21 Best Nintendo DS Games

hey everyone john from nintendo live here and today we're counting down the top 21 best nintendo ds games now these inclusions were voted for and ranked by you i did nothing but blab about them for 22 minutes ish so instead of you complaining to me i'm gonna complain to you all right so rhythm paradise number 28 that means it's not in this video what's wrong with you no no there's no hard feelings but metro prime pinball isn't even in the top 50. oh and i've mixed the order up too so places five to one are ranked but everything else is just completely muddled so you don't argue if this game is a 14 in this game as a 16 it doesn't matter they're all good games though they are ranked on the site so if you want to see that there's a link in the description anyway let's take this on the road with our portable systems the very first game in level 5's iconic series professor layton and the curious village this game's reach was so vast that even my grandmother played this game before even i did as a matter of fact it kicks off something of a trend for this list in that the majority of entries aren't developed by nintendo third parties ran rampant on this system with ideas we simply didn't get on prior handhelds or even consoles and so the latent series was very much a point and click adventure something we'd usually see on pc but what brought this into the limelight was the charming story and very clever puzzles it was an easy one to market to non-gamers just by showing them the variety of puzzles you've got all sorts from mind games to memory games to maths and the ds was full of games just like that but very few of them tied them together in such an elaborate and endearing way as soon as leighton and luke appear on screen it's clear that there's something special about these two all these threads just worked together and gave us a series that's probably far bigger than level 5 expected it to be multiple sequels and spin-offs and collaborations but even with all that expansion the very first game still remains one of the finest entries in the entire series dragon quest 9 was a big deal at the time square were flooding the psp and ds with remakes and spin-offs of final fantasy and dragon quest and that was great but it was rarely something new so while the ds versions of dragon quest 4 and 5 and 6 are some of the best games in their genre they're definitely rooted in their era whereas dragon quest 9 is something entirely new for the first time in the series random encounters were gone 8 would get this later in the 3ds version and of course 11 had that too but overwhelmed encounters debuted on the nintendo ds this game was pushing the series innovation and not only that but there was multiplayer too you could bring your party members into a friend's game and play with them and vice versa there was even a precursor to street pass though this did come at the expense of individual character because it's kind of built around multiplayer all of your party members are just shells you can customize their classes and what they wear but they aren't really characters so nine does lack some of that dragon quest flavor but what it falls short in it more than makes up for with what it does right it's one of the most beautiful games on the entire system too like comparing this to something like pokemon makes pokemon look really basic it's not my favorite dragon quest on diaz that might be coming up later but it was something very special mario and luigi bowser's inside story might just be the best mario rpg we actually gave her a 10 out of 10 in our review like big praise here so the story is basically a mysterious guy's been selling the toads a bunch of dodgy mushrooms and yes that is actually the story and they've all been bloating up when bowser gets one of these mushrooms he starts inhaling everything including mario luigi and peach from here on in the mario brothers are stuck in bowser's barely leaving bowser to be the star of the show this is very much a bowser rpg and it's something that's so welcome mario and luigi are still part of it but they mostly solve puzzles to aid bowser so what you do within him affects the outside world unfortunately alpha dream have gone bankrupt and so the future of marion luigi doesn't seem very bright but they gave us this when it came out people called this the best game in the series and 12 years later that monika remains untouched this is one of the finest mario rpgs and is something every fan should play it was even remade on 3ds but i've got to say there's something about the original visuals that i just prefer last window the secret of cape west you might be thinking wait wait well this game was only localized in europe skipped america entirely last window is the sequel to hotel dusk and it's basically a visual novel it's the last game that developers sing got to make and they're responsible for another code and part of little king's story but what a swan song to set them off last window takes everything that makes hotel dust distinct keeley being the visual style and improves just about everything like we said though this is largely a visual novel so if text puts you off then this won't be the game for you there are puzzle elements but this is largely a game you play for the story you even hold it like a book both this and hotel dusk were really distinguished games and that visual style holds up so well today if you've never heard of this give it a go there's a lot to enjoy here pokemon platinum i was frankly quite disappointed in diamond and pearl mostly because they were just so gosh dance slow individual battles could take forever in that game and if only for this reason pokemon platinum is a much much better game battles are so much faster making them far more engaging and so the battle frontier which comes back from gen 3 but was lacking in diamond and pearl is also something that's very welcome while there's certainly some changes to the story and some more gameplay changes this was the fix that gen 4 needed and just like dominant poe of course this was the first time pokemon went online trading and battling across the globe was a major jump for this series it made the competitive scene more than just a situational meetup and more something you take very seriously because you can play whenever gen 4 defined the ds for a lot of people and this is the definitive representation of it guess we'll see if the remakes dethrone it at the end of the year whatever happens please have battle frontier now here's one i've just played myself ghost trick phantom detective this is another visual novel but good lord is it distinctive plus missile is the best dog the aim of the game is basically you're dead but you can possess things so your spirit can move from your body to a telephone down the line to a projector but the range is short so you'll find yourself hopping into these objects and using them to get even further it's frankly ingenious and you use these elements under pressure as well because you also have the power to go back in time four minutes before someone dies that gives you four minutes to fix their death by using the elements around you it's really really clever and the surrounding pillars are equally magnificent the art style is beautiful with amazing animation and because it's largely a visual novel you better hope the story is good too and it definitely is i can say with confidence there are no other games like ghost trick it's just one of those games you must play easily one of gaming's very best castlevania order of ecclesia is very often seen as the finest game in the series and it's not the only castlevania game on this list spoilers symphony of the night may be the most famous one but in terms of quality in my opinion it was quickly dethroned by not only the gba games but more prominently the ds games order of ecclesia is a far more visceral and experimental game than prior games in the series there's a new glyph system which basically allows you to equip a bunch of weapons and magic spells but combining them makes them way more interesting it's also the first canon game to not feature the vampire killer whip in terms of the world character and just overall design order of ecclesia is simply one of the finest games to come out of this series and one of the very best games on nintendo ds kirby superstar ultra is not called kirby fun pack ultra here even though it should be this is a complete remake one of the super nintendo's very best games the visuals have been redone there's even some 3d cutscenes and some brand new games but for those who don't know the original it was basically eight small kirby games there's a four level remake of kirby's dreamland there's the more puzzle orientated great cave offensive and ultra even adds four brand new games the new mini games are definitely a lot more gimmicky and touchscreen focused but they're still a lot of fun and even if you're not on board with the brand new content the game is just improved in pretty much every single way otherwise the visuals are much better the interface is way better unlocking games is better if you've never played superstar then play this one in my opinion it's simply the definitive version alright time to annoy some people i found mario kart super circuit to be an utter snooze cruise get in the dryer mario kart super circuit and don't come out the courses were fine and having all the super nintendo tracks in there was awesome but the driving itself i could never get behind it but mario kart ds was a completely different story this was the handheld mario kart i always wanted at the time of its release this was the most responsive and intuitive mario kart to date and somehow they managed to operate a 3d ds game at 60 frames per second not only that but as a first for the series you could play the game online i mean you can't officially anymore but at the time that was major that completely changed how you play mario kart the new stages were some of the best in the entire series like waluigi pinball and there were even four cups of retro tracks which now is a series standard but at the time playing super nintendo and n64 tracks in gba and even gamecube on the ds was crazy and yeah there was snaking which is when you drift back and forth really fast and get a bunch of speed and depending who you talk to they're either made or destroyed online but going back to it today there is no doubt that mario kart diaz still has his own unique feel and it did so much for the series pokemon mystery dungeon explorers of sky this was the third version of explorers of time and explorers of darkness and with that council enhancements and more content like more pokemon and more dungeons explorers improves upon the originals in so many ways the story feels a lot less mundane and higher scale and of course there's a bunch more pokemon variety i'm a fanpy apparently it's weird to say that a pokemon game can get emotional but the explorers games really can there's some tear-jerking moments in here and explorers of sky has the most of it if you're to try any mystery dungeon game i'd say this would be the one to go with has some of the best characters the best moments and the gameplay is really defined it's not a series for everyone but those who click with it really click with it for those who don't know i like tetris i've played a lot of tetris in my time across a ton of versions so when i say the ds version is one of the very best out there i hope you take that as a pretty high recommendation so what did they call tetris on ds tetris ds so what makes this one so good well the core tetris flow is polished to a shimmering gleam all the refinements the series has seen are hearing accounted for but it goes even further than that the flavor of tetris diaz is very nintendo orientated and so if you're a nintendo fan i think you're gonna like this one you get those blocks link there's a bunch of really cool modes like this catch mode themed after metroid then there's mission modes and touch modes and marathon modes each of them themed after nintendo franchises whether it's mario zelda metroid balloon fight yoshi's cookie there's a ton in here it also had online play and an online tetris game in 2006 was a huge deal especially on a handheld for years this was the go-to competitive tetris game and even in the modern day with online officially offline and the core tetris community moving on to games like 99 and puyo puyo tetris there's still value here you can even play 10 player via download play that's amazing tetris keeps growing and evolving but tetris ds remains one of the very best games the series has ever seen nine hours nine persons nine doors 999 is often heralded as one of the very best visual novels ever made and while its sequel virtual's last reward does improve upon the gameplay in some aspects the story in 999 is video game storytelling at its very best to not spoil anything you wake up on a cruise ship with no memory of how you got there there's a watch on your wrist with the number on and a number on your door the core gameplay is about escaping these rooms and finding the ninth room the playable sections are quite simple you look around a room and find clues and things you can use but the way it's married with the story works so well 999 has some of the best writing and characters in this medium and while games like duncan romper would touch upon similar premises 999 did it first by an entire year do not sleep on this one you knew this would be on here it's phoenix wright ace attorney it's hard to remember a time this game wasn't part of gaming culture yelling it's simply one of the most iconic franchises in this medium and interestingly in japan this started on the game boy advance the entire trilogy did we'd later get the individual installments on nintendo ds and it feels right at home here i've talked about this genre a lot in this video but phoenix wright is yet another visual novel the gameplay is about finding contradictions and statements and for the most part it's all about the story phoenix wright is pulled through by his amazing characters and fantastic writing as soon as it starts it's clear there's a lot of charm in here so much so that the core gameplay doesn't really change in this trilogy they all follow the same mould and what a fantastic mode it is now of course this series consists of a lot more entries now and it's not just that this game did it first this still has one of the freshest and most compelling narratives in the series even though the series is nearly 20 years old this hasn't aged today it's been re-released on dozens of platforms but in my opinion the ds version still reigns supreme i much prefer the more rugged visuals and this interface works so well for this series but i guess the real question is can it be topped we might get the answer to that soon castlevania dawn of sorrow which i've just realized is castlevania ds nice on ds there were three fantastic castlevania games to choose from you can't really go wrong with any of them but dawn of sorrow is definitely a good choice this one's a sequel to the game boy advanced game aria of sorrow and what made that one distinct is that it's set in the year 2035 which is the future which most castlevania games are not set in that's weird right there's cars and things and you think that wouldn't work but surprisingly it really does it injects a lot of personality into these games and gives us a setting we hadn't really seen before that's refreshing after so many games again i believe these games far exceed symphony of the night so that's the only one you've played then do yourself a favor and try the gba and ds games there's a bit of forced touch in dawn of sorrow but all things considered it's relatively minor dawn of sorrow is simply one of the very best games in this series and it does an amazing job of making you feel powerful professor layton and the unwound future so earlier we included the first professor layton and this series was a raging success the first one is still absolutely good and the third one doesn't really deviate too far from the core formula but you can feel the higher production values there's way more animated cutscenes and variety and the story remains my favorite in the entire series a scientist claims to have invented a time machine but when he uses it something goes very wrong however luke gets a message from his future self so could there really be time travel it's a way more elaborate and compelling story than the prior games and it also goes into herschel's past as well and to round off the diaz trilogy there's some of the best puzzles in the entire series there may have been multiple 3ds games since this one but the unbound future remains the pinnacle of the series radiant historia this one didn't release in europe but that didn't stop me baby this is an amazing turn-based rpg and what makes it a bit more special is the grid system so your skills can push the enemies further back on the grid and the closer they are the more damage they'll do so you want to keep pushing them further and further back and if they're in a grid in the same radius as another enemy you can hit them both in the same attack really satisfying stuff now a lot of rpgs do have time travel but it's done really well here like at the start you see your allies die but then you go back in time and change their future there's some brilliant dimension twisting action here mix that with great characters an amazing story and some brilliant puzzles and you've got one of the very best rpgs on the system it was remastered on 3ds and arguably that port is even better it's not drastically different but if you've got the choice that's probably the one to go for either way no matter where you play it radiant historia is an amazing game okay into the final five and at number five is the world ends with you one of the most unique video games ever created the world ends with you is super stylish and extremely unique the battle system revolves largely around touch and because of that ports of this game like the switch version end up feeling lesser you can still use touch when playing undoctor on a phone but the stylus controls just feel at home on ds neko's adventure across shibuya is an unforgettable one there's a constant feeling of dread while also a feeling of looseness with the characters being so likable and approachable playing this while being a teenager is probably the most ideal way to play neko's problems feel a lot more relatable but no matter when you play it the world ends with you is simply one of the most unique rpgs i've ever played battles never get dull and 13 years later it still plays best on ds and it speaks to how highly this game resonates that 13 years later an anime and a sequel are finally coming we're being fed well number 4 phoenix wright ace attorney trials and tribulations this was meant to be the final phoenix wright game and closed off the trilogy while the first game still holds up remarkably well and the sequel is definitely good trials and tribulations holds up as not only the best game in the trilogy but the best game in the series overall it's a culmination of efforts with characters across the trilogy coming back and exploring the past and present of the main characters you even play as mia that makes it the best game by default there's a trial where nick is accused of murder there's great stuff in here and it was a brilliant send-off for a fantastic series and even though it didn't really end trials and tribulations doesn't feel lesser you can still feel the weight of this game and much like the first one even though it's ported to wiiware and switch in ps4 and xbox it still plays best on nintendo ds in my opinion but the entire trilogy is a must play number 3 dragon quest 5 hands of the heavenly bride i literally just finished this game and i've gotta say i think this is the best rpg like ever it's such a personal and touching story about family you start off with you and your dad but down the line you get a wife and then your party members become you your wife and your children it's something we don't really see in other games but a family being the main characters is very relatable and touching you can also recruit a bunch of monsters as well and they're technically family too this was the first localization of dragon quest 5 originally being a super famicom game it was then remade on ps2 and that's where a lot of this port originates from it's a really cool mix of 2d and 3d you're definitely on a 2d plane but you can shift the camera around looks amazing speaking of looks god this game puts other dsrpgs to shame i know i ragged on pokemon with dragon quest 9 but let me do it again so here's pokemon platinum and now look at dragon quest 5 there is so much more life in here now dragon quest 9 did push the series forward with a lack of random encounters and while i love that i really don't mind them here the game still feels built around them and i can admire that this was a super nintendo game originally dragon quest 5 is simply a beautiful game beautiful story beautiful world beautiful characters everything shines this is my favorite dragon quest and my personal favorite ds game but there's still two more on this list number 2 pokemon soul silver and pokemon heart gold gen 2 is often looked back on as the best pokemon generation my personal favorite is five but gen ii comes really close and these are about the best remakes you could hope for originally being a game boy game there was a lot to advance running shoes for instance that's a major difference but soul silver and heart gold were more than just simple recreations they added back partner pokemon from pokemon yellow apart from instead of it just being pikachu it's every pokemon you can have chikarita or arceus it felt like they did everything they could with these games not only was gen 2 brought up to gen 4 standards with more pokemon modern visuals online and amazing music but it felt like a project of passion the developers clearly loved gen 2 and it shows and again i've gotta highlight the music it's absolutely beautiful the game came with a pokey walker 2 which is basically a pedometer and this feature was kind of like pokemon go only instead of hatching eggs you're training your pokemon for some reason despite selling around 13 million units this game goes for a lot online now especially with the pokey walker despite that this is still one of the very best games in the pokemon series so how do you top then number one chrono trigger this was the very first time that chrono trigger came to europe we didn't get it on super nintendo we didn't get it on playstation but we finally received one of the very best games of all time on nintendo ds and this is still the best way to play it this is the ultimate re-release in my opinion it honours and respects the original game hardly touching it but enhancing it the visuals look amazing on the small screen the hud is cleared and put on the bottom screen there's more dialogue and a better localization the menus are better and then there's the new stuff there's new dungeons and a battle arena and a brand new ending everything you loved about the original is all here it's just bigger and better than ever chrono trigger is a game that every single gamer should play it's simply one of gaming's best it's as important as zelda and mario and metroid and so many more you jump back and forth between the past and the present and the future to save the world bringing party members with you from all sorts of eras from a cave woman to a frog to a princess to a robot the battle system too hasn't aged a day there's also a new pc version which launched in a rough state but was fixed in the end but in my opinion the ds version still reigns supreme if you've somehow never played this game you must make it a priority so what do you guys think about these inclusions it's kind of interesting to see a lack of zelda and mario and metroid especially as in my opinion let's get off the shelf zelda spirit tracks is a very underrated zelda but yeah i didn't i didn't make the list and you guys pick some great ones like the world ends with you i knocked a bunch of games down and i can't complain with dragon quest 5 or chrono trigger so hats off to you let us know what you guys think in the comments below and go to that subscribe button and rank it with 21 other subscribe buttons and we'll see you next time bye everyone you

Channel: Nintendo Life

Views: 490,409

Keywords: Nintendo Life, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Switch, NX, New 3DS, Nintendo UK, Jon, Nintendo DS, DS, Best games, top 10, Mario Kart DS, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest 5, Pokemon, Soulsilver, heartgold, diamond, pearl, remakes, ghost trick, hotel dusk, pheonix wright, professor layton, 999, animal crossing, zelda, mario, spirit tracks, phantom hourglass, mario & luigi, metroid, kirby, tetris ds, sonic rush

Id: PA87rC9nG4k

Length: 23min 16sec (1396 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 22 2021