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GamingNintendoNintendo GamesNintendo DS

What are the best games for the Nintendo DS (not 3DS)?

14

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Considered

19

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Apr 5, 2021

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14 Games Considered

Best games for the Nintendo DS (not 3DS)?	Price	Platforms	Genre
-- The World Ends With You	$18.86	-	-
-- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney	$32.45	Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Wii, Game Boy Advance, Android, iOS, Windows	Visual Novel, Adventure
-- Chrono Trigger	$53.99	Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation, PlayStation 3 (Digital Only), PlayStation Portable, iOS, Android, Windows	Role-Playing
-- Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey	$49.95	Nintendo DS	Role-Playing, Dungeon Crawler, Horror
-- Professor Layton and the Curious Village - Nintendo DS	$39.57	-	-

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

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Engaging choice-based gameplay

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is all about choosing your own adventure through living the life of a defense attorney. It's up to you to do a good job for your clients, meaning you have to make the best choices when going through the case. When you interview witnesses and suspects, there's a dialogue tree where you choose what you want to ask them, and then during the trial, you carefully choose the best evidence to support your argument. You get to the bottom of each investigation and trial on your own terms, either by following your instincts or listening to helpful suggestions from other characters. See More

Top Con

Not for players who want more involved gameplay

Since this is a visual novel without much voice acting, that means there's a lot of reading. You won't find typical gameplay here with responsive controls and freedom of movement. The gameplay is all about being an attorney and an investigator, through gathering evidence and presenting evidence to defend your client. If you're not used to these types of games, this may not be for you unless you're willing to try something new. See More

Specs

Genre:Visual Novel, Adventure

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Polished character designs

As this is a character-heavy visual novel game, it helps a lot that the art for the characters are all really well-done. Full of expressive personality, they look just like the ones in the series' anime. Their exaggerated humor shows through their designs and animations, helping the game to stand on its art and writing without more complicated animations or even much voice acting. Experiencing the story through the character art doesn't get tiring, since it does such a good job of carrying the whole legal drama. See More

Top Con

Puzzles are not always balanced

Puzzles in the game are not evenly balanced in difficulty, which can be frustrating when one of the more difficult to solve puzzles come up. It would be one thing if the more difficult puzzles were found at the end of the game, but more often than not they are found in the middle and scattered around. See More

Top Pro

Charming music

Since this is a port of an older game for the Game Boy Advance, the music still has a rather old school sound to it, but this only adds to the charm. It's great at setting the tone in any given scene, sounding more serious with lower instruments for when you're collecting evidence, and then again when presenting that evidence to the court, while it's of course much lighter during funny conversations with silly characters. There's always a computerized sound throughout that makes it charming to listen to, like going back in time before the more modern orchestral music in gaming today. See More

Top Pro

Accessible learning curve

Even if you don't know anything about legal cases and courtrooms, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is easy to grasp and learn. The first case is more of a tutorial for how the game works, and it does a great job at getting you used to the mechanics with collecting evidence, questioning witnesses, and going through the motions of presenting your argument before the judge. You don't need to know any special legal language or anything like that; you can still have fun with this game while getting to feel like a defense attorney in an entertaining way. See More

Chrono Trigger

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Captivating storyline that centers around time travel

Chrono Trigger has an expansive and touching story that shows all the ways the world can change over time. You begin the story as the young man named Crono, exploring a fun festival called the Millennial Fair, when his friend Marie gets caught up in a malfunctioning time machine. Crono's quest to find her takes him on a journey across several different time periods in the past and the future where he meets the rest of his companions; together they find out about the greater problem overtaking the world, and so they set off to stop the catastrophe. Getting to see all the ways the world changes across centuries has huge implications that you discover as you go along, with some really emotional moments that still hold up today. See More

Top Con

Scripted battles go against the flow of gameplay

Even though there aren't any random encounters in the game, there are still the occasional battles that happen during scripted moments. These tend to break the flow of exploration and going about battles at your own pace, conflicting with the freedom you normally have to go wherever you want. As long as you know to expect these to pop up every now and then, it shouldn't be too bad. See More

Specs

Genre:Role-Playing

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Battles happen seamlessly out on the field, with no random encounters

You don't have to worry about random encounters in Chrono Trigger. Enemies are all visible out on the field, so you can avoid them whenever you want to focus on exploring. And, when you do get into a battle, there's no transition screen from the field to the turn-based environment. Everything happens seamlessly, with your party members taking up formation and moving around to take their turns to attack on the available space around the enemy. This was pretty advanced for its time, and it's a mechanic that hasn't lost its impact over the years, keeping the game from ever feeling like a grind. See More

Top Con

The turn-based combat may be too easy for some players

The battles are pretty basic, with standard mechanics of characters and enemies attacking in turns, with various skills and spells that they have access to. If you're used to turn-based games, then Chrono Trigger might not be much of a challenge for you. There are some cool additions, like getting your party members to team up for flashy special attacks that do tons of damage, but this is still something most veterans would expect from JRPGs. See More

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You can obtain multiple different endings depending on your choices

Depending on when and how you tackle certain bosses, you can get quite a few different endings. There are more than a dozen or so endings to go after, each of which show outcomes that vary from one another in some intriguing ways. Some are quite funny, while others have more troubling implications or positive outcomes for certain time periods. Going after all of the endings can be a fun challenge. See More

Top Con

The game is a little short for an RPG by today's standards

For your first playthrough, it will probably only take you about 20 hours to finish. Since Chrono Trigger is the game that pioneered New Game+, it's possible to give it some leeway, as the play time is designed around you playing through the game again to get multiple endings. Still, if you're not interested in chasing after the other endings, you may feel unsatisfied with the game's length, though your mileage will of course vary. See More

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Quality art and music

Chrono Trigger has a wonderful art style and soundtrack that make the game worth going back to over the years. The 2D sprites are expressive and unique to each character's personalities, all as a nice fit to the funny moments and the more serious points in the story. Their original designs have a cool and colorful anime look, hand-crafted by the creator of the Dragon Ball series. And the music, despite the old SNES sound from the 1990s, is filled with meaning in a way that makes it obvious the composer poured his heart into each track. Everything is still worth a listen today, giving off a timeless and classic feeling. See More

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

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Philosophical sci-fi story that speculates on the consequences of human vices

The science-fiction story in Strange Journey is among the best in the Shin Megami Tensei series. It's a clever commentary on human greed and lust for power, and speculates on the ways the planet can end up suffering from our excess and wastefulness. It starts off with you as part of a team investigating the Schwarwelt, a huge black hole eating away at the South Pole, that leads to several different dimensions filled with demons. Each of these dimensions and the demons within show what could possibly happen if humans let their vices overtake them. It's chilling because of how real everything feels, even in the realm of "impossible" demons and alternate dimensions. See More

Top Con

Incredibly hard, especially if you take the Law or Neutral routes

Since the difficulty in the Shin Megami Tensei games is a feature, this is more of a warning for new players than a complaint. Not only are the battles and dungeon crawling relentless, but the challenge really kicks in during endgame. If you go for either the Law or Neutral routes, then be careful, because the final boss in those routes is the hardest one in the entire series. First timers may want to opt for Chaos during their first run through. Otherwise, grinding all the way to level 90 may be required if you can't defeat the final boss at lower levels, and that may take several hours. See More

Specs

Genre:Role-Playing, Dungeon Crawler, Horror

Top Pro

Highly challenging, yet rewarding turn-based combat

The battles in the Shin Megami Tensei series are unforgiving in how difficult they are, and Strange Journey is no exception. You fight with a party of demons you collect, aiming to pinpoint your enemy's elemental weaknesses and exploit them. Once you find the weakness, the demons in your party who share your moral alignment (Law, Chaos, or Neutral) will team up for extra damage through a co-op attack. If you don't look up a guide, then finding weaknesses is a matter of trial and error, and hoping you don't die while you figure things out. Most of the opponents you come across hit for a ton of damage, so you absolutely need to take advantage of their weaknesses for co-op attacks. And as you get farther along in the game, you get access to buffs to your party's attack, defense, evasion, and more, as well as debuffs to debilitate your foes. As you get better with the combat and earn some tough victories, the sense of satisfaction you get helps you to keep pushing forward. See More

Top Con

Your destinations are too often behind hidden doors

The bulk of exploration involves upgrading your gadgets to find more types of hidden doors, and it's done in a pretty unreasonable way. When you can't progress, chances are you need to find one of these upgrades somewhere on the map, though they're usually locked behind a door that you can't see. If you don't follow a guide, you have to spend a lot of time facing walls, backtracking again and again until you find what you're looking for. This happens way too much throughout the game, at times taking the fun out of the dungeon crawling and turning it into a slog. See More

Top Pro

Your moral choices branch out to multiple endings

Your choices throughout the game determine which of the three alignments you fall under. Whether you lean toward Chaos with the demons, Law with the angels, or the Neutral alignment that rejects Law and Chaos, the later segments of the game change to reflect your views. Characters who were once your allies can become antagonists, or vice-versa, depending on which path you follow. Schwarzwelt and, in-turn, the world, shapes itself in drastic ways through your choices, leading you down different branches, each with their own powerful bosses to defeat, and unique endings that follow. See More

Top Con

Some of the puzzles can take a long time to figure out

There are a couple of notorious puzzles in this game. The main one, you encounter about halfway through the story: it involves a bunch of warping around the map and falling through traps in the ground to get to where you need to go. If you keep at it, you're sure to find your way eventually, but it's frustrating. See More

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You get to collect and control many types of demons and angels to fight in battle

Demons and angels act as your party members in battle. While fighting, you can recruit almost any enemy demon or angel as long as it's at your level or below, through a process called demon negotiation. You barter with them through a conversation before asking it to join you; if it likes you, and if you give it the items, money, and whatever else it asks you for, it may join your party. You can then fuse angels or demons together to create stronger allies with better abilities. And there are hundreds of different types of demons and angels with their own fitting designs and relevant mythological lore, ranging from familiar names like Shiva, Lilith, Valkyrie, Phoenix, Raphael, and many many more. See More

Top Pro

Intense and foreboding soundtrack with classical influences

In the best ways possible, the music ranges from grave and serious to majestic and elegant. Regular exploration themes have deep, booming choruses backed by relentless military drums, keeping you on-edge throughout the many hours you spend dungeon crawling. Boss battles are as foreboding as the enemies you face, with a range of blaring brass sounds that ground the tone and elevate your experience: even the period of silence in "Vehement Rage" conveys plenty of weight and importance. Major boss battles are even more impressive, fitting their Law, Chaos, or Neutral alignments in creative ways, with "Holy Miracle" bringing all the classical grandeur of a battle against a true being of Law. And the song that plays in the final dungeon, as well as the end credits theme, are both particularly special, with an unexpected tone that perfectly captures the end of such a strange journey. See More

Top Pro

Hardcore dungeon crawling that keeps you on-edge

The dungeon crawling in Strange Journey isn't for the faint of heart. It's a real test of your endurance, on top of the added difficulty of the random battle encounters. You play in first person, trekking through the dimensions of Schwarzwelt in search of a way back to Earth, searching through the areas to find upgrades to your gadgets and your ship. You have to deal with several puzzles, hidden doors, riddles, and different types of traps in your path, all in uncharted land with only your wits to guide you. If you're the type who craves a serious challenge, then this just might be the game for you. See More

Pokémon Omega Ruby

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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

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Engaging choice-based gameplay

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations is all about choosing your own adventure through living the life of a defense attorney. It's up to you to do a good job for your clients, meaning you have to make the best choices when going through the case. When you interview witnesses and suspects, there's a dialogue tree where you choose what you want to ask them, and then during the trial, you carefully choose the best evidence to support your argument. The stakes are high during court cases, since if you pick the wrong evidence during a cross-examination, for example, the prosecution's side will hammer you on it and you'll suffer a loss. There's more incentive this time to get everything right and do your best, otherwise you may lose the case outright for your client. You get to the bottom of each investigation and trial on your own terms, either by following your instincts or listening to helpful suggestions from other characters. See More

Top Con

You may need to play the first two games to appreciate the story

As this is the third game in the Ace Attorney trilogy, the story does rely on you having a connection to the protagonist Phoenix, especially for the first case. Being invested in other characters like Mia and Edgeworth from the other games also adds to the novelty of getting to play as them. Without that context, the new points of view here doesn't hold much weight. You can jump into the trilogy with this game if you really want to, but if you want more of an emotional impact, it's better to play the other games first. See More

Specs

Genre:Visual Novel, Adventure

Top Pro

Intriguing story where you get to play as characters other than Phoenix Wright

The story in Trials and Tribulations wraps up the Ace Attorney trilogy in a great way, while offering a new gameplay mechanic. The first case starts off in the past, where you play as another lawyer from the series, Mia, who tries to find out whether a young Phoenix Wright committed murder or not. You also get to later play as Edgeworth, another lawyer and one of Phoenix's rivals, to see the story from his point of view. All of the (spoiler-sensitive) cases tie in together as a nice way to give closure to the trilogy, with a slightly stronger focus on the overall narrative this time compared to the first two games. Having these new perspectives adds more layers to the cases and overarching narrative. See More

Top Con

Doesn't offer enough new changes over the first two games

You get to play as different characters from time to time, like Phoenix's rivals Edgeworth and Mia, but that's about it. The rest of the gameplay is fundamentally the same as the other two games in the series. If you play all three games, you may find that things are pretty samey by this point. The Ace Attorney games do have a good formula, though it would have been nice to have more innovation throughout the trilogy. See More

Top Pro

Polished character designs

As this is a character-heavy visual novel game, it helps a lot that the art for the characters are all really well-done. Full of expressive personality, they look just like the ones in the series' anime. Their exaggerated humor shows through their designs and animations, helping the game to stand on its art and writing without more complicated animations or even much voice acting. Experiencing the story through the character art doesn't get tiring, since it does such a good job of carrying the whole legal drama. See More

Top Con

Not for players who want more involved gameplay

Since this is a visual novel without much voice acting, that means there's a lot of reading. You won't find typical gameplay here with responsive controls and freedom of movement. The gameplay is all about being an attorney and an investigator, through gathering evidence and presenting evidence to defend your client. If you're not used to these types of games, this may not be for you unless you're willing to try something new. See More

Top Pro

Charming music

Since this is a port of an older game for the Game Boy Advance, the music still has a rather old school sound to it, but this only adds to the charm. It's great at setting the tone in any given scene, sounding more serious with lower instruments for when you're collecting evidence, and then again when presenting that evidence to the court, while it's of course much lighter during funny conversations with silly characters. There's always a computerized sound throughout that makes it charming to listen to, like going back in time before the more modern orchestral music in gaming today. See More

Top Pro

Accessible learning curve

Even if you don't know anything about legal cases and courtrooms, Trials and Tribulations is easy to grasp and learn. The first case is more of a tutorial for how the game works, and it does a great job at getting you used to the mechanics with collecting evidence, questioning witnesses, and going through the motions of presenting your argument before the judge. You don't need to know any special legal language or anything like that; you can still have fun with this game while getting to feel like a defense attorney in an entertaining way. See More

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All

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Engaging choice-based gameplay

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All is all about choosing your own adventure through living the life of a defense attorney. It's up to you to do a good job for your clients, meaning you have to make the best choices when going through the case. When you interview witnesses and suspects, there's a dialogue tree where you choose what you want to ask them, and then during the trial, you carefully choose the best evidence to support your argument. The stakes are upped in Justice for All from the first game in the trilogy, since if you pick the wrong evidence during a cross-examination, for example, the prosecution's side will hammer you on it and you'll suffer a loss. There's more incentive this time to get everything right and do your best, otherwise you may lose the case outright for your client. You get to the bottom of each investigation and trial on your own terms, either by following your instincts or listening to helpful suggestions from other characters. See More

Top Con

Not for players who want more involved gameplay

Since this is a visual novel without much voice acting, that means there's a lot of reading. You won't find typical gameplay here with responsive controls and freedom of movement. The gameplay is all about being an attorney and an investigator, through gathering evidence and presenting evidence to defend your client. If you're not used to these types of games, this may not be for you unless you're willing to try something new. See More

Specs

Genre:Visual Novel, Adventure

Top Pro

Polished character designs

As this is a character-heavy visual novel game, it helps a lot that the art for the characters are all really well-done. Full of expressive personality, they look just like the ones in the series' anime. Their exaggerated humor shows through their designs and animations, helping the game to stand on its art and writing without more complicated animations or even much voice acting. Experiencing the story through the character art doesn't get tiring, since it does such a good job of carrying the whole legal drama. See More

Top Pro

Charming music

Since this is a port of an older game for the Game Boy Advance, the music still has a rather old school sound to it, but this only adds to the charm. It's great at setting the tone in any given scene, sounding more serious with lower instruments for when you're collecting evidence, and then again when presenting that evidence to the court, while it's of course much lighter during funny conversations with silly characters. There's always a computerized sound throughout that makes it charming to listen to, like going back in time before the more modern orchestral music in gaming today. See More

Top Pro

Accessible learning curve

Even if you don't know anything about legal cases and courtrooms, Justice for All is easy to grasp and learn. The first case is more of a tutorial for how the game works, and it does a great job at getting you used to the mechanics with collecting evidence, questioning witnesses, and going through the motions of presenting your argument before the judge. You don't need to know any special legal language or anything like that; you can still have fun with this game while getting to feel like a defense attorney in an entertaining way. See More

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor

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Tense and strategic turn-based battles in an isometric view

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor is full of challenging battles that really make you think. You have your standard human party members who make up units of teams along the square grids of the battlefield, with each human character taking along two demons to act as their party members. Moving across the grids in an isometric view, you engage tough enemy demons in turn-based battles where you work to exploit their elemental weaknesses or land critical hits, both of which reward you with an extra turn. And there's always the danger that you may get surrounded and overwhelmed by the enemies, most of whom hit pretty hard and can easily give you a tough time if you're not careful. See More

Top Con

The art style doesn't quite look right

The anime art style for the characters has a few weird hang-ups. The sharp, colorful aesthetic would have been nicer if most characters didn't look cross-eyed most of the time. Some of the female characters, like Yuzu, one of the core cast members, have such strange, gravity-defying breasts that don't look natural at all. And because the story plays out like a visual novel, you have to see the character's 2D art up close each time they speak, you can't really ignore how the art looks. See More

Specs

Genre:Tactical Role-Playing, Visual Novel

Top Pro

You get to collect and control many types of demons and angels to fight in battle

Demons and angels act as your party members in battle. Quite early into the game, you get access to a demon auction system where you buy new demons to join your party. You can then fuse them together to create stronger allies with better abilities, mixing and matching demons as you need to take on any challenge that the game throws at you. And there are hundreds of different types of demons and angels with their own fitting designs and relevant mythological lore, ranging from familiar names like Shiva, Lilith, Valkyrie, Phoenix, Raphael, and many many more. See More

Top Con

Only playing the game once doesn't give you the full experience

If you only play through a single one of your companions' routes to the end, you won't see all that the game has to offer. It's not exactly a complete experience to just witness a single ending and then call it a day. Playing through the game multiple times to see everyone's routes is the way to see everything, but some players may not want to go through the effort of doing this. See More

Top Pro

Interesting story about an outbreak of demons in modern Tokyo

Right off the bat, the story begins with some mysterious events within Tokyo, with demons appearing out of nowhere and murdering the populace. You and your group of high school-aged friends get help from the main character's cousin, who gives the group cryptic details on how to survive with the help of handheld COMP devices that look like Nintendo DSs. These comps allow you and your friends to summon and control your own demons to protect yourself from the invasion, with Tokyo locked down to quarantine everyone and isolate the demon threat. Watching the characters grow from powerless and fearful of the invasion into skilled demon-users fighting to survive is a great experience. See More

Top Con

The main screen is the smaller, bottom one instead of the top one

For some reason, the main screen where all of the gameplay happens is the bottom one, which is smaller than the top screen on the Nintendo DS. You only use the top screen to look at the map or the enemy demons' stats and weaknesses. It's an odd design decision that can take some getting used to. See More

Top Pro

Your choices lead to multiple different endings that shape the fates of those around you

Among your group of friends, you can choose one of them to focus on for a single playthrough to see how things turn out as the story progresses. This intersects with a radical religious group coming to power by spreading their own gospel about how the people can be saved, exploring the Law alignment in one of the best ways across the Shin Megami Tensei franchise. On the other end of the spectrum, there's a war going on between the higher echelon of demons, which you have the power to get yourself involved in if you so choose, instead focusing on the Chaos alignment in an intriguing way. Depending on which of your party members' routes you follow, they may take certain actions involving the religious group or the war among the demons, in-turn influencing what happens to Tokyo once the story is over. See More

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2

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Tense and strategic turn-based battles in an isometric view

Just like the first game, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 is full of challenging battles that really make you think. You have your standard human party members who make up units of teams along the square grids of the battlefield, with each human character taking along two demons to act as their party members. Moving across the grids in an isometric view, you engage tough enemy demons in turn-based battles where you work to exploit their elemental weaknesses or land critical hits, both of which reward you with an extra turn. And there's always the danger that you may get surrounded and overwhelmed by the enemies, most of whom hit pretty hard and can easily give you a tough time if you're not careful. See More

Top Con

The art style doesn't quite look right

The anime art style for the characters has a few weird hang-ups. The sharp, colorful aesthetic would have been nicer if most characters didn't look cross-eyed most of the time. Some of the female characters, like Io, one of the core cast members, have such strange, gravity-defying breasts that don't look natural at all. And because the story plays out like a visual novel, you have to see the character's 2D art up close each time they speak, you can't really ignore how the art looks. See More

Specs

Genre:Tactical Role-Playing, Visual Novel

Top Pro

You get to collect and control many types of demons and angels to fight in battle

Demons and angels act as your party members in battle. Quite early into the game, you get access to a demon auction system where you buy new demons to join your party. You can then fuse them together to create stronger allies with better abilities, mixing and matching demons as you need to take on any challenge that the game throws at you. And there are hundreds of different types of demons and angels with their own fitting designs and relevant mythological lore, ranging from familiar names like Shiva, Lilith, Valkyrie, Phoenix, Raphael, and many many more. See More

Top Con

The main screen is the smaller, bottom one instead of the top one

For some reason, the main screen where all of the gameplay happens is the bottom one, which is smaller than the top screen on the Nintendo DS. You only use the top screen to look at the map or the enemy demons' stats and weaknesses. It's an odd design decision that can take some getting used to. See More

Top Pro

Suspenseful story about saving your friends' lives during an apocalypse in Tokyo

This time around, Devil Survivor 2 focuses more on the bonds you share with your party members, keeping the stakes high throughout your journey. You start off by getting a mysterious message on your phone, showing you exactly how someone will die in the future unless you manage to save them. The toughest part is that it's possible for you to fail and lose party members entirely, making you lose out on one less person to use in battle. All of this happens during a sudden appearance of demons in Tokyo, where you obtain the power to summon and control them as you will. Using your demons in fights to help save your friends is at the core of the game's story. See More

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

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Solatorobo: Red the Hunter

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