DS Noob - Recommendations Please!

Raskolnikov

Got playing a DS for the first time recently Find the Wii a bit gimmicky and really can't stand FPS games, so I was pleasantly surprised with what I played on the DS. First game I played was Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and I loved the way that it brought me back to Symphony of the Night on the PS1 (not quite as good, but close!). Then played Hotel Dusk, and while this was a little slow, I actually enjoyed it as well.

Have made my mind to get a DS, will probably get the two above games. Can anyone recommend other similar titles? Again, I'm not really a fan of anything gimmicky (No nintendogs or cooking games!). Much prefer an immersive kind of game with a bit of a storyline.

Suggestions?

Retr0gamer

There's so many good DS games it's crazy, too many even/ Order of Ecclesia is excellent and you might want to try the 2 games that came before it that are just as good, Portrait of Ruin and Dawn of Sorrow. Professor Layton is an excellent choice it will keep you going for weeks. The legend of zelda: the phantom hourglass is another great game thats worth getting. You are spoiled for choice with RPGs. Final Fantasy IV is a superb remake, Chrono Trigger is the same great game as always and Devil Survivor is coming out soon and out in america already and is supposed to be amazing. For adventure games kind of similar to Hotel Dusk you should try the pheonix wright games that are really funny. If you aren't afraid of importing (and why should you be) the absolute best DS game is Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! It's one of the best rhythm action games ever. Anyway thats just off the top of my head. You should check websites like ign or metacritic.

Mr E

For Castlevania, Dawn of Sorrow is the best of the 3 castlevania games on the DS so far. Its also the oldest, so it might take a bit of work to find.

One of the most fun, funniest (and underrated/overlooked) games on the DS is Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time. Its an action RPG with a great sense of humour and brilliant game mechanics that rely on skill and timing. Worth hunting down. Mario and Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story is out in September (import) and October (here), so I'll be importing.

corcaigh07

i vote for advance wars

Gummy Panda

Mr E wrote: »

One of the most fun, funniest (and underrated/overlooked) games on the DS is Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time. Its an action RPG with a great sense of humour and brilliant game mechanics that rely on skill and timing. Worth hunting down. Mario and Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story is out in September (import) and October (here), so I'll be importing.

Mario & Luigi is great. I have preordered Bowser's Inside Story from videogamesplus.ca already.

I'd also recommend Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Really good use of the touch screen and is a great game. Had so much fun playing it lately.

Turtwig

corcaigh07 wrote: »

i vote for advance wars

Seconded, best strategy game series imo. Dual Strike is better than Dark Conflict though

Other notables :GTA Chinatown Wars.

Meteos (the original game)
New Super Mario Bros.
Professor Layton.
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum (C'mon they're brill - even if they haven't changed since '99).
Mario Kart.
Picross.


As someelse has already mentioned, the DS's library is incredible, just use metacritic and avoid all games that end in z, like dogz,catz etc etc

Gummy Panda

Videogamesplus.ca has some decent games in their DS bargain bin.

Contra 4

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword

Hotel Dusk: Room 215

The World Ends With You

CA$20 each. If you are going to buy one, I recommend The World Ends With You.

Glico Man

Mario Kart

Mystery Stories

Professor Layton and The Curious Village

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hour-Glass

Chumpski

Theres so many to reccomend. As retrogamer said, if i were you i would start on looking at the top rated games on metacritic.

I'll recommend some games you might not have heard of or that aren't very near the top of the list on metacritic (due to a few little things that would mark them down:)) :

Broken Sword, a great port of a classic point n click. Some new sections added to it if you played it already. It has a hint system as well so you won't ever get hopelesly stuck anywhere.

Anno 1701: A fantastic settlers/civilization type game. It scored decent enough reviews. I thought it was a cracking DS game and it was mostly marked a little down as although the resource management and building part of the game was excellent, the combat is poor and the AI at times is really unfair. The good news is there is very seldom any combat in the game! (Theres also a new Anno game out called A new World but its more or less identical.)

Another Code, made by the same team as Hotel Dusk. Good adventure game, makes some pretty awesome use of the DS to solve puzzles. I won't spoil it but 1 puzzle in particular needs a little more thought than just rubbing the touch screen.

1 series that is supposed to be fantastic is the Lost in Blue series. I've never played them myself but will be giving the first game a go in the near future. Also, Viva Pinata is another game i am hoping to play on the DS. What a fantastic console, i love my DS!

As for Castlevania, i've never played Order of Ec. but have played both the earlier ones. Both bloody brilliant but are almost identical games. I would get 1 of them for now and get another a few months down the line. I would be hard pressed to choose between them, maybe POR wins out as i prefer its storyline a little.

Raskolnikov

Thanks for the recommendations.

Ended up getting Portrait of Ruin rather than Order of Ecclesia (couldn't find it!). A little bit J-Pop, but still sticks to the old Castlevania format I like. Got Metroid Hunters as well, which was a huge disappointment. Why didn't they just stick with the reliable, but classic 2D view that made the SNES game so great?

Have a few more games on order.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow
GTA: Chinatown Wars

Josey Wales

Mario Kart DS is an absolute must for any DS owner, as is New Super Mario Bros.

Away from the obvious games I'd recommend Henry Hatsworth and Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass.

Coming in September is Scribblenauts which looks fantastic.

Hotel Dusk (great adventure game).
Zookeeper (very simple but time attack mode is so addictive),
Trackmania Ds (best 1 player racer on ds),
Puzzle Quest - Challenge of the warlords (very addictive bejewelled based game).

I found Order of Ecclesia to be too hard to be honest (didn't have the patience for the bosses!).

Chumpski

I must give Mario and Luigi a try as well myself, i forgot about that one.

Retr0gamer

glasso wrote: »

I found Order of Ecclesia to be too hard to be honest (didn't have the patience for the bosses!).

I thought it was the best thing about it. The Castlevania games have been far too easy since Symphony of the Night.

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I thought it was the best thing about it. The Castlevania games have been far too easy since Symphony of the Night.

Maybe so but I just have the time to be a hardcore gamer anymore!

fitz0

The World Ends With You and Shin MEgami Tensei: Devil Survivor are two of the best games you'll find. Both last for ages as well so well worth the cost.

Retr0gamer

I really must get my hands on devil survivor, can't wait to play it. Also really looking forward to SMT: Strange Journey.

ghostchant

Picked up Devil Survivor and Knights in the Nightmare along with a host of other games in the US over the last few weeks, have a massive backlog of DS games I own but haven't played yet, way too many good games on the console.

(Best buy of the trip though was a 'brand new' boxed GB micro famicom edition in a gamestop, apparently had been sitting there completely ignored for years!)

hailtothechimp

Obviously your first ports of call, upon buying any new Nintendo console, should be Zelda and Mario Kart. Those are the foundations upon which to build your mighty library!

Echo what others have said. Advance Wars: Dual Strike is amazing. GTA: Chinatown Wars likewise. I personally love slow-paced pointing and clicking stuff too, so Broken Sword is worth a look.

On the complete other end of the spectrum try Bangai-o Spirits. Absolutely mental and insanely hard. Saw it in Game the other day for about 7 Euro.