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NeoGAF's Official Nintendo DS Collecting, Appreciation, and Nostalgia Thread

starmud

Member
Well, they simplified the battles from the -already simple- PS One game. The graphics are decent, the story revolves around a young girl commanding her puppet armies
from the depths of Hell
to rescue a prince. There are also songs. I was disappointed that they didn't keep the original music translations, but I have a feeling that would be impossible considering the rights involved. Atlus made the original translation, NIS released the DS version.

If I were reviewing it, my quick opinion is that -if you like quirky RPGs and don't mind that it's not a 30 hour epic- the game is worthwhile. It's a must own for collectors who are interested in the world that Disgaea is set in. It's also good looking. The style makes me think of games like Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. Also, the attacks are silly.

As for the Mana games? Heroes of Mana is an Strategy game with an epic story and ridiculous looking characters. It controls a bit like StarCraft or Cannon Fodder. Children of Mana is an action RPG which reminds me a bit of Mystery Dungeon games and is mostly fighting off hordes of enemies by quickly tapping your buttons into combos.

Out of the two, Heroes of Mana looks better and has a better story, but Children of Mana was more mindlessly fun.

Witch's Wish from Natsume is *looks at the name of the game again* not the game you asked about.... I had already typed out a long reason on why that should be the game you nab before I noticed you said "Tale" and not Wish. Well.....

Well. I don't own A Witch's Tale. I'll have to fix that oversight. Noted and added to my list to look out for.

Thank you for the feedback :) I'm at a point in my collection where im down to the questionable titles that have little feedback to mixed reviews. I just picked up puchi puchi virus and prey the stars, i found both enjoyable and worthwhile additions to my library.

I feel sold on raphsody and will check out hereos of mana again. Witches wish is an interesting title, I know it has a lot of hate online but its also a cheap and accessible title.
 
Thank you for the feedback :) I'm at a point in my collection where im down to the questionable titles that have little feedback to mixed reviews. I just picked up puchi puchi virus and prey the stars, i found both enjoyable and worthwhile additions to my library.

I feel sold on raphsody and will check out hereos of mana again. Witches wish is an interesting title, I know it has a lot of hate online but its also a cheap and accessible title.

Puchi Puchi Virus and Prey The Stars... what do you think of them in detail?

Witch's Wish has some spots where it's really dialogue heavy with a bland moe/anime style to conversations. (Which look iffy and cheap.) When you're moving around areas like the town and such, the graphics are quite good in a one of the better looking games on the DS way. The music is okay, the story has some heavy handed class warfare elements to it. But it's the magic casting that gets people.

It has Wonderful 101 levels of ridiculously under explained game mechanics that lead to frustration. I hadn't touched much of the game since my backlog is ridiculous. But I started a new game, played through and then spent 30 minutes trying to properly nail out the two lines and a circle needed to cast level 1 fire magic. I finally got it. You need to be exact and slow on the symbol, quick on the circle, and hope it registers. I was playing it on the DS Lite because the DSi XL was charging, the 2DS was in the other room, and I was too lazy to get the 3DS XL off of it's cradle. So, yeah. It's interesting, but damn.. what a horrible curve. I had to bust out one of the larger, heavier styluses for the game.. I usually only use those for art apps..


Edit: I thought being exact worked on the first instance of magic use. Then I ran into the next one and was bombing horribly at it. So, apparently, it's just rough sketch, just go through the basic motions of the symbol and then a quick mostly circle.. umm.. apparently it punishes you for trying to be too exact.

Wow. I can understand the frustration.. they want you to be loose with the magic. o_O

Started the second chapter (Seriously, there is some sort of social 1% VS 99% commentary going on here..) and decided to light the candle. Got it in the first try.

Wow. Okay, then!

Got irritated of trying to take screenshots of this game on the DS Lite.

So, I switched to the 2DS. Although the lighting here is a little "cool." That's because the 2DS is the only light source in the shot....
Btsbu5WIcAAGTxN.jpg

Not bad looking at all.
Btsdjg3CUAErs5D.jpg

I wish DS games had MiiVerse. Seriously. I want some YEAHS! for the terrible captions this inspires.
 

Chopper

Member
Hmm.. please elaborate? I can justify every purchase on that list. Also, always looking to add more to it. Currently, I just added four more titles.
Well, there are quite a few games that wouldn't find their way into my collection, such as Hurry Up Hedgehog, Pimp my Ride: Street Racing, Zenses: Ocean, Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum, Original Frisbee Disc Sports etc. But then, if you can justify them being on your list, my opinion is irrelevant. We're very lucky that the huge diversity within the DS library allows for such individuality between collections.

As far as ommisions are concerned, Ketsui Death Label, Maestro: Jump in Music and PicPic immediately spring to mind. :)
 
Well, there are quite a few games that wouldn't find their way into my collection, such as Hurry Up Hedgehog, Pimp my Ride: Street Racing, Zenses: Ocean, Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum, Original Frisbee Disc Sports etc. But then, if you can justify them being on your list, my opinion is irrelevant. We're very lucky that the huge diversity within the DS library allows for such individuality between collections.

As far as ommisions are concerned, Ketsui Death Label, Maestro: Jump in Music and PicPic immediately spring to mind. :)

Hmm. Ketsui is an import only title, so I'll keep an eye out for it if I ever get to Japan. Because the prices online are all scalpers who have artificially inflated the cost of a shooter that could probably be acquired for under 3000 Yen brand new. Maestro was only released on DSiWare in the USA and I didn't list my digital titles. Pic Pic I will have to import at some point.

Hurry Up Hedgehog was added to the list because it was 50 cents at a garage sale. It's a really weird multi-player puzzle/board game based on a puzzle/board game of the same name.

Pimp My Ride: Street Racing is on here because I like racing games and it looks like this. The actual racing makes me think of Cruisin' USA. (Which was only a decent racer.)

Zenses: Ocean is a weird "relaxation" game with decent puzzle games attached to it. The Zenses series is cheap and it should be pretty simple to track down Zen Garden and Rainforest. Rainforest is the one with the strongest puzzle games. Yeah. I like puzzle games and this has a few that are at a Primrose or Animal Puzzle Challenge level of quality. I'll eventually nab the other two and complete the set.

Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum was $1.99 at GameStop and I wanted to see how they handled the content in the game in comparison to the Wii version. It has a decent planner and a lot of instructional videos. It's not a game mostly, it's a voiced interactive exercise video which is pretty much a good crash course on aerobic exercise. It also runs you through a half hour aerobic session. It's well made for what it is: A fitness app. Sadly, it missed the "wearables" boat that Personal Trainer: Walking takes advantage of. So, it requires you to be honest to it with no way to check up on you.

Original Frisbee Disc Sports is a lot like that Curling DS game in that it's a good representation of a ridiculous sport. Here's the game in action. It's like if someone made a game about Pinewood Derby Racing. The sport isn't big enough to garner a ton of games or even properly large leagues. But it's nice to have a game that actually has enthusiasm for such an odd sport. It was also cheap. I looked up the gameplay and was like: "Oh. Well. That's certainly interesting. I love Golf games and this is just a Golf game.. with a frisbee."

Some games are on here because of their weirdness: Example: My Stop Smoking Coach is a really well made game version of a seminar that people actually pay hundreds to attend. It's also chock full of propoganda and -maybe inaccurate- facts. It's a relic. Speaking of relics, the Driver's Ed game is interesting in that it just allows you to practice the Drivers Test Written portions for all 50 states. A few rules have changed slightly, but generally, it's still accurate in almost all 50 states. An interesting primer on US driving law. I bought "Spanish For Everyone!" because of NeoGaf. That game is full of shit like this and this.

But yeah. I'll keep an eye out for import stuff. My funds are a bit limited, so I've been picking off the obscure stuff that no one thinks about while it's ridiculously cheap and easy to do so.
 

Maximus.

Member
For whatever reason I found out that getting Pokemon Soulsilver or Heartgold was not as easy as I thought. Found a used copy at a store though!
 

Meffer

Member
Found out my Gamestop had some awesome DS games like Radiant Historia, DBZ: Attack of the Saiyans, Ace Attorney: Investigations, Megaman ZX Advent, the Megaman Z collection, both Zeldas'. Got AA:I for $7. I'll get the rest over time.
 

maxcriden

Member
Found out my Gamestop had some awesome DS games like Radiant Historia, DBZ: Attack of the Saiyans, Ace Attorney: Investigations, Megaman ZX Advent, the Megaman Z collection, both Zeldas'. Got AA:I for $7. I'll get the rest over time.

If they have Starfy or Hatsworth for $5, go for it.
 
Slowly but surely, I'm starting to grab the DS games I've always wanted. Today my sealed copy of SoulSilver arrived. I felt like a little giddy kid when it came in the mail. Brand spankin' new. It had the foil box and pokewalker with its battery tag still in place. So happy hahah
I have a brand new copy of Diamond on the way and the entire Ace Attorney series.
I recently purchased the two Kingdom Hearts games (358/2 Days and Re:coded). My Kingdom Hearts game collection is now complete.
I'm going to start on the Dragon Quest games next, which I know there are quite a few haha. I only own IX so far.
 
Slowly but surely, I'm starting to grab the DS games I've always wanted. Today my sealed copy of SoulSilver arrived. I felt like a little giddy kid when it came in the mail. Brand spankin' new. It had the foil box and pokewalker with its battery tag still in place. So happy hahah

How much did that cost you? I feel like I got mine just before prices started to skyrocket; $35 for the last copy at a BestBuy a year ago.
 
How much did that cost you? I feel like I got mine just before prices started to skyrocket; $35 for the last copy at a BestBuy a year ago.

I paid $70 for it. I know, I know, really expensive :( but it's the cheapest I've seen for a brand new copy.
I would have done jumping jacks if I had seen a copy at Best Buy for that price!
 

Yasawas

Member
I dunno, there are so many... I'm looking at Mega Man 5 Battle Network Double Team DS (EU version) for about 15 euro's and I'm thinking this might be a nice bargain.

I'm surprised how cheap they seem to be in Europe, not complaining though.

Do I need to play the Dragon Quest games in order or are they separate stories? I got 6 and 9 dirt cheap last week but that was all they had and I didn't realise there was a 4 and a 5 on DS too.
 

Xhorder

Member
I'm surprised how cheap they seem to be in Europe, not complaining though.

Do I need to play the Dragon Quest games in order or are they separate stories? I got 6 and 9 dirt cheap last week but that was all they had and I didn't realise there was a 4 and a 5 on DS too.

It's the cheapest one I could find. It's not really a common as far as I can tell. But I guess Mega Man Zero Collection could be a nice one to start with. It's cheap as well usually.

As for Dragon Quest, I only played the one on PS2, but as far I know it's always a different story and cast of characters (like Final Fantasy), so you can play them in any order you want.
 
I figure this would be a good thread to ask in...

I've kinda got the urge to pick up a DS Lite to play GBA games on, but I'm a little hesitant about what's a fair price for used or what's the best option to grab one.

I'm guessing Craigslist for local, but how bad are Gamestop's used systems? Will they let you have a look at it before buying?

If not buying local, I would guess eBay is better than say Amazon, if for no other reason, eBay sellers will have a picture of the item opposed to Amazon's text descriptions.

Thanks for any tips!
 
I figure this would be a good thread to ask in...

I've kinda got the urge to pick up a DS Lite to play GBA games on, but I'm a little hesitant about what's a fair price for used or what's the best option to grab one.

I'm guessing Craigslist for local, but how bad are Gamestop's used systems? Will they let you have a look at it before buying?

If not buying local, I would guess eBay is better than say Amazon, if for no other reason, eBay sellers will have a picture of the item opposed to Amazon's text descriptions.

Thanks for any tips!

How active are garage sales in your area? I have been able to purchase a few cheap DSLites from garage sales the past. Quality can range dramatically depending on the previous owner, but I have been able to get an adult-owned one with minimal use.
 
How active are garage sales in your area? I have been able to purchase a few cheap DSLites from garage sales the past. Quality can range dramatically depending on the previous owner, but I have been able to get an adult-owned one with minimal use.

Hm, never considered garage sales. Thanks!
 

maxcriden

Member
Hm, never considered garage sales. Thanks!

If garage sales don't work out, I think craigslist will probably be cheaper than GS, although I should say I was pleased overall with the quality of the DS Lite I got used there last November. Also, this probably goes without saying, but I always tell people if they're using craigslist to meet in a public, busy place for safety purposes.
 

Xhorder

Member
Last week I looked for some of the cheaper more interesting DS games in a couple of local online shops. I bought these:

Mega Man 5 Battle Network Double Team DS
I didn't see the game in any other shop (and only one on local Ebay) and it looks kind of interesting. I'm totally not familiar with all the Mega Man games that came after Mega Man X, but this one seems kinda Pokemon'ish. The voices are pretty bad, but funny in a way.

Kirby Power Paintbrush
This one was way cheaper than the ones on Ebay and since everyone regards this Kirby as a must have I bought it. I think I'd rather play a game with normal controls, the touch controls are a bit gimmicky nowadays, but so far it looks kind of interesting. I'll put some time in it.

Mystery Dungeon Shiren the Wanderer
For 7 euro's I couldn't go wrong with this roguelike. I always wanted to play this game and after roguelikes have become quite common and popular in the last two years it's really nice to play one of the earlier games (since it's a SNES remake).
 

maxcriden

Member
Last week I looked for some of the cheaper more interesting DS games in a couple of local online shops. I bought these:

Kirby Power Paintbrush
This one was way cheaper than the ones on Ebay and since everyone regards this Kirby as a must have I bought it. I think I'd rather play a game with normal controls, the touch controls are a bit gimmicky nowadays, but so far it looks kind of interesting. I'll put some time in it.

Keep at it. It takes some time but gets amazing.
 

daydream

Banned
Added a few more smaller titles to my library, Maestro! Jump in Music, Devil Survivor 2 (maybe superfluous if we end up getting the 3DS version one day) and Scurge: Hive.
 

Meffer

Member
Got Fossil Fighter Champions about a day ago, and it's rather good. The story is cheesy but the real meat is cleaning fossils to get better ranks and make your Vivosaurs stronger, and the battles. Prep before battles take a good bit of thinking since you have to consider how you want to build your team since three actively partake in battle. If you want a battle monster collecting game that's pretty decent and different from Pokemon, this is a good cheap choice. Got it for about about $2.
 

Stencil

Member
I used to have the most games for my DS of any console I ever owned.

One day I got sick of looking at the boxes and purged.

That said, I kept the ones that were dear to me, or ones I didn't get around to playing and thought I might down the road. I'm glad I kept Retro Game Challenge; didn't know it was worth anything. I bought it on the cheap! Love that game. Also have a sealed first edition of 4 Heroes of Light.

If I could only keep one DS game for the rest of my life, it would be Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer. I. Love. That. Game. Endless fun & challenge.
 

Xhorder

Member
If I could only keep one DS game for the rest of my life, it would be Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer. I. Love. That. Game. Endless fun & challenge.

I just bought it. Luckily it was never played (since I heard you can't delete saves). I wish I had some more time to dive into it, but it does seem a game I would really like.
 

Weegee

Member
My recent nes/snes collecting has also spilled into collecting DS games. One reason is that I still have all my 30 ds games with boxes and manuals. I need to stop buying games lol. I'm spending way too much money at once. I'm really upset that I lent my pokemon soulsilver to my nephew and he is currently still looking for it. I still have the pokewalker though.


The DS is such a great system. There are so many different genres and quality titles on the system. When I got my ds, I remember contemplating giving up console gaming because I was so satisfied with the games I was playing on my dslite.

I recently picked up Spirit Tracks, Advance wars days of ruin, fire emblem dragon sword, tetris ds, kirby mass attack, and Castlevania, Order of Ecclesia.
 

maxcriden

Member
My recent nes/snes collecting has also spilled into collecting DS games. One reason is that I still have all my 30 ds games with boxes and manuals. I need to stop buying games lol. I'm spending way too much money at once. I'm really upset that I lent my pokemon soulsilver to my nephew and he is currently still looking for it. I still have the pokewalker though.


The DS is such a great system. There are so many different genres and quality titles on the system. When I got my ds, I remember contemplating giving up console gaming because I was so satisfied with the games I was playing on my dslite.

I recently picked up Spirit Tracks, Advance wars days of ruin, fire emblem dragon sword, tetris ds, kirby mass attack, and Castlevania, Order of Ecclesia.

Oh dude. Mass attack is amazing. You need Ghost Trick, too!
 

daydream

Banned
The DS is such a great system. There are so many different genres and quality titles on the system. When I got my ds, I remember contemplating giving up console gaming because I was so satisfied with the games I was playing on my dslite.

I recently picked up Spirit Tracks, Advance wars days of ruin, fire emblem dragon sword, tetris ds, kirby mass attack, and Castlevania, Order of Ecclesia.

I didn't think about giving up console gaming, but there was definitely a period where I wasn't playing much on consoles, at all. Probably lasted several months.

Great pickups btw. Is Tetris DS still rare? If not, I urge everyone to buy it, it's incredible.
 

Weegee

Member
I didn't think about giving up console gaming, but there was definitely a period where I wasn't playing much on consoles, at all. Probably lasted several months.

Great pickups btw. Is Tetris DS still rare? If not, I urge everyone to buy it, it's incredible.
I paid 80 dollars new for it on amazon.
 
The DS is my all-time favorite system. I remember first buying a DS Phat in 2005 after getting my first job. I bought Super Mario 64 DS and Polarium with it. It gave me my first experience importing games: Both Ouendan games, and Gyakuten Saiban II, so I could play Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney-Justice for All a few months ahead of the American release.

Then in 2006, the DS Lite was announced, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to upgrade. Then I saw a Best Buy demo unit with New Super Mario Bros, and the difference the brightness made was like night and day to me. So E3 came and went, and the only American color coming was white, so I became impatient and imported the Ice Blue DS Lite. It lasted me a good year until the hinge broke. Sent it in to Nintendo, and since it was an import, I got a replacement unit. They offered me a choice of colors, including the then-rare blue-and-black and red-and-black. I chose pink because I like picking unpopular options. I still have it to this day.

Notable games in my collection:

-Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow: Back in 2006, I had only heard of Castlevania in passing, but one night I had a dream that I bought Dawn of Sorrow, which came with this thick book that not only was the strategy guide, but also had a detailed history of the Castlevania timeline. I got the GBA Double Pack (Harmony of Dissonance/Aria of Sorrow), and fell in love. Because of DoS's rarity, I had to buy from Konami's website. Also, I love the other two DS games, say what you will about Portrait of Ruin.
-Clubhouse Games: Learned how to play a few card games on here, some better than others. Also completed my first game of Solitaire with it.
-Elite Beat Agents: Rarely has a game gotten me so excited and hyped to play. After playing Ouendan, I wanted that Americanization announced at E3 2006. It didn't matter what people said about the soundtrack, I still loved it, and like Guitar Hero (mentioned below), it introduced me to a few new songs I enjoy.
-Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades: I didn't want to invest the money and space into the bigger instruments for Wii, so I got this instead. Despite the cramps and limited tracklist, it was my first Guitar Hero game, and it formally introduced me to Journey, among other songs and bands.
-Mega Man Star Force 3: Black Ace: Many people dropped the Battle Network series after 3, but I kept going, and continued into Star Force. Despite bludgeoning the Power of Friendship over your head, I did enjoy the series, and 3 is the best of them.
-Pokemon Diamond: It took me about a year to beat, and it signaled my fatigue with Pokemon, even though I went and bought SoulSilver afterwards. I took a break after a while with Black, but came back with Black 2, and I'm still excited about Alpha Sapphire.
-Super Princess Peach: This game could easily have been shovelware, and despite being stupidly easy, it's still a lengthy, fun platformer.
-WarioWare Touched: I just bought it because it was rare. Still a good game though.

I also have a photo to share: My DS multi-cart cases I got from Club Nintendo (the one with the styluses has the Animal Crossing cover with the fireworks), my DS Lite and 3DS, and the box for my Ice Blue DS Lite.
10672089_856953420983836_3478471940017412884_n.jpg
 
That's neat that they offer replacements on import hardware. I wonder if their stance has changed since then now that their handhelds are region locked?
 

Weegee

Member
I picked up Pokemon Heart Gold with the plastic case, pokewalker and manuals from my friend for 20 bucks today! Everything looks to be in great condition. I also bought Professor layton and the last specter for 30 bucks at Walmart as well. Not a deal but it's a little higher on amazon.
 
I picked up Pokemon Heart Gold with the plastic case, pokewalker and manuals from my friend for 20 bucks today! Everything looks to be in great condition. I also bought Professor layton and the last specter for 30 bucks at Walmart as well. Not a deal but it's a little higher on amazon.
Weird. I've also bought both these games within the last 2 weeks. Except I got Soul Silver, not Heart Gold. And the cover of the manual was torn off. (I was devastated when I found that out.)
 
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