Tons of obscure games that are great for the DS. Definitely fun to collect for. It'd be nice if there were a DS player (like the GBA player)

I quickly considered such a collection, but I too realized how nutty that would have been.

Also, there's a ton of games that even some enthusiasts often overlook. I really liked Dropcast, The Chase: Felix Meets Felicity, Tsumiki Block Drop Mania, Nervous Brickdown (Arkedo's first DS game), Freedom Wings, Tank Beat and Heavy Armor Brigade, Monster Racers, My World My Way, and XG Blast. With as large as the library is, it's easy to overlook everything but what enthusiasts extol and sold widely. If a game was from an obscure publisher, or had a horrible name, or whatever else the reason might be, they didn't tend to do well.

Tank Beat and Heavy Armor Brigade are perfect examples. A game and its sequel, released by two different publishers, under two different names. Both were developed by MileStone Inc. Both quite fun.
 

Great mentions all!
I can vouch for how much fun Monster Racers is. Great little game that I totally forgot about until it was mentioned here.
And My World My Way but I don't want y'all buying it til I get it first .
Time Hollow is very atmospheric and features time travel, a must-own IMO. 
Magician's Quest Mysterious Times is a very cute fun romp, made it a good deal through the European version of the game. It has a much cooler European title -- "Enchanted Folk and the School of Wizardry"... much more Harry Potter sounding.
The Orcs & Elves package with the stylus says 'Free Wand stylus' on the cover, so that helps. (Wish I had it)
I do have the Capcom vs. SNK Card Fighters revision, but I'm thinking the Bubble Bobble revision is much harder to come by.

Let's not talk too much about rares in here--I have a long way to go til I'm satisfied with my DS collection and I'd rather it be easier to complete than harder

Yeah, they already have the tools to do it, too (the Wii U).
  I'll vouch for Dropcast, Tsumiki Block Drop Mania, Nervous Brickdown, My World My Way, and XG Blast, but Freedom Wings is AWFUL. It's one of the most rudimentary flight sims that quickly turns into a boring on-rails shooter because the controls are so broken you have to let the AI steer your own damn plane.

Other worthwhile obscure titles: Dig Dug Digging Strike, Ninja Town, Geometry Wars Galaxies, Nanostray 1 and 2, Glory Days 2, and Giana Sisters DS.

-redacted-'s a new one on me, will have to check that out. I couldn't get into Ninja Town (not into that style of gameplay). I was obsessed with Geometry Wars Galaxies...until I played Geometry Wars 1 and 2 (and now 3) ;P Now I can't go back, Nanostray 1 and 2 are two of the most amazing SHMUPs I've ever played, and sadly Nano Assault on the 3DS failed to follow them up IMO. Giana Sisters is rough around the edges but not a bad puzzle/platformer. As I said before I loved My World My Way, for the unique mechanics it introduced to jRPGs, and honestly XG Blast was another one that was a bit rough around the edges for me.

Freedom Wings has only been on my radar because 'Natsume'. I played one of those two block games, the one with the tower, also not my style but I can definitely see how some folks would love them. You gotta experiment with this library, see what sticks.

Ah! You quoted me before I edited my post. I took out Underwater Attack because it is kind of rough around the edges, too. I wouldn't spend an arm and a leg on it, but if you see it on the shelf for a couple bucks, it's all right.

 

lol I'll remove it from my quote with -redacted- But I'll still check it out! I was also adding more to my paragraph when you quoted me. I tend to think of more things to say right after I post and hit that edit button. haha
 

Awww. Poor Freedom Wings. I thought it was fun, in a mindless sort of way. The rest of your recommendations are all pretty solid. I've even heard that the Japanese Nanostray was a bit more difficult than the North America one, but I've been too lazy to try out my copies and see if it's true (I have both). I should go back and play Ninjatown. Don't think I ever beat the game.

@cirellio - Most of the games I mentioned, minus Monster Racers and My World My Way, are actually pretty cheap! Truly obscure games are often cheap. If no one knows they are good, they are unlikely to have much secondary market value.
 

I really liked Monster Tale (sans the backtracking), Alien Infestation (hard as shit though), Trauma Center, Nanostray, Space Invaders Extreme, Trackmania, Touch the Dead.

More or less. I don't actively collect much anymore for DS since my DS Lite hinge broke a couple years ago. I still play the hell out of it, but it's kinda tarnished my will to collect any more games.

It's got sooo many great games though. It's a paradise for new sprite-based RPG's in the old SNES style for sure.

Hm, maybe pick up a 2DS -- That way you can play 3DS games as well and you don't have to worry about the hinge. The battery life on those things are killer.
 

Speaking of games that are different or better in different regions, Rhythm Heaven actually changes the lyrics of the songs to suit the region it was released in. So, if you don't particularly like the English singers or lyrics, I believe they did Japanese, German, French, and maybe Spanish lyrics as well. The songs themselves, games, and controls are all the same though.

Out of all the imports for other consoles I've bought, I've only kept one for the DS: Ys Strategy from Europe.

Well you guys influenced me enough to generate a new collection tracker for 3DS/DS on NA here. Definitely looks like they need a lot of updating though

ie "Etrian Odyssey" is the only entry for that series in 3DS...

Hm. Nifty!

I assume Ys Strategy is decent, then? I own a copy, but I've never played it. I just wanted to nab one before they became hard-to-come-by in North America.

@Brock Landers - I'd be interested in that.

 

Yeah, I'd give it a decent grade. Nothing spectacular or anything write home about, but it's certainly not bad either. It seems to be somewhat uncommon even in Europe, so I'd say it was a good call to get it sooner rather than later.

Anyone have and/or like "The Dark Spire"?

I like it, but I think you have to enjoy the genre to really enjoy it. It is very hard. Reminds me of playing Wizardry games from yesteryear. 

Wow, did this ever go up in price. It hit rock bottom prices within a year of being released. I think the boxed version was around $20? I even vaguely recall there being a sale at one point, dropping the price down to $10.

Also, the music is pretty nifty. There's some samples of it on Atlus' site.

http://www.atlus.com/darkspire/...

 

These are some of my more recent finds:

I don't think I've really ever seen too much chatter about the DS here. It might have something to do with most people here collecting the oldest stuff, and not much stuff past the GBA and gamecube, or it could be that people don't really collect. Whatever the reason is, people are sure missing out. As I've said before, the DS has the best library of games out there with over 50 great games. If you dig through some of the threads I've made, you'll see one of them is about hidden gems on the DS, and I've talked about various other things. I absolutely love the DS. There are so many great games that are unique to the system, as well as some good ports like Chrono Trigger.

If you love the DS, I'd look into Drone Tactics. I've mentioned it a few times lately, and it's a game I think every DS collector should pick up and play because it's amazing and similar in style to fire emblem. I also recommend Yu-gi-oh world championship 2011, dragon quest heroes rocket slime, digimon world ds, dragon quest monsters joker, and megaman 5 ds.

My small collection

I collect for the DS but its not my primary focus. I also collect for 3DS which is also not my primary focus. Its a great system to play and collect, probably the best handheld system that's out there. Games are generally cheap and easy to find which is probably why a lot of ppl don't talk about it. But despite the overwhelming amount of shovelware there are a lot of fantastic games on it, with a library that satisfies almost every genre. I'm slowly building a DS collection, at one point i had about 70 games which for me is a lot. Now I'm sitting at around 25 but I'm buying more little by little.

I just couldn't get into the DS that much, although I still have one and a few games for it.

I'm not some crazy collector that wants to have them all, but what are some of the better games for it?

Also, is anyone else annoyed whenever someone on here says there's some totally awesome game for the system, but then refuses to say what it is? I've been around my fair share of video game forums over the years, and this is the only place I've ever seen people do that. It just screams elitist snobbery.

I have a DS collection, but I don't actively collect for it. I buy stuff in the wild when I see it.I picked up about 10 CIBs at a yard sale early this summer for $3 a piece. A bunch of Pokemon and some other stuff. I left a bunch of other stuff behind because I'm trying to get out of the habit of just buying anything I don't have and only get stuff I want in my collection or can trade for something I do want.
I just went and checked and it turns out I have about 120 DS games. I never knew I had near that many.

Hm? Who did that? I redacted that one game because Philo decided not to recommend it after all.
I reread the thread a few times and it looks like everyone here is recommending games. Also in that thread yukfou mentioned, we went into crazy detail on a lot of great games for the system. No secrets here! (Anybody have that link handy?)

Yep, here you go. I don't mean to bump or promote my own thread, but you asked haha http://nintendoage.com/forum/mess...

I have to agree with cirellio. Who are you referring to? I have seen a few posts in the past where people want to keep some hidden gems to themselves, but I don't recall what system they were talking about. Whenever I find a new gem, I try to let everyone I can know about it, that is, if it truly is a great hidden gem thats worthy of being mentioned and shared. I could've easily kept drone tactics to myself. I had never seen that game talked about here before I brought it up, but why keep such a great game secret? That's no fun. You gotta spread the love.