excellent software over a seven year period (with one more on the way), but now is the time to pass that torch to the 3DS. Though it’s unlikely that it will be quite as successful as the DS due to losing some of its audience to smartphone games, its overall lineup should be worthwhile if this year’s upcoming software lineup is any indication. Hopefully it is, and hopefully many of those good-looking games will be localized, unlike a few titles in the last 1/3 of the DS’ life.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
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I love what you did with the cover art!
…but it looks like Soma is giving me the finger.
Thanks! I came up with that idea literally right before I was going to post this. I didn’t even notice Soma flipping the bird, though, and I’m going to leave it like that.