DS vs 3DS

[dazzybee]

Don't want to keep going off topic in the direct thread so thought I'd do this. So which do people think was better? What are people's top 10s? Mine is

 

DS

Nintendogs - a truly original, incredible bit of software. Hasn't aged great, but at the time it was pretty special.

BrainTraining - people may turn their nose up at it, but I loved it, played it a lot, and got me addicted to sudoku

999 - played this late so more a retrospective addition,but what a game!

Pheonix Wright - all of them. All brilliant.

New Super Mario Bros - I realise the series has outstayed it's welcome, but the first one was genuinely exciting and amazing. And the mini games were brilliant.

Professor Layton - a brilliant merging of the touch generations mentality with a "proper" game

Elite Beat Agents - bought the Japanese games. Have this. Want more!

Trauma Centre - I absolutely love this series and gutted it seems to be over. Again, uses the touch screen incredibly well.

Advance Wars Dual Strike - a great version of an incredible series

Animal Crossing - an incredible version of the game, made better by the fact that me and my housemates and friends were all playing it

Mario Kart DS - I was living with other people who all had DSs and this was a regular fixture. And it's a great entry in its own right

 

I wanted to put 42 games in one for the sheer amount me and my friends played it. Touch golf too. And can't believe I haven't put Zelda in...picross. 3D picross. Rhythm heaven. So many great games...

 

3DS

Animal Crossing - the best version of the game. Didn't have as much impact as wild world though.

Mario Kart 7 - better than DS, and the online was great. Loved the introduction of flying.

Super Smash Bros. - an incredible achievement and a great game in its won right, with a better exclusive mode than the Wii U version. Should've been online though.

Super Mario 3D Land - an absolutely incredible Mario game and the best handheld Mario yet.

Zelda: Link Between Worlds - doesn't spice things up as much as it thinks it does, but don't care, loved it.

Fire Emblem Awakening - never got into the series before but loved this game so much. The new ones probably would be in top 10 but have only just started

Luigis mansion 2 - a perfect sequel to a great original! Awesome multiplayer mode.

Kid Icarus - a great update as it ignored everything about the awful original.

Steam world Dig - was going to avoid Eshop games but this is so good I couldn't

Theatrhythm - this is almost DS-esque. No fan of final fantasy, but didn't stop me loving these games.

 

Didn't mention the Zelda remakes, the kirby games, or the tennis and golf games which I loved, also add in the vc and Eshop...

 

So yeah, as I thought, DS was this revolutionary device which offered these amazing experiences. But 3ds probably has better games.

[Ronnie]

You've summed it up really well I reckon. The DS was an amazing experience at the time but I think the 3DS has the much better library.

 

Some 3DS gems for me:

 

Super Mario 3D Land: just incredile. This and 3D World are my favourite style Mario games. Perfectly designed, bite size moments of pure fun.

 

Pilotwings Resort: pretty under-rated if you ask me. Ok so it didn't have the flavour of the original and N64 versions but the gameplay itself was great and showed off the stereoscopic 3D really well. It's a brilliant game to have in your pocket for quick play sessions and I hope they make an NX version

 

Zelda ALBW: brought back the magic that's been somewhat missing since Wind Waker. Just a fantastic 2D Zelda game that doesn't feel too overly familiar.

 

Animal Crossing New Leaf: it's in my top 5 games of all time, my first Animal Crossing experience and probably the best entry to jump into. Seems tailor made for a handheld system. Never played anything like it and I must have missed about two days in the first year.

 

Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon: ambience was perfect, full of things to make you smile, and again I really liked the pickup and play nature of it. Gorgeous visuals and tons of fun.

[dazzybee]

I can't believe I forgot pilot wings. Swap that with Steamworld.

[Goron_3]

The 3DS has better first party support by a mile. I found NDS first party software quite poor overall (Mario Kart excluded) as they were often experimenting with controls.

 

That said, the DS is my favourite console ever in terms of overall software. 3 Castlevania's, 5 Ace Attourney titles, Ghost Trick, Hotel Dusk, Advance Wars just to name a few. RPG-wise it got TWEWY, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger and my favourite modern Pokemon games (Black/White). It also had 9 persons 9 hours 9 doors which is one of the most incredible games I've ever played.

 

What an amazing little console

[killthenet]

It's a tough choice to pick between the two systems, i've played both of them to death. I probably got more play time out of the DS, but I think the 3DS is the better overall system. It's OS and online features far outstrip those on the original and the presence of virtual console gives it even more of an edge.

 

In terms of the games my favourites on the original DS are Mario Kart DS, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Electroplankton but there are still tonnes of games that I never got around to playing like 999 and GTA Chinatown Wars.

 

On the 3DS my favourites are Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, BOXBOY!, Resident Evil Revelations and the N64 Zelda remasters. I've also put tonnes of hours into the virtual console, playing through all the Zelda and Mario NES and Game Boy games that I've missed as well as putting in over a hundred hours on Pokemon Blue. Again there are a tonne of 3DS games that I'm yet to play so expect my list to grow over the next couple of years.

[Hero-of-Time]

The DS wins for me. The 3rd party support they had for that thing was amazing.

 

Ghost Trick, Henry Hatsworth, Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy Ring of Fates, Final Fantasy Echoes of Time, Drgaon Quest IV, Dragon Quest V, Dragon Quest VI, Dragon Quest IX, The World Ends With You, Chrono Trigger, Infinite Space, Sonic Rush, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Castlevania trilogy, Phoenix Wright games, Professor Layton games, Elite Beat Agents, Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars, Soul Bubbles, Another Code, Hotel Dusk, The Last Window, Lunar Knights, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, Radiant Historia, Megaman Zero Collection, 999, Solatorobo, Phantasy Star Zero, Nostalgia, Trauma Centre....the list goes on.

 

Both Ghost Trick and Soul Bubbles are simply amazing games.

[Serebii]

3DS wins for me. The games on it have just generally been more fun. Less reliant on gimmicks (looking at you Zelda) and just bring a smile to my face

[Dcubed]

This is a tough one to call... I think that there's a few things that I can safely say in broad strokes though.

 

Overall, 3rd party games were much stronger on the DS than the 3DS. This isn't that controversial really, mobile has decimated everything and 3rd party support has plummeted as a result. There is still some REALLY good stuff mind you (especially in the action game genres, like Monster Hunter, stuff that never got much of a look in on the DS back in the day), but the DS' support was much stronger.

 

Overall, there are much fewer experimental games on the 3DS than DS. That's not to say that we didn't get odd ball stuff like Dillon's Rolling Western, Pocket Card Jockey etc, but it's safe to say that the 3DS' library is more traditional in nature than the DS was.

 

Overall, 1st party support for the 3DS was stronger than the DS. While the DS technically had more releases for it, it's not hard to see that Nintendo put more of their development muscle behind the 3DS than the DS, to the point where it came at the detriment of their console. We saw big budget 3DS games of the kind that you simply just never got on the DS; even at the top end.

 

Looking back at the DS' library as well. Something that really strikes me is just how lacking the DS library is in terms of pick-up-and-play games; most of the games worth playing are actually the kind that are more in-depth and ask for longer play sessions. It's also very RPG heavy and very light on action titles and out of the games that are good for short play sessions, most of them came out during the first year or so of the DS' life. As such, the 3DS actually satisfies as a handheld console much moreso than the DS does for me.

 

So while it's tough, for that above reason, I'm gonna go with the 3DS. It just has better genre coverage for myself and more variety in how you have games suited for short and long game sessions and much more in the way of action titles.

 

BTW: For all of those citing 999, you do realise that the 3DS has both VLR AND ZTD as well right?

Edited August 31, 2016 by Dcubed

[RedShell]

My top 10 for DS and 3DS retail games at the moment probably looks like this:

 

NDS:

1. Animal Crossing: Wild World
   
2. Contra 4
   
3. Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
   
4. Jam with the Band
   
5. Mario Kart DS
   
6. nintendogs
   
7. Rhythm Tengoku Gold
   
8. Taiko no Tatsujin DS
   
9. WarioWare: Do It Yourself
   
10. WarioWare: Touched!
    

With special mention to non-games, Electroplankton and KORG DS-10.

 

3DS:

1. Animal Crossing: New Leaf
   
2. Freakyforms Deluxe: Your Creations, Alive!
   
3. Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX
   
4. Kid Icarus: Uprising
   
5. Mario Kart 7
   
6. Monster Hunter Generations
   
7. nintendogs + cats
   
8. Resident Evil Revelations
   
9. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
   
10. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
    

Tomodachi Life would be in there too, but again left that out due to it being less gamey.

 

 

Anyway, yeah it's super hard to call.

I guess the DS just about wins though...

Its Rupeeland/Rhythm Tengoku/WarioWare combo is just too good.

 

At the end of the day one thing is for certain, both DS and 3DS were pretty damn fantastic in terms of software! :awesome:

If the NX ends up with a similar selection, I'll be very happy indeed.

[Goron_3]

This is a tough one to call... I think that there's a few things that I can safely say in broad strokes though.

 

Overall, 3rd party games were much stronger on the DS than the 3DS. This isn't that controversial really, mobile has decimated everything and 3rd party support has plummeted as a result. There is still some REALLY good stuff mind you (especially in the action game genres, like Monster Hunter, stuff that never got much of a look in on the DS back in the day), but the DS' support was much stronger.

 

Overall, there are much fewer experimental games on the 3DS than DS. That's not to say that we didn't get odd ball stuff like Dillon's Rolling Western, Pocket Card Jockey etc, but it's safe to say that the 3DS' library is more traditional in nature than the DS was.

 

Overall, 1st party support for the 3DS was stronger than the DS. While the DS technically had more releases for it, it's not hard to see that Nintendo put more of their development muscle behind the 3DS than the DS, to the point where it came at the detriment of their console. We saw big budget 3DS games of the kind that you simply just never got on the DS; even at the top end.

 

Looking back at the DS' library as well. Something that really strikes me is just how lacking the DS library is in terms of pick-up-and-play games; most of the games worth playing are actually the kind that are more in-depth and ask for longer play sessions. It's also very RPG heavy and very light on action titles and out of the games that are good for short play sessions, most of them came out during the first year or so of the DS' life. As such, the 3DS actually satisfies as a handheld console much moreso than the DS does for me.

 

So while it's tough, for that above reason, I'm gonna go with the 3DS. It just has better genre coverage for myself and more variety in how you have games suited for short and long game sessions and much more in the way of action titles.

 

BTW: For all of those citing 999, you do realise that the 3DS has both VLR AND ZTD as well right?

 

I played those games on Vita. Besides, 999 is the GOAT.

[Happenstance]

I think all 3 are going to be on Steam sometime in the next few months.

[nekunando]

As I mentioned in the other thread, the original DS gave me considerably more special moments than the disappointing 3DS.

 

Although I wouldn't want to commit to putting the games in any particular order, here are my personal highlights for both systems

 

DS

Ghost Trick

Elite Beat Agents

Trauma Centre: Under the Knife

Wario Ware: Touched

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Rhythm Paradise

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Another Code: Two Memories

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

New Super Mario Bros

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

Kirby: Power Paintbrush

Mario Kart DS

The World Ends With You

Yoshi Touch & Go

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Starfox Command

 

3DS

Pilotwings Resort

Super Mario 3D Land

Mario Kart 7

Starfox 64 3D

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS

Mario Golf: World Tour

[Hero-of-Time]

 

Although I wouldn't want to commit to putting the games in any particular order, here are my personal highlights for both systems

 

 

You have Ghost Trick at the top so i'm going to assume you did in fact put everything in the correct order.

[dazzybee]

@Hero\-of\-Time what the hell is soul bubbles?!

[Hero-of-Time]

@Hero\-of\-Time what the hell is soul bubbles?!

 

 

An absolute hidden gem of a game. Find it. Buy it. Play it. Fall in love with it.

[dazzybee]

 

An absolute hidden gem of a game. Find it. Buy it. Play it. Fall in love with it.

 

Ah yes, I have that game, couldn't think for a moment

[nekunando]

You have Ghost Trick at the top so i'm going to assume you did in fact put everything in the correct order.

Ghost Trick is so good It's definitely near the top of my list for the DS!

 

Soul Bubbles could be a great shout, too I actually don't own it but always considered buying it. Unfortunately, when I saw it several years ago for £2.99 I was in a place where I didn't feel like I wanted to add more games to my collection so passed it up at the time. I may hunt it down now, though

 

Another hidden gem, which I actually didn't include on my list, is Big Bang Mini

 

[Dcubed]

 

An absolute hidden gem of a game. Find it. Buy it. Play it. Fall in love with it.

 

I concur. This game is good stuff. A touch repetitive, but a really solid and unique game. Well worth a pickup

[Glen-i]

3DS, duh, it can still play all the DS games!

 

OK, fine. But I honestly can't decide. They're both stellar consoles for different reasons. So I'm just gonna do top 10's. And also, just for kicks, the moment that makes the best use of the hardware.

 

DS

 

10. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - Yeah, that's right, this game rocks. It fixed pretty much everything I hate about Phantom Hourglass. Also has the best Zelda Overworld theme to date. And trains!

9. Kirby Super Star Ultra - Take one of the most well-love Kirby games and almost double it's repertoire. Introduced the concept of having a second boss rush that is typically ludicrously hard.

8. Rhythm Heaven - It's got Lockstep, the most visually spectacular rhythm based game I've ever played. That's all I need.

7. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies - Still the only non-spin-off Dragon Quest game I completed (Plan on fixing that very soon). I liked the sheer amount of customisation this game offered.

6. Chrono Trigger - It's Chrono Trigger, do I really need to explain why? I mean, the fact that a port gets on to my list should speak volumes.

5. Pokemon Black/White - It's got the best Pokemon designs, a story that actually manages to be somewhat interesting, and the ending is just so god damn good! X/Y just looked embarrassing after this.

4. Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors - Better known as 999, it's one hell of a visual novel, that given a little bit of patience, can blow your mind and leave you wanting more.

3. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story - If you've never tried a Mario & Luigi game, this is the one I would recommend picking up first. It cemented my favourite RPG battle system, and also you get to play as the King of Awesome himself, what more could you want? Oh fine, it's also one of the best looking DS games ever.

2. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - Honestly one of the cleverest games I've ever seen. The story is engaging, the gameplay is inspired, the visuals are brilliant. Definitely the DS's most underrated game, that's for sure. It really deserved to have sold better than it did.

1. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky - OK, yeah, you saw that one coming. I mean, it was my favourite game ever for over 5 years, of course it had to be on top! Surprisingly deep story, gameplay that I adore and that soundtrack. DAT SOUNDTRACK!

 

The best use of the DS was definitely Another Code: Two Memories. If you've played it, you should know which bit I was talking about. A puzzle so good that Zelda nicked it.

 

3DS

 

10. Shovel Knight - I'm not a massive fan of old school Mega Man. But it didn't stop this game from digging it's way into my list. Tight controls and a soundtrack for the ages.

9. Virtue's Last Reward - The sequel to 999, with one of the most ridiculous, yet brilliant twists I've seen recently. I actually prefer this to 999 and ZTD. Mostly because of the puzzles and those twists.

8. Puzzle & Dragons Z - The best 3DS game that N-Europe never played, well, except me. Worst thing about that is some people here bought it, only played the vastly inferior Mario version and then dropped it. For shame...

7. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call - It's a solid Rhythm game with a staggering 221(!) songs and another 100(!!!) to choose from via DLC. That DLC also includes lovely little spin-off soundtracks like Chrono Trigger, Bravely Default and Nier. The RPG elements help to make this game even better than it already is.

6. Bravely Second - A fantastic sequel to Bravely Default that knows that the battle system was pretty much perfect and left it as is. Instead, this game provides more QoL features, making it an utter joy to play.

5. Monster Hunter Generations - Yeah, it's similar to 4 Ultimate, but it just keeps dragging me back in. Maybe I'll actually do every quest this time? Hey, it could happen.

4. Hyrule Warriors Legends - If there's one game that keeps my 3DS on, it's this. It just keeps giving and I can't get enough of it. Seriously, you can play as Marin and the King of Red Lions! Surely, every Zelda fan's dream?

3. Super Smash Bros. - You just can't beat a bit of SMAAAASH! My favourite character is still Lucas, but with the sheer amount of characters, you'll find me just booting this up and picking a few characters at random just for the hell of it.

2. Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros. - While Bowser's Inside Story is the one I would recommend to a M&L first-timer, Paper Jam Bros. is the one for if you want to get a real good challenge out of it's brilliant battle system.

One day I'll "S Rank" that optional superboss... One day...

1. Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon - The game that ended Explorers of Sky's 5-year run as my favourite game. It corrected all the missteps Gates to Infinity made and produced one hell of a challenging Pokemon game. Seriously, put your man pants on for this one. Because not even Overpowered Kecleon can guarantee you get through this one intact!

 

Best usage of the 3DS has to be Bravely Default. I'll put this one in spoilers.

 

So there's this thing called the "Celestial Realm" that's mentioned a few times. The impression you get is that there's all sorts of gods there that governs what happens in Bravely Default's world.

 

During the final boss, that boss manages to open a rift to the Celestial Realm, you can catch a glimpse of what it looks like in there. And then you realise that all you see is your face. Yes, your actual real-life face.

The game is cleverly using the 3DS camera to drive the point home that this "Celestial Realm" is just plain old boring real-life. And their gods? Why, it's everyone who's playing Bravely Default.

You then proceed to win using the power of your 3DS Friends List. It's super meta and I loved every second of it!

 

[Agent Gibbs]

By a country mile the 3DS is better for me- mainly because its effectively a DS with more power and a better library

I swear if they added Gameboy advance VC it would have access to everything the DS had

[Fierce_LiNk]

We played the DS to death. @Eenuh has tons of games for it. Something about the 3DS didn't click that much for me, but I think she still likes it. Ish.

 

No Advance Wars is fucking criminal. I prefer the DS because I think it arrived at a time when everything seemed new and exciting. I loved Hotel Dusk, Electroplankton and Mario Kart DS (still my favourite).

[Jonnas]

I don't own a 3DS (though I've been meaning to for the longest time), but all this DS talk is making me want to post my own Top 10.

 

10. Another Code: Two Memories

A genuinely clever puzzle/point&click game that makes great use of the hardware it's in. It feels like a diamond in the rough, but its charm is undeniable

9. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

A surprisingly good Castlevania game. What looked like a filler game turned out to have a lot of fun gameplay options and an even larger amount of content. Thankfully, the game's difficult enough to keep anybody busy, it would be a shame to have so much to do without it being fun and challenging.

8. Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Speaking of large amounts of content, here's a game that never gets old. The only reason this isn't higher on the list is due to some balancing issues (there's a lot of needlessly overpowered stuff in this game).

7. Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations

I kinda want to put the whole trilogy here, but I'll settle for the best game in the series. It's pretty amazing, how such a silly concept can lead to such compelling characters and cases. The Mask DeMasque case remains my favourite.

6. Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Phantom Hourglass was good, but not great. This one improved on everything PH had to offer, and made it great. A true blue Zelda game with some original concepts and fantastic music. It also features the best sidekick in the series, who's also the best Princess Zelda.

5. Mario&Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

Mario&Luigi is a lovely series, and while this game isn't quite as good as Superstar Saga, it's certainly close. This is the most entertaining incarnation of Bowser I've seen, he made a surprisingly good protagonist.

4. Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume

I might be the only person on this site to have played this game. It's a shame, because it's a hell of a hidden gem. A strategy RPG at its core (with surprisingly frantic battles), what makes this interesting is how the story and gameplay mechanics intertwine so well. This game shows how a morality system ought to be done, I love how the game is piss-easy if you decide to be a cruel bastard, but balls hard if you take the moral high ground.

3. Soul Bubbles

It's already been mentioned in this thread, but it's one of the most relaxing experiences I've had in a videogame. For such a cute little game with simple mechanics (not unlike an indie game), it turned into something amazing.

2. Ghost Trick

This might be the most unique (and possibly best) story-driven game I've played. Between its snazzy art style, original plot and puzzles, fantastic music and compelling characters, I'm surprised it even got made.

1. Elite Beat Agents

So yeah, no contest, this one's my favourite. It's bizarre, it's original, it's catchy, it's addicting, it's one of my favourite games of all time. I wish it sold more and became a full-fledged series.

[killthenet]

I must be in the minority in preferring Phantom Hourglass to Spirit Tracks. I think I had a really awkward start with ST and the game seemed pretty clunky for a while so took me longer to get into it. I think that tainted my overall rating of it because the end was spectacular but in terms of enjoyment I definitely preferred PH.

[Dufniall]

Okay no super long post since it would take me a week to come up with 2 top 10s! But in general I think the DS had much more creative titles due being innovative with and 2 screens and touch. Games like The World Ends With You pushed originality of gameplay, and a lot of experimenting was also going on with stuff like the aforementioned Soul Bubbles and Electroplankton. Further, it made 3D possible like Metroid Prime: Hunters. Further it boosted some of the prettiest platformers at that time such as the Castlevania games.

 

All in all I played many games on the DS, but I didn't play them all very long (with some exceptions).

 

Onwards to the 3DS, I think it is less focused on innovative play and more on creating a home console experience for on the go, with titles like Resident Evil: Revelation, Monster Hunter 3U/4U/Generations, Super Smash Bros. etcetera. And I sank a lot more time per game on the 3DS.

 

So in conclusion I would say that the 3DS has better games, but still I love the DS more because of all the innovation and great IPs it brought us.

[nekunando]

I must be in the minority in preferring Phantom Hourglass to Spirit Tracks.

 

I actually really want to play Phantom Hourglass again as I haven't touched it since I finished it, and loved it, all those years ago

 

I'm definitely with you on the fact that I much prefer it to Spirit Tracks, mainly due to the fact that I mostly disliked the dungeons in the latter, mainly due to controlling Zelda