I’ll be living on campus this year and will likely be getting a DS along with maybe two games to start with. Preferably something a little more meaty and then something that I can just pick up and play a little easier when I want a break from that or don’t have as much time. Replayability is always a very good plus as well.

I already have some ideas, I’m just wanting to gather as much input as I can since I tend to trust people like you guys over random reviewers (though they do help too).

any specific genres you like?

<_<

If you’re a fan of metroid games, I’d recomend either of the castlevania games for the DS. I’d lean more toward Dawn of Sorrow though, Portrait of Ruin gets kind of lame half way through. With the level design anyway. They aren’t too meaty IMO, but they are fun.

If you like classic mega man games, Megaman ZX and Megaman ZX advent are fairly good. The later is bit more difficult because you can’t cheat on the bosses. Both of them have the same map set up as metroid. Though to be honest they both feel like they’re stages taped together. There really isn’t much to look around. The first one is more guilty of that. The second one feels more like ’pick a stage and go to it’ even though the areas are all connected(most of them anyway) The map in the first one is AWFUL. They do both deliver on a being enjoyable to play. They also both come with an expert mode which is much more difficult than the main game.  These are both fairly short though IIRC. First time through I think I spent 15-20 hours on each maybe more. I went much faster(of course) on subsequent play throughs. though it did take me FOREVER to beat the final boss in the first one on expert. The second one comes with a lot more extras, such as boss rush mode, some mini-games, and a classic-ish mega man mini game. I don’t think you really need to know the first game to play the second game, since the characters in it are new. aside from the protaganists from the first one showing up and two of the antagonists. Both games have sidequests, but there aren’t a lot of them.

If you like the mega man battle network games there’s star force. I’ve only played the first one, the second one is sitting in my box waiting to be played. It’s a lot different than the BN games and i found it to be a hell of a lot easier than them. It was fairly enjoyable and there’s a sort of fair amount of side quests. The story was pretty good and it had some sort of touching moments I guess. I think this one took me a little bit.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance II is also out. I haven’t played much of it, but I’m sure someone else could comment on it. From what I played it was fun and it seemed like it would take a while to do everything in it.

and of course there’s ALWAYS pokemon. <_<

For quick pick up and play games. Clubhouse Games is an excellent choice, especially if you have friends with DSes. It’s basically packed with a fair amount of card games, board games, and some others. It’s wi-fi compatable with wi-fi pictochat. Me, Re, and Daniel used to play it all the time. TILL I GOT SICK OF FUCKING LUDO. anyway, I still play it from time to time if i’m in a waiting room or something. I’d strongly suggest this.

Planet Puzzle League is a fun puzzle game(tetris attack/pokemon puzzle league), but due to a lack of flavor(aside from some great music) it makes it difficult for me to play it.

Professor layton and the curious village is another nice choice if you want to unwind. You basically solve puzzles as you try to unravel the mystery in the town. It’s got a fair amount of puzzles and some of them may take you a while to figure out.
<_<

Oh and if you like strategy games, the two advance wars games are great choices. Days of Ruin is much more difficult than the other one.

Yoshi’s Island DS is a great platformer and fairly difficult. It’s a pretty good sequel to a great game. The bosses are disappointing though. Also I’m pretty sure the story didn’t make ANY sense.

And don’t forget you have a GBA slot.

EBA EBA EBA EBA EBA EBA EBA EBA EBA EBA

And also World Ends With You. Not sure why nub didn’t mention that, cuz he loved it too. >_>

Clubhouse Games is fun, and if you have wifi at school maybe we can play a few rounds of something other than Ludo. >_>

D:<

Not playing ludo is sacrilegious!!!

Wow n00b those were some ridiculously detailed suggestions. You just reminded me that I have Megaman ZX and should finally finish it.

I dont remember what the hell I’m doing in it though >_>

Wow n00b, I don’t think I’ve gotten that much help as far as explanations about the games from anybody.

Yeah, I guess I should have mentioned genres. I love the Metroid games and I really enjoyed the Castlevania games I’ve played (I, II, III, IV. II not as much) so I’ll definitely pick them up, just not sure whether it’ll be sooner or later. I still need to get the GBA ones. <_< Oh, and even if you don’t think they’re "meaty", are they ones that are easy to replay like Metroid? Metroid games aren’t long at all, but I usually play through most of them several times and so I feel that more than makes up for it. I actually tend to prefer a somewhat shorter game that can be replayed a lot over a long one that I’ll only want to play through once, maybe twice.

I like Mega Man as well, though I’ve only played the original games and X-X6. After your detailed overview of the games.... are you suggesting Advent over the other? I got kinda confused. >_>

And Yoshi’s Island DS? I heard it was kinda sucky. I loved the SNES game and had my eye on it until I started hearing so much stuff about it.

Pokemon I considered as well despite never owning a game. I played some of one of the first games back when it was new (don’t remember the color, maybe Yellow?) but my parents used to be all "OMG EVIL!!" about it so I never got into it.

I thought about Clubhouse games as well since I always heard you guys talking about it. And Layton as well. I played a few puzzles at Target one time and it seemed like it could be good. I LOVED Tetris Attack so I wondered about PPL as well, but it seems to have something missing from the way people keep talking about it.

So yeah, I like adventure, action, rpg, platformer, puzzle. At least a little of everything really, but those are probably the top ones. Here’s a wishlist I already had on backloggery. backloggery.com/wishlist.php

The Castlevania games can be quite meaty, depending on how much of a completionist you are. In Dawn of Sorrow there’s obviously the 100% map completion to look for, secret bosses and multiple endings, and soul completion which could take forever. >_>

Portrait of Ruin has the skills and stuff to collect, but they aren’t as cool as souls IMO.

Pokemon is the meatiest though probably of all the ones mentioned here. I mean it’s simply huge. HUGE. I beat the game months ago but there was still so much to do that I STILL felt overwhelmed.

World Ends With You is more akin to Castlevania, but more so. After you beat the game there’s a TON of stuff to do.. like more than you can do before you’ve beaten it. >_> Not to mention mastering all the pins, all your stats, item collection, store experience... it goes on and on. Plus WEWY is way more fun than Pokemon.

You should still get Kirby Super Star Ultra when it comes out. >_>

Screw PoR, just get Dawn of Sorrow. >_>