31. Cooking Mama World: Hobbies & Fun (Crafting Mama) – Melty
Get crafty with a friend!!
Surprise! Another entry from me, another minigame compilation. I’ll be honest, I didn’t play this game until last month, but with the usual Cooking Mama mechanics underway, it didn’t have much chance to fail in my eyes. As a crafty person, this game is twice as fun for me.
I finished this game within two days; however, some of the tasks did end up frustrating me a little. Some of the tasks are a bit finicky. This may be due to hit boxes that don’t quite make sense, the DS microphone ageing… not well, or my own skills. Despite this, the game does give some cute ideas for crafts, and a child, especially, will find inspiration in these crafting minigames. I might even give some a go in real life. Keep an eye on our Instagram page to see if I do!
To make things even better, each craft you complete comes along with its own minigame. This could be flying a paper plane that you’ve folded, catching apples in an apron you’ve sewn, or even playing music with an instrument you’ve created. Playing the ocarina is one of my favourites.
32. Guitar Hero: On Tour Series – Riley
Giving a whole new meaning to hand cramp
During its peak, Activision capitalised on the Guitar Hero craze by releasing three entries onto Nintendo’s handheld, each with its own peripheral. Gameplay-wise, all three games are identical, but the guitar peripheral this time around only has four colours. Whilst at first this sounds a little underwhelming, when you actually wear it, you’ll find this decision makes total sense and be glad orange isn’t there this time around. Combine this with the fact that the DS featured native headphone support, and you could rock out anywhere you went at the cost of getting weird looks for shredding on a DS at the back of the bus.
The main reason I decided to make this a “series” entry instead of a primary game is that the three games are identical in all ways except soundtrack, so it comes down to your musical preference. The original On Tour title features your standard affair, mostly emulating the World Tour title on consoles. Decades features a selection of songs from each decade from the 70s to the 00s, as you’d expect from that title. Finally, Modern Hits featured more recent (relative to the game’s release) rock songs from 2004 to 2008, so take a look at the track lists and see which appeals and give it a shot if you can find a peripheral that works!
33. Lunar: Genesis – Kane
He saved the world to save his girlfriend
Lunar is a long-running RPG series originating on the Sega CD, where the new CD format was used to full effect, providing high-quality audio, full motion video and voice acting. Features that were rare in games at the time.
Genesis doesn’t quite live up to that legacy, but it does provide a solid RPG experience, likeable characters and a pretty great soundtrack.
Set before most of the rest of the series, you play as Jian, an energetic teen working as a courier. With a passion for acrobatics and a soft spot for his courier partner Lucia, he spends his days training and delivering packages until circumstances throw them into the middle of the world’s problems.
34. Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks – Melty
YOU SEEM CUTER THAN USUAL. WHY.
The second Legend of Zelda game for the DS and the second on our list, Spirit Tracks, is a truly wonderful game. It was one of the first games in the series that I’d played myself, and one of the LoZ games I consistently play, besides Breath of the Wild and Hyrule Warriors. This game is within the same timeline as Wind Waker, so you can imagine that the art style and music are quite similar, albeit modified to work on the DS.
To travel the map in this game, you must guide a train along the tracks. This is incredibly fun. You even get a pulley to sound the horn! You must use this horn to warn animals off the tracks as you pass by. This isn’t the only time you use the train, though. There are puzzles within the game, such as forests, that you need to navigate using the navigation tools of your locomotive. On top of that, you need to take passengers to their required destination.
Your mission in this game is to uncover the plans of the suspicious Chancellor Cole, find the Demon Train in the Dark Realm, and retrieve Zelda’s body, stopping the demon Malladus from possessing it. Overall, Spirit Tracks is a very cute addition to the Legend of Zelda franchise. It’s quite simple in its gameplay, yet still fits well within the series.
35. Drawn to Life – Kane
If doodle god actually doodled
Long ago, the creator made the world and everything in it by drawing it into existence. Now they’ve returned to save the world from peril by once again drawing. You are this creator, and you start by drawing yourself a hero.
Drawn to Life was made by the same studio as Scribblenauts, and much like it, they made excellent use of the touchscreen for gameplay. Here, instead of typing to solve puzzles, you’re drawing the heroes, items and platforms you need to traverse its maze-like levels.
As you explore the platforming challenges put forth, you collect pages from your book of life, which unlock more items for you to draw. You will also save villagers from the darkness and return them to town, where they will set up shop. There’s a real sense of progression and a feeling that you’re clawing the world back from the brink as the darkness recedes and the people return. Will the world be overrun, or will it be “Drawn to Life”?
36. Magical Starsign – Kane
“Let’s borrow that rocket! And by borrow, I mean hot-wire and steal it“
Magical Starsign is a JRPG with an admittedly strange feel to it. It rather feels like it didn’t know what audience it was aimed at. The story, characters, art style and overall tone lean towards a quite young target audience. The battle system, however, has a layer of complexity you wouldn’t expect to find in here if that were the case.
You play as a member of a class of magicians whose teacher has gone missing on a mission to defeat space pirates. Your class embarks on a journey to find her in a fantastical adventure across the solar system, exploring the planets that represent the elements of magic in the world.
Each member of your class has their own magic they specialise in, and he effectiveness of those elements is influenced by the positions of their corresponding planet in the solar system. Damage increases or decreases accordingly to the astrological conditions at the time. With the possibility of you going into battle to find your favourite character is suddenly underpowered, it definitely encourages you to utilise your whole party and fully explore the systems in-game.
37. Chrono Trigger – Riley
If history is to change, let it change! If the world is to be destroyed, so be it! If my fate is to be destroyed, I must simply laugh!
Arguably one of the greatest JRPGs of all time, the fact that Chrono Trigger was made with one of the greatest teams in the genre was a miracle. Boasting some of the most innovative and intelligent time travel writing in the medium, it’s an absolute must-play for anyone in the genre. The cast is diverse, rich and realistic, each showcasing their own arcs that complement the story’s central conflict. It’s really hard to go into too much detail without spoiling, but just trust me when I say that you will not be disappointed with this journey.
What’s even better is that the DS is the definitive way to play, taking the strengths of its previous releases, such as the cutscenes from the PlayStation release and the bright colouration from the SNES. Combine this with the quality of life improvements (such as a map) and some extra content in the form of dialogue and dungeons, and you have the best way to play one of the greats.
38. The Urbz: Sims in the City – Melty
Vampires, Gator-men, and Time Travel – Oh My!
The Urbz is a game that I enjoy in every form it appears. I know I put it in our PS2 list; however, the gameplay, the characters, and the story of The Urbz is completely different on the DS. This game is filled with anti-capitalism, vampires, and even gator-men. You heard that right: Gator. Men.
In this version of the game, you start out working in the tallest tower in the city, King Tower. When you’re promptly fired from this job, you must find shelter, a way of making money, and socialise your way to uncovering Daddy Bigbucks’ evil plans to destroy and rebuild Miniopolis, placing a ticket booth in every building.
Honestly, this game is great if you’re looking for a wild time. In true The Sims fashion, its heart is within the wacky characters, silly storylines, and crazy activities. There are multiple job minigames and intricate tasks for you to complete as the main character. You can even indulge in time travel, and not just by playing this game released in 2004.
39. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – Kane
Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty
Licensed games as a whole—especially ones based on children’s movies—are usually pretty boring retreads of their movie plot, with some basic platforming action between story beats. Narnia manages to break out of that mould with a refreshing take on the story.
The children take a much more active role than in the movie, fighting the servants of the White Witch from the very first scene. Each character has their own stats and abilities, as well as equipment loadouts that you improve through the game. You fight the various foes of the frozen forests with both range and melee weapons, with combos earning you a more powerful attack. All in all, it plays almost like a family-friendly Diablo with some hints of things like Metroid in places where you need to find a new ability to open your way.
It’s much more engaging and memorable than it has any right to be as a licensed game; fans of Narnia are well served here.
40. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training/Brain Age – Kane
How Old is Your Brain?
Brain Training was an absolute hit when it was released, with some doctors recommending it to stave off symptoms relating to dementia. While the validity of those claims has never been backed by Nintendo, that certainly didn’t stop them from using it in their marketing. They went so far as to subtitle it “How Old is Your Brain?” in PAL regions.
I can’t really comment on how well it works to keep your brain healthy. I’ve had to fix at least 12 of my own spelling mistakes in just this one entry. But I can say it does very well at training you to do well in the specific minigames it offers. Rating the speed at which you complete them and offering advice as you go. The game encourages you to play in short stints, coming back to it every day, adding it to your routine like a trip to the gym.
It’s definitely worth playing if you enjoy puzzle gameplay, and if it really is good for your brain, it might be worth playing for that too. Either way, it makes it onto the list for sheer innovation in its concept and the fact that you’ll see it in nearly every retro game shop in the UK.
Leave a Reply