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DS Holiday Buying Thread
Chen
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I hear it has two screens, is selling like hot cakes and prints money.
The DS has sold more than 650,000 units during the week of Black Friday in North America alone. I reckon the Zelda and Nintendogs bundles, which are priced $149, had a lot to do with the staggering sales number. With the Wii out of stock, the 360 and PS3 out of my price range, the only thing I can cling on this holiday is the DS. There are probably many more people as unfortunate as me. So, heck, I might as well write something about its massive software library while I'm busy browsing the net. There are so many worthwhile games that I simply can't mention them all, so feel free to give recommendations, ask questions and the like.
New releases
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
What is it?
A real-time strategy slash role-playing hybrid.
What is it about?
The story takes place right after the final events on the PS2, and follows Vaan, Penelo, Balthier, and Fran in a new adventure. It isn't required to play XII, but you'll miss out on details.
What do you do?
Complete missions by managing and moving your units through a map to defeat the baddies. You can split your main party into multiple ones with leaders to control the parties. Touching a leader will let you control all units under his or her command. Each leader can be levelled up and wear equipment. If you've played Lost Magic or Heroes of Mana controlling the characters is similar as you touch them and give commands. This game however adds a new level of micromanagement
Anything else I should know?
There are impressive cinematic movies spread throughout the game with beautiful music to accompany them.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker
What is it?
[strike]Pocket[/strike] Monsters.
What is it about?
If you've played the DQM games on the Game Boy Color, then you know what to expect. For the less informed, it is basically Pokémon in the world of Dragon Quest. Unlike Pokémon which has a modern setting, DQM:J has a fantasy setting with elements you'd expect from an RPG. As for a story, you must enter a tournament to complete a mission that a syndicate has assigned to you.
What do you do?
You hunt, recruit and collect more than 200 monsters that are spread on the continent. Monsters can be seen on the overworld and battles are fought by three monsters you send out. There are no balls to capture them, so your party monsters use the scout command to view and increase the percentage of recruiting the target. If levels are high enough, you can even perform a fusion dance to merge two monsters into a new one.
Anything else I should know?
You can trade monsters via wifi, but there's a noticable lack of online battling.
Phoenix Wright 3: Trials and Tribulations
What is it?
Attorney simulation
What is it about?
Becoming an ace attorney.
What do you do?
Solving cases where you must use your wits to discover holes in the accused person's alibi. There are clues in the evidence you've collected which you must use to point and shout OBJECTION loudly across the room.
Anything else I should know?
This is a sequel of the two previous Phoenix Wright games, so you might want to play those first before starting on this one.
Contra 4
What is it?
Shoot 'em up
What is it about?
Guns, lots of guns. Also, aliens invading Earth or something unsignificant.
What do you do?
Shoot people, but mostly aliens. It is also rock hard. As with earlier Contra games, if you lose all your lives you will be sent back to the start of the stage. Trust me, you will die a lot. At least you can blame your DS, considering its screens are smaller than your average television. The dual screens also require you to pay extra attention, whether they're alien bugs or power-ups flying by.
Anything else I should know?
Contra I and Super C are included as unlockable extras.
Personal favorites
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
The direct sequel of The Wind Waker, even though there is little connection between the two, is a fabulous work of ingenuity. The stylus adds such a new depth, not only in combat but in puzzles as well, that you wonder why no one has thought of it before. The tiresome sailing has disappeared, but in its place stands a tower where you must go back to regularly to advance in the game. Aside from that, this is an astonishingly fun game.
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
This is what you would call an everlasting package of entertainment. It is crammed with everything the previous two installments had to offer which is ginormous. More COs, more units, more maps, anthing you could hope for except online play which will be available in the next Advance Wars. The downside is there isn't anything new it offers, but fans of turn-based strategy will be hard pressed to not enjoy this.
Pokémon Diamond/Pearl
Hello, there! Glad to meet you! Welcome to the world of POKéMON! My name is OAK. People affectionately refer to me as the POKéMON PROFESSOR. This world is inhabited far and wide by creatures called POKéMON. For some people, POKéMON are pets. Others use them for battling. As for myself, I study POKéMON as a profession. Your very own POKéMON legend is about to unfold! Take courage, and leap into the world of POKéMON where dreams, adventure, and friendships await!
Future releases
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (1/21)
I've had the opportunity to play this and I have to say nothing has really changed. Sure, the landscape turned dark and broody thanks to a meteor shower, which made the residents of the Earth a little edgy, but it is still turn-based strategy at its finest. There are a couple of new units, like a motorcycle that can capture buildings and a flare tank that lights up fog of war. I have not been able to test COs and their abilities, but it can't be worse than the dual tag nonsense.
Final Fantasy IV (TBA)
Not much is known about it aside from being a remake with a few new touches.
The DS has sold more than 650,000 units during the week of Black Friday in North America alone. I reckon the Zelda and Nintendogs bundles, which are priced $149, had a lot to do with the staggering sales number. With the Wii out of stock, the 360 and PS3 out of my price range, the only thing I can cling on this holiday is the DS. There are probably many more people as unfortunate as me. So, heck, I might as well write something about its massive software library while I'm busy browsing the net. There are so many worthwhile games that I simply can't mention them all, so feel free to give recommendations, ask questions and the like.
New releases
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
What is it?
A real-time strategy slash role-playing hybrid.
What is it about?
The story takes place right after the final events on the PS2, and follows Vaan, Penelo, Balthier, and Fran in a new adventure. It isn't required to play XII, but you'll miss out on details.
What do you do?
Complete missions by managing and moving your units through a map to defeat the baddies. You can split your main party into multiple ones with leaders to control the parties. Touching a leader will let you control all units under his or her command. Each leader can be levelled up and wear equipment. If you've played Lost Magic or Heroes of Mana controlling the characters is similar as you touch them and give commands. This game however adds a new level of micromanagement
Anything else I should know?
There are impressive cinematic movies spread throughout the game with beautiful music to accompany them.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker
What is it?
[strike]Pocket[/strike] Monsters.
What is it about?
If you've played the DQM games on the Game Boy Color, then you know what to expect. For the less informed, it is basically Pokémon in the world of Dragon Quest. Unlike Pokémon which has a modern setting, DQM:J has a fantasy setting with elements you'd expect from an RPG. As for a story, you must enter a tournament to complete a mission that a syndicate has assigned to you.
What do you do?
You hunt, recruit and collect more than 200 monsters that are spread on the continent. Monsters can be seen on the overworld and battles are fought by three monsters you send out. There are no balls to capture them, so your party monsters use the scout command to view and increase the percentage of recruiting the target. If levels are high enough, you can even perform a fusion dance to merge two monsters into a new one.
Anything else I should know?
You can trade monsters via wifi, but there's a noticable lack of online battling.
Phoenix Wright 3: Trials and Tribulations
What is it?
Attorney simulation
What is it about?
Becoming an ace attorney.
What do you do?
Solving cases where you must use your wits to discover holes in the accused person's alibi. There are clues in the evidence you've collected which you must use to point and shout OBJECTION loudly across the room.
Anything else I should know?
This is a sequel of the two previous Phoenix Wright games, so you might want to play those first before starting on this one.
Contra 4
What is it?
Shoot 'em up
What is it about?
Guns, lots of guns. Also, aliens invading Earth or something unsignificant.
What do you do?
Shoot people, but mostly aliens. It is also rock hard. As with earlier Contra games, if you lose all your lives you will be sent back to the start of the stage. Trust me, you will die a lot. At least you can blame your DS, considering its screens are smaller than your average television. The dual screens also require you to pay extra attention, whether they're alien bugs or power-ups flying by.
Anything else I should know?
Contra I and Super C are included as unlockable extras.
Personal favorites
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
The direct sequel of The Wind Waker, even though there is little connection between the two, is a fabulous work of ingenuity. The stylus adds such a new depth, not only in combat but in puzzles as well, that you wonder why no one has thought of it before. The tiresome sailing has disappeared, but in its place stands a tower where you must go back to regularly to advance in the game. Aside from that, this is an astonishingly fun game.
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
This is what you would call an everlasting package of entertainment. It is crammed with everything the previous two installments had to offer which is ginormous. More COs, more units, more maps, anthing you could hope for except online play which will be available in the next Advance Wars. The downside is there isn't anything new it offers, but fans of turn-based strategy will be hard pressed to not enjoy this.
Pokémon Diamond/Pearl
Hello, there! Glad to meet you! Welcome to the world of POKéMON! My name is OAK. People affectionately refer to me as the POKéMON PROFESSOR. This world is inhabited far and wide by creatures called POKéMON. For some people, POKéMON are pets. Others use them for battling. As for myself, I study POKéMON as a profession. Your very own POKéMON legend is about to unfold! Take courage, and leap into the world of POKéMON where dreams, adventure, and friendships await!
Future releases
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (1/21)
I've had the opportunity to play this and I have to say nothing has really changed. Sure, the landscape turned dark and broody thanks to a meteor shower, which made the residents of the Earth a little edgy, but it is still turn-based strategy at its finest. There are a couple of new units, like a motorcycle that can capture buildings and a flare tank that lights up fog of war. I have not been able to test COs and their abilities, but it can't be worse than the dual tag nonsense.
Final Fantasy IV (TBA)
Not much is known about it aside from being a remake with a few new touches.
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Also, what's the standard warranty for a DS system assuming you get it from Gamestop?
It also comes with Contra (NES) and Super C (NES) as unlockables.
Highly recommended.
Also, on that note, I recommend this:
Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits
This cart is awesome, and it's only $20.
It contains arcade-perfect ports of Gradius, Contra, Rush'n'Attack, Twinbee, Track & Field, Time Pilot, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Scramble, BasketBall (the precursor to Double Dribble), Rainbow Bell, Circus Charlie, and several others.
The game has tons of options for play style; you can turn the system vertically to properly play stuff like Contra, you can stretch the image to fit a screen, you can keep it in the original aspect ratio. You can completely customize the controls, including rapid fire buttons and such. You can do other cool things too, like record a 'video' of you playing the game, and send the file to other DS owners of the game. It comes with tons of unlockeable art and histories and box and cabinet art, and it even has a 'jukebox' to play all of the classic arcade tunes; something you can even close the DS and listen to so as to save battery life. Lastly, it has a cool feature where you can open the arcade circuit board for these games and toggle the dip switches with the stylus, and the effects occur to the game when you load it up.
It really is an excellent collection.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
I hope Square-Enix doesn't charge $40 for it too.
Besides, the cartoony graphics is part of the the Tactics Advance series, I think, to set it apart from it's more mature and (in my opinion) better big brother.
Someone please mention the Warhammer 40k squad based strategy game type thing coming out in december!
Two things.
As an expert on all things FFTA I can solemnly claim that the graphics for A2 are quite a bit better. You're probably giving FFT:A too much credit when it comes to graphical prowess.
Thing the second? I fully expect this game to retail for forty bones. Sad but true.
On a different matter: The OP is doing a disservice claiming AW: DS to be a good game to give someone for the holidays. Not that it isn't a good game, mind you, just that it is quite impossible to find these days.
Yeah. I have been playing FFTA recently, so I know: this sequel is much prettier. The GBA is pretty grainy.
When does this come out in the States?
There are some where I live.
In addition to money, I also feel like I need to get farther in some other DS games I have before I buy new ones (Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Pokemon Diamond). Some of my considerations for a new one included Revenant Wings, maybe Phantom Hourglass... I know there are some good puzzlers but I'm not very good with puzzlers...Same thing with strategy games; I liked games like Advance Wars II and Fire Emblem, at least until I got completely stuck by a difficult mission. I think my approach to strategy games is equivalent to button-mashing in fighting games. I don't truly learn how to play the game, and I'm not good at thinking strategically. =/
This is extremely true.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
You should play Wind Waker first, just because it's better and awesome, but you'll be fine if you don't. The only issue is that the opening spoils Wind Waker's story, but it's not a big deal.
My sister's birthday (and xmas) present from me.
Guess what the first thing she did was when she played Zelda.
I mean, counting trees.
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WHY THE HELL ARE ALL MY TETROMINOES ON FIRE?!
Revenant Wings: It's gorgeous and has fantastic music, largely drawn from FFXII, which is fine as far as I'm concerned. The (admittedly low-res) sprites are really cute, and all in all it captures both the feel of its parent game and of the Final Fantasy series as a whole. The story is decent, and it warms my cold hard heart to see Vaan and Penelo take to the skies in their very own airship.
The downside is that combat really isn't great. Units move slowly; this is good, because otherwise it would be hard to keep control of a battle, but on the other hand you do a lot of waiting as your mob moves from one point to another. Worse, fights have a nasty tendency to devolve into enormous clusterfucks where everyone gets stuck in gridlock. It's enjoyable enough, most of the time, and the beautiful combat areas certainly help, but it leaves much to be desired. It's too bad Revenant Wings can't trade gameplay with FFTA2.
Old favorite: I think that Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime would make an excellent holiday gift or purchase. Warm, cheerful colors and cute, cartoony 2D graphics combined with smooth, engrossing gameplay: win! It doesn't take long to beat, but then there's still collectathon & tank tournaments, and I find that the main story is surprisingly replayable in any event (just hammer A through the cutscenes).
But, seriously, I'd classify them as different games even though they both bare the Zelda name. The Wind Waker, while not being the hardest game, has such an encompassing overworld that exploration takes a very big part in it. Many people have expressed themselves over one particular part of the game where some dedication is required to get past it.
Phantom Hourglass on the other hand can be played at a relaxing pace without ever feeling lost. It is mainly thanks to the many hints the game gives you, although there will be plenty of times where you will scratch your head for a while before realizing how simple the solution really is. Then again, this is what makes it Zelda.
I shall correct this at once!
I assume you can pick it up for dirt cheap now (I got it for $15 new a year or so ago), in which case it's definitely worth it. The multiplayer is a joke (admittedly, that's true of most pinball games), but the single player is quite fun. The vertical screen layout naturally lends itself really well to a pinball game, and all the Metroid-y boss fights and challenges they added in are (IMO) just enough to keep the game interesting, but not crazy enough to feel gimmicky or like they detract from the pinballin'. It's not brilliant, but it's a solid game.
Well, I know I SHOULD play Wind Waker, but there's that whole lack of Gamecube thing I've got going on. So I don't much mind if Hourglass spoils the story.
Zelda on my Christmas list ahoy!
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
I'm pretty sure it's been mentioned, actually.
Phantom Hourglass is pretty amazing, too.
And, if reviews of the PSP version are any indication (which is a big assumption), it looks mediocre at best.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
I've actually got two copies of it. I'd gladly sell you one for just a bit. It's doing nothing sitting in my drawer next to my other copy of it.
if you haven't played the SNES one then yes you should get Front Mission.
I only faintly remember the SNES one but did it have two campaigns? (one for each side of the story)
And I have not played New Super Marios Bros.
You guys suck. I demand that this thread be buried.
edit: oh god a FFT game coming? My wallet! It's on fiiiiiiiiireeee
Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (if you can find it). Certainly in my top 5 for the DS
Overall, though, I'd recommend
NSMB
Mario Kart DS
Phoenix Wright (all of 'em)
Both Castlevania Games
Trauma Center
Kirby CC
Advance Wars
Tetris DS
Meteos
Elite Beat Agents
Brain Age 1, 2
Mario and Luigi PIT
Metroid Prime Hunters
Sonic Rush/Adventure
Megaman ZX, and Advent
FFIII
Bleach DS
DQ Heroes
Clubhouse Games
Yoshi's Isladn DS
Puzzle Quest
Picross DS
Konami Classics Arcades
Lunar Knights
Zelda PH
Contra 4
Geo Wars Glxis
FF XII RW
COD4
Probably others too.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games