Nintendo DS Essentials

Everything to do with our favourite pastime! Reviews, recommendations, sells/swaps, problems etc. Whether they are on the latest consoles, arcade or retro classics. It's not the winning or losing, we came to play!
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GeeZa
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Post by GeeZa »

Man, the DS is GREAT at the moment. So far I'd say the *essentials* are:

Zoo Keeper - simple puzzler but superb use of the stylus.
Tony Hawks - truly excellent gfx and gameplay. The best TH in *ages*.
Sonic Rush - awesome speed and lovely boss sections. Flawlessly polished.
Mario Kart - just about perfect in every way.

I'd say those four are the biggies. Just under those I'd add:

Yoshi Touch & Go - score attack is like crack.
Kirby - good fun and again, stylus-based controls.
Mario64 - ignore the haters. Excellent main game, fun minigames.
Meteos - intense short-blast puzzler. Brain meltingly chaotic.
Advance Wars - just brilliant strategy, a good session game.
Under the Knife - only played briefly but it was INSANE.
Castlevania - just *playable*.

Nintendogs and Electroplankton are options but I think both are more 'interesting toys' than proper games. I like 'em both and am still making weird sounds with 'plankton. :D
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Mayhem
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Post by Mayhem »

I've got a funny feeling my "best of 2005" list for Ahchay will contain the following three:

MKDS - probably the best MK in the world. Ever.
Ouendan! - crazy Japanese rhythm action touch screen malarky
Phoenix Wright - brilliant story, mind teasing puzzles
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Post by videokyd »

Game like Kirby and Pheonix Wright are good games, but they lose any appeal once you beat them. And that would be just dandy if they didn't take a "mere" 20 hours to complete 100%. You also must take into consideration, are the games worth playing that amount of time? Here is my list based on what I've played.

Meteos- MUCH more addictive then Zookeeper. Harder and more satisfying, too.

Mario Kart DS- Not perfect, but the best Kart game yet.

Advance Wars DS- I HATE this game. Boring as hell. Regardless, if you enjoy strategy there is a shitload to do

Ouendan- Addictive as hell. Score attacking is fun.

Trauma Center- Same as Ouendan in it's addictiveness to get good grades.

Eletroplankton- Just cool and relaxing

Band Bros- See Ouendan and Trauma Center.
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Post by the2bears »

The surprising game for me is Mr. Driller Drill Spirits. This version doesn't add anything to the series but it is consistently the "second" game in the machine. As I get new games they get a ton of play, but time and again I pop Mr. Driller in for a quick fix. I think it's because I'm obsessed with beating it on 2000m with no power-ups. Something I've been unable to do, though I got to 1916 last night :(

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daniel thomas
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Post by daniel thomas »

Don't forget Metroid Pinball, which is very, very solid. Perfect for short bursts.

I loved Zoo Keeper until I collided into Quest Mode. It's so horrible and so evil that the whole game was ruined for me. It's just like pea soup to me now.

Castlevania DOS is really good, but it's a cakewalk. I mean, seriously, it's a bloody walk in the park, even by recent Castlevania standards. And am I the only one who's tired of seeing the fifth version of Symphony of the Night? Can we please come up with something new? Can you at least come up with a new castle for once? Ugh.

Aside from that, it's really great. :P

Mario Kart - the best ever. It's the first Mario Kart that actually drives properly; it reminds me a lot of Sega Rally on the Saturn, which has always been an all-time favorite of mine. I see some hacker has already figured out how to play all 32 racetracks online. Let's hope we all learn how to do that.

I wish Tony Hawk would allow for longer voice clips. I don't have nearly enough time for proper swearing. Other than that, it's really good. I used to love THPS before it jumped the shark.

Advance Wars DS - Another classic, but next time I want a) online games, b) the ability to downlaod/upload custom maps, and c) more than three fucking save spaces for custom maps!!

Meteos - videogame crack.

Yoshi Touch & Go - videogame LSD.

Polarium - videogame vodka-and-Mountain-Dew. Yuck!

Has anyone tried Dig-Dug or Frogger yet? They look really good, but there's never been any good news.
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Post by piku »

daniel thomas wrote: I loved Zoo Keeper until I collided into Quest Mode. It's so horrible and so evil that the whole game was ruined for me. It's just like pea soup to me now.
I've got Bejewelled for my Zodiac so I'm not as obsessed with it. Nice game and all, might pick it up cheap one day.
Mario Kart - the best ever. It's the first Mario Kart that actually drives properly
It just works :) It's the only racing game where I'm not continually smashing into corners. The powerup system is a bit noticeable, it'd be nice if you couldn't see the game trying to equalise out the players by giving the slow one a triple red mushroom. It makes it fair and the endings quite exciting, but it's really obvious the game is giving you a big help.

Slipstreaming people and watching the game do a mad rush for the finish line is excellent.
Meteos - videogame crack.
Maybe I need to play this some more, I found it a bit confusing.
Polarium - videogame vodka-and-Mountain-Dew. Yuck!
Glad I didn't impulse buy this, it just feels a bit empty and trying to draw the lines around the blocks is fiddly and prone to catching an extra block you didn't want. Reminds me of trying to edit pixels in a paint package and is about as frustrating when your hand wiggles by accident.

The really addictive games are ones that don't require too much thought. Simple pattern recognition, collision avoidance and the like.
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Post by BuckoA51 »

Advance wars DS gets my vote, Mario Kart, Bomberman and Meteos are also excellent especially if you have friends to play multiplayer with.
(Not a Nintendo fan boy honest!)
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Post by romanista »

Kirby, Mariokart DS...just bought a wifithingfor this, never thought i would do that
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Post by The Caffeine Kid »

BuckoA51 wrote:Advance wars DS gets my vote, Mario Kart, Bomberman and Meteos are also excellent especially if you have friends to play multiplayer with.
I've just bagged myself a copy of Meteos in the PLAY.COM sale for £17.99... Bomberman is that price too but I can only afford one game (just made a sale on ebay that's covered it... nice!)

Lots of other stuff in the sale too, not just DS games - check it out. :)
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Post by pjoyce »

*bump*

Seeing as the DS Lite is released in Europe on Friday I would appreciate any update to the recommended games already mentioned. Trying to decide on that 'first game to buy' and now realising that I should of imported "New Super Mario Bros." so I would have it to play before the 30/6 release date!

Also if anyone is aware of any good places/deals to buy games as well (I´m in Munich, Germany) then let me know!
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Post by AMC-Campaign »

AKA qazimod/qazi. Ex writer for KB, Retro Revival, GA, TSR etc. Writer for Disposable Media and Wii Ouendan. Developer of rubbish webtoys at http://qazimod.co.nr.
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Post by Skah T »

Another enthusiastic vote for Ouendan. It hasn't left my DS for *weeks*. I'm still trying to get past the final stage on Hard (and loving every minute of it). I just wish the intro sequence to that stage were a bit shorter since I've sat through it a couple dozen times by now. I shudder to think what it's like on Very Hard.
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Post by supermonkeyworld »

Skah T wrote: I shudder to think what it's like on Very Hard.
It's impossibly hard. It's worth beating hard just for the unlockable bonus.
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Post by THEDARKPRIESTCYRIC »

daniel thomas wrote: And am I the only one who's tired of seeing the fifth version of Symphony of the Night?
I do believe so :P Personally I would enjoy a new version of Symphony of the Night every year for the rest of my life, it's just that damn good ;)
Last edited by THEDARKPRIESTCYRIC on Sat Jul 22, 2006 3:52 pm 0, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by skweek »

Super Princess Peach is ace too. I think it's better than New Super Mario Bros.
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