The Nintendo DS Appreciation Thread

video games nintendo
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I love the DS, it was my go-to gaming device for a number of years and no later device ever clicked with me in the same way.

I feel like for a system with such an expansive library my taste is pretty vanilla. My main favorites are the Dragon Quest series, Castlevania series, Ace Attorney series, 999, and Elite Beat Agents.

@"IncompatibleKaiser"#p104182 I remember loving Lost in Blue right up until when the game introduces stealth missions. That killed it for me but sometimes I think I should try again...

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@“donrumata”#p105009 I‘m so glad I somehow managed to hang on to my Cyclo DS Evolution since 2008, because it still somehow has better compatibility than standard slot 1 devices. Like it’s the only flashcart I‘ve ever had that can play Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland.

@"sabertoothalex"#p105016 GBA repros are easier to make, the parts are more available from china, the carts are bigger and more serviceable than the tiny ds cards that are not as simple to open as removing a screw.

@"Mnemogenic"#p105328
Great list @"Syzygy"#p105331 !
I recommend downloading the dump available many places online like archive dot org. Not sure if we even have a complete dump of all DSiWare titles but we for sure still haven't reached DSiware singularity. It's a treasure trove of hidden gems!

I recommend Box Life.

I've found multiple dumps of DSiware games, but still haven't been able to figure out how to run them with twilightmenu, after reading many FAQs / guides on the subject. Anyone who does this, let me know!!

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@“Nemoide”#p105347 my taste is pretty vanilla. My main favorites are the Dragon Quest series, Castlevania series, Ace Attorney series, 999, and Elite Beat Agents.

the cool weird thing about DS, is that the games you listed, out of context would seem vanilla, but in the context of Western DS games, those were all considered obscure hidden gems at some point lol. The most vanilla DS pick would be Mario Kart DS.

**Does everybody here know that _Lost in Blue_ is the spiritual sequel to _Survival Kids_? Just making sure we're all on the same page here, haha.** It's super weird, I think 2 and 3 came out in the same year? And 2 is cool but 3 seems cheap as heck but still cool? Like it was rushed. Weird as heckers, deckers.

DS was also one of the first times obscure portable titles were being recognized, thanks in large part to jeremy parish being on the mobile games team and reviewing games like Bangai-O Spirits, Dragon Quest Rocket Slime, etc.

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@“treefroggy”#p104423 I gotta tell ya this post nudged me over the edge and now I've got myself a modded DSI XL. I transferred my saves over from my 3DS and wow. I know I joked about wanting and needing pixel perfect screens but Dragon Quest V is so crisp now. Really does add that extra something.

I'm so excited to dive into the whole DS era again. I had an M3 DS Simply flashcard in the late 2000s but didn't get to use it nearly as much as I would have liked because my R button died on me, and then I ran into all kinds of compatibility issues with ROMs - the kind of friction that made my early-20's self decide to drop it and move on.

Back then though, I'll say I absolutely adored Chou Soujuu Mecha MG. It was a little bit of an eye-opening experience for me in knowing just how far someone could push touch screen controls in ways that I hadn't seen many DS games do. Most of the games I was playing were shooters or GBA ports with added touch-screen stuff.

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@“Nemoide”#p105347 Dude that's the last 30 minutes of the game and its actually very generous when that happens.

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@“Mnemogenic”#p105328

Sujin Taisen! I actually found out about this game from the homebrew port to the Aquaplus P/ECE. Great puzzle/strategy game from Mitchell.

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@“treefroggy”#p105353 I’ve found multiple dumps of DSiware games, but still haven’t been able to figure out how to run them with twilightmenu, after reading many FAQs / guides on the subject. Anyone who does this, let me know!!

They need to be in .nds format. If you look up the nointro set on the internet archive, all those are in the correct format. Twilight Menu'll run 'em like regular DS games.

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@“fivedollardare”#p105354 This is helpful as I am going to start DQV DS after I finish Sega Ages Phantasy Star. I was just going to use my 3DS, but I will now use my DSi XL.

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@“donrumata”#p105362 doesn‘t seem to be working for me, but I’ll try again…

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@“Mnemogenic”#p105328 https://retronauts.com/article/1674/dead-or-dying-dsiwares-days-are-numbered

(3DS & Wii U eShop lists finally coming soon, too)

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@“treefroggy”#p105381

That‘s definitely weird, I just download Wakugumi in NDS format and I can confirm it’s working fine on my DSi. Might behave differently if you‘re on a flashcart or 3DS though. I’m on a DSi booting Twilight Menu through Unlaunch, for reference.

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I should also mention that my DSiWare list excluded anything that was available physically or ported elsewhere, which meant I didn‘t bring up G.G. Series, Genterprise’s line of budget download games—the vast majority of these were released as part of a Japanese physical compilation titled G.G. Series Collection+, so check that out if you want to play a few dozen games that absolutely will not change your life in any appreciable way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXch7ULIb8A

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Great thread! I just modded my original purple 3DS and loaded up Twilight Menu to revisit some old favorites so I've been kinda hooked on the system lately.

I too loved the DS as soon as it came out. I was in high school at the time, which may have been the perfect time for me to enjoy a console like that where some cool perks came from being in close proximity to other people with a DS.

For instance, there was a point where all the students in the school had to take these placement tests so they had a hundred of us in the gym at desks filling out books. When you were done you free to do whatever so my friends and I, plus many others, got our DSs out and lit up the pictochat. It was a great time and a great memory with the system.

Streetpass kinda captured this feeling too, booting up a game that utilized it and seeing evidence that you were next to someone with a DS on at the same time as you. It was thrilling!

I love that it was a console that had tons of strange, fleeting gimmicks that gave way to some really out there and creative efforts, and was also taken seriously as a console for hardcore, in-depth games.

I've been enjoying Rhythm Heaven, Feel the Magic and, as @"donrumata"#229 recommended, Lone Wolf. Never heard of it before, but I love the concept and I'm stoked to dig in.

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Damnit, you all are going to make me dig out a DS and try modding it. I never knew about (or they were created long after I stopped looking?) twighlight menu or unlaunch or anything, I just had a flashcart.

Pretty sure I have a DS Lite, DSi, and a 3DS still around here. Somewhere.

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@“Syzygy”#p104758 There‘s a ton of 3rd party ones on aliexpress and such for cheap. Hard to tell from the listings if any of them are particularly good. It’s wild how they just kept slightly changing the stylus for each system revision.

[upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/fipNyzj.png]

[upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/pp5ehrj.jpeg]


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@“Syzygy”#p105498 where do you go to get a custom tungsten stylus? Also, is it still in one piece?

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@“connrrr”#p105500 where do you go to get a custom tungsten stylus? Also, is it still in one piece?

tungsten mines

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@“Mnemogenic”#p105328 Brownie Brown‘s A Kappa’s Trail!

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definitely a console I associate with the places I played it. animal crossing wild world at my grandmother‘s house in new england in a bedroom with a lotta earwigs. twewy and pokemon diamond at my family’s home in trinidad, in the corner of the only room with an air conditioner. the first phoenix wright game all the way through in one sitting in my childhood bedroom. elite beat agents on a long, traffic-heavy car ride back from target. love that thing

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what wears out wit the styluses, making them loose and fall out of the hole? is it the stylus itself or is there like, a nub in the hole that fails? basically can replacing the stylus fix the problem

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The combo of that telescoping metal stylus, the beveled edges and just the density of the OG 3DS was real nice. I‘m not saying it’s the best 3DS, but there was something to it.

My first DS R4 card shit the bed recently, pretty far into my Dragon Quest IV playthrough that's been going on for over a year at bedtime. I know DS saves to the game card, though. Anyone know if those saves are recoverable?

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@“tokucowboy”#p105558 If your R4 works like my R4, the saves should be on the SD card, in the same directory as the rom. From there you can just copy/paste it where you like.