System: Nintendo DS
Released: 2004
Models Owned: DS Lite, DSi, DSi XL
Brief System History
The Nintendo DS is the successor to the Game Boy Advance. It has two screens, the bottom being the touch screen where players can control games with their finger or a stylus and the top screen is a regular LCD screen. It went on to receive three additional redesigns, the last being the DSi XL which features much larger and brighter screens than the original as well as two cameras and an SD card slot. The Nintendo DS is the second best selling game system of all time, only behind the Playstation 2.
My Opinion On the Nintendo DS
I bought a Nintendo DS on launch day and was initially impressed for the sole reason that I was playing Super Mario 64 on a handheld system, something that at the time was groundbreaking and amazing to see on a handheld console. The DS did not launch with many AAA games, in fact many would argue that it took a couple of years before the system was at it's full potential. For me personally the first game that truly made not only the touch screen but also the dual screens make sense was Yoshi's Touch & Go, a platformer game that was on rails and had you drawing circles and lines for Yoshi to walk on, with the action taking place on both screens giving the appearance of one large vertical display. From then on out I was convinced Nintendo's new handheld had a bright future, and I was right. Over the years I have played many games with really innovative touch screen controls, however the DS is also home to some of the best looking 2D games out there.
Nintendo's lack of support for online gameplay is one of the huge problems I had with the system. For the few games that support it, you still had to add in friend codes to play with friends which were different for every game. It was more of a hassle than it was worth and Nintendo learned their lesson and are now more actively supporting online functionality with the 3DS and Wii U by supporting a single friend code to use with all games, rather than individual codes for each game.
Needless to say, if you are looking for an amazing handheld with an immense library of affordable games across many different genre's (especially if you like platformers and RPG's), be sure to pick up a DS (I recommend the DSi XL the most).
Pete's Quick Pick Recommendations
Trace Memory won me over when I played it because at the time of it's release, few games took advantage of the DS's capabilities as much as Trace Memory did. This is an adventure style game with a story that keeps driving you forward and really creative and inventive puzzles throughout the course of the game. Sure it is short, and some of it's gimmicks may not be as impactful as they once were, but the game is so cheap now that anyone that owns a DS and is looking for a really fun adventure game should check this one out.
Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a little known dungeon crawl RPG on the DS that deserves more recognition. It plays in the first person perspective (think like Oblivion/Skyrim) but without the open world setting. It is really impressive looking with huge enemy sprites set in a 3D environment, tons of looting to do for items and equipment, stats and skills to distribute, some really well done sound design and writing (it IS based off of a choose your own adventure book), and some fairly steep difficulty.
The Legendary Starfy is from a long running series in Japan dating back to the GBA, and this is the first (and so far only) game in the series to reach the US. Fans of Kirby will feel right at home with the insanely cute Starfy character and the supporting cast of friends and enemies set in a 2D sidescrolling world. The main difference however is that instead of being able to fly, Starfy can swim, as 90% of the game takes place underwater. It blends 3D modeled backgrounds with 2D foregrounds and characters to give a really impressive look.
Ninjatown is an incredibly addictive tower defense game based off of the Shawnimals toy line, only all of the cute characters are based off of Japanese culture or ninja. Like other games in it's genre, Ninjatown tasks you with defending against waves of enemies along set paths. You grow your army of ninja and watch them duke it out and defend their turf. There are tons of classes to use that are gradually opened up for players to use as the game progresses, and it is just one of those games that is hard to put down once you pick it up.
Watch My Videos About Nintendo DS
My Nintendo DS Collection (2008)
Best Nintendo DS Game of 2008 (2008)
"The Dark Spire" Impressions (2009)
Nintendo DSi Unboxing & Game Impressions (2009)
A Look Back At My Handheld Nintendo Systems (2010)
Collecting Tip: Displaying Your Handhelds (2010)
Dragon Quest Slime Speaker DS Stand (2011)
The Best Of The Rest of Wii, DS, and PSP Games From 2010 (2011)