Download Naraka: Bladepoint for free on all platforms gsght.com/c/sijj41 and celebrate the game’s 2nd anniversary! Join the discord group: discord.gg/narakabladepoint We've done just about every other Nintendo platform, why not give the DS a try? What's a strange or forgotten Nintendo DS game you've played? Lemme know! Also HELLO, AVENGERS WILL BE OUT IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS. MY FINGERS ARE TURNING TO DUST.
OnTaMaRaMa. Almost every "forgotten DS games" video neglects it despite the fact that it had a great soundtrack of original music (and also the memetic "Let's Go! Onmyouji")
My best friend passed away over a year ago and his mother gave me all of his games. One of them was Mario Hoops 3 on 3 and I have never heard of that one before. So seeing it brought up in this video reminded me of him
One of the cool things about Solo to Robo is when it feels like you "beat" the game basically the game starts up again with a new intro movie and you essentially get to play a sequel right there and then. It honestly felt like two games in one.
Contact will always be at the top of my list. An RPG made by Grasshopper Manufacture, it really took advantage of the system's two screens with each one in their own style as two characters interact. Just so unique and I just don't hear it talked about like at the time I expected it would be. I guess it's something rather different from Grasshopper so that also plays into it I am sure.
Dragon Quest IX, the forgotten entry in the series. Honestly one of my top games of all time. Great story, 4 way multiplayer, and so much content! Also that Little Red Riding Hood zombie game might be connected to that Wiiware title Zombie Panic in Wonderland. Had that Momotaro, Snow White and Dorothy shooting the undead and bosses in fairytale areas.
DQIX really is a fantastic game. Maybe they don't want to deal with the multiplayer components to rerelase it again, but you can take all of it out (I never used it once) and it's still one of the best DQ games. I even bought a second copy to replay it from the beginning 😂 and would do it again if released on Switch, hear me Square-Enix?!
Yes, Zombie Panic in Wonderland is from the same devs as Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ. And yeah, DQ9 is my second favorite RPG of all time and my favorite Dragon Quest...basically the ONLY mainline Dragon Quest I like other than 3.
Three DS games I'd never even heard of before a few years ago have turned out to be my favourite ones of the whole lineup. Radiant Historia, Contact DS, Infinite Space Last Window (the sequel to Hotel Dusk) is another one because it didn't get a UK release, so it was only ever sold via US imports. Along with the sister series; Code R. It's kinda weird just how many hidden gems get less spotlight than their GBA counterparts.
I know it's Jp exclusive, but my main nom for a forgotten DS title would be Sigma Harmonics from SQEX/Think Garage. A turn-based RPG you hold like a book, written and directed by Hiroki Chiba inspired by Showa-era mystery novels, with character art by Yusaku Nakaaki, and music by Masashi Hamauzu. It just looks and sounds phenominal!
Stoppp im still waiting for some brave soul to try and fan translated it but i hear the way the game was made its almost impossible smh i would play it with a english guide but not one exist yet
Phantasy Star Zero is hands down one of my favorite games on the DS. Definitely a must play for classic PSO fans. Not as much content as PSOBB, obviously, but it's a stellar expansion of some of PSO's ideas without going overboard like PSU or doing a 180 like in PSU. I just wish playing online on a DS/3DS wasn't such a pain due to the DS's encryption limitations :/
Pokemon Conquest is probably one of the most underrated Pokemon games. Fun strategy, endless campaigns and ways to play, and so addicting! Plus you get to fight Nobunaga! Stupidly overpriced but no one played it back in the day!
Oh man, I remember when Pokemon Conquest came out! I loved it so much, that I tried to imagine a sequel with the cast from Dynasty Warriors instead of Samurai Warriors. Cao Cao being the main villain, of course.
The game did really badly in sales and it didn't help that it came out 3 months before B2W2 dropped in Japan and most fans over there were probably holding out for that plus it's part of a long running franchise of strategy games that alienated potential audiences. I know it didn't fare much better here even with the name recognition of Samurai Warriors behind it as Nobunaga's Ambition isn't that popular here in the States.
NO JOKE- When Austin asked what kinds of forgotten and obscure DS Games we've played the first one that came to my mind was Trace Memory, and HE BROUGHT IT UPPP! Such a good one, I have such nostalgia for that game
i actually started playing Trace Memory about 4 days before i saw this video because i resurrected my 3DS and have a buttload of DS games i never finished, and some i've never even played
For me, that one obscure DS game I fell in love with was Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times (aka "Tongari Boushi to Mahou no 365 Nichi" in Japan, or "Enchanted Folk and the School of Wizardry" in Europe). It's pretty much an Animal Crossing type game made by Aquria and Konami, but with a heavy fantasy theme, with unique mechanics like learning magic spells and investigating supernatural events. It's kinda like if Animal Crossing: Wild World was set in Halloween Town, and I *love* the art style that comes with it. It's definitely got some jank (and the localization wasn't the best), but I adore it so, so much. It's a big comfort game for me, and I could play it any day at the drop of a hat. It was even popular enough in Japan to get a handful of sequels on the DS and even the 3DS, but the similarities to Animal Crossing probably doomed it overseas. Didn't help that it was released months after Animal Crossing: City Folk in both North America and Europe, either. But it still means a lot to me, and I'm glad I found it.
My personal favorite weird DS game is Daigasso: Band Bros, and the sequel - DX. They were fully featured MIDI music makers. They got me into music production, and were great rhythm games to boot. DX even let you connect to the internet and download other people's creations or upload your own.
I missed the entire DS generation since I was busy working at the time. It's just unbelievable how many good games are on this system. I will definitely have to check some of these out!
I played a lot of this game called Dinosaur King on the DS. It's basically a Pokemon-like RPG where you collect and battle with dinosaurs. Apparently it has an anime and manga too, but I was unaware of that until I just looked it up to remember the title.
I remember having the anime in the background one day (I think I'd just left the channel on while playing games on my DS or laptop), all I remember about it is that I'm PRETTY SURE the antagonists were voiced by the same people as Jessie and James from the Pokémon anime, and the 3D CG dinosaurs did not look good
solatorobo is an excellent inclusion, but i can't be a little disappointed that lost magic wasn't on this list anywhere. it really is a shame, it's one of the better forgotten titles. banger video on one of my favorite consoles of all time, though. thanks for that.
I'd say my most obscure ds games that I own is probably Avalon Code, the worlds ending and you get some magic book to document the things in the world before its destroyed. people, plants etc. smack everything with the book. I was pretty adventurous during the ds era, game prices were just so low and I got so many good games for $20-30.
I love The Sims 2 for DS. Running a hotel in Strangetown, fighting mafia goons and robots as the Ratticator. Using a water gun to defeat aliens. Meeting Bigfoot in the basement and playing the casino card game for hours on end. Getting all the arcade machines to play a variety of mini games. Dissecting aliens for money. There's so much to it and it plays in real time akin to Animal Crossing.
Another point about solatrobo (that luckily didn't get entirely lost to time) are the free downloadable quests. They are all just neat mini-stories, but thanks to the old nintendo ds online system being 100% dead, the only version that has them without any workarounds is the US release, which had all of them installed from the get-go since it released a bit after the european and japanese versions. Still, despite the limited (and a bit repetitive) combat, the story, setting and characters still make me love it to death. If you want to help make the combat even faster, invest in the hydraulics and attack stats for the robot.
One forgotten Nintendo DS game I'm surprised you didn't talk about is Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. Whenever people talk about the modern Ninja Gaiden games, they're always referring to the trilogy on consoles. But there was also one made exclusively for the Nintendo DS, and it's surprisingly fun, if a bit easy compared to the home console entries. It's also the only modern Ninja Gaiden game to use the classic Act Intro jingle from the original 8 bit trilogy, and I really wish that was mainstay for the rest of the series.
I remember downloading a demo for that game off the Nintendo Channel on Wii back in the day. It stuck out to me as the one really fun demo available for a game I didn't already own! I really ought to track down the full version one of these days...
@12:37 Fun fact. When Square was creating Final Fantasy, they knew they wanted the title to be 'FF'. They wanted to try Fighting Fantasy but found the trademark for the name already being used by the books mentioned her, leading to them using Final Fantasy instead.
6:38 Someone NOT dunking on Golden Sun Dark Dawn? Unexpected, but not unwelcome. 9:28 Mario Hoops 3 on 3 is an extremely forgotten Title for me. Mostly because I know the game as Mario Slam Basketball. It still super-weird how Square defined "Characters" for this game though. Three jobs and two species?!?
When I played Retro Game Challenge I originally thought that all of the games in it were Famicom games that didn't make it to the US, kind of a sneaky way of importing them. I was wrong and its awesome how much effort went into making each of the games.
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is one of my all time favorite games. Last year someone gave me a DS Lite and I immediately went and bought a complete in box copy. So good. Edit: 7 minutes into the video and three games show up that I completely forgot about....
I really hope FF tactics advance series gets a remake or gets ported to the switch. The designs of the races like the Nu Mou looked way better than they do in FF 12.
I'm so glad you mentioned Solatorobo and Phantasy Star 0. Both are games I picked up on a whim and still love to this day, and yes playing 0 online with friends back then was amazing.
Devil Survivor and Devil Survivor 2 were some helluva fun games. Devil Survivor is still my favourite Megami Tensei game of all time, including Persona.
My ONE gripe with Jump Ultimate Stars is that we didn't get a 6-Koma Panel for Gohan that made him his grown up self (Also that one mission to unlock Anna from Shaman King but we're not talking about that ). Gohan's me favorite DBZ Character, but I like him more as an adult.
i just homebrewed my 3ds and was trying to find good strange ds recommendations a week ago, and checked if you had made vid cause i knew you’d know the good stuff. thank you for responding to my google search so quick!
Not sure how “forgotten” it is, but The World Ends With You is a classic DS title for me. It’s a hectic action JRPG set in modern Tokyo where you’re trying to control two characters at once, one on the bottom and one on the top, with completely different control schemes for both. Also has really fun characters and story.
My personal favorite hidden DS gem will always be Fossil Fighters. It's dead, but it has a "Saturday morning anime" vibe that I just adore and I mean using dinosaurs to fight is really cool. I'm so glad you talked about it, but you really should check out the sequel which is really good.
Did anyone ever play Lost Magic? I thought the concept was super cool with the spell fusion and drawing out each of the symbols. I never finished it but want to revisit it one day. Fantastic work as usual Austin! 👏👏
My favorite hidden gem I'm sure not too many people played was Retro Gaming Challenge. You get sent back in time to the 80s as a kid, to play video games, conquer challenges, read Magazines(!) you can read the manual for the games. It's very fun to play, but to fully interact with the game world tickles the nostalgia bone perfectly.
Bangai-O Spirits is another hidden gem. A Treasure action game where you fly around 2D stages as a mech and shoot hundreds of missiles at once. Gameplay focuses around dodging bullet hells and making your own. It actually had a level editor and sharing function that encoded your level into a sound clip that others could pick up with their DS mic. No story, just a collection of stages and a chaotic good time.
Sideswiped is really fun. It's a clone to Burnout that adds features that makes it stand on its own. You can buy cars but majority of the quests can be done with the two default cars. The game is packed with a bunch of addicting modes including using your car for bowling, jumping between trampolines to pop balloons and crashing into everyone in a demolition derby mode. Watching others got flipped in the air and then explode after enough damage is really exhilarating.
Also, Attack of the Saiyans is a Phenomenal game. Like legitimately one of the best DBZ games, aswell as one of the best RPG's on the ds IMO. Would love to see you cover it. Much Love Homie
I've got a couple weird games like GTA: Chinatown Wars, OkamiDen, 999, The World Ends with You, Ghost Trick, the first 4 Professor Layton games, all the Kirby games, & Dragon Quest 5&9. Don't know if he's talked about Radiant Historia, but THAT is the proudest piece of my DS library.
I loved Mario 3 on 3 Hoops as a kid and still have a copy. I also like Bleach: Dark Souls as a fighting game that has seemingly been forgotten on the platform. Even today it still oozes style.
The Nintendo DS was my first console I bought with my own money after saving for one year from my salary, and for all those that have not played and beat the Hotel Dusk and Last Window games, do it, is one of the most unique and awesome stories and experience I have ever had the pleasure of having I think about those games a lot, Great video Austin and thank you for your work, great SMT4 joke tho
My favorite weird games are the Domo games back on the DSI Store. I played the hell out of those games, especially the rafting one lol. Never heard anyone even acknowledge those
Avalon Code, the adventure RPG where you hit things with a magic book in order to modify their magical genetics. My World, My Way, a turn-based RPG starring a bratty princess who can bend reality by pouting about it loud enough. Rondo of Swords, a Tactics game featuring both Izuna the Ninja and Cotton the Witch in which you attacked by passing through enemies rather than stopping adjacent to them. Henry Hatsworth, half-platform game, half-puzzle game starring an elderly explorer. And the list of niche games I've owned goes on...
Elite Beat Agents, Trace Memory, Contact, and Away Shuffle Dungeon are some pretty banging games. I still have my original carts for them too ^^ I wish Away got more press cuz its a really cute dungeon crawling game and you build up your village the more you go in. I guess a sorta recent example would be Mononoke Forest for the 3ds.
From what I've heard, rights issues are the only thing stopping CyberConnect2 from porting or even remaking Solatorobo, and they've actually been wanting to do it.
The game that I still consider my favorite of all time is Urbz: Sims in the city. It has a style of gameplay that I really haven't seen done elsewhere, at all. Talking to the people to gain relationship with them, playing minigames to earn money and buy stuff for your house, keeping your need meters high like a standard Sims game and of course the story with all these wacky little missions to do. It's usually considered a life sim game but I think even that isn't quite the most accurate term for it. I'm certain it's something that most people would find boring but it just hits all the right spots for me. The whole street-y vibes of the game and all the different characters you get to talk to and know every bit about is just great. Every day I wish I could find a game that plays in a similar way.
Solatorobo really is a gem all around, one of my favorites for the system. Sucks it's so pricey nowadays but I'm at least glad I got my copy at a normal price before it spiked up. Also yeah Phantasy Star Zero is great! I put so many hours into that one around the time it came out. Having a PS2 I grew up with PS Universe as a kid instead of PSO, so that's what I relate it to.
Another great video, I love the Nintendo DS and PSP, the DS really does have a plethora of unique and overlooked games. Thanks for making this Austin 🤙
Avalon Code is definitely my "hidden gem ds game" I went to look up the developer and they also made Nostalgia which i thought was a funny coincidence!
I've only played a few DS games under emulation, but one I enhoyed was Speed Racer. It's different than the PS2 game and the visuals aren't quite as flashy, but somehow I kind of like them better. It really suffers from not having analog control though.
ds games i personally miss: The Legendary Starfy and Magical Starsign! it's a real shame the Densetsu no Starfy series is pretty much unknown outside of Japan because this was the only game localized
I'll give you a forgotten gem on the DS- Draglade, created by Dimps and one of the many gems published by Atlus here in the states. I found a copy of it once at a flea market and wish I'd never sold it, because it's _very_ expensive now.
before watching the video: my obsucre games: Hotel Dusk, Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier, Retro Challenge GX, The Dark Spire, orcs and elves, Dementia the Ward, Dragonball Origins, phantasy star 0 (by the way the story differs a bit depending on the character race) and inazuma eleven :D
You can't imagine the smile that rolled across my face when you decided to end the video talking about my favorite DS game of all time I still play it today on a 3DS with a widescreen hack!
RIP Cing. absolutely LOVED Hotel Dusk. Imported Last Window as soon as I could. Wish we'd get a remaster/HD version of the games. Loved the Take On Me artstyle...great jazzy music too! Elite Beat Agents was great too. Only wish it wasn't cover versions of songs, cause some of those covers were awful. But I get it, licensing is $$$. a fun-ish mini game compilation I enjoyed on the DS was Looney Tunes: Duck amuck. It took scenes from that classic cartoon short and made it mini games. Plus you could harass daffy.
It’s interesting to see all of the different approaches to the space between the two screens. Some pretended like the two screens were seamless while other factored the space in when certain scenes or gameplay required them to interact (to Bulma’s detriment). I know when I owned my DS and 3DS, I always appreciated when developers accurately factored the space in. I could see how it can be really distracting playing on a modern handheld emulator with a single screen.
In a way the DS was kind of a precursor to smartphones. A lot of the wacky things they added like a music creator or a web browser are things you would see as apps in the modern day
Monster tale is a hidden gem. I love it. It incorporates both screen in a very unique way. It doesn't get talked about much at all. When I found it I think I paid $16 or so on ebay. I bought a copy for me and 2 more for my nephews.
I love the Nintendo DS. This video has inspired me to start collecting a few more games for the system. Thanks for highlighting some really cool titles, Austin. 😊
Cant forget Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Endless Frontier (a Super Robot Wars spinoff by Monolith featuring KOS MOS), The Dark Spire (made by Success as a tribute to First person dungeon crawlers like OG Bard's Tale and Wizardry), Knights in the Nightmare (a tactics RPG by Sting, makers of Dokapon, Truxion, Baroque, and Evolution), Avalon Code (another Matrix RPG like Nostalgia but with harvet moon style romance characters), Bangai-O Spirits (side-scrolling shoot em up sequel to the DC/N64 classic of the same name), plus Metroid Prime Pinball, Touch Detective (which has a match 3 puzzler for the Switch), Valkyrie Profile (yes, that Valkyrie series), Ontamarama (the best handheld rhythm game by far), Lux Pain, Hoshigami, Soul Bubbles, Squishy Tank, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, and Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command
I remember playing Mario Hoops 3 on 3 for HOURS a day when I was younger. That was my favorite game on the DS. This just brought back some memories for me.
The X in "Windy x Windam" is silent. It's a common trope in Japanese media for additional symbols being used as spaces, so the X or other symbols are silent. Just like Hunter x Hunter, KISS x SIS, Romeo x Juliet xxxHolic, GUN x SWORD, Rosario + Vampire, SPY x FAMILY, Street Fighter CROSS Tekken, Project X (CROSS) Zone, Xenoblade Chronicles X (Cross).
But for the latter 3, you NEED to pronounce the symbol or else they don't make sense By that logic, those last 3 would be Street Fighter Tekken, Project Zone and Xenoblade Chronicles lol For some games and manga/anime titles, that works, but not ALL of them
Austin bro, you are going IN with these releases Make sure you take time to take a rest, you deserve it. Not sure if you posted videos already on PSP and Vita stuff, but I'd love to see those too!
If you like 1st person ds games check these out: - Dementium 1&2 - Nanashi no Game - Nanashi no Game: Me - Moon - The Dark Spire - Theresia - Touch of the Dead - Metroid Prime Hunters - C.O.R.E - Etrian Odyssey 1-3 - Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain - GoldenEye 007 - 999 (9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors) - Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - Last Window: The Secret of Cape West (Hotel Dusk 2) - Again - Another Code: Two Memories (Trace Memories) (okay it's a mix of 3rd person and 1st person point & click, but my love for all Cing games dictates it's inclusion).
Wanna throw out that the amazing Retro Game Challenge has a Fan Translated Sequel with (imo) some better mini retro games, but also some "re-released" versions of the games from the first one. Just don't make the same mistake I did and love the series so much you imported the third game for 3DS. Another hidden gem is Away: Shuffle Dungeon, a quirky little action RPG by Mistwalker and Artoon where you have to go between screen because every few seconds one of the screens "shuffles" and changes and you get lost in the dungeon and restart if you are on the screen when that happens. One that I never, ever hear anyone talk about is Glory Days 2, a side scrolling war like game where you control an aircraft to keep your soldiers on the ground safe so they can capture points. By doing bombing runs or as a helicopter picking up injured soldiers to escort them back, it is a sort of wacky little game. It doesn't help it's obscurity with that in America there is no Glory Days 1, it was called Super Army War here, so it is a mess a property.
me and a friend got into elite beat agents this year and its become one of our favorite rhythm games ever, well, specifically ouendan 2 has, the ouendan series is incredible, a must play for anyone with a ds or 3ds
I didn't know there was another person that played Retro Game Challenge in the States. It was a lot of fun. If you beat all of the challenges you could go back and fully beat the games. Which for the JRPG was a decent game length.
I was so bummed when you didn't have gameplay of FF explorers, but the minute you mentioned it i was through the roof. Both Phantasy star 0 and FF ecplorers were my fav games on the handheld. I have been trying to find a reliable place to get the roms, cause i wanna play them again.
10:00 Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but Momotaro(u) is a character from Japanese folklore, which is presumably why he's there with the western ones!
I’ve been searching for Sideswiped for years now! I had no idea what it was called or even how to find it online, so thank you for having it in the video! I had an older friend who would always bring his gameboy and DS games over so that I could play them and Sideswiped was one that I had a ton of fun with. It’s been like, 10 years or something since then, so it’s been on my mind for a while. I gotta play it sometime
Dragon Ball origins 2 is probably one of my favorite Dragon Ball games of all time. It's a shame to see how underrated it is. One of the few DB games where you can be Arale, Bulma, kid yamcha, and kid krillin.
Download Naraka: Bladepoint for free on all platforms gsght.com/c/sijj41 and celebrate the game’s 2nd anniversary! Join the discord group: discord.gg/narakabladepoint
We've done just about every other Nintendo platform, why not give the DS a try? What's a strange or forgotten Nintendo DS game you've played? Lemme know!
Also HELLO, AVENGERS WILL BE OUT IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS. MY FINGERS ARE TURNING TO DUST.
OnTaMaRaMa. Almost every "forgotten DS games" video neglects it despite the fact that it had a great soundtrack of original music (and also the memetic "Let's Go! Onmyouji")
Nanostray 1&2. Two really underrated shooters
Big Bang Mini.
Nicely done 14:37
Eco-Creatures! Highly recommend.
My best friend passed away over a year ago and his mother gave me all of his games. One of them was Mario Hoops 3 on 3 and I have never heard of that one before. So seeing it brought up in this video reminded me of him
I’m very sorry for your’e loss!
It’s not really forgotten but the best DS game imo is 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors
At least it got a remastered release with VLR on Steam. Still waiting for it to come to the Switch…
The World Ends With You for me but 999 is also great
Glad someone else was hoping he’d talk about 999 especially since he specifically called out that mature rated Ds games were rare
Radiant historia, twewy, 999 and devil survivor
it got q collection and a sequel on the vita!!!
One of the cool things about Solo to Robo is when it feels like you "beat" the game basically the game starts up again with a new intro movie and you essentially get to play a sequel right there and then. It honestly felt like two games in one.
I LOVED THAT!
IT WAS AMAZING THE 2ND STORY.
HOLYSHEEEEEET
i would kill for a remaster version on switch.
I beat it twice. TWICE
You're spoiling us with the constant stream of uploads, Austin. This is amazing.
Without a doubt one of the best gaming UA-camrs going.
Yeah I have to admit I've been on a bender of this and Mind pulp lately.
Contact will always be at the top of my list. An RPG made by Grasshopper Manufacture, it really took advantage of the system's two screens with each one in their own style as two characters interact. Just so unique and I just don't hear it talked about like at the time I expected it would be. I guess it's something rather different from Grasshopper so that also plays into it I am sure.
Yeah, it's a great one. The fourth wall breaking really tripped me out as a kid too.
Dragon Quest IX, the forgotten entry in the series. Honestly one of my top games of all time. Great story, 4 way multiplayer, and so much content!
Also that Little Red Riding Hood zombie game might be connected to that Wiiware title Zombie Panic in Wonderland. Had that Momotaro, Snow White and Dorothy shooting the undead and bosses in fairytale areas.
DQIX really is a fantastic game. Maybe they don't want to deal with the multiplayer components to rerelase it again, but you can take all of it out (I never used it once) and it's still one of the best DQ games. I even bought a second copy to replay it from the beginning 😂 and would do it again if released on Switch, hear me Square-Enix?!
Yes, Zombie Panic in Wonderland is from the same devs as Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ. And yeah, DQ9 is my second favorite RPG of all time and my favorite Dragon Quest...basically the ONLY mainline Dragon Quest I like other than 3.
Three DS games I'd never even heard of before a few years ago have turned out to be my favourite ones of the whole lineup.
Radiant Historia, Contact DS, Infinite Space
Last Window (the sequel to Hotel Dusk) is another one because it didn't get a UK release, so it was only ever sold via US imports.
Along with the sister series; Code R.
It's kinda weird just how many hidden gems get less spotlight than their GBA counterparts.
I need to sink some more time into Infinite Space but it's so cool!
wait what? Last Window wasn't an actual UK release? Can you elaborate? Cause I did import it here for the US. But I thought it was a UK release
Huh? Last Window DID get a UK release, US didn't get it at all as Cing closed down BEFORE they could release it there after the UK got it.
Infinite space was so goood
you're a bit mixed up there....Last Window and Another Code R ( Trace Memory's sequel ) got released in the UK but never came to the US.
I love how Mario Hoops 3-on-3 is still listed on Soken's bio when promoting FF16.
Dude's rightfully proud of it
A new sports title from Square Enix would be great.
That's wild and amazing at the same time. I'm glad for him and it's a pretty solid game
I love that game
I genuinely do not understand why people didn't enjoy it.
I gave my copy a proper burial when it broke.
I thought it was super fun. Especially unlocking the FF team and playing as them.
I know it's Jp exclusive, but my main nom for a forgotten DS title would be Sigma Harmonics from SQEX/Think Garage. A turn-based RPG you hold like a book, written and directed by Hiroki Chiba inspired by Showa-era mystery novels, with character art by Yusaku Nakaaki, and music by Masashi Hamauzu. It just looks and sounds phenominal!
Stoppp im still waiting for some brave soul to try and fan translated it but i hear the way the game was made its almost impossible smh i would play it with a english guide but not one exist yet
Phantasy Star Zero is hands down one of my favorite games on the DS. Definitely a must play for classic PSO fans. Not as much content as PSOBB, obviously, but it's a stellar expansion of some of PSO's ideas without going overboard like PSU or doing a 180 like in PSU. I just wish playing online on a DS/3DS wasn't such a pain due to the DS's encryption limitations :/
I really loved Lost Magic for the DS. It was unnecessarily hard but still fun
I was hoping lost magic would get a mention. Was really fun
Also here for the Lost Magic mention. Cute game, fun use of the stylus.
this game right here is severely underrated
Pokemon Conquest is probably one of the most underrated Pokemon games. Fun strategy, endless campaigns and ways to play, and so addicting! Plus you get to fight Nobunaga! Stupidly overpriced but no one played it back in the day!
I HAVE IT
But my DSphat died...
Oh man, I remember when Pokemon Conquest came out! I loved it so much, that I tried to imagine a sequel with the cast from Dynasty Warriors instead of Samurai Warriors. Cao Cao being the main villain, of course.
The game did really badly in sales and it didn't help that it came out 3 months before B2W2 dropped in Japan and most fans over there were probably holding out for that plus it's part of a long running franchise of strategy games that alienated potential audiences. I know it didn't fare much better here even with the name recognition of Samurai Warriors behind it as Nobunaga's Ambition isn't that popular here in the States.
NO JOKE- When Austin asked what kinds of forgotten and obscure DS Games we've played the first one that came to my mind was Trace Memory, and HE BROUGHT IT UPPP! Such a good one, I have such nostalgia for that game
AND I HAD FOSSIL FIGHTERS TOOOO!!!!!
i actually started playing Trace Memory about 4 days before i saw this video because i resurrected my 3DS and have a buttload of DS games i never finished, and some i've never even played
For me, that one obscure DS game I fell in love with was Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times (aka "Tongari Boushi to Mahou no 365 Nichi" in Japan, or "Enchanted Folk and the School of Wizardry" in Europe). It's pretty much an Animal Crossing type game made by Aquria and Konami, but with a heavy fantasy theme, with unique mechanics like learning magic spells and investigating supernatural events. It's kinda like if Animal Crossing: Wild World was set in Halloween Town, and I *love* the art style that comes with it. It's definitely got some jank (and the localization wasn't the best), but I adore it so, so much. It's a big comfort game for me, and I could play it any day at the drop of a hat.
It was even popular enough in Japan to get a handful of sequels on the DS and even the 3DS, but the similarities to Animal Crossing probably doomed it overseas. Didn't help that it was released months after Animal Crossing: City Folk in both North America and Europe, either. But it still means a lot to me, and I'm glad I found it.
My personal favorite weird DS game is Daigasso: Band Bros, and the sequel - DX. They were fully featured MIDI music makers. They got me into music production, and were great rhythm games to boot. DX even let you connect to the internet and download other people's creations or upload your own.
I missed the entire DS generation since I was busy working at the time. It's just unbelievable how many good games are on this system. I will definitely have to check some of these out!
I played a lot of this game called Dinosaur King on the DS. It's basically a Pokemon-like RPG where you collect and battle with dinosaurs. Apparently it has an anime and manga too, but I was unaware of that until I just looked it up to remember the title.
The anime was epic back in the day.
I remember having the anime in the background one day (I think I'd just left the channel on while playing games on my DS or laptop), all I remember about it is that I'm PRETTY SURE the antagonists were voiced by the same people as Jessie and James from the Pokémon anime, and the 3D CG dinosaurs did not look good
the anime is dope as fuck, i loved ti as a kid
Finally, a mention of Solatorobo on one of these lists that isn't just a cursory glance with "oh it's an expensive DS game" and nothing further.
solatorobo is an excellent inclusion, but i can't be a little disappointed that lost magic wasn't on this list anywhere. it really is a shame, it's one of the better forgotten titles. banger video on one of my favorite consoles of all time, though. thanks for that.
I'd say my most obscure ds games that I own is probably Avalon Code, the worlds ending and you get some magic book to document the things in the world before its destroyed. people, plants etc. smack everything with the book. I was pretty adventurous during the ds era, game prices were just so low and I got so many good games for $20-30.
I love The Sims 2 for DS. Running a hotel in Strangetown, fighting mafia goons and robots as the Ratticator. Using a water gun to defeat aliens. Meeting Bigfoot in the basement and playing the casino card game for hours on end. Getting all the arcade machines to play a variety of mini games. Dissecting aliens for money. There's so much to it and it plays in real time akin to Animal Crossing.
Another point about solatrobo (that luckily didn't get entirely lost to time) are the free downloadable quests. They are all just neat mini-stories, but thanks to the old nintendo ds online system being 100% dead, the only version that has them without any workarounds is the US release, which had all of them installed from the get-go since it released a bit after the european and japanese versions.
Still, despite the limited (and a bit repetitive) combat, the story, setting and characters still make me love it to death. If you want to help make the combat even faster, invest in the hydraulics and attack stats for the robot.
Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey is severely underrated.
One forgotten Nintendo DS game I'm surprised you didn't talk about is Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. Whenever people talk about the modern Ninja Gaiden games, they're always referring to the trilogy on consoles. But there was also one made exclusively for the Nintendo DS, and it's surprisingly fun, if a bit easy compared to the home console entries. It's also the only modern Ninja Gaiden game to use the classic Act Intro jingle from the original 8 bit trilogy, and I really wish that was mainstay for the rest of the series.
I remember downloading a demo for that game off the Nintendo Channel on Wii back in the day. It stuck out to me as the one really fun demo available for a game I didn't already own! I really ought to track down the full version one of these days...
10:52 full respect for someone who just straight up puts a screenshot of Vimms Lair in your video lol
@12:37 Fun fact. When Square was creating Final Fantasy, they knew they wanted the title to be 'FF'. They wanted to try Fighting Fantasy but found the trademark for the name already being used by the books mentioned her, leading to them using Final Fantasy instead.
6:38 Someone NOT dunking on Golden Sun Dark Dawn? Unexpected, but not unwelcome.
9:28 Mario Hoops 3 on 3 is an extremely forgotten Title for me. Mostly because I know the game as Mario Slam Basketball. It still super-weird how Square defined "Characters" for this game though. Three jobs and two species?!?
When I played Retro Game Challenge I originally thought that all of the games in it were Famicom games that didn't make it to the US, kind of a sneaky way of importing them. I was wrong and its awesome how much effort went into making each of the games.
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is one of my all time favorite games. Last year someone gave me a DS Lite and I immediately went and bought a complete in box copy. So good.
Edit: 7 minutes into the video and three games show up that I completely forgot about....
I really hope FF tactics advance series gets a remake or gets ported to the switch. The designs of the races like the Nu Mou looked way better than they do in FF 12.
I'm so glad you mentioned Solatorobo and Phantasy Star 0. Both are games I picked up on a whim and still love to this day, and yes playing 0 online with friends back then was amazing.
Devil Survivor and Devil Survivor 2 were some helluva fun games. Devil Survivor is still my favourite Megami Tensei game of all time, including Persona.
My ONE gripe with Jump Ultimate Stars is that we didn't get a 6-Koma Panel for Gohan that made him his grown up self (Also that one mission to unlock Anna from Shaman King but we're not talking about that ). Gohan's me favorite DBZ Character, but I like him more as an adult.
i just homebrewed my 3ds and was trying to find good strange ds recommendations a week ago, and checked if you had made vid cause i knew you’d know the good stuff. thank you for responding to my google search so quick!
Not sure how “forgotten” it is, but The World Ends With You is a classic DS title for me. It’s a hectic action JRPG set in modern Tokyo where you’re trying to control two characters at once, one on the bottom and one on the top, with completely different control schemes for both. Also has really fun characters and story.
My personal favorite hidden DS gem will always be Fossil Fighters. It's dead, but it has a "Saturday morning anime" vibe that I just adore and I mean using dinosaurs to fight is really cool. I'm so glad you talked about it, but you really should check out the sequel which is really good.
Honestly, I much prefer Dinosaur King.
I liked fossil fighters as well. Spent so much time trying to get the T-Rex or even the Vinosuar that transformed into one.
I own Fossil Fighters. I enjoyed playing it and would recommend it.
Did anyone ever play Lost Magic? I thought the concept was super cool with the spell fusion and drawing out each of the symbols. I never finished it but want to revisit it one day. Fantastic work as usual Austin! 👏👏
Alright thanks to you I found the name of "Orcs and Elves". I remember that game only because the rats scared me as a kid
I modded my 3ds and found it on the ghost eshop a few months ago so i decided to download it. the rats still freaked me out LOL
The sheer fact that Lil Red Riding Hood: Zombie BBQ was mentioned just made my night.
My favorite hidden gem I'm sure not too many people played was Retro Gaming Challenge. You get sent back in time to the 80s as a kid, to play video games, conquer challenges, read Magazines(!) you can read the manual for the games. It's very fun to play, but to fully interact with the game world tickles the nostalgia bone perfectly.
Bangai-O Spirits is another hidden gem. A Treasure action game where you fly around 2D stages as a mech and shoot hundreds of missiles at once. Gameplay focuses around dodging bullet hells and making your own. It actually had a level editor and sharing function that encoded your level into a sound clip that others could pick up with their DS mic. No story, just a collection of stages and a chaotic good time.
Anyone I’ve ever asked about Spectrobes looked at me like I was crazy, I don’t know how well it aged but playing it as a kid was great
Soken made the FRIGGIN MARIO BASKETBALL GAME OST!? Lmao, that's my favorite funfact of the day. Thanks Austin!
My first DS game wasn't even a DS game, it was a GB (GBA?) compilation of Spongebob episodes that I binged back-to-back
I loved Elite Beat Agents so much that I had to import the sequel!
A few of my favorite lesser talked about DS games were the legendary starfy and the Drawn to Life games
Love this video, the DS/Wii era was the last time Nintendo really blew me away. I've owned far too many DS consoles in my day, each one worth it.
Sideswiped is really fun. It's a clone to Burnout that adds features that makes it stand on its own. You can buy cars but majority of the quests can be done with the two default cars. The game is packed with a bunch of addicting modes including using your car for bowling, jumping between trampolines to pop balloons and crashing into everyone in a demolition derby mode. Watching others got flipped in the air and then explode after enough damage is really exhilarating.
Also, Attack of the Saiyans is a Phenomenal game. Like legitimately one of the best DBZ games, aswell as one of the best RPG's on the ds IMO. Would love to see you cover it. Much Love Homie
I've got a couple weird games like GTA: Chinatown Wars, OkamiDen, 999, The World Ends with You, Ghost Trick, the first 4 Professor Layton games, all the Kirby games, & Dragon Quest 5&9. Don't know if he's talked about Radiant Historia, but THAT is the proudest piece of my DS library.
Radiant Historia got a 3DS version, so it wasn't forgotten at all, nor was it weird lol
I loved Mario 3 on 3 Hoops as a kid and still have a copy.
I also like Bleach: Dark Souls as a fighting game that has seemingly been forgotten on the platform. Even today it still oozes style.
The Nintendo DS was my first console I bought with my own money after saving for one year from my salary, and for all those that have not played and beat the Hotel Dusk and Last Window games, do it, is one of the most unique and awesome stories and experience I have ever had the pleasure of having I think about those games a lot, Great video Austin and thank you for your work, great SMT4 joke tho
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. I played the first game, but Capcom is being a dingus with not localizating the second game.
My favorite weird games are the Domo games back on the DSI Store. I played the hell out of those games, especially the rafting one lol. Never heard anyone even acknowledge those
Magical Starsign is a game that I hold near and dear and it's criminal that not may people know of it.
So glad to see Nostalgia get a shoutout - I played it for the first time last year and it became one of my surprise favorite RPGs on the system!
Avalon Code, the adventure RPG where you hit things with a magic book in order to modify their magical genetics. My World, My Way, a turn-based RPG starring a bratty princess who can bend reality by pouting about it loud enough. Rondo of Swords, a Tactics game featuring both Izuna the Ninja and Cotton the Witch in which you attacked by passing through enemies rather than stopping adjacent to them. Henry Hatsworth, half-platform game, half-puzzle game starring an elderly explorer. And the list of niche games I've owned goes on...
Elite Beat Agents, Trace Memory, Contact, and Away Shuffle Dungeon are some pretty banging games. I still have my original carts for them too ^^
I wish Away got more press cuz its a really cute dungeon crawling game and you build up your village the more you go in. I guess a sorta recent example would be Mononoke Forest for the 3ds.
Solatorobo is probably one of my favorites ever if not my favorite at all. Two stories, awesome gameplay, great graphics, MUSIC! I love it!
From what I've heard, rights issues are the only thing stopping CyberConnect2 from porting or even remaking Solatorobo, and they've actually been wanting to do it.
The game that I still consider my favorite of all time is Urbz: Sims in the city. It has a style of gameplay that I really haven't seen done elsewhere, at all. Talking to the people to gain relationship with them, playing minigames to earn money and buy stuff for your house, keeping your need meters high like a standard Sims game and of course the story with all these wacky little missions to do. It's usually considered a life sim game but I think even that isn't quite the most accurate term for it. I'm certain it's something that most people would find boring but it just hits all the right spots for me. The whole street-y vibes of the game and all the different characters you get to talk to and know every bit about is just great. Every day I wish I could find a game that plays in a similar way.
Solatorobo really is a gem all around, one of my favorites for the system. Sucks it's so pricey nowadays but I'm at least glad I got my copy at a normal price before it spiked up.
Also yeah Phantasy Star Zero is great! I put so many hours into that one around the time it came out. Having a PS2 I grew up with PS Universe as a kid instead of PSO, so that's what I relate it to.
Another great video, I love the Nintendo DS and PSP, the DS really does have a plethora of unique and overlooked games. Thanks for making this Austin 🤙
Here I thought I was the only one that remembered that Nostalgia existed.
Avalon Code is definitely my "hidden gem ds game" I went to look up the developer and they also made Nostalgia which i thought was a funny coincidence!
Scam of the Century is a remarkably honest title for shovelware.
I've only played a few DS games under emulation, but one I enhoyed was Speed Racer. It's different than the PS2 game and the visuals aren't quite as flashy, but somehow I kind of like them better. It really suffers from not having analog control though.
ds games i personally miss: The Legendary Starfy and Magical Starsign! it's a real shame the Densetsu no Starfy series is pretty much unknown outside of Japan because this was the only game localized
Phantasy Star 0 is a super hidden gem and the true successor to PSO, especially with the soundtrack
I mean you can still legally buy it, its a physical cart, but...the prices are getting kinda up there
For whatever its worth, korg still manufactures stuff for Nintendo. The switch has Korg gadget, a little hard to export but a decent DAW.
I'll give you a forgotten gem on the DS- Draglade, created by Dimps and one of the many gems published by Atlus here in the states.
I found a copy of it once at a flea market and wish I'd never sold it, because it's _very_ expensive now.
You mentioning spectrobes brought back so many memories. I had completely forgotten about those games
before watching the video: my obsucre games: Hotel Dusk, Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier, Retro Challenge GX, The Dark Spire, orcs and elves, Dementia the Ward, Dragonball Origins, phantasy star 0 (by the way the story differs a bit depending on the character race) and inazuma eleven :D
Orcs and Elves always felt like a fever dream I made up, so thanks for verifying it actually existed
You can't imagine the smile that rolled across my face when you decided to end the video talking about my favorite DS game of all time
I still play it today on a 3DS with a widescreen hack!
RIP Cing. absolutely LOVED Hotel Dusk. Imported Last Window as soon as I could. Wish we'd get a remaster/HD version of the games. Loved the Take On Me artstyle...great jazzy music too! Elite Beat Agents was great too. Only wish it wasn't cover versions of songs, cause some of those covers were awful. But I get it, licensing is $$$.
a fun-ish mini game compilation I enjoyed on the DS was Looney Tunes: Duck amuck. It took scenes from that classic cartoon short and made it mini games. Plus you could harass daffy.
It’s interesting to see all of the different approaches to the space between the two screens. Some pretended like the two screens were seamless while other factored the space in when certain scenes or gameplay required them to interact (to Bulma’s detriment). I know when I owned my DS and 3DS, I always appreciated when developers accurately factored the space in. I could see how it can be really distracting playing on a modern handheld emulator with a single screen.
In a way the DS was kind of a precursor to smartphones. A lot of the wacky things they added like a music creator or a web browser are things you would see as apps in the modern day
“Touching is good “
- Ds
Monster tale is a hidden gem. I love it. It incorporates both screen in a very unique way. It doesn't get talked about much at all. When I found it I think I paid $16 or so on ebay. I bought a copy for me and 2 more for my nephews.
I appreciate someone who talks about emulation in a positive light. I wish more people on UA-cam did that,
I love the Nintendo DS. This video has inspired me to start collecting a few more games for the system. Thanks for highlighting some really cool titles, Austin. 😊
Deep Labyrinth is a game I never hear anyone talk about but was a big part of my childhood.
Cant forget Super Robot Taisen OG Saga Endless Frontier (a Super Robot Wars spinoff by Monolith featuring KOS MOS), The Dark Spire (made by Success as a tribute to First person dungeon crawlers like OG Bard's Tale and Wizardry), Knights in the Nightmare (a tactics RPG by Sting, makers of Dokapon, Truxion, Baroque, and Evolution), Avalon Code (another Matrix RPG like Nostalgia but with harvet moon style romance characters), Bangai-O Spirits (side-scrolling shoot em up sequel to the DC/N64 classic of the same name), plus Metroid Prime Pinball, Touch Detective (which has a match 3 puzzler for the Switch), Valkyrie Profile (yes, that Valkyrie series), Ontamarama (the best handheld rhythm game by far), Lux Pain, Hoshigami, Soul Bubbles, Squishy Tank, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, and Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command
Bro the fact that Eyeshield 21 is your favorite manga made me smile ear to ear. Fuckin awesome
I remember playing Mario Hoops 3 on 3 for HOURS a day when I was younger. That was my favorite game on the DS. This just brought back some memories for me.
The X in "Windy x Windam" is silent. It's a common trope in Japanese media for additional symbols being used as spaces, so the X or other symbols are silent. Just like Hunter x Hunter, KISS x SIS, Romeo x Juliet xxxHolic, GUN x SWORD, Rosario + Vampire, SPY x FAMILY, Street Fighter CROSS Tekken, Project X (CROSS) Zone, Xenoblade Chronicles X (Cross).
But for the latter 3, you NEED to pronounce the symbol or else they don't make sense
By that logic, those last 3 would be Street Fighter Tekken, Project Zone and Xenoblade Chronicles lol
For some games and manga/anime titles, that works, but not ALL of them
Austin bro, you are going IN with these releases
Make sure you take time to take a rest, you deserve it.
Not sure if you posted videos already on PSP and Vita stuff, but I'd love to see those too!
If you like 1st person ds games check these out:
- Dementium 1&2
- Nanashi no Game
- Nanashi no Game: Me
- Moon
- The Dark Spire
- Theresia
- Touch of the Dead
- Metroid Prime Hunters
- C.O.R.E
- Etrian Odyssey 1-3
- Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
- GoldenEye 007
- 999 (9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors)
- Hotel Dusk: Room 215
- Last Window: The Secret of Cape West (Hotel Dusk 2)
- Again
- Another Code: Two Memories (Trace Memories) (okay it's a mix of 3rd person and 1st person point & click, but my love for all Cing games dictates it's inclusion).
There's a shit ton of licensed games that haven't seen much coverage here on UA-cam such as the American Girl and Build-a-Bear ones to name a few.
Wanna throw out that the amazing Retro Game Challenge has a Fan Translated Sequel with (imo) some better mini retro games, but also some "re-released" versions of the games from the first one. Just don't make the same mistake I did and love the series so much you imported the third game for 3DS.
Another hidden gem is Away: Shuffle Dungeon, a quirky little action RPG by Mistwalker and Artoon where you have to go between screen because every few seconds one of the screens "shuffles" and changes and you get lost in the dungeon and restart if you are on the screen when that happens.
One that I never, ever hear anyone talk about is Glory Days 2, a side scrolling war like game where you control an aircraft to keep your soldiers on the ground safe so they can capture points. By doing bombing runs or as a helicopter picking up injured soldiers to escort them back, it is a sort of wacky little game. It doesn't help it's obscurity with that in America there is no Glory Days 1, it was called Super Army War here, so it is a mess a property.
Never hear anyone talk about one of the quirkiest RPGs I ever had the pleasure of playing:
Contact DS
me and a friend got into elite beat agents this year and its become one of our favorite rhythm games ever, well, specifically ouendan 2 has, the ouendan series is incredible, a must play for anyone with a ds or 3ds
I didn't know there was another person that played Retro Game Challenge in the States. It was a lot of fun. If you beat all of the challenges you could go back and fully beat the games. Which for the JRPG was a decent game length.
I was so bummed when you didn't have gameplay of FF explorers, but the minute you mentioned it i was through the roof. Both Phantasy star 0 and FF ecplorers were my fav games on the handheld. I have been trying to find a reliable place to get the roms, cause i wanna play them again.
FF Explorers is a 3DS title. Im not sure why he mentioned it in this video actually, I guess just giving examples of games that upscale nicely
Austin I blame you for single-handedly reminding me that Lunar Dragon Song exists.
This in itself is a crime.
10:00 Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but Momotaro(u) is a character from Japanese folklore, which is presumably why he's there with the western ones!
I think one of the most obscure and “stuck on DS” games is Sailor Moon La Luna Splende. Loved this video! :)
I’ve been searching for Sideswiped for years now! I had no idea what it was called or even how to find it online, so thank you for having it in the video!
I had an older friend who would always bring his gameboy and DS games over so that I could play them and Sideswiped was one that I had a ton of fun with. It’s been like, 10 years or something since then, so it’s been on my mind for a while. I gotta play it sometime
Dragon Ball origins 2 is probably one of my favorite Dragon Ball games of all time. It's a shame to see how underrated it is. One of the few DB games where you can be Arale, Bulma, kid yamcha, and kid krillin.