The DS is not only by far the best-selling handheld of all
time, it also gives the PlayStation 2 a run for its money as the
best-selling piece of video game hardware, period. It makes sense that
the system would be home to tons of great games, but it would take
hundreds of thousands of votes from very smart and attractive readers
to sort out say, the top 20 DS games ever made. But you guys did it!
You can check out the infallible collective decisions you guys made
below.
Don't agree with the rankings of the respective Pokemon games? Does
your heart bleed for Professor Layton? Feel free to vent in the comments
below. This is a safe place.
20. Final Fantasy IV (buy it here)
This remake of the classic SNES game -- which was known as
Final Fantasy II in the US -- went above and beyond a simple port. It
did have the same sturdy battle system and eclectic cast of characters,
but virtually everything in the game received a polygonal facelift. The
jump to 3D gave the original game's huge scale an even more epic feel.
It made you really wish they'd continued with the remake series and did
Final Fantasy VI, which was Final Fantasy III on SNES, which is not
related to the Final Fantasy III game on DS, because WHY WOULD YOU WANT
PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND WHICH GAMES ARE WHICH, SQUARE-ENIX?
19. Animal Crossing: Wild World (buy it here)
Building out your home in Animal Crossing on the GameCube
was already a virulent affliction for which there is no cure, so it was
great to finally get the chance to carry your crippling Tom Nook debt
around with you everywhere you went. The touchscreen on the DS made
inventory management much more convenient than it was in the past,
though fruit-stacking technology wasn't quite there yet. It was also the
first in the series to feature online play, which let you visit your
friends' towns to trade, check out their stores and chop down every
tree, leaving a smoldering crater where your friendship used to be.
18. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (buy it here)
After Marth and Roy proved so popular in Super Smash Bros.
Melee, Nintendo finally got wise and started releasing Fire Emblem games
outside of Japan. Because nothing in this world is simple, the second
FE game translated into English was actually a remake of the first game,
which originally hit the NES in Japan in 1990. Like Animal Crossing,
the touch screen greatly benefited the new iteration, as tapping around
the grid-based battlefield gave you have more time to strategize. And
also like Animal Crossing, Shadow Dragon was the first FE game to
feature online play. Still no word on fishing or catching bugs, though.
17. Kirby Super Star Ultra (buy it here)
It seems like a cheap tactic, but porting over SNES games
to the DS resulted in a ton of great titles. And if you to give any
Kirby game a dual-screen redux, Super Star was the perfect choice. The
huge campaign and multitude of minigames made KSS one of the best SNES
games period, but the updated graphics, sweet new boss fights and tons
of other exclusive content in the DS version made for a fantastic game
to while away a long flight. Bring on Kirby's Dream Course Ultra.
16. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (buy it here)
Set mostly in between Kingdom Hearts I and II, putting it
around the same time as Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days centers on Roxas
and his shenanigans within Organization XIII. Like the other KH games,
part of the fun is getting to roam around in famous Disney worlds like
Beast's Castle, Halloween Town and thankfully at no point The Great
Mouse Detective's London. The graphics were especially impressive, given
that the DS is more or less on par with an N64. It says something that,
in the face of the worst subtitle of any game in history, Kingdom
Hearts: Basically Just 179 Days turned out pretty alright.
15. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (buy it here)
Though many point to Paper Mario as the successor to the
classic SNES game Super Mario RPG, the Mario & Luigi games might
have done a better job of carrying on that legacy. Besides a snappy
time-based battle system and puzzle-ridden environments, one of the most
important ingredients of an M/L game is the goofy humor. Developer
AlphaDream and the translators give us a charming and idiosyncratic
interpretation of the Brothers Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom that you
just don't see in other Nintendo games. To date, the time-travel plot in
Partners in Time is the best use of Baby Mario and Luigi, though maybe
that's a backhanded compliment.
14. Super Mario 64 DS (buy it here)
When we're talking launch games, you can't do much better
than Super Mario 64. It was arguably never topped on the N64, so
Nintendo thought it best to put its all-time best foot forward with a DS
version for the system's debut. Even if you already got 120 stars on
all four save slots in the previous version, it was still a blast to run
through some of the greatest levels ever designed in a video game.
SM64DS also had a multiplayer mode, which let you select familiar
characters like Luigi and Wario. Yoshi was in the mix too, if you found
it in yourself to forgive him for dumping 100 worthless lives on you and
hopping off into the distance at the end of the N64 game.
13. The World Ends With You (buy it here)
In between making 3.2 bajillion Kingdom Hearts and Final
Fantasy games, designer and living anime person Tetsuya Nomura made a
special side project that was unlike anything he'd ever done. As one of
the few games that used the DS to its full potential, TWEWY players
often participate in two different battles in two different locations on
two different screens. It took a lot of dexterity to master -- almost
as much as the characters had to have to handle all those pockets and
zippers.
12. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (buy it here)
Out of the series four installments, many consider Bowser's
Inside Story to be the highlight. This iteration had especially sharp
writing, and it marked the return of fan-favorite Fawful as an
antagonist. Most memorable was the "gimmick" of the game -- playing as
Bowser and, at the same time, also playing microscopic Mario and Luigi
putting around inside Bowser. The conceit made for some inventive
setpieces, and the story made excellent use of a playable villain. And
there's not a baby to be seen.
11. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (buy it here)
First releasing on the Game Boy Advance in Japan, the
translated and upgraded DS version came sort of out of nowhere. Little
by little, everyone found out about the tiny game filled with endearing
characters, compelling crime scene investigation and most of all, a
superb script. The near-instant cult status of the first game led to
many sequels, all with their unique quirks, but there's something
special about this first game. It was so fun that nobody noticed they
were playing a visual novel.
10. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (buy it here)
There's been a great tradition of portable Zelda games, and
Spirit Tracks continued that trend. Though it shares the same graphical
style of Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass, ST ditches the boat for
fifty tons of hard locomotive steel. Players navigated the overworld by
using the Spirit Train, controlling the turns, speed and whether or not
they'd say CHOO CHOO in a public place. Best of all ST also let players
control those asshole knights from Phantom Hourglass.
9. New Super Mario Bros. (buy it here)
The one that started it all. Back when the "New" in "New
Super Mario Bros." wasn't some cruel joke, the DS game with the weird
name brought Mario platforming to a whole new audience. It had the same
basic setup as the Marios of yore, only now it had updated graphics,
tight new physics and those insidious Star Coins. Plus, the
Koopa-Troopas dance to the music. They dance.
7 - 8. Pokemon Black/White + Black/White 2 (buy it here)
For the longest time, you could depend on Pokemon games to
come in two different varieties, then maybe a year later you'd get the
combined graveyard drink version. That went out the window with Pokemon
Black and White Version 2, which added many features to the substantial
original games while still remaining detached from one another. On top
of new animations, new attractions and a prompt to use another Repel
when the last one wears off (give that designer a medal made of the
finest gold), B/W V2 also featured a brand-new storyline set two years
later. If nothing else, the second versions gave your friend yet another
chance to not buy Black too even though you just bought Black, gawd.
5 - 6. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl + Platinum (buy it here)
Pretty much every Pokemon game is "the one that got me back
into Pokemon games." But Diamond and Pearl (and later Platinum) really
got people back into Pokemon games. The first proper Pokemon on the DS
had shiny but familiar graphics along with online play, but still made
it easier than ever to trade Pokemon between your older games. Just pop
your Game Boy Advance game into the DS' GBA slot and boom, your level
100 Luvdisc is dominating everything in its path. All is as it should
be.
Yet again, a publisher grabbed a classic SNES game and
threw it onto the DS, and once more nobody had a single problem with
that. How can you, when it's a game as legendary as Chrono Trigger? The
rad party members, millennia-spanning locales and multiple endings were
made to be replayed over and over. The DS version had all the extra
content seen in the PS1 version but with none of awful disc-based
loading times that made you dread any time you had open the menu.
Nintendo DS: It's like a Super Nintendo, but with Pokemon.
There've been some ups and downs in the Mario Kart
franchise, but MKDS represents a high point for the series. Though Mario
Kart: Super Circuit for the GBA ended up kind of wonky, Nintendo pulled
together the controls and a fantastic track list to make what is
possibly the best portable Mario Kart game out there. Even the online
play was solid, depending on your feelings on snaking. Note: The
objectively correct feelings to have on snaking in Mario Kart DS are not
"Snaking is for skilled players and they put in the game for a reason"
but instead "Snaking is overpowered and terrible and not fun."
2. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (buy it here)
After complaints about Wind Waker's cel-shaded graphics and
traversal died down after everyone played it and agreed how awesome it
was, the next thought was just how well the GameCube Zelda would
translate to a handheld. "The bright, cartoony aesthetic would be
perfect for a small screen," players imagined. "And what if you could
plot out the route of your boat with the touchpad? And you could like
write notes on the map??" Nintendo delivered on the high expectations of
a Wind Waker follow-up, right before annihilating egos everywhere with a
diabolical meta-puzzle the likes of which hasn't been seen since Metal Gear Solid's "jewel case."
1. Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver (buy it here)
Yeah, there are other Pokemon games on the DS, but they
just aren't the same. In HG/SS you can get any one of almost 500 Pocket
Monsters to walk behind you. It sounds meaningless, but come on, don't
act like you don't want to strut through New Bark Town with a Steelix
bringing up the rear. Really though, it's impossible to beat the designs
for the early Pokemon. Once you have
a lava snail that burns hotter than the surface of the sun, you might as well stop there.