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glitchcat extraordinaire

33 | πŸ”ž | demi/panro/polyam

NB trans woman | glitchy computer virus in the shape of a cat | vtuber who streams handheld games on hardware | chiptune noise pop musician | n-gage & fishing game liker


icon: Quasar/Pangaea || banner: @spoonycatt


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i was originally gonna write a long post about why this is my favourite console despite (and because of) its foibles, but instead i'm just gonna be standard here and say: good damn console.

neat gimmicky experiments and solid games mixing and mingling together to form a weird era of game design that carried over the spirit of the GBA by combining 4th-7th gen game design aspects into a melange that can only be described as "nintendo ds :)"


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so here we go, 4 of them off the top of my head:

  • Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor - SRPG in the SMT franchise that takes the 7 day structure of a title like TWEWY & turns it into a very neat multi-path variant on the typical Law/Neutral/Chaos formula
  • Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - Metroidvania (obvi) where you play as a hot lady who is capable of harvesting glyphs from creatures/the environment and "equipping" them as tattoos for weapons/skills. Tough as nails portions lead to uneven difficulty but also feel like a love letter to everything from the Igarashi era.
  • Trauma Center: Under the Knife - arcade surgery sim. Tough as hell with lightning-fast reflexes required on some operations, but it's very easy to pick up and learn. So damn fun
  • Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - adventure game where your spirit possesses objects in the environment to solve puzzles. I dare not say more esp. with the remake coming out soon, but it's one of the most enjoyable adventure games I've played in general.

i wanted to list two more "traditional" games and two more "gimmicky" games, but all of these are also popular. a lot of the popular DS games rip! I didn't even mention my love for some of the rhythm offerings, or minigame collections, etc. but there's a lot to love here

ok fine here's 4 more that are just underappreciated gems under the cut


  • The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road - RPG based on the Wizard of Oz developed by Media Vision (the folks behind the Wild Arms & Digimon Cyber Sleuth titles). Controlled via touch-screen trackball, has really charming 3D renders, and the battle system is simple but employs really neat variations to make it feel fresh & strategic.
  • Nanashi no Game - a horror game about a cursed DS game. It feels very at home with Japanese horror trends of the time story-wise, but the real star here is the gameplay. Split between sections styled like a Dragon Quest clone with heavy corruption elements & first-person 3D sections in the real world with touch screen tank controls, stealth and learning enemy patterns/learning how to run efficiently is the name of the game.
  • Knights in the Nightmare - SRPG/bullet hell hybrid that's overwhelming in true Sting Dept. Heaven fashion. Busy UI, busy mechanics, but if you take the time to do the tutorial it all flows so interestingly together. I need to finish this one still but I've enjoyed my time with it
  • Puchi Puchi Virus - touch-screen-based puzzle game based around the quick linking of symbols. The only bad part about this game is that you're curing people who have been TFd into animals, but it means you have a lot of fun little animal-pun-based files to read too.

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in reply to @proxy's post:

The DS was the best. There are heaps of great ds games. I think I spent hundreds of hours playing the ds and I'm sad that I can't play it anymore because the screens are too small for me now.

Among the best games are chrono trigger, ace attorney trilogy, professor layton, and dragon quest 4. Also a couple worth mentioning even though I didn't finish them: Radiant Historia and Soma Bringer. But there are so many more great games.

in reply to @mouri-sunlight's post:

It's a game where you manage a clothing boutique, coordinating outfits for the customers based on their style requests. In the original, you hold the DS sideways so you can see the characters' full bodies, and it turns out like a little fashion magazine! The three sequels were normal 3ds titles. the upcoming game Fashion Dreamer for the switch is a sort of spiritual successor

ooooooh, I gotta tell my sister about that one! she has a bit of a nostalgia thing for fashion games that came out when we were kids with interesting functional gimmicks, though she doesn't get to hear about as many of them as she'd like to. might try to get it on my hacked 3ds and bring that to her place idk, have a day with her and her family and show her a game.

Radiant Historia is the DS game that jumps to my mind first. An excellent RPG, with great writing and a rather fun battle system. Always feel like it deserves more love, even though it got rereleased on the 3DS. Hell, it could stand to be released on more platforms. If you ever wanted an RPG where the MC has multiple brain cells and uses them, it's a great a pick.