What's a game that got you into owning a Nintendo DS?

[CardcaptorEd2019]

Pokemon Platinum

Back before I got the game I had a small amount of DS games. Once I got Pokemon Platinum I was obsessed with it. I discovered the gts allowing random trades, the wifi plaza was new to me, the underground felt like I was discovering something everytime I went in there and I put so many hours into the many Battle Frontier fights

 

[DeadVoivod]

Gateway Flash... Oh no wait, that's not a game

 

[King Koopa's iconKing Koopa]

Kirby Canvas Curse

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

So, I was very young. I had the exact game identified in another thread, but it was actually a Hot Wheels game of all things. There was a time when I just knew video games as an extension of properties I already loved, so licensed games were my life.

That’s what got me to OWN my first system ever. What got me to LOVE it and appreciate video games as a whole was this gem right here:

I understand now that it’s off putting for long time fans how this game FORCES its generation and world on you. I get that. But, as a first game?! Holy moly, it was seven worlds beyond anything and everything I had been playing until then. The time you could spend in this world was truly special, and I was lonely around the time, so this game kept me company a lot.

Pokémon Black taught me what video games are, beyond just being interactive recreations of movies and shows I loved. It showed me how you can create an original world, characters, and how gameplay can change all that. It showed me the magic of online connectivity, getting me to beg my parents for some wi-fi dongle that I could use to connect my DS to the internet.

I have vivid memories of cramming my DS next to this tiny dongle connected to our PC that still ran XP (this is 2012. Parents, what the heck?), connecting online for the first time, and trading with a guy online. And I got an Arcanine from China. Somebody out there, a real person, across the entire planet, just sent me their Pokémon and I sent them mine.

My life was changed forever. It’s funny how a piece of media can do that if it’s profound enough.

 

[longestseason]

Hotel Dusk and TWEWY

 

[Blamhammer]

Brain Training.
...
There was a good side though, all my non-gaming family and friends wanted to try it out and some of them took the plunge and bought their own DS.

 

[Gorse]

Brain Training.

...

The amount of non-gaming people I knew who bought a DS for Brain Age alone was unbelievable. It's been completely forgotten about today, but that was a massive killer app at the time. Good game, too – I liked the entire Touch Generations label.

I have vivid memories of cramming my DS next to this tiny dongle connected to our PC that still ran XP (this is 2012. Parents, what the heck?), connecting online for the first time, and trading with a guy online. And I got an Arcanine from China.

DUDE, I KNOW, RIGHT??? Black and White had this (now long-dead) feature where you could upload your Pokemon to a website where they could collect items and increase stats. The first time I ever saw a piece of data come out of my DS and appear in my freaking web browser, with all the associated information intact, I just about lost my mind. The DS age had so, so many awesome little experiments that made using the console seem so futuristic and unique.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

DUDE, I KNOW, RIGHT??? Black and White had this (now long-dead) feature where you could upload your Pokemon to a website where they could collect items and increase stats. The first time I ever saw a piece of data come out of my DS and appear in my freaking web browser, with all the associated information intact, I just about lost my mind. The DS age had so, so many awesome little experiments that made using the console seem so futuristic and unique.

It was an era where, while coming in at the end of it, the internet and associated technologies were seen as magical. They had less of integrated society in them, so they felt far away and distant, thus allowing them to be fantasized.

Dream World… wasn’t great. It was a bit slow, clunky, and funky. But I agree with you that it was pure wizardry. It was the result of a time where, at least online, things were allowed to be somewhat janky and inaccessible as long as they were still cool. Flash games come to mind.

 

[Mr. Daddy]

Pokemon HeatGold was what I wanted a DS for. I ended up getting it as a Christmas present with a handful of games (HeartGold was not one of them), and the one of those that I played all the time was Children of Mana. I did eventually get HeartGold later though. I spent a lot of time with most of the games I got on DS though, because I went on long trips in the car very frequently to visit family and such.​

 

[stealthRUSH stealthRUSH]

Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros, and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow were my first (big) three.

Later on I ended up owning Sonic Rush, Dig Dug: Digging Strike, Bleach: The Blade of Fate, Mega Man ZX (initially misunderstood it, thought it would play like Classic Mega Man), Cooking Mama, Contra 4, and Bangai-O Spirits (which was my favorite out of the bunch, especially the level editor mode).

Some of the last few games Deep Labyrinth (besides Castlevania DS, I put in the most hours in playing), Super Mario 64 DS, and The Legendary Starfy (which I ended up selling first, it was too "beginner-friendly" for me.)

Then after a long hiatus, I would discover CDRomance and return with a R4 that brought me back to NDS.

 

[Bushido Cat]

i never had a DS as a kid but the first game i played and one i was dying to play for a very long time was The World Ends With You

 

[Atomicatoms]

Super Mario 64 DS is what got me to decide to get the NDS lite. Played it and it was so much better than the original, but I like both games.

 

[snes9x]

Advance Wars Dual Strike and Animal Crossing Wild World. Also Nintendo Power glazing Nintendogs (I convinced myself to like it). I really wanted Warioware Touched but to this day haven't played it, though I spent a lot of time in DIY.

 

[oldfrankie]

I got my DS Lite just like before the 3DS release and I still remember that my first games were Ace Attorney and Trauma Center. I liked the plot of the first one and all this stylus gameplay of the second one. But even though I have several Nintendo handhelds now, I think the DSi XL is my favorite. It just feels right, I don't know. Currently playing DQ IX on it.

 

[SpikeSlania]

Man, you're asking me to think about what I did 2 decades ago. I know I was in High School and was jealous of the other kids in anime club playing Mario Kart DS. I know I eventually got a DS and ended up joining in as a Shy Guy but never owned Mario Kart DS myself. All I can think of that I myself got on the DS was the Ace Attorney games, Hotel Dusk, Shin Megami Tensei Survive, and a couple other visual novel games back during my cringe weeb phase.

 

[YoshifreakZX]

I guess it was just whatever my cousin had that made want a DS, like Super Mario 64 DS and weirder games like Feel the Magic: XY/XX. I eventually got one of my own in Christmas 2008 alongside other games like Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros, some random Disney game and SpongeBob Atlantis SquarePantis (a surprisingly decent game btw). Yeah... I was like 7 I believe when I got mine.

 

[Fray Guillermo]

Another Code was one of the first games I got for it

I didn't get the DS for any game in particular but Another Code was the first one I ever owned for the console, almost by chance, and loved it

 

[ThunderBoy]

Dawn of Sorrow

 

[FlameSpice]

The pre installed game that makes u do math

 

[DjQuick2008]

Still have a working DS lite sonic colors is cool as well as mario kart DS i play the British version of deal or no deal as well

 

[Krazy Kat]

off course pokemon and fire emblem. what else?

 

[NotGodlike]

Pretty much every game this system had

 

[Action_Hank]

I got a DS around 2006 so I could play Diamond and Pearl. Up to that point, my SP was more than sufficient

Post automatically merged: Apr 21, 2025

Pretty much every game this system had

Even this?

 

[Skeleben]

It's so peak you guys. First Zelda, I loved Pokemon Diamond too but this game blew me away on what the DS could do.

 

[vietcuong]

This duo. Best Pokemon games ever.