Nintendo (3)DS(i) gems and oddities

[LupieDev]

Welcome

The Nintendo DS (and its cousins and successors) has, in my opinion, one of the best libraries of video games in the history of humanity. Not only because it heavily impacted my childhood and youth, but I see it as the perfect balance of technological progress and limitations. The handheld had a touch screen and was powerful enough to allow the port of Nintendo 64 and PSOne games, yet it was still far away from Sony’s competitor the PSP or today’s cellphones.

This led to a bunch of wild games. We have aforementioned N64/PSX ports, infinite minigame slop of all kinds, visual novels, open world games, movie/show adaptions, experimental games with touch screen implementation, non-experimental games with forced touch screen implementation and so much more.

I’d like to use this thread and share some of the games that 20 years later still amaze or irritate me and I’d love to hear which games stood out to you. These do not have to objectively “good” games. It’s more about showing and celebrating the wide spectrum of (3)DS(i) games, the successes and failures, hidden gems, weird experiments and everything.

Trauma Center: Under the Knife

A surgeon simulator that gives you the chance to save lives and ultimately the world. The surgeries start out easy, but become incredibly hard over time as injuries and illnesses are accompanied by a dangerous virus. It’s fast gameplay was accompanied by a story told inbetween missions and it’s one of those games that used the touch screen in a very obvious, but perfect way.

GTA Chinatown Wars

Rockstar aside, it is crazy to me that the Nintendo DS got a good GTA. Sure, it is a top down perspective as opposed to the console games, but they actually managed to put a full working version of Liberty City on that cartridge with everything that you’d want from a game. Shops, different vehicles, mini games, running around blowing things up. It’s absolutely mindblowing

COP The Recruit

A lesser known action game about a fast&furious style story where a illegal racecar driver becomes a cop. Biggest selling point: an actual 3D, NYC-like city where you drive and walk around. While it’s not as filled with activities as GTA games, the fact you have a mini Manhattan (on the classic DS no less) as a playground is astonishing.

Honorable open world mentions: Transformers Autobots&Decepticons. The world was fairly empty, but you had a city to drive around in, could transform at any time and throw other cars at enemies.

Guitar Hero: On Tour

Just like the Wii, the DS had a bunch of gimmicky hardware and this one allowed you to play Guitar Hero on the go. This just as easily could’ve been a simple rhythm game using the touch screen, but the studio Vicarious Vision went all in and tried to adapt the console experience as much as possible.

Soul of Darkness

This game was released digitally for the DSi and was a very competent solid Castlevania-clone. The studio behind it, Gameloft, deserves a whole other thread as there isn’t a franchise in history they haven’t cloned or adapted for mobile phones. This is one of the better ones. It is fairly basic compared to Castlevania, but was well made, had good story and didn’t overstay its welcome. I always think very fondly of it and wish it had gotten a physical release.

I already have to stop myself from mentioning more, I will add them later as this is just barely scratching the surface. But I’d like to hear from you! Which weird, experimental, incredible things do you remember?

[Scabzilla]

Got a buuuunch of goodies in these blog posts! I adore the 3DS because of how many awesome games were hidden underneath all of the Marios and Pokemons

6 3DS Games That Are Stuck on the System (and Deserve Ports) - ScabShack

5 More 3DS Games That Are Stuck on the System - ScabShack

[LuckyJim]

Soul Bubbles on the DS is one that doesn’t seem to get remembered often. Pretty chill little puzzle game, with an ethereal vibe that stood out at the time. It made really great use of the touch-screen controls in a way that didn’t feel gimmicky or forced at all.

[FrownyBiscuit]

Not really an “obscure” title, but one that I really loved and rarely see mentioned is Kirby Canvas Curse for the Nintendo DS.

Unlike the traditional Kirby action/platformer style games, this one featured almost no direct control of the character whatsoever. In fact, all gameplay was enacted through the touch screen - specifically, drawing paths on the screen that Kirby would roll and spin through to defeat enemies and “platform” through the level. Once Kirby rolled into a path you draw, he would kind of lock to it like a train on a track and follow it to its end. Drawing loop-de-loops would cause you to gain speed and be able to knock out enemies.

It’s pretty simple in premise, but I really liked it at the time and thought it did a good job of demonstrating how the unique features and design of the DS could carry a game.

Bonus Fact! When the game came out, Nintendo offered to mail you a free pink stylus if you registered the game online, and you better believe I used that thing forever.

[LupieDev]

I even remember Soul Bubbles and the Kirby game!
Some other additions of mine are:

Hotel Dusk: Room 215

A motel in the desert, a cast of colorful characters and a detective. This mystery game lets you roam around and try to find out the secret behind the room 215 in a noir style story. Biggest feature: you hold the DS like a book! When I played it it was weird at first, but it worked out great. The story is exciting and I liked the riddles.

Lost Magic

Castlevania already tried to implement it, Lost Magic made it it’s biggest feature: you play a wizard that uses glyphs to cast magic. These glyphs have to be drawn with the touchpad during fights and can also be combined. It’s a cute adventure/RPG and often overlooked.

[Bartows]

I’m gonna shout out the one that i always come back to, that i must have spent the most hours on

Migh and Magic: Clash of Heroes

Yes it’s a match 3 type of game. It’s also incredibly fun and strategic. Being able to see and having to take into consideration the army formation of the enemy, that plays by the same rules as you most of the time (but not always!), makes for a way different experience than the weird mobile attempts at presenting match 3 as an adventure. In this one you have to think about positioning, turns, how and when to set up combos vs defending a lane, and when to give up health points to protect limited resources like special units. And it has a cool and sometimes very difficult campaign

[Goose]

Just want to second a recommendation for Clash of Heroes. While there is an “HD” version on modern consoles with online multiplayer and balance changes, I’ve heard from the game’s art director Kris that he prefers the sprite work of the DS game

[FrownyBiscuit]

Thirding Clash of Heroes - such a great game.

[saucerlost]

I bought a handful of 3DS Store titles before it shut down. I’ll have to take a look and see if I’m forgetting something good, but here’s what comes to mind:

Excave was a fun little dungeon crawler series that was perfect for short breaks. I may or may not have called it “bathroom Diablo” at the time. The second game was an improvement, but the third stumbled a bit by pivoting to randomly generated dungeons that often put you in two rooms with a hallway.

Undead Bowling was simple, silly, and really fun for a game where you chuck a big metal ball at zombies. If you liked House of the Dead-style zaniness, this was the bowling game for you.