Favorite Hand-held Games

SingSong

Writer
I'm a fan of simple games with puzzle and problem solving elements or good stories. My brother gave me his Nintendo DS recently, and although I've looked up game recommendations online, I'm still looking for suggestions. The game I'm borrowing from my brother right now is Professor Layton and the Curious Village. I was also considering getting some games from the Mama series for Nintendo DS, because I can play those for a while and then give them to my daughter when she's old enough. Good educational games are also on my list.

I'm also interested in hearing what games are liked on other hand-held devices like the Gameboy or PSP. I liked Pokemon Pinball on the Gameboy, because it gave me something to do in my free time that was entertaining and didn't take too much thought when I just wanted to relax.

If you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

 
My first handheld game was Pokemon Silver, still one of the best from that series. For the DS, because I like puzzle and word games one of my favorite games was Touchmaster. (The follow-up Touchmaster 2 was awful, however). Unfortunately, my copy of Touchmaster got corrupted, and I was stuck playing Big Brain Academy and similar games that I could get into and out of quickly, as my time is limited and can't get into games that require more than a few minutes to play. But I lost interest. Finally found another copy of Touchmaster that works, but I don't use the DS much anymore. I have a couple of mobile games that I can play to help me unwind, so carrying fewer devices is a benefit.

 
I started with Pokémon Red and Blue. I recall spending one entire winter break glued to my game boy color and Pokémon. 

 
You know what's funny, I like the collection aspect of Pokemon and owning the different pokemon and battling with them, so I've played the game (the Red version because of Charizard) quite a bit. Beedrill was always my favorite, because I got him early on, so we were partners through the whole thing. I like battling with him on the S.S. Anne and against gym leaders, especially because Beedrill has the Twineedle move that has a chance of striking between two and five times (I believe), so there was always a chance I wouldn't get the hit I needed. But somehow he always came through for me when I needed it the most. And yet, I have NEVER beaten the game. I always quit around the time I'm supposed to get a bike, haha.

I looked up Touchmaster. That seems like a good game for casual play. What did you like and dislike about Big Brain Academy, N_E_Wunn?

And I personally still like carrying old handheld consoles. Maybe that's because my phone dies so quickly though. But I do like the nostalgic feel, too.


N_E_W


 
I know! And I've heard getting the bike (and later Fly) is when the game improves, because you can get around easier. But I guess I just lose enthusiasm by that time, and it also gets somewhat confusing to me by then, because I've never done that part before. So the difference between flying through the rest of the game because I've played that portion so many times to having to actually pay attention bugs me somehow. One day I will beat it. 

 
Yes, definitely important to have goals in life, haha. My others involve playing through Kingdom Hearts and the Ocarina of Time (haven't beat those games either). My problem is that I don't like playing games by myself (well, besides things like pet sites, because I tend to focus on writing about my pets and creating characters for them, and that's more of a solo thing). So I don't finish many games no matter how much I like the game play or story. I'd much rather play a first-person shooter or racing game against a friend. Speaking of racing games, my husband actually gave me a copy of MotorStorm as a wedding gift last year. That was so sweet. 

 
Right now, I'm enjoying Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. It;s really fun. So is Animal Crossing New Leaf. I'm trying to make a full wolf town.

 
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A few good DS games are:

Pokemon Black / White

Mario Party DS

Animal Crossing

Bomberman (you can play with upto 8 people (and their DS's) using only a single cartridge!)

Dont bother with all these "brain training" rubbish out there. They get boring VERY fast. 

The DS also has an eShop on it, and sometime you get pickup some good deals (and some free games too)

 
Big fan of the pokemon games, I started with red/blue and I was honestly surprised how much I liked sun/moon. I have always considered Pokemon a virtual pet game, even though it's not browser based. I also really enjoyed the Harvest Moon games but they were a little too subtle/not fantastic at explaining how stuff worked. It took me awhile and looking up instructions on how to do things to really get into it but I loved building my own little farm and keeping animals and crops.

 
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StarFox Command is a pretty fun strategy game, and also has a variety of different endings and types of challenges.

Okamiden is also awesome (and just beautiful) and it doesn't matter if you have played Okami (PS2) or not. It may make it more fun, but not a requirement :)

If you are OK with a bit of extra work to play it, I highly highly recommend Tales of Innocence. It's an amazing 20hr heavy storyline based game with a great group of characters. It's my #2 favorite game! You can find downloads of the Japanese NDS file easily, and then an English translation patch is available at http://a0t.co/innocence/. You then need to get an NDS flashcart and a memory card. If you are really interested, I can send you the info of where I bought mine and how to set it up.

 
Thanks for the suggestions! I'll check these out.

Dont bother with all these "brain training" rubbish out there. They get boring VERY fast. 

The DS also has an eShop on it, and sometime you get pickup some good deals (and some free games too)




 
Thanks for the tips.

 I also really enjoyed the Harvest Moon games but they were a little too subtle/not fantastic at explaining how stuff worked. It took me awhile and looking up instructions on how to do things to really get into it but I loved building my own little farm and keeping animals and crops.




 
Hm. I really don't like having to look up things online. I feel like I'm "cheating" even though it's the game's fault for not being clear enough, and it ruins the experience for me.  -_-

But I do want to have my own little farm, so I'll put it on my list anyway, haha.

StarFox Command is a pretty fun strategy game, and also has a variety of different endings and types of challenges.

Okamiden is also awesome (and just beautiful) and it doesn't matter if you have played Okami (PS2) or not. It may make it more fun, but not a requirement :)

If you are OK with a bit of extra work to play it, I highly highly recommend Tales of Innocence. It's an amazing 20hr heavy storyline based game with a great group of characters. It's my #2 favorite game! You can find downloads of the Japanese NDS file easily, and then an English translation patch is available at http://a0t.co/innocence/. You then need to get an NDS flashcart and a memory card. If you are really interested, I can send you the info of where I bought mine and how to set it up.




 
I've been meaning to play Okami. Thanks for the input. These seem like games I would enjoy. ^-^

 
Eleven years later, the DS is still firm in my heart.

favorite title: Puzzle Quest Galactrix, then ACNL

I have four working systems and 60-80 games, huge into this even a dacade after my first system. :)

I recommend Starfy as well. Relatively easy to find, was ranked high by GI, and it is unbeatable in terms of play. Never gets old.

Drawn to Life was an unexpected gem as well. Very cheap these days.

 
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