As I have recently bought a secondhand 2DS, I thought I would change things up a bit!
Let’s discuss the Nintendo DS series of portable consoles. What is your favorite version? What games are most memorable to you? What aspects do you like about it? What doesn’t work for you? Feel free to share any thoughts that come up, or react to other peoples comments. Let’s get the conversation going!
If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).
Previous entries: Monster Hunter, Persona, Monkey Island, 8 Bit Era, Animal Crossing, Age of Empires, Super Mario, Deus Ex, Stardew Valley, The Sims, Half-Life, Earthbound / Mother, Mass Effect, Metroid, Journey, Resident Evil, Polybius, Tetris, Telltale Games, Kirby, LEGO Games, DOOM, Ori, Metal Gear, Slay the Spire
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The DS series was the peak handheld generation for me. I like that the console’s design encouraged creative game mechanics, and it has some of my favourite games of all time. I have a DS Lite, a 3DS and a new 3DS, though I think the original DS line had the better game library compared to the 3DS. The camera and 3D effect were rather gimmicky and didn’t add much value for me.
I think the game that best encapsulates what I love about the DS is The World Ends With You, a JRPG set in modern Tokyo that used both screens at once in its action combat system - to control two different characters. The character on the bottom screen would have you use touch gestures to trigger attacks, while you needed to do button combos to control the character on the top. It was insanely fun!
Other games I liked from the early DS era are Hotel Dusk, a detective game that is played in “vertical mode” so you hold the console like a book - and Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, the original Japanese version of Elite Beat Angels, a rhythm game.
I also played all romance/otome games that were available in English for the DS, my favourite was Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side.
The DS figured out touch-based interactions way better than smartphones which are like the main touch-based “handheld” nowadays. That is because you could dedicate the entire touchscreen to gameplay input, since you still had the top screen to show relevant game information. Smartphones on the other hand need to utilize the entire screen both for input and displaying stuff, which just doesn’t work as well imo.
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Early in the lifetime of the DS, before the 3ds had even been mentioned, a ton of JRPGs released for the platform seemingly in a bid to become the next earthbound or chrono trigger. Most of them were very mediocre, but to this day Contact (published by atlus) and The World Ends With You (square enix) stand out as stellar titles to me. They represent opposite ends of the jrpg spectrum; contact is a grinding game with a very floaty story, whereas TWEWY has an intricate story and a penalty-free swappable easy difficulty setting to help new players cope with the (initially) awkward combat system. Both of them are stand-out in their own ways, with memorable settings and characters supporting the mechanical depth they offer.
Both of them are games that take advantage of the DS’s unique features, not the microphone but the touchscreen. While Contact is pretty easy on the gimmicks, only requiring you to occasionally peel a sticker or something simple like that, TWEWY’s combat flow has you use buttons to control the top screen while simultaneously doing multiple touch screen gestures, making the game difficult to master on the actual DS and unbelievably hard on an emulator.
TWEWY has since had a remaster and a sequel, but contact is seldom mentioned anywhere when I see the DS talked about. Worth a look!
I was going to mention Contact being a unique game, glad I’m not the only one who remembers it fondly. The reviews upon release where not great but I thought it was a pretty good game.
It’s so hard to describe contact. It’s like a more exploratory Rune Factory with no farming sim element and swappable jobs like the final fantasy MMOs. I feel like the audience for the game wasn’t targeted well, as it fell in that era where “core gamers” stopped being a popular target audience (we hardly use the term at all these days).
I also think that the marketing failed hard. I don’t remember seeing any ads for the game, and the marketing in Japan made it seem like a bait and switch for Mother 3. It also released pretty close to the Japanese mother 3 release as well.
Yes, More TWEWY love!! I’m kind of sad that’s the franchise seems to get overlooked a lot
They did end up re-releasing it on Switch and mobile - but the removal of the dual screen combat mechanic seems like a dulling of the game (imo)
The only memory I have of my 3DS is being really into a game and playing for so long that I was really really hungry. Then I turned on the 3D slider to get motion sick and not hungry anymore to continue playing the game. Perfect problem solving skills here.
'Tis a shame your image left out the OG
This is what I came here for. Can’t forget about the chubby one.
And it was the only one able to fully hold a Game Boy Advance cartridge!
Could’t the Lite too? Or is my memory this bad?
It pokes out with the DS Lite :)
Ah, I skipped over the fully part
This was my early high school days. My friend and I would play Mario 64 DS wirelessly across the hall because we were in different classes but close enough for a WiFi connection. Great times. Also, the Metroid demo included with the console was a fun multiplayer experience.
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Completely unique and very difficult to experience with alternative hardware nowadays (compared to the PSP which can be played on nearly everything). The games library is incredibly unique because small budget games still had a big chance to succeed.
My first system I could call my own (not sharing with siblings) was the fat Nintendo DS. It will always be my favourite out of nostalgia.
But my primary DS is my New 3DS, does everything want and plays everything.
For me the DS is the Pokemon machine, from the mainline series to the spin offs. Such a good time to be a fan of Pokemon. Even the knockoffs were fun like Fossil fighters.
The DS was also a good rpg power house the first system I beat Chrono Trigger on.
Then there was the slog of platformers, from new Mario bros, to license of game dubious quality, nicktoons unite anyone?
The 3DS was just an overall disappointment in comparison, game selection was limited and 3rd parties just didn’t give it the time of day. Don’t get me wrong love my 2d Zelda and Metroid revivals on it, but outside of Nintendo games, it didn’t offer me anything.
How do you stand image scaling on 3DS? It’s either poststamp sized or horribly mangled by non-integer scaling on a very low res display. It’s the reason I keep DSi along NN3DS.
Honestly since the New 3DS screen is so small, the slight blurring is negligible to my eyes. So long as there isn’t certificating in the image, like shimmering and or screen tearing, I don’t noticed it.
The most memorable games of the DS era to me were Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky and Dragon Quest IX as well as Bravely Default and Fantasy Life for 3DS. Mystery Dungeons story almost brought me to tears at the end of the main story and I just love the gameplay. DQ IX felt like I could play with friends/family because you create your party how you want it from scratch instead of picking up story relevant characters. In addition I really like the flexibility of the class system. This resulted in a bow wielding paladin that can obviously protect them, but also restore the mana of others and regain it for himself with bow skills and a priest that could give party wide elemental buffs from the ranger type class. Bravely Default because of the same class shenanigans as Dragon Quest. Here I remember making a vampire priest because the vampire gets the ability to potentially revive at the the end of a turn and the priest is the one responsible for reviving everyone else, so he should not stay dead. Fantasy Life was just a cozy grinding game.
My family had about 5 of these between us by the time we started getting into lites and 3d versions. I had the original chunky boy and a 3ds. We took them on holiday and played the brain training multiplayer games. Great fun, my parents even got into them for a bit and they said off video games a long time beforehand.
I got a 1st Gen 3DS second hand some time ago. What I like:
- Pokemon, Zelda, and Animal Crossing.
- The 3D effect and dual cameras are neat, though a little gimmicky.
What I don’t like:
- The heavy reliance upon internet connectivity. I can’t change the details of the account on it without losing access to the downloaded games. I can’t even change it anyway, because the online store is closed.
- The control stick sucks. It’s good for a very flat control stick, but it doesn’t feel nice to use.
- Proprietary power connector.
- The viewing angle on the screen is pretty shallow.
I have a Steam Deck, and it’s just better in all respects. I get that it’s comparing a very new device against an old device, but I don’t really see a reason to pull out the 3DS when I could have a better experience on the SD.
it’s just better in all respects
It’s heavier and uncomfortable to hold (at least if you have small hands)
And you’re entitled to your opinion. I also have small hands, and I don’t find its size or weight to be a problem for me.
My hands are pretty medium sized, and I think it’s the most comfortable portable device I have ever had in my hands. It is however a bit heavy. It’s also not a pocket device like the Gameboy was, although most DS are not very pocketable either.
I upgraded to a New 3DS XL for Monster Hunter because I needed the control nub for camera control. The viewing angle with eye tracking is SO MUCH BETTER.
I did rip out the control nub and replace it with a PSP joystick, improving it vastly.
Hey, that’s good to know!
I bought a Steam Deck just to support the most important thing that ever happened to Linux gaming, but mine has actually just been gathering dust. It’s far too big to really be a handheld, doesn’t fit in my pocket, and does not fill the role that Nintendo’s handhelds served for me. The main thing I do end up using it for is taking Deck + dock to FGC events for a portable setup.
Last year I bought a Miyoo Mini Plus, a little emulator handheld, as an impulse buy because it was on sale super cheap. I ended up putting far more time into it than I ever did with the Deck.
That’s cool. I agree that it’s not as portable as some other options, but it wouldn’t be able to do what it does if it was.
That’s why there’s still good options out there for everyone! It’s a great time for gaming.
My ultimate dream would be to someday get SteamOS running on a DS-sized form factor. Doesn’t need to be beefy, just needs to fit in my pocket and run my favorite 2D indie games.
If it happens, do post to !steamdeck@sopuli.xyz. I know lots of people would be interested.
2DS was a solid brick. It was genius for little kids.
Still is. Better than giving them smartphones and it’s not like there’s a comparable newer device, except for maybe some emulation systems.
I still miss the community gimmicks of the DS/3DS - Miis being shared wirelessly, pictochat, etc etc.
We need more of that
Maybe the best library of all time, my DS collection is massive.
The one thing that’s sad though is how many classics are unlikely to ever see a rerelease. Games that were designed around the hardware just won’t be the same on any other platform.
I have an n3ds xl
Its retired but it was the best handheld (besides the awful cstick Its a beautiful machine,
If you rip out the C-Stick and replace it with a PSP-1000 joystick, it makes it actually usable!
Would it still be able to close?
Yep! Doesn’t touch the screen at all. It snaps right in, too! Made Monster Hunter playable for me hahaha
Nice. If I find a cap for cheap it might be what takes the thing out of retirement. But I’ll admit, the age is starting to show
Oh absolutely. I rarely bust mine out anymore even though it has every game hahaha (modded and R4 for DS games.) Can’t beat a nice round of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! or the second one, though!
3ds might be my favorite system, I really want a third party emulation machine that can capture that form factor so bad. It was just so easy to pop it open and play whatever I was playing and just close the lid. So many hours lost in the monster hunter, pokemon and picross 3d
I’m really hoping someone will step up once the second-hand sales start going up, though it might be hard to emulate the 3ds itself on a small handheld like that.
The demand should be higher compared to other systems you can easily experience on PC or even Switch emulation.
