Best Nintendo DS game of 2008

A strong year! Leaving off Chrono Trigger, since that just seems unfair - included Rhythm Tengoku and Fire Emblem, though I think they belong on the next year's poll as with Retro Game Challenge. Also not included: Bleach: Dark Soul, Crosswords DS, all DSiWare, Disgaea DS, Dragon Ball Origins, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, Lock's Quest, Kirby Super Star Ultra, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Race Driver: GRID, Rhapsody, Rune Factory 2, Soul Bubbles, Trackmania, Trauma Center 2, Viva Pinata, Korg DS-10, and both Guitar Hero games.

I'm especially curious since most of my favorite games this year are the ones I got around to from last year, such as Contra IV and Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations, I've played virtually nothing from this list. Of the ones I did play, I'd probably go with Layton.

quite a strong year huh o_O

Uh, are you being sarcastic or agreeing? I'm honestly not sure...

a lot of REALY good games there. including ones you left off! i voted for TWEWY, though.

I'm going with Space Invaders, but only because I hate fiscal solvency enough to have ordered the paddle too.

oh sorry I was being agreeable; the DS has had a crazy good year

just look at the games you left off hence the o_O; its year has been better than the consoles tbh

oh yeah, is GRID on the DS any cop?

I tried CoD4 on it and it was... OK if a little disconcerting

I'm not sure about 3D DS games if I'm being honest; besides trackmania

you forgot trackmania

sorry last post: obv these are only the games with western releases: some of the japanese releases this year have been capital h HOTT

disagree, but only because the DS' last two years have been so unremittingly cockpunchingly amazing. for me, it's Chrono Trigger/Space Invaders/TWEWY and then a looooooooooooooooooooooooooong dropoff.

(xxpost)

wut? space invaders is fun but it's not all that imo; just personal opinion clashing now but these games straight up rule

aw: days of ruin
bangai-o
castlevanie: OoE
DQ IV (remake)
FFT A2
FE: DS (remake)
ninja gaiden
layton
rhythm tengoku
twewy
trackmania
chrono trig
lock's quest
time hollow

and probably 4/5 others I forgot to mention

czn you need to play SI extreme on a PSP with good headphones. IT IS LIKE IF THEY MADE BASEMENT JAXX INTO A VIDEOGAME

yeah I ws just bein flippant cs jamesc ws stylin on me; I def need to give SIE more of my time

aw: days of ruin
layton
FFT A2

I likes my puzzle games as abstract as possible, either like straight-up pen-and-paper stuff like Slitherlink or geometrical action stuff like Tetris. games where I have to "discern" "solutions" to "problems" always leave me feeling all http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e133/dustt10/JugHomerSm.gif

bangai-o - in sharp contrast to the above statement, this is an excellent game but there's a geometric correlation between its increasing abstractness and my complete boredom with it. it feels like the game equivalent of Warhol making his point about "watching" in Empire imo. it just disappears up its own ass into a singularity. I really do wish I enjoyed it more :(

castlevanie: OoE - the best thing about discovering Cave Story is that now I never have to worry about paying attention to another Castlevania game ever

DQ IV (remake) - meh, RPGs as a whole I can take or leave, especially random-encounter-y turn-based ones. my loss, I'm sure, but to reiterate: meh

FE: DS (remake) - ?

ninja gaiden - oh, this is actually good? I was moderately interested in it prerelease but assumed the lack of fawning praise meant it turned out to be a heap of doodooberries

rhythm tengoku - waiting for the localization

trackmania - did not play

lock's quest - haven't played, but for whatever reason I've never really been able to get into tower defense games. I probably like PJM the most out of any of the ones I've ever played.

time hollow - dnw adventure games either

tl;dr: okay maybe "bad year" was overstating things, but overall how dare game companies make games for anyone other than me

how dare they dare to dream!

i liked a lot of DS games this year but DRONE TACTICS was the best game i played. one of the most thought-out battle systems in a very long time it allows a lot of drone customizing w/o requiring you to keep flow charts or endlessly replay maps.

the story is awful even by, well, any standard but it's almost flawlessly designed providing depth w/o needless complexity and its super FUN. total opposite of fallout 3

some of the japanese releases this year have been capital h HOTT

d33tz pl33z

Ah okay cozwn, I was just confused and wondering. Totally agree about it having a better than year than the consoles. I looked up Trackmania and realized it won't even be out in the US until March, and Atlus of all people is bringing it here. I should probably give that free version on Steam a shot.

Interesting mention of Drone Tactics- I remember when the reviews came out, it gave off that impression of being really deep/addictive for certain players, but not for everyone, not necessarily even all fans of the genre.

I probably should've put in more Japanese titles, but I'm pretty clueless about them - what else came out? Or even some games like Time Hollow, I didn't hear about until a few weeks ago and didn't realize it DID get a US release.

After playing A LOT of proper Trackmania on PC over the last week, I gotta say I'm less excited now for the ds port, as I just think so much of what makes that game great is going to be cut back (or out, like the online play). Still interested in it though.

SO MANY GAMES!

I played these:

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Dragon Quest IV
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Space Invaders Extreme
The World Ends With You

Order of Ecclesia is my pick. Apollo Justice and Days of Ruin are also great. Burn Layton.

d33tz pl33z

I'm sure there are more (my pal has mentioned dozens in passing) but these are the ones he has been eulogising and what he's told me abt them

inazuma eleven
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/59/Inazuma.jpg
looks like there's a crapload to do and discover in this game; aesthetics are nice, story is a bit trad but at least this time it's about football; not a football game obv but the football mechanic in itself well suited to insane turn-based FF-esque fireworks madness; suikoden/pokemon catch-em-all element of bagging all team members hikes the addiction factor

valkyrie profile
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/Valkyrie_Profile_The_Accused_One.jpg
multi-tiered storyline that branches basically on who you decide to kill for your motives or how you can use the game system in your favor to avoid it and the karma that results from your choices; pretty difficult tactical goofiness; RPG with four-player beat-em-up shenanigans

avalon code
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/AvalonCodeDS.jpg
graphics here look warm and soft, game looks a bit silly (e.g. there's a prophets book which you use to change the rules of the game as you see fit); battles look neat too

wind of nostalgia
http://www.dsfanboy.com/media/2008/07/wind-of-nostalgia-debut-dsf.jpg
first tecmo RPG and it echoes back to grandia, wild arms and skies of arcadia! presentation looks a bit... charming? but I can get w/that. puzzles/dungeons look indiana jones too me with lots of traps/puzzles/mysteries/rot and intrigue; DQ old-school battling here but there are ship battles which allow for deep and addictive customisation of yr ship;

world destruction

apparently (according to my japanese friend) "this game reeks of some major RPG fan weirdo in his tower cackling at top of his lungs" which sounds alright to me and it is nothing like xenogears;

knights in the nightmare
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9d/Knights_in_the_Nightmare_cover.jpg
riviera/baroque/yggdra union-like and so doesn't quite play like other RPGs; as usual with these apparently v. hard to understand initially, but gameplay deepens w/ur understanding; pretentious storyline; looks kinda like... dare I say it... a castlevania tactics?

away: shuffle dungeon
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/Awaysd.jpg
terranigma/soul blader/actraiser-like; apparently the main is a bit underdeveloped esp. given its been 16 years since soul blader/dark chronicle but the game itself is meant to be pretty involved; has a neat late game twist; the gimmick here is the dungeons "shuffle": it's more than just a random generator and more like a deck of cards: i.e. do you hit or draw?

sigma harmonics
http://www.shopncsx.com/images/products/detail/sigma_harmonics.jpg
RPG where you talk to people to solve murders, collecting pieces of a 'logic' called 'sound fragments'. the main character then orchestrates these into super logic that solves the murder. along the way you need to purify evil with a shrine girl and that too is a quite peculiar rhythm card game one-person party battle system; the game lets you reach conclusions that are not exactly the real truth

glorious light of heracles: proof of soul
http://www.wiiwii.tv/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/heracles.jpg
incredibly complex RPG (aren't they all)

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3
http://www.gamingwithchildren.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/taiko2box.jpg

^taiko no tatsujin DS; perfectly playable if you don't spk japanese

always loved the cover of daigasso band bros. DX but could never make head nor tail of the game (I didn't try too hard tbh : /)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/34/Daigasso!.jpg

^^apparently v.good btw

thought this was 08 but it was 07 o_O
http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007/03/m-06_ds.jpg

rly want to try this and has a US release coming I think

maybe I shd give daigasso another shot doesn't look too tricky and looks fun (full disclosure: I got stumped at the menus last time : / sighhhhhh roms)

Whoa, except for Valkyrie and Taiko I don't think I've heard of any of those! They sound pretty cool. I doubt we're gonna get that Front Mission game, unfortunately - I think FM 1st sold pretty badly here (really fast price drops at the end of '07), and according to Wikipedia 2089 didn't even sell super well in Japan (only 50k). We are gonna get Valkyrie in March, though!

Daigasso looks kind of entertaining, but given Elite Beat Agents/Ouendan came out so long ago, I think it would feel weird to step back to schmaltzy midi cover versions of songs for our rhythm games...

latest envoi from .jp pal:

"Baccano! - sound novel with a lot of endings, based on an awesome novel

Afterschool Boy (Houkago Shonen) - like the My Summer Vacation games, it's about being a little boy who enjoys his childhood

The Penguin's Problem - A sidescrolling Castlevania-alike from Konami where you can equip three different parts of a penguin that changes his powers. Very unpretentiously fun.

Theresia - An extremely warped and messed up horror adventure game

The Legend of Kage 2 - The sequel to the possibly little known Famicom original and way better than the original in every way. Like Space Invaders Extreme, a great remix on an old gem.

The Dentist - Manage a dentist's office while you also solve the problems of various patients using touch screen controls, a much more detailed sim-like game than Trauma Center.

Flower, Sun and Rain - Suda 51's delightfully loopy (though warning, only for certain tastes) adventure game makes it to the DS with a few cool new touches

Rupupu Cube Loop Star Salad - a sidescrolling pure puzzler like Lolo or Mole Mania with awesome full vocal songs and a really charming sidestory to go along with it, probably my favorite little gem of the year

Detective Jinguji Saburo: Unclear Heart - A return of Kind of Blue's interrogation systems and more thorough use of the touch screen in a longer main adventure mean while this may not include as much of the series history as the first game did it's ultimately a deeper game

The Tower of Illusion and Mist, The Law of the Sword - While it kind of peters out in terms of party strategy in the late stages, the sidequests, fun little details and attention to level design is top class

Where the Command Takes You (Saihai no Yukue) - It's basically a Phoenix Wright, except instead of court cases you are convincing ancient Japanese warlords to join your cause for world domination

Elminage Remix - another Wizardry-like, except this time with more of an emphasis on party construction and a creepy atmosphere and plot, since its an enhanced release of a PS2 game, it's very polished

Culdcept DS - the latest addition in the classic board game RPG series you may have played on the PS2 or Xbox 360, the strategy is as good as ever here and its finally portable, yay! It ever comes your way, fans of tactical or strategy games such as Advance Wars would do well to check it out

Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero - A great overhead 2D adventure game that uses the sucking Elebits action of the Wii game and special puzzley elebits to make a fresh and well-paced, well-designed action adventure game"

o_O

knights in the nightmare looks 99x more B O N K E R S than the already v.v. B O N K E R S yggdra union

The Legend of Kage 2 is out for cheap in N.A. ($20) - have been wanting to pick it up, but haven't got around to it. Supposedly Culdcept DS is coming here too, but no release date yet - I've never played the series, but the DS version sounds like a good place to start. Woah, I really like the artwork & sound on that knights in the nightmare clip - thanks for posting

The Penguin's Problem!

penguin's problem sounds brilliant

I think this must be it: penguin no mondai saikyou penguin densetsu

http://www.shopncsx.com/images/products/detail/penguin_mondai.jpg

this year i mostly just played picross. no diamond/pearl on the list tho!

picross is great; so tricky!

there's a 3D picross coming to DS this year O_O

Flower, Sun and Rain

is this the same as the PS2 game?

first tecmo RPG

lol secret of the stars

knights in the nightmare = WANT

Flower Sun & Rain is Suda51's DS game. EG review is not encouraging.

yeah, Flower Sun & Rain is a port of the ps2 game

guys the japanese have a game where you put a gundam helmet on a penguin

Picross is great, Pic Pic is (I think) even better. Both are pre 08 though, aren't they?

I think Layton will win this.

yeah sorry, i just meant i spent so much time playing picross i didn't have any time for other games this year!

what was the final consensus on ffta2? i think i ended up putting in about 150 hours but i can't remember if i actually finished the story mode

i dont remember much about it at all actually which i guess says a lot
still voted for it tho

I think most people who play the FFT games don't finish them, because you really get into that initial rush, but then it tends to be a real slog to get to the story ending. At least, that's how I felt about FFTA 1 (and I never even beat the original Tactics). I will probably succumb and pick up FFTA2 at some point during the year, hopefully, on budget pricing along with some other great 2008 releases.

I beat the original Tactics when I played it back in '99, but I was laid up with a dislocated ankle and couldn't do anything else for a couple of weeks. So yeah, if you ever want to beat one of those, go get seriously injured.

I didn't vote for anything else on a list with TWEWY, but Ninjatown deserves some praise. It's the first and only tower defense game to hook me in thus far. Probably not as good as Layton or Advance Wars or the new Castlevania (none of which I have played), but a really good game nonetheless.

some nice looking jp titles upcoming in 2009:

the inagumi family
big bang mini
destiny links

SMT devil survivor

one of the most thought-out battle systems in a very long time it allows a lot of drone customizing w/o requiring you to keep flow charts or endlessly replay maps.

Cozen/others please recommend me DS games which require me to keep flow chart and endlessly replay maps! Would like to play.

I only play ace attorney games on my DS it seems like..
on that note - the 5th game in the series will be a adventure game (and court battle game) called Miles Edgeworth - Perfect Prosecutor (unofficial title)
http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/868/868222/ace-attorney-perfect-prosecutor-unofficial-title-20080421115008143_640w.jpg

yay
http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/933/933808/perfect-prosecutor-screens-20081125020453209_640w.jpg

It's a different series, I think - there'll be a fifth Ace Attorney game but this won't be it.

yeah fifth in the uhhh ace attorney world, is what I meant

Bahhhhhhhhh Gravel that game is Etrian Odyssey (one or two).

Picross ate my mind and time! I can't really do expert level.

I am actually enjoying Word Jong a lot. It involves making words and my brain is now back in the habit of constantly making anagrams when I'm walking around town.

Wld like to know some nice U.S.er titles coming out in '09 since all this promise of penguin is kind of killing me with its unfulfilledness.

I sat next to some dude on the train today who was playing what looked like Tetris and Balloon Fight at once. With a pen. What is this game?

meteos?

ummm tetris ds?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

there's such a robust wapanese fanbase over here, yet japan keeps holding back on all these crazy titles - what's the deal

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Curses on all of you who voted for Professor Layton - you just made me by another game tonight that I don't have time for. Also Knights in the Nightmare drooled over above is apparently coming to North America later this year from Atlus (according to this week's leak from amazon.ca)

layton's great but impossible to find over here (and when you do find it, it's £50)

that's great news about knights : )

all getting english releases early this year btw: sands of destruction (world destruction), knights in the nightmare, final fantasy chrystal chronicles: echoes of time, valkyrie profile, ys 1 & 2, the dark spire (the law of the sword and the tower of illusions), blue dragon plus, dragon quest V, my world my way (the world revolves around me), black sigil, infinite space, suikoden tierkreis, avalon code

ys 1 & 2? a ds version? i remember playing the first ys back on the day on the master system. (my big brother had to work out how to finish it for me.)

lol, i think i voted for castlevania on five different computers.

layton's great but impossible to find over here (and when you do find it, it's £50)

try the internet ??? i just checked amazon uk and its 25 of your currency units

lol forks i think i voted twice in this by accident as well...

my sentence was based on stock levels in the week running up to christmas 08, I shoulda reresearched before running my mouth I kno

I'm really surprised that Castlevania showed up so highly on the poll! Not that I doubt it's great, but being the third DS title in the series it seemed overshadowed by many other games this year.

I finally got around to playing The World Ends With You - I love it! Great battle system, chock full of innovative ideas. I might have switched my vote off of Layton if I'd gotten around to playing it earlier, making the top 3 vote-getters even closer.

And it's nuts how many good looking games are coming out soon - most of the stuff cozwn mentioned is coming out here in February and March, not to mention Retro Game Challenge, Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, Fire Emblem, Steal Princess, Trackmania, Harry Hatsworth and GTA: Chinatown Wars.

castlevania: OoE is the best nds castlevania imo

http://i43.tinypic.com/k4fmep.png