The Nintendo DS Topic

[Spark Of Spirit]

No, I don't have my list at hand, it's on another computer and not done, but I figured I would make a topic for the system anyway considering its importance.

1. It is the best selling video game system of all time
2. It houses MANY of the best games of all time
3. Everyone here owns one, or plans to own one

I'll be honest, I didn't like the DS at first. The first year of games was absolutely dreadful outside of a Mario 64 port and a few other games. But eventually, the ball got rolling and very quickly became what it is today and was the first non-Game Boy system to really rocket up the sales charts.

Name a genre, and there's likely a handful of awesome games in the genre for you, heck why not experiment? There's probably a game out there for you in a genre you might not normally expect! Even stranger, there are still a few DS games coming down the pipeline soon even with the 3DS about to launch the first real wave of games!

So let's all discuss this system and all the great times we've had with it over the years, whether it be phat, lite, XL, or even the GBA-missing (and therefore inferior) i version!

[talonmalon333]

No, I don't have my list at hand, it's on another computer and not done, but I figured I would make a topic for the system anyway considering its importance.

1. It is the best selling video game system of all time
2. It houses MANY of the best games of all time
3. Everyone here owns one, or plans to own one

I'll be honest, I didn't like the DS at first. The first year of games was absolutely dreadful outside of a Mario 64 port and a few other games. But eventually, the ball got rolling and very quickly became what it is today and was the first non-Game Boy system to really rocket up the sales charts.

Name a genre, and there's likely a handful of awesome games in the genre for you, heck why not experiment? There's probably a game out there for you in a genre you might not normally expect! Even stranger, there are still a few DS games coming down the pipeline soon even with the 3DS about to launch the first real wave of games!

So let's all discuss this system and all the great times we've had with it over the years, whether it be phat, lite, XL, or even the GBA-missing (and therefore inferior) i version!

It's more successful then the PS2?

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, it's the highest selling system of all time.

Well deserved, IMO. It has games for pretty much every gamer on there.

[Rosalinas Spare Wand]

I remember I got mines around Christmas time. Well technically, my brother received it, but we shared it during that time before I got my Blue one. Sure there wasn't a lot of games out for it, but my friends in high school also had one, and we'd play multiplayer Mario 64 DS all day every day.

I also ended up getting Yoshi Touch and Go and despite being a glorified mini-game/tech demo, it was a blast playing with my friends trying to out-endure each other. It got to the point that classmates wanted a turn to break our records, which they never did. A similar thing happened when we had WarioWare Touched, which I still believe is the best WarioWare title so far.

Also, who can forget when Diamond and Pearl were released and essentially was a rebirth of the franchise? I didn't care much for the Japanese pre-release hype, but when Cartoon Network aired that 72 hour Pokemon marathon, and when the screenshots began to appear in Nintendo Power, I got hooked all over again. Took me a week to get it after launch, but a good chunk of us at school finally had enough DS systems and Pokemon to have battles every single day. We just couldn't put it down and we even brought it on a field trip once, where we spent the whole lunch break battling each other.

Fun times man. Fun times.

[Daxdiv]

I'll just say that I loved playing Mario Kart DS with my friends in High School, along with Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, New Super Mario Bros and Metroid Prime for the DS. We all had a blast with those games. Hell, Diamond and Pearl pretty much pulled me back into playing Pokémon. We would have lunch table battles, trade with each other and talk about the story as well.

As for my favorite gem on the DS, I would have to give it Elite Beat Agents. I don't care that most of the songs in that game are questionable, the game play was pretty solid. At first, I thought it might have been me riding the music high since I was just getting into rhythm games, but this game still holds up pretty well last time I've played it, which was about 2 months ago.

[Spark Of Spirit]

One thing I can say about the DS, is how surprising it was.

An original 2D Mario? A game about a lawyer? Contra 4? I mean, pretty much everything housed on that system and so much of it was awesome. It had not only brand new ideas and franchises, but it managed to revive tons of old ones many at their former glory. Really would have loved a new Turrican for the system, however.

Still awaiting Aliens and Giana Sisters (I hope this is still coming) before I finally move on to the 3DS, but man, I honestly forgot just how good it was.

[talonmalon333]

I think the original GB was, in retrospect, pretty bland. I mean it was convenient and all. But what did it have? A few platformers?

The DS is the best handheld!

[Spark Of Spirit]

Oh crap, I almost forgot about this!

The DS is killer.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I still need to get a Nintendo DS. I know its at its cheapest price right now but being that its still usually over $100 I still can't really afford one at the moment. That said, I've been able to try out a few DS games here and there, but the only one that I played pretty much all of the way through was Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (and a pretty underrated game on the system, at that). I really do want a DS, and I'll try my best to save up for one, but there are also other games that I want to get so it usually never ends up happening.

[Kiddington]

One of the only DS exclusives that I've never really cared for are the two Zelda titles. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are just sooooo bloody boring; slow-paced sailing and train travel make up the lion's share of the overall gameplay, and the all-touch screen aspect is an absolute chore at getting used to for this type of game, IMO. I was going into these expecting something on par with the Oracle series, or Minish Cap, and instead I got... well, this. I dunno, I just find both of those games to be incredibly bland, and not really up to quality on what I've come to expect with Zelda.

...that's about all I've got for the negativity aspect, really. The DS, as a whole, is an excellent gaming platform, and really does have something for everyone; platformers, shooters, RPG's... hell, it even holds home to an exclusive GTA title (and who says Rockstar and Nintendo can't play nice?). The original Game Boy holds a lot of nostalgia, but honestly, it doesn't even come close to the sheer volume of what the DS has to offer. Truly the best form of handheld gaming ever.

[talonmalon333]

One of the only DS exclusives that I've never really cared for are the two Zelda titles. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are just sooooo bloody boring; slow-paced sailing and train travel make up the lion's share of the overall gameplay, and the all-touch screen aspect is an absolute chore at getting used to for this type of game, IMO. I was going into these expecting something on par with the Oracle series, or Minish Cap, and instead I got... well, this. I dunno, I just find both of those games to be incredibly bland, and not really up to quality on what I've come to expect with Zelda.

Phantom Hourglass is a loaf of mediocrity; I'll give you that. But Spirit Tracks was great! Here's hoping for a sequel!

[Kiddington]

One of the only DS exclusives that I've never really cared for are the two Zelda titles. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are just sooooo bloody boring; slow-paced sailing and train travel make up the lion's share of the overall gameplay, and the all-touch screen aspect is an absolute chore at getting used to for this type of game, IMO. I was going into these expecting something on par with the Oracle series, or Minish Cap, and instead I got... well, this. I dunno, I just find both of those games to be incredibly bland, and not really up to quality on what I've come to expect with Zelda.

Phantom Hourglass is a loaf of mediocrity; I'll give you that. But Spirit Tracks was great! Here's hoping for a sequel!

Bleh. different strokes for different strokes , I suppose.

I can't even bring myself to beat it.

[Kiddington]

One of my favorite DS titles.

Really underrated game, IMO. Shame that it didn't sell.

[Rosalinas Spare Wand]

Published by THQ? I can't imagine why it didn't sell.

That's a bit mean to say, but honestly, THQ needs to get a better marketing division. They've made quite a few above average games this gen and yet most of them remain fairly unknown to the masses. I mean, they practically admitted its their fault the Red Faction series is just about dead.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, I'm pretty sure that I already know the answer, but just to be sure I wanted to get the opinions of some of you guys.

I was thinking that now that the 3DS is out as the PS Vita is on its way, the DS and PSP are now at their cheapest prices. I wanted to finally save up for a portable gaming device but I was wondering which one you guys think is a better investment (as in, which one would have more games that I would probably enjoy). Naturally I believe its the DS, but to be fair I barely even know about any games on the PSP so maybe there are some good ones that I just never heard of. Really, I just want something that has a lot of reasonably priced games that will last me for quite a while.

At any rate, it'll take me a while to save up for anything at this point, really, so even if when I do decide I still probably won't be getting anything until at least Christmas.