Why I'm Buying Nintendo DS Games in 2024

Today let's talk about the Nintendo DS and why I'm buying games for it in 2024!

Manga Channel: @ShonenSoup

[harrybaque]

Prof. Layton, Zelda Phantom Hourglass, AC Wild World, COD4, Mario Hoops 3on3, Custom Robo Arena!

[sarahjones]

The DS is a JRPG machine which would be most of my recommendation, but if you want to get another puzzle style game, I highly recommend Meteos

[Slime-fzml]

The pokemon white 2 copy I bought last month has the Pokedex complete and all the Pokemons dates are from 2012/2013 I feel starting my own file but I never played that game before.

[BobbyFlayCooking]

ghost trick is awesome, the switch port is just the mobile version with a remastered soundtracks, but they’re all about the same

look into 999 and the world ends with you - those both got ports but you’ve gotta play those on the ds

[MicahBuzanANIMATION]

I love the DS and handheld gaming in general. That's probably why the Switch is my favorite console right now. Also you have a skill for talking and sharing info on camera. I'm still nervous to talk on camera after years, but then again I guess that's just social anxiety for ya. Keep up the great work dude!

[dockster]

So glad you’re doing this, Bo! I actually did the same thing last year, filling out my DS library with previously unowned first-party Nintendo games and inexpensive third-party games that made interesting use of the system’s unique capabilities. I’ve heavily curated my library, which sits currently sits at 86 games, having owned and sold another 30 or so on top of that. Unfortunately, I have yet to get around to playing all of them. However, I’ll drop a few interesting suggestions down below (though it certainly won’t be an exhaustive list). I look forward to the inevitable collection video! By the way, congrats on snagging both Aliens: Infestation and Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective at the bins!

Nintendo Published

Magical Starsign – Developed by Brownie Brown (Mother 3, etc.). A sequel to Japan only GBA RPG Magical Vacation.
Glory of Heracles – Japanese RPG series originally developed by Data East.
Mario Hoops 3-On-3
Mario Party DS
Custom Robo Arena
Clubhouse Games
Picross DS
Picross 3D
Professor Layton Series
The Legend of Zelda Series

Third Party

2-D Games:
Contra 4
Monster Tale – Metroidvania developed by Dream Rift
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure – Combination puzzle and platform game, also developed by Dream Rift.
Sonic Rush Adventure – My personal pick for the most interesting 2-D Sonic game on the system.

Overhead Action Games:
Children of Mana
From the Abyss
Lunar Knights – Set in the Boktai Universe.
Summon Night: Twin Age
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime

Strategy Games:
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Heroes of Mana
Infinite Space

3D Action Games:
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword – Excellent stylus based action game.
Okamiden – Spiritual successor to Okami.
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter

Minigame Collections:
Point Blank DS
Retro Game Challenge
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games – Includes a unique single player story mode.

Puzzle Games:
Super Scribblenauts
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes – Recently re-released on modern platforms by dotemu.
Honeycomb Beat DS
Zendoku — A sudoku battle game.

Also, perhaps Contact, a game by Grasshopper that I’m not quite sure how to classify.

[kingdilly]

I got my DS Lite in high school and it had me so engrossed unlike any other system up to that point. I played a ton of Game Boy and Game Boy Color games growing up, but I skipped out on the GBA due to some silly idea in my head that those games would not be as good as what I was playing. Thankfully, the GBA slot on my Lite enabled me to finally play awesome GBA games and realize that I had been a fool.

It also helped me rediscover my love of Pokémon with Diamond. I had played the hell out of Red and Silver and I got away from the series for a while during gen 3. I loved how I could use FireRed and transfer my Pokémon to Diamond rather than having to use a link cable. SoulSilver eventually came out and cemented itself as the greatest game in the series.

Mario Kart DS is my favorite of all of them, and I will never forget the fun I had playing online, even when I was being left in the dust by snakers. I loved how I could use the 8-bit Mega Man sprite for an emblem. Some of the best times I had with the game were when myself and three other guys in the morning/afternoon buses would do local play. I also have to mention that Contra 4 is possibly the best in its series too.

[DTM-Books]

I've spent the last week downloading nearly the entire Nintendo DS library to my computer for play on OpenEmu. I'm planning to buy a DSi XL or 3DS XL in the near future, and this is a perfect opportunity to really go into depth on this great system. I owned a DS back in the day and loved it, but my experience with the software was pretty much limited to main franchise titles and retro classics. I'm quite impressed by what I've been playing so far, although I will admit that I'm mostly playing Animal Crossing again.

[theshayminz]

My biggest DS recommendations are definitely the two Zelda games, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. I feel like they both definitely get overlooked by a lot of people, and they're both really fun!

Also, for Ghost Trick, I recommend the Switch version just for the remastered soundtrack, they nailed it

[CicadaStan]

The DS is so sick, I personally felt like part of the charm was lost with the 3DS (even though it was also incredible)

If you like visual novels/puzzle games you should definitely check out the Professor Layton games (I think there’s like 4?) and also 999 is absolutely incredible and slept on.

Great video!

[wsctt]

Love the DS. Some hidden gems I know of that are fairly cheap, if you're interested: Henry Hatsworth, Cookie and Cream, Disney Friends, Insecticide, Galactic Taz Ball

[les-os]

Sick AJJ hat hehe :) I collected a ton of these a while back—EBA is probably my #1 most nostalgic game, introduced me to rhythm games! Really hope you're able to enjoy it.

[itranscendencei]

If you haven't already, I would look into The World Ends With You. Personally, it is my favorite game of all time and couldn't recommend it more.

[hirakatashii]

You should check out Magician’s Quest: Mysterious Times on the DS. It’s basically a re-shin of Animal Crossing Wild World with magic elements. I just purchased it for my own collection recently

[franciscobutte]

Nice pickups video and good luck in your finds. You will need it.

[therealjaystone]

Unlike the 3ds cartridges, ds cartridges can keep your data inside of it. You can play with your 3ds without ever worry about cloud transfers because your data is stored inside of the chip.

[QueenViolet]

Glad a hung on to my ds game’s really glad Touch Detective collection is coming out on the Switch soon ❤ still waiting on all the SMT ds games get re released as well and Izumi The Unemployed Ninja 😂

[Hotwheels]

This is completely off topic, but I want to know what your thoughts are on the videos that are popping up about all these Nintendo Switch games seemingly being taken off of retail stores.

[uppernimbus]

Really nice DS collection, those visual novels are right up my alley, would love to get my hands on them one day as well!

[jablastoff]

I love the DS! Lots of good games, really, including some DragonQuest games (DQ V is a $150+ game CIB...I was lucky and found one for $30 at Gamestop!), there's also Prof. Layton, Mario + Luigi games (lots of fun), Radiant Historia (find the soundtrack version if you can), and what's probably the definitive version of ChronoTrigger now.