3Ds?, but I've barely seen 2Ds! [DS Recommendations?]

Brutal J

Okay, I haven't owned a handheld system since the Gameboy Color, but the 3DS has changed my world view, and now I must own it.

The pre-order is in, but I'm unsure how many early releases I actually want for it, but it has dawned on me that I have the entire DS library to pick games from to hold me over till more 3DS games come out. So, what DS games are worth getting?

Even removing all the shovel-ware the DS library is huge, and I haven't paid close enough attention to sort the real gems, for the just okay.

I enjoy most types of games, only exceptions tend to be racing, or sports games. I plan to pick up Pokemon White or Black when they're released so i have that area covered.

I'm interested in the Castlevanias, but I'm not sure which to get. Of the three was there a consensus on which one(s) were particularly good, or bad? What about the bajillion FF games the system has? I'm leaning towards FF: Tactics, but it seems III and IV aren't too expensive, which FF game stands above the rest? (I haven't played any FF game FYI, except VIII and FF I, a long time ago) I'm sure Professor Layton will get a mention, is one better than the other?

There are other games I've looked at too, but I figured I should get some recommendations before I start buying things. So PAers what have I been missing out on for all these years?

Elin

http://slashsignal.wikispaces.com/

Here's a good list.

Taya

Re: Professor Layton, start with the first one (Curious Village) and then get Diabolical Box and then get Unwound Future. The first one is probably the weakest but it introduces characters that appear in the next two games. But some people have started with 2 or 3 and had no problems. It's up to you, but I recommend getting Curious Village first.

Re: Final Fantasy, I really liked Tactics Advance 2. It's really addicting. III is good but it's primitive; expect to do a lot of grinding. IV doesn't require any level grinding but it's still really hard. I just finished this one recently and some bosses gave me a lot of trouble. It's a great game though. There are also the two Crystal Chronicles games which are pretty good. Tough call.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney remains my favourite series on the DS. Assuming you haven't played the Wiiware ports, you should definitely get into these games. Again, start with the first one and then play the sequels. Best games starring lawyers ever!

Other great games that you should look into:

The World Ends With You
Hotel Dusk
Advance Wars
Etrian Odyssey
Dragon Quest IX (or get the DQ remakes like IV and V)
Rune Factory 3 (the first two are good but the 3rd one is superior)
Retro Game Challenge
Trauma Centre Under the Knife
Kirby's Canvas Curse
Meteos
999
Elite Beat Agents
Mario and Luigi
Legend of Zelda PH or ST

And probably a billion others that I'm forgetting.

Kuroi Ookami

While I have a sizable DS collection, I can't think of good games I own. I've been on a Pokemon kick in Pearl and SoulSilver trying to 'Catch em all' before Black and White releases. Meanwhile, I am heavily anticipating Okamiden! If you've play Okami on the PS2 (or I suppose the Wii) and liked it, then you want Okamiden. If you haven't played Okami, then you owe it to yourself to try Okamiden. It's my understanding that having no prior knowledge of the first game will not make this one confusing, but that's going off comments I've seen on Gamefaqs and those discussion boards are just... well, not always good.

Final Fantasy Tactics is a favourite of mine since playing it on the Playstation, but I didn't like the Final Fantasy Tactics games for the DS, they felt too easy or something. I much prefer to play the version that released on the PSP which is pretty much the original but a few things were changed.

Speaking of easy and Final Fantasy, FFII/IV is my favourite FF game, but the DS FFIV game after a certain point was too easy, and boring. I stopped playing, and went back to the GBA version of it. Sure, it looks all pretty, has cut-scenes with voice acting, but for me, they had ruined the game play.

I'm seriously trying to think of my collection but in anticipation of the 3DS all I can think about is Nintendogs (the whole reason I got my DS to begin with after playing that at a friend's place), and Meteos which I got early on after getting my DS. Oh! I recommend Meteos, given you can find it. I've also tried the Disney version, didn't like it compared to plain jane Meteos.

I'll give my collection a look over later and pick out a few titles to hype up.

Z0re

Infinite Space is a great title to dump hours into if you like Spaceships and lasers. Really neat title that didn't get a lot of recognition, but a lot of fun.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced 2 is a great game, though not that difficult. With a little effort you can get some absolutely fun murder machines and its nowhere near as broken as its predecessor or the original tactics in gameplay.

If you ever played Megaman Battle Network, the Star Force games are spiritual sequels. The first game is pretty good and the third is great, though the second is terrible and infinitely skippable.

If you ever played any Shin Megami Tensei, Devil Survivor and Strange Journey are both pretty good iterations of the series. I like Devil Survivor better, and its getting a rerelease as a launch title on the 3DS with a few updates.

Brutal J

Thanks for the suggestions thus far. I may splurge and get all three Layton's as two of them are up on the buy two get a third free sale on Amazon. Some tough choices all around, will end up coming down to cost. Like I looked up Infinite space, and yeah, going by amazon that game isn't going to be found cheap and in good condition.

Castlevanias also seem harder to find at a decent prices, especially dawn of sorrow. So am i right in assuming that Portrait of Ruin is the weaker of the two, and DoS vs. OoE are both pretty good?

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I may be rushing buying these, but part of me keeps thinking if i wait, then they'll just be even harder to find or more expensive.

Thesmileyemo

Super Scribblenauts
Mario Kart DS
Chrono Trigger
Mario and Luigi
Kirby Superstar Ultra
Retro game Challenge
Hotel Dusk

Chen

No DS recommendation thread goes by without me mentioning Advance Wars: Dual Strike, one of the most addicting and "my word look at the time" games you can find on the system.

With that out of the way, the general consensus seems to favor Dawn of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia out of the three DS Castlevania entries. The plot in all three are quite forgettable, so it more or less boils down to the battle system of your choice. Dawn of Sorrow has the soul system where you steal souls from slain enemies to use for your cause and a weapon system where you upgrade weapons by infusing them with the souls you collect. Portrait of Ruin has the dual character system where you switch between a melee and a spellcasting character (and team up to unleash powerful combos) and a quest system where you accept quests to obtain various rewards like subweapons and magic spells. It's also the only game of the three where you use the famous whip as your main weapon. Order of Ecclesia has the glyph system which is very similar to the soul system, only you use glyphs for everything including attacking with weapons. These actions drain your MP but refills quite quickly. You can combine glyphs to form powerful glyph unions which drain hearts instead of MP. There are also various quests from the townsfolk much like in Portrait of Ruin.

As for Final Fantasy, I too was in the same boat as you. Played the original almost a decade ago and played the various Playstation entries on and off, but never really dug in any of them. Personally, I wouldn't recommend any of the remakes. They just don't hold up well anymore against modern RPGs. Instead I'd go for The World Ends With You (done by the folks at Square Enix) or Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (very underrated RPG series). While I haven't played it, Dragon Quest IX Sentinels of the Skies is also a favorite among the public and arguably the most oldschool of the three. There's also Chrono Trigger to consider if you missed out on that. FFTA2 is great too, but it's more of a SRPG than a classic JRPG.