Recently, PSP Fanboy began a series of articles called “60 Reasons to own a PSP.” They may only be up to reason 45 despite the series beginning a month ago, but today we are showing you everything we’ve got. Yes, 65 reasons to own a DS, but here’s the catch — they’re all games.
PSP fans (we have some at this site) and savvy readers may be quick to point out that PSP Fanboy could have taken the same approach. Forget that it’s debatable the PSP has 65 good games because that’s not the point. The PSP crowd may like games, but we believe the PSP Fanboy article shows what is important to that fanbase.
Features, a lot of features. Nubs, wireless, movies, browsers, messengers, waffle irons. Games are number one on their list, but they still get one sixtieth of the list, like free VoIP (in Britain only) and adjustable screen brightness. No more or less priority than features 2% of PSP owners use.
The DS is a weaker machine than the PSP but it still has a few tricks that can be used as bullet points on the back of its box. Everyone knows about the second screen, the touch screen, and the wireless. Frankly, if it were up to small features, a DS list wouldn’t get very high. But those things aren’t what make the system worth owning. The DS is ultimately popular with gamers because of its games. Any list that wants to convince a gamer to buy a system should focus on games, and so without further lecturing…here are the games (in no particular order).
1. Metroid Prime Pinball
Who would have guessed that rolling Samus into a ball and throwing her into a pinball machine would be so much fun? Yeah, basically everyone. With an amazing presentation (including some of the best sound effects in a DS game), and great pinball physics, Metroid Prime Pinball is a pinball winner, through and through.
2. Mario Kart DS
All of the fun of Mario Kart with the added bonus of playing against Japanese preteens while taking a dump!
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3. Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Developer Intelligent Systems’ third US bound game in the Wars series is as excellent as the previous entries. It may look cute, but the strategy is top notch and this one adds some RPG elements and uses the second screen for two map warfare. And the dialog is terrible on purpose.
4. Tetris DS
True enough to the original to satisfy the die-hards, but with enough new content and game modes to keep those of us who wore out the old Game Boy version interested. The touch-screen functionality doesn’t add as much as it could, but does include a few fun diversions.
5. Dragon Quest Rocket Slime
Rocket is a solid action RPG with extremely fun tank strategy battles. Beating up your enemy, stuffing him in a cannon then firing him at his own tank = fun.
6. Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow
It may not be Symphony of the Night, but Dawn of Sorrow continues the 2D adventure Castlevania series in a respectable manner. The soul collection system grants you new abilities as well as gives anal retentive gamers a reason to play for countless hours.
7. Pokemon Pearl
The best Pokemon to date. Catching them all is so much fun you may end up with a Pearl necklace.
8. New Super Mario Brothers
It’s no Super Mario World or Super Mario Brothers 3. But just as a movie doesn’t need to be better than Citizen Kane to be awesome, a game doesn’t need to be superior to two of the best games ever made to kick ass. People complained that it was too similar to previous games, too easy, too short, too Italian, etc but I and about 4.8 million others really enjoyed it.
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9. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
Slightly less great then Super Star Saga, and slightly less hilarious as well. Still, an entirely awesome merger of platforming and role playing goodness and if the babies voices don’t just make your heart melt you may not have one.
10. Harvest Moon DS
For those who think that a proper handheld title shouldn’t be all fun and games, there is Harvest Moon. Pull up the overalls and prepare to wade through the shit that is farm life. Grow crops, milk cows, and screw…err…sell sheep. If you ever wanted to live it up on a cattle ranch in Nowhere, Idaho this is as close as you are going to get without smelling like it.
11. Wario Ware Touched
Each Wario Ware game makes use of a new mechanic while retaining the same overall style of gameplay. This one, conveniently enough, makes use of the DS’s touch screen, and like all other entries in the series, is bizarre and great. Prepare the cauldron and sing Ashley’s theme song all night long!
12. Lost In Blue
This game makes the everyday tedium of survival on a deserted island fun. If you are a fan of the television show, Lost and you would like to see what people in a similar situation would do when not scurrying around a goober infested island, falling in love, hallucinating, and dealing with a downward spiral of a plot, this is your game. Buckle up, crawl into your cave, start a fire, and let the fight for life begin.
13. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney
Some were put off by how little actual gameplay there is in Phoenix Wright. The complaint is valid, but I found the characters and story curiously compelling. It may not be anything like our legal system, but who are we to pass judgment on the Japanese courts?
14. Super Mario 64 DS
Take one of the greatest games in history with you wherever you go. +1 hotness for innovative thumb-nipple control scheme.
15. Etrian Odyssey
For the right kind of gamer, Etrian Odyssey is a god send. Truth be told, I lost interest on about the 25th level. Luckily, I’d already dumped 30 or so hours of my time into the game, making it more than a good buy. The manual also comes with lyrics so even if you never play the cart, you can still serenade your lover with tales of the Ygdrasil Labyrinth.
[…] a response to PSP Fanboy’s list of 60 reasons to own a PSP, VideoLamer has posted a rebuttal featuring 65 reasons to own a DS. While it’s primarily a list of the best DS games […]
I hope these aren’t in order. and I saw JSS on the list but not JUS… they’re both good. and you forgot about ds download play, great wifi multiplayer and no region protection. you did all games, the psp list had other stuff… wait… the psp doesn’t have any great games…
Nervous Brickdown makes 66… if you like arkanoid at all, anyway.
I feel like an ass because I don’t have a DS.
Well, I can’t agree on the whole list, and there are a few sequels that really shouldn’t be in the list, one or the other is good enough. Castlevania, as well as Elite Beat Agents/Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, and games that are similar like Puyo Pop & Bust a Move.. but I still say there is a solid 40 games to choose from. I strongly belive the DS is a better system (I had a DS & PSP and traded in my PSP for a second DS to play friends who didn’t have one).
Scurge Hive? That game was aweful, you can’t control the isometric movement very well with a D-Pad.
Zelda is nice though, at least the Japanese version I have been playing.
Hey, here is 66 Awesome PSP Games:
1. Lumines
2. Wipeout Pure
3. GTA: Liberty City Stories
4. GTA: Vice City…
5. Tekken Dark Resurrection
6. Ridge Racer
7. MGS: Portable Ops
8. Metal Gear Ac!d
9. Daxter
10. Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters
11. Burnout Legends
12. 300: March to Glory
13. Ace Combat X
14. Puzzle Quest
15. LocoRoco
16. Lego Star Wars: The Original
17. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 10th…
18. Crush
19. Virtua Tennis 3
20. PQ2: Practical IQ
21. Prince of Persia: Rival Swords
22. PaRappa the Rapper
23. Dungeon Maker
24. Innocent Life
25. Ape Escape
26. Hot Shots Golf
27. MLB 06: The Show
28. The Bigs
29. THUG 2 Remix
30. Mega Man Powered Up
31. Winning Eleven
32. Socom
33. Sid Meirs Pirates!
34. Tales of Eternia
35. Lumines 2
36. The Warriors
37. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
38. Gitaroo Man Lives
39. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06
40. FIFA 07
41. Street Fighter Alpha 3
42. NBA live 06
43. Valkyre Profile: Lenneth
44. SSX on tour
45. Twisted Metal
46. Mega Man Maverick Hunter X
47. Madden NFL 07
48. Metal Slug Anthology
49. Guilty Gear Judgment
50. Mercury Meltdown
51. ATV Offroad
52. Field Commander
53. Killzone Liberation
54. Exit
55. Gradius Collection
56. Lemmings
57. Capcom Classics
58. Activision Hits
59. Me and My Katamari
60. Infected
61. Bomberman
62. Bust-A-Move Deluxe
63. Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition
64. Mortal Combat Unchained
65. Death Jr.
66. PoPoLoCrois
Lots of great games and awesome features. No scratchy touch screens
[…] guys at Videolamer wrote an interesting article in response to PSP Fanboy’s ‘60 reasons to own a […]
One reason why I don’t use it: no linux… there is even linux for the iPhone, see http://zonow.com/78
[…] Britain, every reason on this list is the reason anyone should buy a game system – Games. X Men sexread more | digg story RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Cartoons Fans Lounge […]
[…] 65 Reasons to Own a DS. Reasons I own a DS: #2, #8, #14, #41 (It’s a great game, seriously!), and #53. Permalink You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. […]
actually, there is linux for the DS. You just need a flashcart, like an R4.
google stuff before you post, fools.
Not to be rude, but this is a retarded article, and a poor attempt to compete with the PSP article. Not everyone has the same taste in games….
To the guy with the psp game list, get real. Just because there ARE 66 psp games doesn’t mean there are that many good ones. Having owned a psp, I know for a fact that many of those sucked. My first game for the psp was THUG2. I loved it on consoles. It sucked and I traded it in the next day for “Untold Legends”. That was better, but still pretty bad. Your list starts off strong, but eventually you’re just grasping for straws. Death Jr? Seriously? Come on, man.
Oh by the way. Note how I said “Had” a psp. Personally, I loved the device, but I never played any commercial games, I just used it as a portable emulator. You know why I don’t have it any more? THE SCREEN BROKE.
65 reasons to own a DS…
65 reasons to own a Nintendo DS…
haha i actually had to read digg comments to know that the picture of “the gang” is the backstreet boys.
@guest – we agree that not everyone has the same taste. thus several of us collaborated on this article.
And my response to Dat Phan Boi’s comment is thus: actually, the touch screen on my DS is surprisingly scratch-free, and I got the DS Lite on launch day, well over a year ago. And also, as the article stated, we at vl like the PSP. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take a look at the other side of the coin and give our impressions on what makes the DS so special. Oh, and I love guest’s response “Not to be rude, but this is retarded…” I’m pretty sure that’s being rude there buddy, but thanks for the heads up:)
@ yan:
What do you call DSLinux then?!
[…] 65 เà¸à¸¡à¸ªà¹Œà¹„ม่ควรพลาดสำหรับ Nintendo DS […]
65 reasons to own a DS…
[…]Hot on the heels of the PSP Fanboy article "60 reasons to own a PSP," this article is 5 better. Instead of analog nubs, failing movie formats and obscure features only available in Britain, every reason on this list is the reason anyone …
Who cares even if it couldn’t run linux it does the one thing it’s meant to do better than any other hand held ever made and that’s play games.IMO DS is the first hand held that isn’t just a shitty version of a console.
You guys have to be kidding, right?
I’ve got a DS and the majority of the games on that system suck. There are a bare handful worth playing once and that’s about it.
3. Advance Wars: Dual Strike – I loved the GBA versions of this game, but this one is lacking. Why are the graphics worse than the GBA versions? They’re smaller, not as detailed. Anyone considering getting a DS for this title should just stick to the superior GBA versions.
13. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney – An interesting premise that gets lost in “Tap the screen to continue! OK Tap the screen to continue! Wait… wait… TAP THE SCREEN TO CONTINUE!” gameplay. There’s really no game here. It’s just an electronic comic book that gets boring very quickly.
14. Super Mario 64 DS – I was never a fan of Super Mario 64. It was boring and un-compelling. The last thing I want to do is play it again 10 years later.
16. Animal Crossing: Wild World – Hey, here’s an idea… let’s take an RPG and strip out everything that makes playing an RPG interesting!
20. Final Fantasy III – The reason I bought a DS. One week later the battery lost it’s charge. I haven’t put it on the charger since.
26. Trace Memory – Survival horror without the survival or the horror. Again, like Animal Crossing, take an established genre and remove everything that makes that genre interesting.
30. Bomberman – I love Bomberman, really, but there have been better implementations of it. Plus do I really need a 14th copy of Bomberman?
37. Brain Training – You would have to pay me to play a game involving 1st grade math workbooks. I’m serious. Pay me to torture my brain and I’ll consider it.
38. Trauma Center: Under the Knife – Very cool game and no grist for my mill. That being said, the Wii version is the same damn game. Same injuries in the same order, same objective. Having the DS version negates the need for the Wii version and vice versa.
39. Hotel Dusk – Same problem as the Phoenix Wright games. Gameplay consists of tapping the screen every 20 to 40 seconds or so. No challenge.
45. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All – Same problem as the last one, but if you thought tapping the screen periodically to progress in the game, wait until you do it as an amnesiac! Wow!
You caught us, this was all a joke. Mario 64 was a shitty game, Final Fantasy III is bad because your battery died, and Trauma Center retroactively became a bad game once the Wii version was released. Man does the DS suck.
LOL @ 21, that is the funniest thing i heard all day. Its hard to believe that you wrote all that, and didn’t say anything worthwhile.
Also, This list blows, sure the DS is amazing, but just listing 65 games is a terrible idea.
Fair enough, guy.
Also, “Jordan Lund” is either an asocial supergenius, or a total bullsh***er, because he said Phoenix Wright was like an interactive comic book. Not that I think that’s a bad deal, but that’s only kind of like the court portion of the game. Not to mention even the court portion is filled with difficult puzzles (and some not-so difficult puzzles) that I assumed kept him from ever getting to the investigative part. I severely doubt he’s just autistic and got all the puzzles immediately.
Also, brain training is not for the younger audience.
[…] response to pspfanboys’s 60 reasons to own a psp, there was this lame’ response for owning a ds, which was just a list of games. Sure, we get the point: the ds is about the games, […]
Step aside everyone, I’ll handle this:
:pulls up sleeves:
http://objection.mrdictionary.net/go.php?n=2058433
[…] 65 reasons to own a DS 65个买DSçš„ç†ç”± […]
[…] 65 reasons to own a DS – videolamer.com The DS is a weaker machine than the PSP but it still has a few tricks that can be used as bullet points on the back of its box. Everyone knows about the second screen, the touch screen, and the wireless. Frankly, if it were up to small features, a DS list wouldn’t get very high. But those things aren’t what make the system worth owning. The DS is ultimately popular with gamers because of its games. Any list that wants to convince a gamer to buy a system should focus on games, and so without further lecturing…here are the games (in no particular order). […]
To Sharp and Matt. If you are very careful with your DS then I am sure its fine. But if you are like Sharp (that PSP screen didn’t crack itself) then you are relaxed with your handhled like most people. I got a cover for my PSP, have had it two years and it is still perfect.
Also, there are a lot more than 66 games. there are over three hundred. you can’t tell me that the 66 I posted aren’t better than the 65 posted on this page, you just can’t. Each has remakes, and those are fun, but I agree with Jordan Lund, just play them on the original systems, especially the Advance (which I own and think is superior to the DS) I have had my advance for nearly five years and it is still great.
Also, I left out some upcoming PSP games that will be fun:
Dead head Fred, Rainbow Six Vegas, Tiger Woods 08, D&D Tactics,Brave Story, Alien Syndrome, Monster Hunter Freedom 2, Manhunt 2, Crazy Taxi, God of War…the list goes on.
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney looks like a PSP homebrew…a bad one.
Graphics aren’t everything. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney is one of the best games on the DS, and if you were to put the two together in a bundle, it would be a better deal than 9/10 of the games on your list. I’m making exceptions, since no matter how you slice it, Tekken DR is a great game. Burnout legends? Not so much.
And my psp screen got cracked because I carried it around in my bag. Odd how that never happenned to my ds.
A few games shouldn’t be on this list, and a few that aren’t should be. Trioncube FTW. But the point is made. The DS is 100% bomb.
Bomb? Well, it didn’t bomb, so I’m just gonna assume you mean “The Bomb”.
Diggity.
[…] Filed under: Digg Articles, Video Games — Jason Jeffrey @ 12:38 pm Straight from Videolamer: “The DS is a weaker machine than the PSP but it still has a few tricks that can be used as […]
Funny how these kind of list sites always get the crackhead flamer anti-fans who just HAVE to jump in and say “this system sucks, because, um, it just sucks and my favorite system rules”. You poor PSP folks who have to try to prop up your system by trying to trash the DS are sad and pathetic. The DS blows the PSP away in the only real medium that matters to anyone…it outsells it in a landslide. Oh, and that’s not only in the heavily-biased Japan, that’s Stateside too.
If you want the real reasons to own a DS, I can spell them out for you much easier: cheaper, more durable, doesn’t require as much in the way of add-ons to be functional for its purpose, longer battery life, and far more games (and original games) available if you include the titles for the GBA (which did have quite a few very good games) than the PSP. You can weed out the goofy, childish, and just plain odd games and still find plenty to keep you interested at almost any age level.
“The DS blows the PSP away in the only real medium that matters to anyone…it outsells it in a landslide. ”
Sales is a popularity contest, it has nothing to do with quality. Or do you honestly think that McDonalds makes the best hamburgers on the planet? Honda has better cars than Mercedes?
The reasons the DS sells more are because it’s cheaper and kids want one. That’s pretty much it. It doesn’t have better games than the PSP.
If your argument is that there is no ultimate objective good or bad, then I agree with you. The Saturn is better than the PSX, the Master System better than the NES and so forth, at least to some people and their opinions are as valid as anyone else’s.
As I’ve said a handful of times now, this article isn’t supposed to prove the games listed are better than other games. The list doesn’t even need to be there, I just figured people would be upset if they didn’t have more content to argue about. The point of the article is both to lightly mock lists of what makes things better than other things (specifically the PSP Fanboy article) as well as make the argument that games are what should matter most to a games system.
Now of course this is also just a subjective stance. We could decide that since there is no real objectivity there is no need to write opinions down anymore, but then what would I do on my Friday nights?
Just jumping in again, saturn was better than the PSX and anyone who says otherwise is a big dummyhead.
Oh, that’s right. I went there.
You are kidding right? This is such a sh!t ‘article’. 65 games – of which more than 1/2 are lame. I own a psp (which I rate highly) and also want a DS but this doesn’t attract me in the slightest. If i wanted a list of 65 games, i would have gone to Amazon and look at ‘DS Games’.
Quite frankly, what a lame comeback to the psp article, no thought applied whatsoever.
We are all adults here, thelama, you may use the word “shit”. Your insults reminded me to check out the PSP Fanboy article. They seem stalled on number 46 – they haven’t updated the list since July 2nd.
[…] 65 reasons to own a DS. I’m sure more will emerge with E3. […]
I’d love to have a DS but… i’m not allowed so i’ve been trying 2 win a game console for my whole life!
and no… we’re NOT all adults here you immature ****!
[…] 65 reasons to own a DS | videolamer.com […]
I can see that you are an expert at your field! I am launching a world wide web web page soon, and your particulars will possibly be pretty useful for me.. Thanks for all of your help and wishing you all the success.
[…] Yesterday we covered 65 DS games as something of a jesting response to a PSP Fanboy article. Some readers decided to ignore the point of our piece, which was that games are, at least by our standards, the real reason to buy or not buy a system. For those people, we now present a second reason (in their view) to buy a DS — backwards compatibility. […]