The Nintendo DS turns 20 years old today, so to celebrate we’ve put together our list of the 30 best DS games.
Released on November 21, 2004, the DS launched head-first into a competition with Sony‘s first gaming handheld, the PSP.
In a battle that will have reminded many long-time players of the game Boy vs game Gear vs Lynx debates, the DS was significantly less powerful than the PSP but ultimately ended up winning due to a number of factors, not least the quality and variety of its games.
The introduction of a touch-screen may have seemed like an unusual one – especially given that it launched three years before the iPhone, when touch screens were still considered something you used for a personal organiser – but it opened up players to numerous new types of game, and made it more approachable to those put off by buttons.
As a result, the DS had one of the most varied libraries of any video game system in history, resulting in one of the most diverse userbases ever.
From young children playing Nintendogs all the way up to pensioners playing Brain Training / Brain Age, it wasn’t hyperbole to say there truly was something for everyone.
As a result of this, it’s practically impossible to put together a list of 30 classic DS games without plenty of other quality titles being left out.
At the risk of inviting the inevitable “BUT YOU FORGOT” abuse, then, feel free to post your own personal favourites in the comments if they weren’t fortunate enough to make our list.
1) Ace Attorney series
What it is: Capcom’s lawyer ’em up series originally started in Japan with the Gyakuten Saiban trilogy on the game Boy Advance but fans enjoyed them so much they were ported to DS, complete with English localisation.
As their popularity grew global, more DS-specific entries were released. The DS ended up getting a total of four Ace Attorney games and two Japan-only spin-offs.
Why it’s essential: At their heart the Ace Attorney games are little more than fancy visual novels.
Although the aim is to defend numerous clients and help them avoid prison sentences, you don’t actually have much room for experimentation here and the story follows a strictly linear path.
This doesn’t stop you feeling like the impossible lovechild of Sherlock Holmes and Atticus Finch every time you expose a contradiction in a witness’s testimony, mind you.
They’re also genuinely funny, offering some of the best localised dialogue you’ll ever see in a game.
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to play all the Ace Attorney games (except for 3DS title Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright) via the numerous compilations available on modern platforms.
2) Animal Crossing: Wild World
What it is: The second game in Nintendo’s life sim series (well, the third, if you want to get picky and count the Japan-only N64 one).
As in the others, the game has you moving into a new town and getting to know your new animal neighbours.
Why it’s essential: We’re terrified to think how many hours we put into Wild World.
For the first ten hours or so you begin to get the feeling there isn’t much more to it, but never has a game contained so many hidden secrets that uncover themselves literally months later.
The now-dead Sega blog UK Resistance (God rest it) wrote the ultimate love letter to Wild World – you owe it to yourself to read that, because it explains the game so much better than we (or anyone) ever could.
It has since been surpassed by the even more time-consuming Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Switch, but for those still rocking the DS there’s far more than enough here to keep you busy for a long time.
3) Castlevania series
What it is: While Konami’s vampire series languished on consoles, it thrived on Nintendo handhelds, first with three amazing GBA games and then another three fantastic DS offerings.
Why it’s essential: When you hear games described as Metroidvania style, this is the ‘vania bit. Although the non-linear exploration style had featured in other console Castlevania games before this, it really shines in the handheld titles.
They’re also surprisingly difficult, which makes it all the more satisfying when you take out one of its enormous mini-bosses.
The DS got three brilliant Castlevania games – Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia. If you don’t have a DS handy, all three can now be found in the recently released Castlevania Dominus Collection on modern platforms.
4) Chrono Trigger
What it is: Originally released on the SNES back in 1995, Chrono Trigger is widely believed to be one of Square’s finest RPG games ever.
Why it’s essential: The SNES version of Chrono Trigger was never released in Europe, leaving those outside of Japan and North America looking on jealously or buying obscenely priced imports. This DS version, then, marked the game’s first ever European release, 14 years later.
As such, we at VGC never played Chrono Trigger back in the SNES days, and for us the first time playing it was when it came to Nintendo’s dual-screened handheld. It was worth the wait.
Its branching storyline is the work of genius (there are fourteen different endings), and it really does remain one of the finest examples of the RPG genre all these years later.
These days you can find an enhanced port of the DS version on Steam, with all its extra content included and new features like ultrawide monitor support.
5) Contra 4
What it is: Players of a certain vintage will know Contra (otherwise known as Probotector and Gryzor in the UK) as the definitive hard as nails run ‘n’ gun shooter.
Despite its title, Contra 4 is something like the eleventh game in the series, and the first developed by the 2D platforming experts at WayForward Technologies.
Why it’s essential: Contra 4 takes us back to the good old days when a game was allowed to be hard as hell, and simply getting to level 3 felt like a massive accomplishment.
This game will frustrate you immensely, but as you see countless game Over screens and try again and again, you’ll slowly make progress inch by inch and it’ll be immensely satisfying.
While a number of Contra games have been given modern re-releases by Konami, Contra 4 has yet to get the same treatment, meaning it’s still DS-only for now.
6) Custom Robo Arena
What it is: Imagine playing a Pokemon game, only instead of little monsters you raised little robots instead.
And instead of giving them commands in turn-based battles, you actually controlled them in real-time scraps. And you could add new parts to them.
Why it’s essential: We’d have thought “it’s Pokemon with robots” would have been sufficient explanation.
For some reason, Custom Robo is a Nintendo franchise that has been by and large ignored over the years – Arena was the fifth title in the series and, following poor sales, was the last.
But as a game that’s essentially an RPG version of Robot Wars, it’s really worth checking out.
7) Elite Beat Agents / Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan series
What it is: Before it was doomed to karaoke hell when Microsoft signed it up to make Singstar rival Lips, Tokyo developer iNiS was one of the kings of rhythm action.
It was responsible for the incredible PS2 cult favourite Gitaroo Man, and then went on to create DS title Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, a game about a squad of all-male cheerleaders who help the world through rhythmic encouragement.
Why it’s essential: Ouendan’s core gameplay was so well suited to the DS’s touchscreen that its ‘tap the targets when the circles pass over them’ mechanic has been imitated countless times since.
Since Ouendan offered a range of Japanese songs, when it came to porting it to the US and Europe iNiS instead created Elite Beat Agents, an entirely new game with all new stories and a west-friendly pop soundtrack.
Elite Beat Agents will probably appeal to you most then (and that Christmas level is a genuine tear-jerker), but you should really check out all three if you can.
8) Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
What it is: Ace Attorney creator Shu Takumi decided to lend his storytelling skills to a completely different universe, one in which the player helps the ghost of a dead man discover who killed him.
Why it’s essential: Ghost Trick’s central mechanic lets you freeze time and use your spirit to jump between nearby objects in a room.
By using poltergiest-like abilities to mess around with some of these objects, you can change what happens and alter the course of history.
It’s basically The Butterfly Effect, only it’s a fantastically stylish and humorous Japanese DS puzzler instead of a bad Ashton Kutcher film.
Luckily, Ghost Trick was remastered last year and is now available on PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC.
9) Hotel Dusk: Room 215 / Last Window: The Secret Of Cape West
What it is: Two beautiful graphic adventures telling the story of former detective turned salesman Kyle Hyde.
In the first he investigates a hotel with a room said to grant wishes, while in the second he receives a note telling him to look into the mysteries of his apartment block before it’s demolished.
Why it’s essential: There are few things in life more tragic than the closure of Fukuoka-based developer Cing. Okay, in the grand scheme of things there are probably plenty more things, but it was sad regardless.
Initially impressing DS owners with the lovely Another Code: Two Memories, Cing flat out stunned them with Hotel Dusk, a gorgeous adventure with a unique rotoscoped brushwork art style.
Both it and its sequel Last Window are fantastic games. Sadly, they’ve never been re-released, but given that the Another Code games were remade earlier this year you never know.
10) Lego Rock Band / Rock Band 3
What it is: Handheld versions of Harmonix’s plastic instrument rhythm action gems.
Why it’s essential: The best DS ports of console games are the ones that don’t try to imitate their more powerful siblings but instead accept the handheld’s limitations and try something completely different instead.
In one sense, Guitar Hero went down this route with an odd DS peripheral which plugged into its GBA port and let you hold a bunch of chords while strumming the screen.
The DS versions of Lego Rock Band and Rock Band 3, meanwhile, play more like Harmonix’s cult PS2 game Amplitude, with players juggling four different instrumental tracks at the same time and ensuring they’re all playing properly.
It’s a brilliant way of ditching gimmickry for good old-fashioned rhythm action gold.
11) Mario & Luigi series
What it is: The second and third games in developer AlphaDream’s brilliant RPG series.
In Partners in Time, Mario and Luigi travel to the past and team up with their baby selves, whereas in Bowser’s Inside Story the pair are accidentally swallowed by their nemesis, who they then assist in defeating a greater evil.
Why it’s essential: There are a lot of haters out there who constantly say “sigh, more Mario games”, but those people have empty little humour-holes in their lives that the Mario & Luigi series could fill ten times over.
Both DS offerings are packed with brilliantly funny dialogue and a wide variety of enemies to meet, beat and defeat. Easily among the funniest games we’ve played.
Although Partners in Time remains a DS exclusive to this day, a remake of Bowser’s Inside Story was released in 2018 for the 3DS.
12) Mario Kart DS
What it is: Mario Kart. On the DS. Come on now, this one’s easy.
Why it’s essential: Not to go on about it, but those same people who accuse Nintendo of releasing the same stuff over and over fail to realise that some of its key franchises only appear once per console.
Mario Kart is the prime example of this (Virtual Console versions aside, of course), meaning if you’re craving some karting action on the DS this is your one and only option.
It’s a good job it’s brilliant fun, then, offering the ability to select your kart for the first time and the addition of R.O.B. as an unlockable character.
Yes, R.O.B. the robot. The NES one. It’s worth buying for that alone.
13) Mr Driller: Drill Spirits
What it is: A brilliant DS version of Namco’s cult block-drilling puzzler.
Why it’s essential: If you’ve never played Mr Driller before, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
There’s nothing more satisfying than drilling your way through a massive chunk of coloured blocks, and nothing more tense than realising your air is running out and you can’t find any more oxygen power-ups.
This DS version (Drill Spirits = DS, geddit?) adds some interesting new alternative modes, including the interesting Dristone Driller mode which replaces the need for speed with the need for strategy and completely changes the way the game is played.
If you can’t find a cheap copy of the DS version, maybe check out Mr Driller Drill Land instead. This was a GameCube game which was re-released on modern formats a few years back.
14) N+
What it is: Metanet Software’s criminally underrated minimalist platformer.
Controlling a ninja, you make your way through hundreds of stages collecting gold on the way to each exit.
Why it’s essential: Very few games have ever captured that ‘one more go’ feeling better than N+.
Some of its later levels are infuriatingly difficult but the whole thing is so fast-paced and restarting is so rapid that many a time we’ve happily spent half on hour on a stage that, once we’ve nailed it, is completed in all of 20 seconds.
If you can’t find the DS version easily, the sequel N++ is available on modern platforms.
15) New Super Mario Bros
What it is: Another one that does what it says on the tin. It’s a Super Mario Bros game, and a new one at that.
Why it’s essential: We may have experienced a bit of ‘New’ Super Mario Bros fatigue in the past couple of decades, but it’s important to remember that the ‘New’ moniker was genuine on the DS.
It’s hard to believe now, but a lot of people forget that New Super Mario Bros was actually the first brand new side-scrolling 2D platformer starring Mario since Super Mario Land 2, which had released a ridiculous 14 years prior.
To say it was long-awaited by Nintendo fans is something of an understatement then, and for many it was worth the wait.
Granted, it’s a little easier than its NES and SNES predecessors, but in terms of level design, character design and general joy it’s still a winner. 30 million copies sold can’t be wrong.
16) Pic Pic
What it is: An obscure puzzler from Success, the studio responsible for the match-three favourite Zoo Keeper.
Why it’s essential: Pic Pic sold about twelve copies when it was released, but it’s actually one of the best puzzle games on the DS. Or, rather, three of the best.
Pic Pic actually offers three different types of puzzle, entitled Maze Pic, Magipic and Drawing. Each of these features completely different rules, but the result is always the same: when you’ve finished the puzzle, the lines you’ve drawn will have made a picture.
It’s similar in concept to Picross, then, but with a ridiculous 1200 puzzles to play through (400 in each category). And given that some of the Drawing ones can take up to 15 minutes to finish, you’re literally talking hundreds of hours here.
17) Picross DS
What it is: The best version ever of one of the best puzzle games ever.
Why it’s essential: Picross fans already know the answer to this, but if you’ve never come across it before it’s one of the most compelling puzzle games of all time.
It’s a bit like a cross between Sudoku and sprite art. Using numerical clues, you have to decide which squares on a grid should be filled, in and which should be left blank, and by the end you’ll have drawn a picture.
At first it’s bewildering but after a while it ‘clicks’ and you start learning tricks and methods that will soon have you zooming eagerly through each puzzle.
This DS version is the best one ever released, because it not only offers over 300 puzzles but splits them into categories, each with their own skin and music. So by the time you reach the end of the game you’re drawing Mario sprites by breaking 8-bit blocks. Brilliant stuff.
18) Picross 3D
What it is: A new take on Picross, featuring a cube instead of a grid.
Why it’s essential: We were initially dubious when Picross 3D was announced. We just wanted more Picross and were worried that by completely changing the rules everything would be ruined.
What we actually got was a game that feels completely different, but still has that brilliantly fulfilling Picross feeling when you finish a puzzle.
Here, rather than colouring in squares on a grid you’re chipping cubes off a big rectangular block, rotating it with the stylus to read the numerical clues written on the sides and using a process of elimination to decide which ones stay and which ones go.
Picross is still our one true love, but Picross 3D is its attractive cousin.
19) Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver
What it is: The best Pokémon game on DS. Come at us, Pokébros.
Why it’s essential: Asking someone what their favourite Pokémon game is is essentially asking them how old they are.
Many players in their late 20s or early 30s will point at the GBA ones, younger players will say it’s one of the DS titles, older folk like us will say it’s the game Boy originals because A) we think we’re cool and B) we’re too old to remember more than 151 Pokemon at a time.
HeartGold and SoulSilver at least bridged some of these gaps by remaking the best game Boy era game (Gold & Silver) in the game engine of DS game Diamond and Pearl.
We reckon it’s the best purely because, by adding the entire region of Kanto from Red & Blue just as you think you’ve finished the game, its story is twice as long as most main Pokémon games.
20) Professor Layton series
What it is: Four games starring gentleman and puzzle fetishist Professor Hershel Layton and his young friend Luke Triton.
Why it’s essential: The first Professor Layton game came out of nowhere to become a massive success, selling out all over the place and ultimately shifting over 4 million copies.
Obviously deciding if it isn’t broken it shouldn’t fix it, developer Level-5 went on to release three more Layton adventures on DS, each with a new adventure but similar puzzle-solving gameplay.
Continuing the puzzle theme, three of those four games had different titles in North America and Europe. In order, they were Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box / The Diabolical Box, Professor Layton and the Lost / Unwound Future and Professor Layton and the Spectre’s Call / Last Specter.
If you have to only pick one, we’d go for the third game, Professor Layton And The Lost / Unwound Future. It’s got the best story and may have you in tears by the end.
21) Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords
What it is: Part match-three puzzler, part RPG, part horrendous storyline.
Why it’s essential: By now you may have gathered we like puzzle games at VGC. Also, by now you’re 21 games into our list so you might as well put up with it.
Puzzle Quest is a brilliant little game that did the whole match-three RPG mash-up long before the likes of Puzzle & Dragons made it popular.
Its combat mechanics stop players from randomly matching anything they can find and instead makes them think carefully about each move.
The more of a specific colour you match, the more of certain spells you can cast. As such, each battle in Puzzle Quest is slow-paced but compelling.
If you fancy trying it now, it got an enhanced remaster on Switch called Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns.
22) Retro game Challenge
What it is: A brilliant love letter to the NES era.
Why it’s essential: We feel bad recommending Retro game Challenge because you’re going to have a hell of a time finding a copy. But we really love it.
It was originally released in Japan as a video game spin-off of the brilliant Japanese TV show game Center CX, but since that didn’t air in the west it was renamed Retro game Challenge.
It’s essentially a collection of eight NES games, none of which actually ever existed.
You’re given a number of achievement-style challenges for each game (a bit like NES Remix) and have to read through the manual and game Fan, a fake magazine you subscribe to, to find tips and cheats that will help you.
It says a lot that this captures the feel of gaming during the 8-bit days more than most compilations of genuine retro titles do.
23) Rhythm Paradise / Heaven
What it is: The second game in Nintendo’s bizarre but fantastic Rhythm Tengoku series.
Why it’s essential: The first Rhythm Tengoku game was a game Boy Advance title that was only released in Japan (and that we’re praying will eventually get a Switch Online release).
This DS sequel, known as Rhythm Paradise in Europe and Rhythm Heaven in North America, has similarly silly rhythm action mechanics but uses the touch-screen for its rhythm.
Given the input lag you get in most TVs these days and the perfect timing needed here, the handheld versions of the Rhythm Tengoku / Heaven / Paradise series tend to be the best of the bunch.
24) Space Invaders Extreme
What it is: Taito’s arcade classic brought into the 21st century.
Why it’s essential: It could be argued that the original Space Invaders is a game that hasn’t really aged well in the 37 years since its initial release. It would be wrong, but it could be argued.
It still serves its function, and is still perfectly playable, but put it in the hands of a young buck and they may find it slow and plodding.
Space Invaders Extreme is what Space Invaders would feel like were it a modern game, with fast-paced graphics, waves that can be wiped out in seconds, a pumping soundtrack with effects that trigger to the beat of the music and beautiful visualisation effects in the background by Jeff Minter.
We can’t recommend it enough, and if you fancy trying it out these days your best bet is Space Invaders Forever on PS4 or Space Invaders Invincible Collection on Switch, both of which feature ports of the PC version.
25) Taiko No Tatsujin DS series
What it is: A trio of DS titles based on Bandai Namco’s popular drum-based arcade games.
Why it’s essential: If you aren’t familiar with Taiko No Tatsujin (better known as Taiko Drum Master in the west), it’s a rhythm action game made popular in Japanese arcades by its massive drum controller.
Its rules are straightforward: if you see a red circle hit the drum, if you see a blue circle crack the side of it. And that’s it.
Despite this simplicity, it can get surprisingly difficult, even though using the DS touch screen instead of a drum makes it a little easier than usual.
26) Tetris DS
What it is: Guess.
Why it’s essential: There have been more Tetris games released over the years than there have been posthumous Elvis albums, but Tetris DS is one of our favourites because it has a personality.
As you reach each level of its Marathon and Endless modes, the background changes to pay tribute to a different retro NES game, meaning fans of Mario, Zelda, Metroid and the like get to enjoy a little nostalgia wink as they play.
It’s also got some brilliant alternative modes, from the Zelda-themed Mission Mode to Push Mode, a new take on Versus with a Donkey Kong background.
If you’re a Tetris fan and some of the more soulless offerings – Tetris Effect and Tetris Forever aside, of course – have left you feeling cold, track this one down.
27) Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land
What it is: A DS-only Tony Hawk game loosely based on Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland.
Why it’s essential: We’re big fans of Tony Hawk games here at VGC, hence our recent 100-minute Patreon-only podcast dedicated to the entire series.
That is, we’re big fans of the Tony Hawk games that were released during the PlayStation, PS2 and early Xbox 360 era, before they started to lose focus and became gimmicky.
American Sk8land is one of the last games that felt like classic Tony Hawk, wisely opting to go with cel-shaded visuals to make up for the lack of detail on the DS.
To this day we still start it up every now and then for the odd combo run.
28) Trauma Center: Under The Knife series
What it is: The most realistic portrayals of being a surgeon ever. And by ‘most’ we mean ‘least’.
Why it’s essential: Trauma Center is hard. As in “oh shut up, I stitched that bastard’s heart up properly” hard.
But for some reason, despite being one of the most frustrating games we’ve ever played, I still find myself coming back to it.
That’s because, when it all goes well, you basically feel like George Clooney. As in when he was in ER, not when he starred in the coffee ads.
If you can, play it on an XL version of the handheld – the bigger screens make for greater accuracy and less frustration.
29) WarioWare DIY
What it is: The perfect way to learn how games are made.
Why it’s essential: Ever since the first WarioWare game was released in 2003 the series has been synonymous with simplicity, its basic microgames offering five-second bursts of chuckle-stuffed gameplay.
WarioWare DIY turns this entirely on its head, instead offering a stunningly in-depth tutorial on how to do Intelligent Systems’ job and make your own microgames.
By the time you’ve sat through its entertaining lessons you’ll be drawing and animating sprites, setting AI paths and instructions, creating collision detection rules and even composing the music.
The results really depend on your own creativity, though sadly you can no longer upload your creations to WiiWare like you could when the Wii Shop was still active.
30) The World Ends With You
What it is: Square Enix’s odd action RPG set in a fictional version of Tokyo.
Why it’s essential: When people discuss the best DS games, it’s not long before some Square Enix nut pops up and insists The World Ends With You gets a mention.
People care a lot about this game, and we don’t blame them – its story is fantastic, its art style is beautiful and it has a brilliantly catchy soundtrack.
Once you get over the initially tricky battle system – using both the touch screen and buttons is a little like patting your head and rubbing your tummy with a stylus – the whole thing becomes very compelling.
These days, the best way to play it is on Switch, in its enhanced remaster The World Ends With You: Final Remix.
Honourable Mentions
What’s that? Thirty games isn’t enough? Fine, here’s another brief list of 15 more which are also worth checking out if you can find them cheaply enough.
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
The best entry in Intelligent Systems’ turn-based strategy war game. Its sequel, Days Of Ruin, is a little too moody.
Another Code: Two Memories
Before Cing made Hotel Dusk and Last Window, it released this lovely little game about a young girl searching for the dad she thought was dead.
Big Bang Mini
A quirky little shooter that has you tapping on the touch screen to shoot fireworks at enemies on the top screen. Visually pleasing.
Dementium II
If you didn’t think the DS was powerful enough to handle an FPS, Dementium II will change your mind. An effectively creepy first-person survival horror.
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels Of The Starry Skies
Dragon Quest was to Enix what Final Fantasy was to Square, and this ninth instalment shows why it’s still one of the best RPG series around.
Final Fantasy III & Final Fantasy IV
Speaking of Final Fantasy, these full polygonal remakes of Square’s much-loved NES and SNES titles show that with a lick of paint they still hold up decades later.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
A top-down GTA that harks back to the days of the original PlayStation game. Gloriously offensive, and packed with action.
Illust Logic DS + Colorful Logic
Hudson Soft’s take on Picross, offering both black & white and colour-based puzzles. Look, it’s more Picross, that’s why we’re mentioning it.
Jam With The Band
A first-party Nintendo offering allowing up to eight players to choose an instrument and play together. A widely scaling difficulty system makes it anything from stupidly easy to ridiculously hard.
Jump Ultimate Stars
Imagine Smash Bros with over 300 manga characters (56 of whom are playable) instead of Nintendo characters. Only released in Japan and hard to get through the language barrier at first, but worth the effort.
The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Phantom Hourglass was fun, but Spirit Tracks is better. It’s less repetitive than its predecessor but offers dungeons that are just as well-designed.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
There have been a few Mario vs Donkey Kong games now but this is our favourite because it offers greater control over the Minis, making it less frustrating.
Sonic Rush Adventure
Anyone who thinks Sonic games were universally terrible in the early 2000s should take a look at Sega’s handheld offerings. This is one of the better examples.
WarioWare: Touched!
Released shortly after the DS launched, this was the first game that truly showed what the touch screen was capable of. It’s still a great laugh after all these years.
