This is a game that tries to compete with Pokemon and unfortunately slips up in its execution. I found the story to not be very engaging, the exploration and dungeon crawling to be monotonous and confusing, and while the number of Digimon was nice, there were some glaring omissions to the roster. in general, this just felt like an incomplete game, which makes sense since the sequel games, Dawn & Dusk, came out less than a year later. This game is at the very least a good starting point, but you'd be better off playing Dawn & Dusk or any of the other Digimon games for this console.

The Metroid Prime series of games is revered as some of the best FPS games of its generation and in some ways of all time. So, trying to recreate that magic on a portable system was a massive undertaking and to be fair they did get pretty close. Unfortunately, the control scheme of this game couldn't save it from being a frustrating and janky mess.

Honestly, it is the controls that are holding this game back completely. You are required to use the touchscreen to look around and the D-Pad to move Samus or any one of the hunters around. Holding the console while trying to play this game was very difficult and uncomfortable even as a child.

Other than that, the game has a pretty interesting story, new and unique characters, and a pretty solid multiplayer mode with Wifi capabilities. It is quite a novelty, but I cannot get over the control scheme at all. It is a game to check out, if only to see how they accomplished this, but other than that I don't think it is worth anyone's time.

Rayman is an interesting character. His series of games are celebrated as some of the quirkiest in the industry at the time, so people were interested to see what we got with his first foray into the next generation of games. Unfortunately, what we got instead was a motion control-riddled minigame collection.

To be fair, the controls are responsive enough that you can complete each minigame available, however, the amount of content here is lacking. There are about 30 unique minigames here, but they are all simplistic and uninteresting.

To be honest, that's it. There is a multiplayer mode and a single-player mode to unlock the minigames, but they are all the same thing. Play the minigame given to you and get first place. It isn't fun, exciting, or even interesting. You would be better off playing any of the Mario Party games on GameCube.

To be completely honest, by today's standards, this game doesn't hold up to its sequels, mainly Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart Wii though Mario Kart 7 also plays better. With that said, I would consider this the true pivotal moment for the series, one that laid the groundwork for it to become the monster of a franchise that it is. Along with its large amount of content and an insane amount of replayability, in my opinion, this game is one of the crowning jewels of the Nintendo DS.

I don't need to go over the controls of this game, it is a Mario Kart game so most people will know the basics. Instead, I will go over what this game adds to the overall franchise and what it does to set itself apart from the rest. First off, this is the first game that introduces the Retro Cups. This means the game gives players access to 32 unique tracks to play with, 16 originals made for this game and 16 returning from previous games. the GBA game had it first however it only took from the SNES original and not from every game prior.

Secondly, this game introduced the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. This meant that you could play this game not only on the go at school or outside of your house with a local connection but also using your home Wifi to play with your friends. I have an endless amount of memories of playing this game with my childhood friends online, it was always such a blast.

Unique to this game is the Mission mode, which is a set of challenges the player must complete for high ranking. This was a great mode to sink time into and I enjoyed how creative and engaging it could be, especially with the bosses at the end of each challenge board. Unfortunately, there isn't much that you unlock by completing this mode, but it is still a fun time regardless.

Other than the above are minor additions to the game. The new items here are pretty iconic, the blooper blocking your screen with ink and the Bullet Bill which rockets you forward for a short time. The new tracks range from pretty interesting to completely iconic. Some noteworthy tracks here are Tick Tock Clock, Airship Fortress, Luigi's Mansion, and one of the greatest tracks ever made, Waluigi Pinball.

This game is still impressive to look at and listen to today. The fact that they fit all this content and still made the game look and sound as good as it does still boggles my mind. Like I said before, you are better off playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or even Mario Kart Wii nowadays, but this game is still an iconic and important piece of this franchise's history. It deserves to be recognized as one of the best games on the system and one of the defining games in its genre.

I remember hearing about this game on YouTube when I was younger, how it's an underrated classic or a hidden gem of the console. As I was a huge fan of the Dragon Quest series, and still am to be quite frank, I was surprised that I never heard about this. So the first chance I got I made sure to pick this up and try it out, and I must say this is easily one of the best spinoff games in the franchise and one of the best games on the console as a whole.

You control a slime named Rocket who had his entire village kidnapped by a gang of Playpunks and it is up to you to find each one of the villagers and stop the evil group, thus saving your village. It plays like a fairly simplistic Zelda game, you explore each region of the map, solving puzzles and fighting enemies by jumping, stretching and throwing objects around.

Each area of a level feels meticulously crafted, built in a way to have a singular solution, and it always feels rewarding to find the next area to go to or to solve a puzzle of an area. You are constantly rewarded with items, enemies, and slimes to bring back to your home village. There are also boss fights that you need to tackle, which are creative.

However, that is only half of the gameplay. You aren't just collecting items to fill out a checkbox. They are instead ammo that can be utilized in tank battles all across the world. I didn't write that wrong, at certain points you will be tasked with managing a mobile tank while going one-on-one with an enemy. There is a great blend of resource management, with how you must use the ammo loadout you've created, strategy, with how you utilize your cannons and later team members for firing, and mastery over the controls to succeed in these sections.

The gameplay truly carries this gem, however the other aspects are still very good. The overall story of this game is pretty silly but effective. All the characters are likable and have that Dragon Quest charm about them. The music, as always, is iconic. Utilizing all the main themes in the different areas of the game, this is a great soundtrack though it is a shame that it is all MIDI instruments. Graphically this game is bright and colourful. The spritework is stunning and you can tell there is a lot of detail that went into this game.

I will be honest, there is one drawback to this game. As it is a game targeted at children, this leans heavily on the easier side of things. Except for some tank battles in the back half of the game, and a few tricky post-game puzzles, this game is not difficult in the slightest. I don't think it is a huge detractor though, as it becomes more accessible for a wider audience.

It is such a shame I am unable to play a modern version of this game. I truly wish we could get a port or a sequel available to us overseas, as this is truly a unique and quirky title that deserves to be remembered within the Nintendo DS' legendary library. If this game looks even remotely interesting to you, I highly recommend it. This is a genuine hidden gem.

The hate that this game gets is almost completely unwarranted. Yes, this game can be hard and some aspects can be touched up, however, the concept and execution of this game's ideas cannot be overlooked. This, along with Blue Rescue Team, have been and in some ways still are, the most realized spinoff games in the Pokemon franchise.

This is effectively a Pokemon game that has been turned into a grid-based, dungeon-crawling RPG where resource management is key to survival. All Pokemon from the first three generations are there, along with each of their core movesets, but they have been altered to fit the needs of this kind of game.

The gameplay is engaging and interesting, but it is truly the plot of this game that makes it shine. This is a genuinely down-to-earth story about a person who was transformed into a Pokemon and having him come to terms with that fact, stopping calamities from occurring and finding a family in the process. I have dumbed it down here but it is a simple and beautiful story that deserves to be experienced.

This game is not perfect though. Recruiting Pokemon in this game is very annoying, as it is effectively RNG-based. Also, the game can be quite difficult in the later parts, especially during the mid-section of the game. If you die in these games you lose all your items and money, unless someone can rescue you through a Link Cable, or Wifi if you are using the Nintendo DS.

This doesn't take away from these strong points at all, and I think it sets itself apart from the competition because of these traits. I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes Pokemon and wants something different than the usual turn-based action. This got a remake on the Nintendo Switch so I highly recommend that if you think this game looks fun.

I really liked the original Animal Crossing on the Gamecube. Having a cozy life to manage in a new neighbourhood, with little to no stress was something I had never experienced in a game before. So when they said they were bringing a sequel out for the DS, a portable system, I was very excited.

So the game came out and it ended up being exactly as I had expected, the Gamecube original but portable. This is both for better and for worse. Just to get this out of the way, the game does not have many significant updates to the gameplay loop. You still start your day, do tasks for the villagers, and hang out around the town. You can now make new flowers, or build your constellations in the sky, but these are just minor minigames to the core of this game.

This by itself would be a bad thing, if not for 2 major differences. Firstly, its portable nature allows you to access your town and play wherever you would like. Unlike the GameCube game, where it was required to set time aside for your town, the portability allows more flexibility with when and where to play. It makes the game a lot more inviting.

Secondly, and most importantly, is that this game was one of the first to include access to the Nintendo Wifi Connection system. To put it bluntly, You could do local and worldwide multiplayer with up to 4 friends who own this game. This was an absolute game changer and allowed for a level of creativity and silliness that Nintendo is known for. The number of memories I have playing this with some of my grade-school friends, adding pitfalls or playing tag, are truly countless.

Nowadays, you would be much better off with either New Leaf or New Horizons, as they are much more fleshed out and interesting. However, this game introduced some of the core features that would be vital in their success, and to me, that makes this such a pivotal game. At the very least, check out this game for what it has done for the franchise.

This game is good. Very good in fact. Taking what worked from the first 3 games and stitching it together to make a cohesive narrative with a new and exciting battle system makes this game a groundbreaking achievement. In particular, the ATB system was revolutionary, making a kinetic and action-oriented RPG system that influenced several different games going forward. This is truly an iconic game that deserves to be recognized.

With all that said though, when compared to its contemporaries it is inferior in every way. Graphically the Overworld looks like a slightly better NES game, in battle the monster designs are great but the backgrounds are plain with few exceptions. The music, as always, shines brightly thanks to the seasoned composers they had at Squaresoft.

The story is somehow both dense and light at the same time. The throughline of this game is strong and the characterization is done extremely well, yet they don't give enough time to flesh out each scene. It's almost like the team had to work within a limited time frame. This is my biggest sticking point, and it truly is a "me thing" but this bothers me to no end. This is a game that deserves to have an expanded plot, and thankfully later renditions to work on that.

Finally, while the ATB system is revolutionary, it is still the first iteration of this system and therefore has some kinks to work out of it. Not having any meter to tell when your character can fight is very annoying, as is not being able to change your party. These things make this game a bit less bearable for me to come back to, though later versions of this game rectify it.

Despite all I have said, this is a fantastic game. It is extremely interesting and a welcome addition to the series. I just believe that it needed a bit more time to cook.

Another quirky puzzle game on the Nintendo DS, but this one is by the creator of the Super Smash Bros. series, Masahiro Sakurai. The game requires you to defeat warring planets by shooting Meteos at this. This is done by matching a set of 3 Meteos on your screen to shoot it off to another planet.

This is not as simple as it may seem. Each planet you come across has its unique properties like how fast blocks fall or how many matches you need to send them into orbit. It is very in-depth for a puzzle game, and yet it is simple enough that anyone can pick it up and learn.

With that said, this is held back by its surprising lack of features, as it only offers a simple arcade mode, an endless mode, and variations of multiplayer/single-player score attack modes. It is also held back by its controls, as the size of the Meteos is quite small and can be hard to maneuver on such a small screen.

This is a very unique game that I have never really seen people play or talk about much, so I would love to see a sequel or some sort of successor to this game. Any puzzle enthusiast should take a look.

This quirky and fun puzzle game incorporates the Pokemon license differently than you may have seen. While there is nothing groundbreaking or inventive about this game, it is still a fun match-4 puzzle game that is easy to pick up yet hard to master.

Truly, the only drawback to this game is how simplistic it is. This game uses the Pokemon license as a means to collect all the Pokemon and find a way to capture specific rare Pokemon in a given stage, all of which is random, but otherwise, nothing else is implemented. This makes playing for long hours become monotonous and stale.

This is still a fun and competent puzzle game that I hope they return to someday. An expanded version with more in-depth mechanics would be a very fun and interesting time. If you like puzzle games then check this one out.

When I first heard about this game, I figured that this was a book in video game format. I had heard of the Visual Novel genre but hadn't tried any out as I figured they wouldn't be for me. But on a whim, I decided to try this game out and it was such a delightful time. This game is good, and it's a great blend of visual novel storytelling with deduction-based puzzle solving.

My biggest complaint would have to be the rigidity of the puzzle-solving. There were many times when I had the answer to the question asked, however, I had to give that answer later on than when the game was expected. I found it quite frustrating knowing I got a strike for the right logical path.

I chalk it up to the game being old though, as this was a pretty groundbreaking title for the genre, at least when looking at its contemporaries. If you have an interest in court room puzzles or stories, I would recommend this game, or at least the remastered collection of this game series.

A sequel to the popular Pokemon Coliseum, this expands on the original in almost every way. The story is bigger, the number of Pokemon you can catch is larger, the balance of the shadow Pokemon has been adjusted to be less frustrating, and so many more minor details. By all accounts, this is the better game, and it is a game that any Pokemon fan should check out and play.

With that said, I think the story of this game is less interesting than the original. While not fully fleshed out, the previous game's plot was compelling. Being a former villain who steals Pokemon from other more heinous villains was a cool premise. Unfortunately, this game ends up going back to the usual "kid saves the world" plot that most Pokemon games are known for. This is a me thing, however, it rubbed me the wrong way as there was a lot of potential for a darker-toned Pokemon story.

Regardless, this is still a fun game and should be remembered fondly. If you have the chance, please check it out.

This is a simple yet effective use of the Nintendo DS touch controls, and it is also highly addicting. The premise is that Kirby has become a ball and must stop an evil witch from transforming his world into an art piece. You don't control Kirby but rather the Magical Paintbrush, providing him a road to travel on.

Each stage is created in a way to lets you use your stylus to move Kirby wherever you wish him to, and you must utilize the environment and even some enemies to get him to the goal. I'll admit that some stages are quite frustrating due to the controls as you do need to be precise in some areas, but for the most part, this game is quite lenient and easy.

One of the weakest parts of this game is its length and its lack of creativity. It does have some good ideas in here, and to be honest, the final boss fights are some of the most memorable in the entire series for me, however, these moments are so far and few between. Coupled with the fact that you can beat this game in under 4 hours. There are "challenge" modes, but they require you to play the same stages over and over which is monotonous.

The game looks good and the music is really good. once again, the final boss theme shines the most here and is easily one of the best tracks in the entire franchise. If the team had expanded on the ideas presented in this game and added a few more levels to showcase those ideas, I think this would have been a classic DS title. As it is though, it is a quirky but interesting title in the Kirby franchise. I would check it out if you have the opportunity but don't expect a masterpiece.