Nintendo surely knows how to defend its title of “king of handhelds”. After Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Game Boy Advance, the Nintendo DS came made its apparition chaning completely the way we play portable consoles with the amazing Nintendo DS Games.
The DS came in 2004 and since then has gone through some evolutions. However, the game offer was quite interesting, as you are about to see.
Must-Have Nintendo DS Games That Aged Very Well
These games are still solid entertaining options even compared to the newest consoles. Consider adding them to your personal collection!
1. Super Mario 64 DS
Yoshi will save the day. He will rescue Mario, Luigi, and Wario from the evil Browser, who kidnapped Princess Peach.
Play to win power stars and use the playable characters’ incredible abilities, like floating in the air, invisibility, fire breath, and metal coating.
Save the princess and discover Mario’s reward for his courage: A kiss and a delicious cake from Princess Peach.
Released in 2004, this fun game is an improved remake of 1996’s Super Mario 64. High-quality graphics, multiplayer mode (through wireless DS), tactile screen technology, and new challenges and areas.
2. Animal Crossing: Wild World
In Animal Crossing: Wild World, you can live in a virtual world.
This game was launched in 2005. You are a human who lives in a village populated with anthropomorphic animals, with real-time gameplay synchronized with a Nintendo clock.
It’s the second installment of the series and the best-selling. You can personalize many aspects: from the character outfit to the house furniture, you can fish, hunt, and socialize.
The most appealing aspect of this game is the freedom it grants. As a sandbox game, it offers so many possibilities to create your village that you will never see two players doing the exact same!
3. Nintendogs
“The dog is man’s best friend”.
If the puppies are your weakness, you can have three cute virtual pets maximum with this real-time simulation video game.
Nintendogs was developed for DS and sold in 2006, getting instant success and exploiting the DS capabilities. Choose your favorite dogs and have fun with the many items and options available.
The graphic quality and sound effects make possible a realist puppy, creating a sense of responsibility. Your pets eat and get dirty, so you have to take care of them. Using the built-in microphone, you whistle and teach them. Not a substitute for a true dog, but hey, it’s something!
4. Sonic Rush
How fast can you be?
Our lovely and hyperactive hedgehog and his friend Tails return in a new adventure, where Blaze, a lavender cat coming from another dimension and her partner Cream, cross in their path.
Sonic and Blaze must collect chaos and solar emeralds and defeat Dr. Eggman Nega and Dr. Eggman, respectively. It is divided into 9 Zones, including final bosses, with a different order for each protagonist.
Sonic Rush is a 2D platform game with 3D elements creating a 2.5 D environment with high resolution and colorful graphics. The music is an excellent complement and different from previous installments.
The simultaneous use of DS screens is a novelty that most platform fans will find innovative and fresh.
5. Metroid Prime: Hunters
The ultimate power that resides in the Alimbic Cluster… A monstrous creature, Gear, was released by a false telepathic message.
Metroid Prime: Hunters is a first-person shooter game that was launched in 2006. It was deemed the most graphically advanced game developed for the DS, with carefully modeled characters and amazing textures. A simple and effective soundtrack with sound effects introduces you to the battle.
Follow Samus Aran, the Metroid series heroine, face six other powerful bounty hunters, explore the Tetra Galaxy; find out the eight “Octoliths,” and defeat Gear using the omega Canon.
6. The Legend of Zelda
Link must save Tetra, who disappeared after entering a ghost ship. After being shipwrecked and dragged to a desert island, Link is awakened by a fairy named Ciela. He finds a ghost hourglass that he will use to defeat Bellum and rescue Tetra with a new oceanic companion’s help.
The DS Touch Screen is the star of this game. The player must use the stylus to control Link, make notes on the map and handle the weapons.
It is played with a top-down perspective; the 3D graphics maintain the previous chapter’s cartoony style.
You can’t go wrong with this timeless piece of art — one of the best Nintendo Ds Games!
7. Super Scribblenauts
Do you like to write? If the answer is yes, the Nintendo DS offers you a magic notebook to make your imagination and ingenuity fly. Even if you are allergic to pencils, we encourage you to try it; you will not get bored.
The goal is to help Maxwell win Starites. How? Putting your brain to solve the puzzles, using words to create objects and adjectives to modify them, and finding the solution to each situation.
It’s too fun to discover how creative you are, pushing you to think outside the box constantly.
It was developed by 5th Cell and published in 2010. It conserves the graphics and sounds effects from the predecessor Scribblenauts (2009) with some improvement in Maxwell’s control.
8. Elite Beat Agent
Elite Beat Agent is a music video game. Three agents in black suits encourage people to solve different and unusual situations shown in a comic book format to the rhythm of pop-rock music.
Music is the cornerstone of the game; the playlist consists of 19 songs by famous artists such as Madonna and The Rolling Stones.
Just tap the numbers on the touch screen with your stylus, in order and to the beat of the music. It may seem easy, but you will soon realize some parts are really challenging.
It is available in the online multiplayer mode, cooperative, and Vs. Ghost mode.
It was released in 2006 and is considered a western adaptation of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, released in Japan a year earlier.
9. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
In this adventure game, you are already dead and don’t remember anything about your life.
You control Sissel, who can be in the land of the living or the world of the ghosts; also have the ability to possess objects and to reverse time four minutes to save people’s lives.
During the investigation, you will have to solve puzzles and discover clues and characters that will help you reveal new details of the plot.
In this video game sold in 2011 for the portable DS console, the spectacular and very detailed graphics, the soundtrack, and the enlightening dialogues make you follow the action and feel like a real ghost detective.
10. Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box
This adventure conceived to squeeze our neurons takes us on a challenging train ride to solve the Elysian box mystery, which will kill anyone who dares to open it.
Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke will follow Layton’s mentor’s apparent death and the box theft. With our help and ingenuity, they will unravel this intricate story.
Breakthrough the 153 puzzles, including mini-games, that guarantee several hours of gameplay.
What Was Your Favorite Among These Nintendo DS Games?
Did we miss something? Some honorable mentions? Make sure of telling us in the comments.
It is a bit hard to rank and curate these lists, specially with consoles so diverse like the DS. Some games have such depth that having proper knowledge of each one of them is almost impossible!
However, we both know that’s not stopping us gamers to try, right?
Up next: Are Nintendo DS games worth anything?
