Every Kid's Nintendo DS Collection Included These Essentials
If you had a Nintendo DS when you were younger, you likely played with it right after school all the way up until bedtime. It's crazy to believe that even 20 years after its first release, the console system and its games remain beloved. How many have you played on this list? From Mario Kart DS to Sonic Rush Adventure, here are 20 Nintendo DS games you'll definitely remember from your childhood.
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1. Mario Kart DS
Mario Kart was probably in the hands of every single kid who owned a Nintendo DS back in the day. Heck, if your console and card still work, you likely still play it now. From the racing routes to the music, this was an iconic, essential game.
2. Pokémon SoulSilver
Of all the Pokémon DS games that were available at the time—namely, Pokémon Diamond, Pokémon Pearl, and Pokémon Platinum—the SoulSilver (and HeartGold) version was one of the most popular. Known as the remake of the 1999 Pokémon Gold and Silver on the Game Boy Color, if you played those versions, you likely fell in love with the newer one just as quickly.
3. Phineas and Ferb
Inspired by the animated TV series of the same name, Phineas and Ferb on the DS followed a similar plotline, where the stepbrothers take part in different tasks and adventures. But in order to not get into trouble, you also had to avoid Candace.
4. Brain Age
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day was inspired by the work of Japanese neuroscientist Dr. Ryuta Kawashima. From piano lessons to Sudoku puzzles and math problems, you were encouraged to log in every day to complete the puzzles and exercise your brain.
5. New Super Mario Bros.
It probably comes as no surprise that New Super Mario Bros. is one of the best-selling games of all time—and the number-one best-selling for the Nintendo DS. After all, this was the kind of game you replayed repeatedly, even years after its 2006 release.
6. Cooking Mama
Between blowing into your DS microphone to cool down soups and frying up batches of crispy pork cutlets, Cooking Mama made you feel like a professional chef. But while some recipes definitely seemed to resemble their real-life counterparts, they likely still weren't accurate enough to allow you to help out in the kitchen at 10 years old.
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7. Nintendogs
Wanted a puppy but your parents didn't let you? That was where Nintendogs came to the rescue—you could care for your own pet through a touch screen! Sure, it wasn't the exact same thing, but you could still teach them tricks and play with them as if they were real.
8. Animal Crossing: Wild World
If you weren't playing at the park with your friends, you were probably curled up in bed or on the couch, huddled over your DS, the music from Animal Crossing blaring through your speakers. You had lots to do, anyway, like catching fish and digging up seeds.
9. Crosswords DS
Crosswords DS was for any word puzzle lover, and you were able to switch between the three modes: crosswords, anagrams, and word search. This game probably kept you busy for hours, given that, in just the crosswords portion alone, there were 1,000 puzzles to do across the four difficulty modes.
10. Hannah Montana
The secret of Hannah Montana must not be revealed—and you were enlisted to help. In Hannah Montana, you could either play as Miley Stewart or her best friend Lilly Truscott, searching for clues and using spy gadgets to solve three mysteries.
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11. SimCity DS
In SimCity DS, you were a mayor in charge of developing a city from scratch. And if that didn't sound exciting enough for you as a kid, you were responsible for setting up necessities like fire departments, schools, hospitals, and roads. In other words: you had all the power.
12. Big Brain Academy
Similar to Brain Age, Big Brain Academy gave you a series of puzzles to complete to calculate the age and mass of your brain. Puzzles were grouped into five different categories: think, identify, analyze, memorize, and compute.
13. Diner Dash
Before the craze of Restaurant City and similar games on the PC and social networking sites like Facebook, there was Diner Dash. Playing as the main protagonist Flo, you were responsible for opening and managing various eateries.
14. Sonic Rush Adventure
Sonic Rush Adventure, the 2007 sequel to Sonic Rush released two years prior, was an instant hit with fans of the franchise. Anyone who has played it will remember the outstanding visuals, where character models and fights were rendered in 3D.
15. Puzzle Bobble DS
If you were looking for a fun game to pass the time, sure, you could pick any title from your collection or this list. But Puzzle Bobble DS was for those who didn't want to do logic puzzles or complete obstacle courses. Nope, because in this game, all you had to do was aim and shoot bubbles.
16. Trace Memory
Another Code: Two Memories, or Trace Memory as it's known in North America, was particularly beloved for its story and gameplay—not to mention the beautiful hand-drawn artwork. But if you were a seasoned video game hobbyist, you probably ran through the entirety of this in about a day.
17. Fashion Designer: Style Icon
Sure, you were still a kid, but that didn't stop you from becoming the next best fashion designer. Whether it was designing new outfits or making them come to life in catalogues, you had one mission playing Fashion Designer: Style Icon: to take over the industry with your amazing skills.
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18. Pokemon HeartGold
The other half of Pokémon SoulSilver was Pokémon HeartGold. The only difference was in variations of Pokémon you could catch, and the difficulty of the overall gameplay. If you were up for a challenge, SoulSilver it was. If you wanted something a little easier? HeartGold.
19. Wario: Master of Disguise
The most fun part about playing Wario: Master of Disguise was that you could change into eight different forms—Thief, Cosmic, Arty, Genius, Sparky, Captain, Dragon, and Wicked—to beat different levels. But because you had to draw symbols to activate these powers, your only setback was how accurate your scribbles were.
20. Mario Party DS
With eight different playable characters and five game boards, Mario Party DS was the type of game you egged your friends and family to join. Each minigame was not unique but addicting to play, which made it such a popular game to own.
