Not Ghost Trick or anything by Cing; really, really obscure stuff. This system has a vast library and I'm convinced there's more gold to be wrung out of it. I'd love to know the game you liked that you've never seen anyone else praise.
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The most obscure Nintendo DS recommendations, please.
- Thread starter Stuart Gipp
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Knights in the Nightmare and The Dark Spire are both excellent. If those are too mainstream still, I loved Ketsui Death Label.
Time Hollow. Cool time travel adventure game published by Konami. Not a gem, but still fairly enjoyable.
Oh, and I know it's a Cing game, but Again: Eye of Providence is pretty cool too, but I bet even some CiNG fans never heard about this one. Definitely not on par with their other games, but still had a blast with it.
Granted, those two games aren't the most obscure...
Oh, and I know it's a Cing game, but Again: Eye of Providence is pretty cool too, but I bet even some CiNG fans never heard about this one. Definitely not on par with their other games, but still had a blast with it.
Granted, those two games aren't the most obscure...
Can it be a Japanese only game?
Like do you totally want to fight Kaiju in a namco scaled back take on monster hunter?
Kaiju Busters
(Not an amazing game but I still enjoyed their take on it).
Like do you totally want to fight Kaiju in a namco scaled back take on monster hunter?
Kaiju Busters
(Not an amazing game but I still enjoyed their take on it).
Izuna 1 & 2, japanese roguelike dungeon crawlers published by Atlus
Theresia, a really interesting horror game
the Alice In Wonderland game produced to tie in with the Tim Burton film, wait come back it's really good!
Theresia, a really interesting horror game
the Alice In Wonderland game produced to tie in with the Tim Burton film, wait come back it's really good!
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Good choices! Again is surprisingly good. I'd also add 7th Dragon, Avalon Code, Nostalgia, Bangai-O Spirits, Big Bang Mini... and many others. Amazing system that DS!
Is Soul Bubbles obscure enough for you?
It's a game where you play as a spirit carrying tiny souls toward the goal via a bubble you draw and control while avoiding traps. It was a Toys R Us exclusive in the US for some reason so I'm not sure how expensive it is to get today.
It's a game where you play as a spirit carrying tiny souls toward the goal via a bubble you draw and control while avoiding traps. It was a Toys R Us exclusive in the US for some reason so I'm not sure how expensive it is to get today.
Deep Labyrinth is a neat dungeon crawler with some really intricate levels, tons of secrets to uncover and what is possibly the last great Yasunori Mitsuda OST (though Mitsuda did some amazing work in collaboration with other composers on subsequent OSTs he was involved with). The Mitsuda OST elevates the game's atmosphere immensely and underlines its otherworldly, dreamlike feel. The battle mechanics are a bit basic but it's enough to hold the game together. It does have some interesting stylus controls where you have to 'draw' magic runes and sword slashes on the bottom screen. I had a blast playing through this around release back in 2006 and never really understood why it wasn't more popular. Dungeon crawlers with real time battle mechanics just aren't very popular I guess.
Bonus tracks from the OST:
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Miami Nights: Singles In The City does not get much praise and possibly not known much by everyone, so I say it must be way too obscure, despite it 's published by Ubisoft.
I like this game when it was on Mobile Java and when I knew it would be on NDS with full 3D visuals, I was excited to play and it was okay; not great but okay, like playing a rip off version of The Sims.
OP
OP
The Lord of the rings : Conquest. It's fucking Battlefront on your DS. You have no idea how many hours I spent in that game.
-Blood of Bahamut is neat, basically Shadow of the Colossus if it was a Square Enix ARPG.
-Try to track down the Dementium games, proper old school horror games.
-Also moon, made in the same style as Dementium. All three games are made by fan favorite Renegade Kid.
-Honeycomb Beat remains the most unique puzzle game on the system, but largely ignored.
-Try to track down the Dementium games, proper old school horror games.
-Also moon, made in the same style as Dementium. All three games are made by fan favorite Renegade Kid.
-Honeycomb Beat remains the most unique puzzle game on the system, but largely ignored.
I had a friend recommend me "Glory Days 2" and I've never heard of it otherwise. Apparently it's a sequel to an even more obscure GBA game with a different name. It's a pretty unique game, a 2D sidescrolling perspective of a war battle where you control a helicopter or jet and have to bomb structures, infantry, tanks to do a kind of tug of war so your own automatically controlled troops can advance. It's pretty bizarre to play. And I'm into multiplayer DS games, and it has 8-player local multiplayer for some reason - somehow 8 aircraft fly around, 4v4? I can't imagine how it works, it's so weird.
Deep Labyrinth is a neat dungeon crawler with some really intricate levels, tons of secrets to uncover and what is possibly the last great Yasunori Mitsuda OST (though Mitsuda did some amazing work in collaboration with other composers on subsequent OSTs he was involved with). The Mitsuda OST elevates the atmosphere of game immensely and underlines the otherworldly, dreamlike feel of the game. The battle mechanics are a bit basic but it's enough to hold the game together. It does have some interesting stylus controls where you have to 'draw' magic runes and sword slashes on the bottom screen. I had a blast playing through this around release back in 2006 and never really understood why it wasn't more popular. Dungeon crawlers with real time battle mechanics just aren't very popular I guess.
Bonus tracks from the OST:
Came to say Deep Labyrinth too. Love Era 😃
I second Soul Bubbles.
Also, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. Not really obscure cause it's a Spider-Man game but the DS version was not that well known and it's the best one. It's a metroidvania with some excellent combat mechanics that feel like a fighting game (it has air combos!).
Also, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. Not really obscure cause it's a Spider-Man game but the DS version was not that well known and it's the best one. It's a metroidvania with some excellent combat mechanics that feel like a fighting game (it has air combos!).
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Hands-down the best DS game I ever played was Loopop Cube: Lup * Salad DS, or something to that effect. It's a 2D puzzle game where you simply have to push blocks around to match three together, then they pop. When you clear all the blocks, the level is done! Sounds simple, especially when the entirety of your moveset is essentially left, right, and a little hop.
It gets savage though. You'll have to match four sometimes, or be careful not to match four. Sometimes five. You'll have to work out how to do things in order so you don't get blocked in somewhere you can't get out of. You'll have to use blocks to reach other blocks while remembering you have to match them later. You can push multiple blocks, but again be careful - you don't want to get squashed.
There's a PSP version, and a PSone version (which was released in the US on PSN) if people want to try, but it was the DS one that introduced me to the game, and yeah, it's brilliant.
Here's one single screenshot, which is probably enough to give some colour to everything that I've just said.
It gets savage though. You'll have to match four sometimes, or be careful not to match four. Sometimes five. You'll have to work out how to do things in order so you don't get blocked in somewhere you can't get out of. You'll have to use blocks to reach other blocks while remembering you have to match them later. You can push multiple blocks, but again be careful - you don't want to get squashed.
There's a PSP version, and a PSone version (which was released in the US on PSN) if people want to try, but it was the DS one that introduced me to the game, and yeah, it's brilliant.
Here's one single screenshot, which is probably enough to give some colour to everything that I've just said.
Ouendan 1 & 2 are essential imports, especially if you've played Elite Beat Agents (aka the best DS game)
Also Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times is a super cute Animal Crossing-like where you attend magic school and can befriend a cell-phone man
Also Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times is a super cute Animal Crossing-like where you attend magic school and can befriend a cell-phone man
Coropata is an absolutely wonderful spiritual sequel to The Incredible Machine franchise but with a japanese touch. With beautiful 2D animation made by a Vanillaware staff. Super fun yet very frustrating too, as The Incredible Machine was.
...also very expensive for Nintendo DS standards. Prepare to pay around 150+ bucks for it. The japanese in the game is super easy too, if you are learning it.
EDIT: Hah, this game is 10 years old today!
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Try Dragon Ball Z Supersonic Warriors 2
Jump Ultimate Stars
Rocket Slime
The collector's market is making these games slowly climb in value but they're still at an accessible price. I highly recommend them for an afternoon play session.
Jump Ultimate Stars
Rocket Slime
The collector's market is making these games slowly climb in value but they're still at an accessible price. I highly recommend them for an afternoon play session.
Shonen Kininden Tsumuji / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shonen_Kininden_Tsumuji
EA Japan made a zelda clone
G.G Series Collection Plus
A retail collection of dsi ware games. Some are really good.
Cross Treasures
Co-op dungeon crawler from SquareEnix
Avalom Code is also a really good middle of the road timeqastwr JRPG. Those book mechanocs were fun to experiment with.
Bought that when I lived in Japan. Didn't read the language so didn't understand a thing. But I take it was a good game? Gave it away.
Yeah, frustrating is right! It starts off so fun but when the requirements start needing to be pixel-perfect and the solutions are way more convoluted, oh boy. The style was great though, she was my avatar on the old place for a really long time because her walk animation was just adorable!
Am I right to assume that DSiWare is dead? I just remembered about Snapdots which wasn't amazing but was the closest thing the DS got to Guru Logic Champ (aside from putting a GBA cart into one) - it replicated the gameplay wholesale and that is some awesome gameplay. Just a shame there wasn't more of it.
Came to post this, did not disappoint.Not that obscure anymore but still...
Seriously think about this game way to often and I think more then EA has done although its life time.
Steal Princess
It's made by some of the people behind Land Stalker/Dark Savior I believe, it's a more bite-sized version of those types of isometric puzzle platformer games with some combat elements. I like the artist they got for the designs/portraits and having a good time with it. Starts out super simple and doesn't pick up for a while but the later levels look crazy.
It's made by some of the people behind Land Stalker/Dark Savior I believe, it's a more bite-sized version of those types of isometric puzzle platformer games with some combat elements. I like the artist they got for the designs/portraits and having a good time with it. Starts out super simple and doesn't pick up for a while but the later levels look crazy.
The Wizard of Oz JRPG on DS (emulated here in HD)
As a warning: I was waiting for this game so fucking much at the time, the Trailer is still fucking awesome, like it was by far the most well crafted polygon based DS game ever made at the time, and the final result was... err... well... I personally think the trackball gameplay was too tedious and repetitive for my taste, and as a RPG is overall really easy, so I was heavily disappointed. The music is still awesome though.
Fun fact: Henry Hatsworth was made by the Madden team... I've always had a hunch that this game was a revenge from years of internal pain. Absolutely essential game, especially for me that I love 2D, platform gaming and Tetris Attack.
Dunno how obscure it is now but Soma Bringer is pretty cool. Made by Monolith Soft. There's a decent fan translation too.
Have you played the touch detective/mystery detective games? They're super charming though simple point & click games.
Rondo of Swords is a very cool srpg which is worth playing too. It has a really cool battle system where you have to run through enemies to hurt them, so you can hit multiple enemies with one character in one turn. It's fairly unique as far as I know.
Space Invaders Extreme 2 is very cool. I guess a lot of people may have just ignored it thinking "it's just space invaders". Give it a look on youtube.
I'll just mention trauma centre, infinite space and radiant historia in passing as I'm pretty sure they're not that obscure. play them if you haven't though
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Yes yes yes. This game is amazing and no one really talks about it.
Another pick would be Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ
Dementium and Moon, both FPSes by the same developer
Dementium is like a first person Resident Evil, the game is heavily based around horror and there are puzzles and navigational challenges. It's very atmospheric, with an interesting story and a superb soundtrack
Moon is more sci-fi, and based on, well, the Moon. It's more action/shooting oriented, with a smaller emphasis on puzzles and story.
They're really good games, both got good reviews from IGN back in the day, but because they are indie shooters on the ads they were completely overlooked. It's a great time.
Dementium is like a first person Resident Evil, the game is heavily based around horror and there are puzzles and navigational challenges. It's very atmospheric, with an interesting story and a superb soundtrack
Moon is more sci-fi, and based on, well, the Moon. It's more action/shooting oriented, with a smaller emphasis on puzzles and story.
They're really good games, both got good reviews from IGN back in the day, but because they are indie shooters on the ads they were completely overlooked. It's a great time.
LifeSigns, the second one is localized, but you get the gist of the story so far in the first minutes.
It's more drama than Trauma Center.
It's more drama than Trauma Center.
The Alice in Wonderland game was so good. It's the only game I ever made a thread about at the old place because I was so surprised it was so good. Very Lost Vikings.