What Are Your Top 5 Nintendo DS Games?

Check out the poll at the bottom to have your say on the best of our best, and be sure to let us know your personal top fives in the comments!

Gavin Lane, editor

1. Rhythm Heaven
2. Animal Crossing: Wild World
3. Picross DS
4. Spirit Tracks
5. Metroid Prime Pinball

Looking back, I’ve got some enormous gaps in my DS catalogue, plus some games I bought but haven’t gotten around to playing yet — Chrono Trigger might be on the list above one of these days.

Ultimately with my list, I wanted to get a good spread of genres which showcased the console and Rhythm Paradise (as we knew it in Europe) captures the oddball, off-the-wall spirit of the DS perfectly. Wild World was my first Animal Crossing and will forever be special. Picross is there representing the system’s amazing puzzle library. I’ll get flack for Spirit Tracks, but it’s massively underrated and has some of the series’ best music (I did consider Phantom Hourglass and Okamiden in that slot, though). And I lost so many hours to Prime Pinball, it had to sneak in there.

So many DS games I haven’t played, though! Race you to eBay.

Alana Hagues, deputy editor

1. Chrono Trigger
2. Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver
3. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
4. Radiant Historia
5. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Wow, okay, can you tell what genre I like? I wish I could give you a bit more variety here, but let’s be real — the DS is easily one of the best consoles for RPGs ever.

I do feel a bit bad that over half of my list consists of remasters, ports, or remakes. But hey, this was the first time Europe got to play Chrono Trigger and Dragon Quest V, two of the best RPGs on the SNES, and two of the best RPGs ever. And Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver is my favourite Pokémon game. alongside another DS all-timer, Pokémon Black & White. HGSS feels like an entirely different game from the Game Boy Color version.

Speaking of time travel RPGs, Radiant Historia is one of my favourites from Atlus with a beautiful story and fantastic combat (it’s on 3DS too). Time travel is actually a huge part of the gameplay, too. And Order of Ecclesia is top-tier Castlevania. It loses some of the exploration (until the second half), but the combat is easily the best in the series. Only Aria of Sorrow and Symphony of the Night top it, in my eyes. Heck of a compliment.

I know The World Ends With You is missing here, I know — it’s on the backlog, I promise. Perhaps it’ll crack the top five one day.

Ollie Reynolds, staff writer

1. Metroid Prime: Hunters
2. Tetris DS
3. Aliens: Infestation
4. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
5. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Metroid Prime: Hunters is a weird game. In fact, there are some rare occasions when I ask myself if it’s actually any good. But as a showcase for what the DS was capable of, it was simply remarkable. Tetris DS remains to this day one of the best entries in the series, and I sincerely doubt it will be topped anytime soon.

Wayforward also achieved a slam dunk with Aliens: Infestation, creating a faithful adaptation of the movie with interesting Metroidvania mechanics and an intriguing permadeath system. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is notably stronger than the eventual 3DS remake and is, alongside Superstar Saga, the perfect representation of AlphaDream’s work on the series. Finally, GTA: Chinatown Wars is a textbook example of how to utilise the DS’s unique features to create an entirely new experience in an established franchise.

Man, what a great system.

Jim Norman, staff writer

1. Professor Layton and the Lost Future
2. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
3. Nintendogs
4. Mario Kart DS
5. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Honestly, I could have filled four of the above slots with Professor Layton alone, but I chose to just stick with my favourite entry to spread things out a bit. The Lost Future (or The Unwound Future, for some of us) is peak prof with the very best puzzles, arcs, and story — I’ll never forgive Level-5 for the damage that ending caused me.

I’ll admit, Ghost Trick hadn’t entered my sphere before it landed on Switch, but after devouring that sublime remaster, I snapped it up on the DS and played through it all over again. A late addition to me, yes, but top-shelf all the same. It’s one of those titles that played completely to the DS’ strengths, too — much like Nintendogs (yes, perhaps my desperate childhood desire for a dog is playing into that pick, but I ain’t budging on it).

Mario Kart DS got me into the series like no game before could manage, and I couldn’t put together a list without at least acknowledging the swathes of movie tie-ins that the DS housed. Most were terrible, but not my beloved Episode III. That sucker rules.