What's a long good DS game?

[Derek]

I'm going to be going on a business trip to San Francisco soon, which means that I've got a 10-hour flight there and back. Obviously, I'll be looking for ways to kill time on the long flight, and I figure a new DS game would probably hit the spot. So what I'm looking for is a game that you can get at least 20 hours of solid more-or-less continuous entertainment out of. Any of you DS owners out there know of any good ones?

The games I'm currently considering are "Mario & Luigi Partners In Time," "Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow," and "Yoshi's Island DS." Each of those games look like they're rated highly and look like they take a while to play. Obviously they're all kind of different from each other. I've never played any of Castlevania, and I've only played the main Mario games so I'm not sure how much I'm going to like any of those games listed. Any of you DS owners out there played these game and have any comments on them?

Sorry this post isn't funny. The next one will be, I'm just sure of it.

[ijdgaf]

Honestly, I don't own any of those three. But I get the impression you can't go wrong with Castlevania.

From my collection, my recommendation would be Kirby: Canvas Curse. It's a title not many DS owners have played, which is a shame because it was the first really good proof-of-concept for the system. Whole game is controlled with the stylus. And it works, really really well. It's a fairly long adventure, with a surprising amount of challenge to it. Definitely worth looking into.

[Nate the Great]

Well, I've never played any DS games, so I can't speak to the point. I could recommend some GBA games, but that's another request.

[Derek]

Thanks for the reply, IJD. I actually own Canvas Curse, so that wouldn't work for me. Also, I've found that I can only play that for, maybe, an hour at most before I'm ready to switch to another game. Super Mario 64 DS, on the other hand, I was able to play continuously for a very long time.

Nate, I'd be open to a good GBA game if you have one that meets the criteria since the DS will play it. I only have Minish Cap and the Super Mario World GBA games currently.

[Nate the Great]

Yeah, but you didn't ask for GBA games, did you?

Well, the sad part is, the only out-and-out GBA games I have are:

Mario Advance 4: SMB3. This is mandatory for anyone with a GBA-compatible. I think we can get agreement on this.
A series of Yu-gi-oh games. You probably aren't interested in those.

The rest of my Gameboy Games were either original (Tetris and Wheel of Fortune) or Pokemon.

[ijdgaf]

How about Metroid Zero Mission? It's a great way to get into the franchise if you're not already.

Also, maybe it would help if you gave a list of the DS games you already own.

[Derek]

Let's see:

Mario Kart DS
Brain Age
Clubhouse Games
Super Mario 64 DS
New Super Mario Bros
Age of Empires
Kirby Canvas Curse
Tetris DS

And the GBA games I have are listed in my previous post.

[Nate the Great]

You don't have Nintendogs yet?

That was sarcasm, by the way. I don't think I'd enjoy it either. It's just that I keep reading how big of a deal that game is.

[ijdgaf]

The only long games I have that you don't are Metroid Prime Hunters, Viewtiful Joe Double Trouble, and StarFox Command.

Actually, I had forgotten to mention the latter earlier. StarFox works great on the touchscreen. It's really an underrated title.

[Nate the Great]

Okay, here's something I've been wondering about Viewtiful Joe. What's the difference between Mach Speed and Slow? After all, one is speeding Joe up and the other is slowing everything else down, right? So in the end, isn't it just semantics? A change in the point of reference?

[ijdgaf]

Couldn't tell you. I've barely played any of Viewtiful Joe. On either Cube or DS.

My Fiancee has it though. So I'll get into it eventually.

[Burt]

Funny enough I've been looking for a new DS game. I've been thinking about that Hotel Room 13? Or what ever it was called. It looks good and different and long. It has been said to be a bit like Max Payne....which isn't good in my book, as I hated that game.
Anyone got it?
And on the Nintendo side of things....
-Heatseeker. Anyone played it? Any good?
-Blazing Squadron ...better or worse?
Many thanks!

[Zeke]

Unfortunately, the DS games I've enjoyed the most don't make good introductions to their respective series. Metroid Prime Hunters would be a terrible first Metroid game. Mega Man Battle Network 5 DS is, naturally, fifth in its series. Mega Man ZX would be a good choice -- you wouldn't get as much out of it as we Mega Man diehards do, but it's first in its own series at least. You should also consider Children of Mana, a highly underrated game.

As for GBA games, see my Castlevania comments below; another excellent buy is Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls. I second IJD's nomination of Metroid Zero Mission (Fusion is great too, but ZM is a better first Metroid game). And the Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Zero series are definitely worth getting into, it's just better to play them in order, so grab the earlier games if you can find them.

Originally Posted by ijdgaf

But I get the impression you can't go wrong with Castlevania.

Very true -- except the one Derek's considering. Dawn of Sorrow is a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow for GBA, and if you play it first, you spoil a huge plot twist for yourself. It's a great game, but it shouldn't be played before Aria.

My advice for someone who wants to get into Castlevania... well, okay. My advice for someone who wants to get into Castlevania without emulation would be to track down the Castlevania Double Pack for GBA. There were three GBA Castlevania games, all awesome: Circle of the Moon (one of the very first GBA games, and the one that suffered most from the lack of a backlight), Harmony of Dissonance, and Aria of Sorrow. The latter two quickly grew hard to find, so Konami rereleased them last year as a Double Pack. If you can find it, it's the best value you'll ever get for one GBA cart. Circle is an amazing game too, and a good intro to the series (it was mine).

You might also consider the latest entry, Portrait of Ruin. It's a brilliant game. Not ideal as an introduction, but it worked okay for Tarn-Vedra, who got it on my advice. It's incredibly customizable, with the best-executed two-character system I've ever seen, and five extra playable characters to unlock. And Charlotte's adorable.

[Hejira]

Even with a walkthrough telling you every step to take, Phoenix Wright takes days to play. And, it's a damn fine game.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Metroid Prime Hunters would be a terrible first Metroid game.

I downloaded the demo of it and wasn't really grabbed by it. Visually impressive, yes. But FPS aren't my cup of tea.

Mega Man ZX would be a good choice -- you wouldn't get as much out of it as we Mega Man diehards do, but it's first in its own series at least. You should also consider Children of Mana, a highly underrated game.

Heard good things about CoM, but nothing enough to persuade me.

Very true -- except the one Derek's considering. Dawn of Sorrow is a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow for GBA, and if you play it first, you spoil a huge plot twist for yourself. It's a great game, but it shouldn't be played before Aria.

I realized I said Dawn of Sorrow when I meant to say Portrait of Ruin. Not that I really have a favorite of the two, but PoR came out more recently so I figured I might go for that one of the two. The whole non-sequel thing you mention also seems to be a vote for PoR.

Actually, Castlevania: PoR is probably going to be my purchase.

Hejira, Pheonix Wright looks like it could be fun (and comments I've seen seem to agree that it is), but I don't think I'm going to go for that now. It's on my wishlist though.

Burt, Hotel Dusk Rm 215 is also on my wishlist, though I've heard a little ambivalence towards it from others. I downloaded the playable demo, and thought it interesting. I could definitely see that killing a lot of time.

[MaverickZer0]

The whole Mana series that I've played has been rather good. I should toss Fire Emblem in there while I'm at it. Just because it's a series doesn't mean the games are really related. They stand alone quite well.

I've heard good things about both ZX and Shooting Star or whatever they're calling the Battle Network spinoff in English. I'd say better things about ZX because my opinion of that series isn't as tainted by the 'but they ended the old old one too soon!' as it is with the other.

Castlevania's another good choice if you somehow haven't played any of those yet. Castlevania as a series is excellent.

[Nate the Great]

I don't suppose I could convince you to get an original Gameboy and Tetris? I've whiled away many a happy hour on that game.

[Hejira]

Tetris DS plz.

[ijdgaf]

Also, uh... there's little-to-no reason anymore to buy an original Game Boy thanks to backwards compatability. Unless you're super fond of pea green monochrome.

[Nate the Great]

Well, besides nostalgia?

I have the original GBA and see no reason to change. I'm actually one of the few who thinks that the SP isn't so hot. No headphone jack, hands too cramped, eats batteries like nobodies business, and on and on. I actually enjoy using an archaic third-party external battery/handgrip that surrounds the entire thing to make it even BIGGER.