Should I buy a DS?

[asiepshtain]

Hi all,
Lately my travel time has greatly grown as I've been doing a lot of exhibitions around the world. So I spend quite some time on planes, and with the upcoming Scribblenauts looking really cool, I was wondering wheter or not to buy a DS.

Now I've been burned by portables before, I bought a PSP only to have the PSP-Lite come out a month and half later, and have been really disapointed by its library, the clumsy fat thing is sitting in my drawer untouched and unloved.

Is there a DS update coming soon that I should know about? Do you have one and love/hate it? What games do you think are a must have?

Should I buy one?

Thanks alot for your answers

 

[j0frenzy]

The DSi just came out, so no update is to be expected for a while. Honestly, I love my DS, but some of the better games are getting harder to find because of age. Good games appear to still be coming out, even if at a slower rate (I haven't been able to buy much recently).
I personally love the Phoenix Wright games for quirky plot, Zeldahantom Hourglass for adventure and action and Metroid Prime Hunters for action. I know I have more favorites available for the DS, but I haven't been playing it much lately due to a decreased amount of travel.

 

[black lincon]

The DSi came out a while ago, however that really isn't your best option in my opinion, at least at this point.

Go with a DS lite, it's got all the great DS games, with GBA compatibility, the small desirable size, and none of that camera nonsense.

 

[Radav]

Yes, it's better then a PSP I would say, racing game aren't that good apart from mario kart DS, this is the best handheld console in my opinion.

you can check http://openpandora.org/ it's a open source handheld console, I'm not to sure if you can buy one now though

quote from the website:
How powerful is it?
It is by far the most powerful handheld in the world both in terms of raw CPU power and 3D graphics capability, it will be able to handle things such as Firefox3 or Quake3 with ease.

 

[lostclause]

Hmm, I think that the ds is okay. There are some good games for it (mainly the two kirby games I've played, squeak squad and canvas curse, two very different games that are quite fun) but they never measure up to a console or pc. Since you're travelling though I'd say go ahead.

 

[Radeonx]

Yes. Scribblenauts is the only game you will need, once it comes out. Golden Sun looks cool too.

 

[Whistler777]

As a DS owner, I can personally say that it is a valuable asset on long plane/car rides. My favorites are Mario Kart DS, Pokemon Diamond, Mr. Driller, Tetris DS (the best Tetris iteration ever made!), and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

 

[Sabretoothpanda]

asiepshtain, if don't mind gory, violent games try God of War: Chains of Olympus or one of the GTAs if you haven't already. Show your PSP a little love. I know what you mean though; I can't seem to find any stand out titles for PSP or DS. On DS issue, defenently go with the DS Lite better battery life that the original and a GBA slot like black lincon said.

 

[NeutralMunchHotel]

Hi all,
Lately my travel time has greatly grown as I've been doing a lot of exhibitions around the world. So I spend quite some time on planes, and with the upcoming Scribblenauts looking really cool, I was wondering wheter or not to buy a DS.

Now I've been burned by portables before, I bought a PSP only to have the PSP-Lite come out a month and half later, and have been really disapointed by its library, the clumsy fat thing is sitting in my drawer untouched and unloved.

Is there a DS update coming soon that I should know about? Do you have one and love/hate it? What games do you think are a must have?

Should I buy one?

Thanks alot for your answers

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. It is by far the best handheld I've ever owned, purely because of the amount of fantastic games. If you want me to list the great ones I own I will later, I just don't have the time now!

 

[Jurian]

Yeah you should, it has a better game library then the psp has.

 

[Tartarga]

to me it depends on your gaming style if your casual then go for it if you are a hardcore gamer you may want to consider your other options

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

Yes. Scribblenauts is the only game you will need, once it comes out. Golden Sun looks cool too.

What I was going to say. Scribblenauts is coming. Go buy.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Yea, if you travel alot, there great for that sort of thing.

 

[InfectingTheCrypts]

You just haven't given enough mention to what sort of games you like and whether you enjoy the Nintendo style of recycled franchise installments. Personally for me I don't care much for Nintendo's mainstream franchises, amongst all of which the only ones I really enjoyed were Metroid Prime: Hunters, Advance Wars and the Pokemon games. If you really are a fan of Nintendo's franchises, I think (as far as I can remember), bar Kid Icarus, every franchise has an installment on the DS (even Star Fox), so as a Nintendo fan you are well catered for.

For me definitely the more enticing games were the third-party games: GTA: Chinatown Wars, some of the Final Fantasy games, Contra 4 (<- INCREDIBLE) and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 were the real stand-outs. But I think once I'd rattled through these games, I was left with little else to do since I wasn't a huge fan of Nintendo's franchises.

That's my input on the subject, basically, if you are a fan of Nintendo's endless franchise updates, then a DS is well worth looking into. But if you aren't then perhaps you (as I have) will regret forking over the cash for it.

 

[asiepshtain]

Wow, thanks for all the comments guys.

From what I gather the hardware is great but I should check the library first, espically since nintendo isn't my favorite game-developer, thanks a lot.

 

[randommaster]

Wow, thanks for all the comments guys.

From what I gather the hardware is great but I should check the library first, espically since nintendo isn't my favorite game-developer, thanks a lot.

There's plenty of third-party stuff that's good. Out of all the DS games I own, there is exactly zero Nintendo-developed games.

Scribblenauts, however, should hold your attention for a while, and if you have any GBA games, then you can play those as well, assuming you're not getting the DSi.

 

[Rynamo AV]

Buy a DS, get some Pokemon.

 

[I III II X4]

As an owner of both a DS and PSP, I feel like I can dish out some good advice.

The DS does feature longer battery life with most of its games, whereas the PSP can suffer an energy drain while playing some of the later games.

Now, as for the game libraries, you'll want some games that don't have any real point, just timesinks, especially if you're going to be stuck flyin' around.

Geometry Wars *DS
Wario ware *GBA
Any pokemon game *DS/GBA/GB
N+ *DS/PSP
Custom Robo Arena *DS
Super Mario 64DS *DS

Bottom line, spring for the DS Lite, though the old blocky models work just fine in my opinion, find games that appeal to your interests, and don't feel bad about buying them used.

 

[Aunel]

I personally dont care for handhelds, i take my laptop everywhere. But if indeed you will be traveling a lot and books dont cut it for you i would say go for it.

same here, I do all my PC gaming on my laptop anyway, and it is still real light, so I don't need any fancy schmansy hand helds.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

Anyone without a DS Lite is missing out on some great games.

Big Bang Mini
The Dark Spire
Professer Layton series
Yoshi's Island
Luminous Arc series
Dragon Quest 4/5/6
Picross DS
Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled
Etrian Odyssey series
Retro Games Challenge
Y's Books 1/2
Chrono Trigger
Puzzle Quest series
Zelda/Castlevania/Kirby

And it plays every GBA game too