OMGNintendo's Top 10 DS games of '08

You know what they say: a woman is always right. Here are Alicia Ashby's picks for the best Nintendo DS games of the year.

Right now we're staring down the barrel of about two weeks' worth of shopping days left until Christmas, and if you're having a hard time thinking of what to buy someone... hey! Do they have a Nintendo DS? Then how about snagging them a DS game? You won't necessarily spend a lot of money, and it's easy to match a gamer up with something that can be played for months. Everything from last year's list is still a great choice, but if you want to buy something new, here's a list of the ten best all-around DS games to buy somebody as a gift this holiday season.

Of course, when you're buying a gift for the gamer in your life, you need to keep in mind exactly what kind of gamer you're shopping for. Each of the entry on the list is tagged for one of the three major types of Nintendo gamer, and you can check this breakdown of the omgNintendo Universal Theory of Gamer Types. Of course, the tags are just suggestions, and you probably know the taste of whoever you're buying for better than me, a random internet stranger with a blog.

Now, on to the list!

10. Personal Trainer: Cooking

  • MSRP: $19.99
  • Genre: Productivity Software
  • Type: Casual
  • Why: A nice, sensible gift that's perfect for older relatives, particularly moms, who own DSes. Any foodie or fan of cooking as a hobby can definitely get use out of this nifty piece of software, though it's not otherwise a game in any traditional sense of the word.

Personal Trainer: Cooking isn't really a game, but is still one of the more ambitious projects Nintendo issued for the DS this year. Cooking takes advantage of the DS microphone and its touchscreen to basically act as an all-around cookbook with unprecedented portability and loads of features. You can get video demonstrations of the steps in making a recipe, use voice commands to make your recipe go to the next step, and work with a database of around 250 recipes from a variety of cultural backgrounds. The software even keeps track of grocery lists and helps you calculate prices for an upcoming meal. Yeah, it's not thrill-a-minute fun, but instead a handy little gadget that the Casual crowd is likely to use quite a bit.

9. Ninjatown

  • MSRP: $29.99
  • Genre: Tower Defense
  • Type: Kids
  • Why: The cute Shawnimals plush toys don't lose any of their appeal in this simple but very entertaining tower defense title. There's just enough depth here to interest a Serious gamer, but even Casuals may find Ninjatown very easy to play.

It's a challenge to make something that appeals in equal measure to little girls and little boys, but Ninjatown just about pulls it off. The little ninajs are ridiculously cute and engage in few activities more threatening than baking cookies when left to their own devices, but the game still lets them do battle with the evil hordes of Mr. Demon. Granted, the evil hordes want to do nothing more dire than steal the ninja cookies, and attacks tend to involve more sugar than gore. While Ninjatown can be challenging, there's nothing there too rough for the average literate kid to handle, and the controls are just about perfect. The game flow is typical Tower Defense stuff, but wrapped in a coating that perfectly sweet and funny enough to have maximum kid appeal.

8. Bleach: Dark Souls

  • MSRP: $29.99
  • Genre: 2D Fighter
  • Type: Kids
  • Why: Shounen Jump's repetilicious fighting manga/anime franchise Bleach has a limited shelf life with the 17+ set, though Serious fans of developer Treasure and Casual fans of 2D fighting fun may want to check it out anyway.

People generally associate fan-favorite developer Treasure with 2D shooters and more traditional side-scrolling action games. Regardless, Treasure is an old hand at turning formulaic Shounen Jump fighting franchises into memorable 2D fighters, even turning Bleach's spiritual forebear Yu Yu Hakusho into a memorable Genesis fighter back in the early 90's. Dark Souls is a sequel to Treasure's first DS Bleach effort, The Blade of Fate, and brings along the usual sequel goodies like a larger chunk of the series characters in playable form, more game modes, and some refined gameplay mechanics. Like its predecessor, Dark Souls also boasts excellent online multiplayer support thanks to the Nintendo WFC. Right now it's essentially the best 2D fighter available for the system in English, and a perfect time-waster for a little boy who loves Bleach.

7. Space Invaders Extreme

  • MSRP: $19.99
  • Genre: Arcade
  • Type: Casual
  • Why: Everyone knows how to play Space Invaders, and nothing about Taito's creative Extreme remix of the core game makes it confusing or hard to play. Serious gamers may find themselves getting really addicted to Ranking Mode, though...

You may recall the omgNintendo verdict on Arkanoid DS being a resounding meh, but its sister title Space Invaders Extreme turned out to be quite a bit more interesting. This game is absolutely worth the $20 price point. What the unfortunately-titled Extreme does is jazz up the gameplay by turning it into a high score hunt in a modern shooter's sense of the word, introducing a wide variety of score multipliers, power-ups, bonus modes, even the odd boss fight. There are online leaderboards and a discreet Arcade Mode that you can use for unranked play, and even a decent Versus Mode. Add in some really great new music and graphics touches, and you've got one of the few must-own retro remakes on any system.

6. Final Fantasy IV DS

  • MSRP: $39.99
  • Genre: RPG
  • Type: Serious
  • Why: While Final Fantasy IV DS does a marvelous job of making the 16-bit classic feel modern and memorable, the already-appreciable challenge level of the original is significantly higher in the remake. This is a game for people who love mapping, creating skill combos, and meticulous pre-planning, and not for people who just want to see the story.

Square-Enix occasionally seems to be going back to the well a bit too often with their retro remakes, but Final Fantasy IV DS is still a great game in its own right. It reinvents the oft-dismissed turn-based RPG by vastly increasing the difficulty, forcing players to use actual tactics instead of the power-leveling beatstick. Character customization shows up in a big way thanks to Augments, and a truly crafty gamer is going to be able to use Augment combos on the right characters to turn a once-brutal game into a cakewalk. The characters and soundtrack are memorable as ever, and the new graphics make Final Fantasy IV DS far and away one of the prettiest 3D Nintendo DS titles. All in all, a great title that aggressive gamers are going to really enjoy.

5. Professor Layton and the Curious Village

  • MSRP: $29.99
  • Genre: Puzzle
  • Type: Casual
  • Why: Layton's logic puzzles may be a bit too difficult for the kid who is otherwise drawn to the great cartoon designs, but for everyone else it's going to be a totally accessible (if brainteasing) set of challenges. The elaborate, silly story just makes things more fun.

I'm sure a lot of you out there have forgotten about Layton by now, thanks to its early February release date... but it's still by far one of the awesomest DS titles of 2008, and a fantastic purchase for anyone who hasn't gotten it yet. The characters are appealing and the anime cutscenes add tons of spectacle to a game that is otherwise about solving some truly punishing logic puzzles. Despite the occasional frustrations, Layton is really the perfect DS game gift for people about to go on long flights or car trips: the 2D graphics are a slow drain on the battery, and the puzzles are most absorbing when you've got plenty of time with no distractions to devote to them. Give this one to the Touch Generations crowd and you shouldn't get any disappointed reactions.

4. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

  • MSRP: $29.99
  • Genre: Turn-Based Strategy
  • Type: Serious
  • Why: Don't let the super-simple graphics fool you. Days of Ruin is a pretty hardcore strategy title whose gameplay offers tons of depth and replayability. It's going to be a bit much for Kids or Casuals, but is everything a Serious strategy gamer could ask for.

I can't really talk about how Days of Ruin compares to earlier titles in the Advance Wars series, as it was the first I played for any appreciable length of time. I rather liked it, so I'm inclined to say that Days of Ruin is an excellent introduction to the series. While the plot can get a little grim at times, there's a certain giddy silliness underlying the Mad Max shenanigans that set up Days of Ruin's big battles. CO powers give you a much-needed boost when the going gets tough, but winning fights comes down to simple, thoughtful application of tactics and strategy to the units and resources you have available. Factor in the WFC multiplayer, 150 in-game levels, a built-in level editor, and the ability to upload and download levels from Nintendo's servers, and you have a game that offers hundreds of hours of entertainment for a terribly low price.

3. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

  • MSRP: $29.99
  • Genre: Action RPG
  • Type: Serious
  • Why: Order of Ecclesia is everything a Castlevania fan could want (short of some whip-slinging), a perfect blend of RPG stat-manipulating and pure old-school reflex-based action. Ecclesia's brutal bosses and meticulous gameplay is way beyond the grasp of Kid or Casual players, but you Serious folks are going to love this.

The earlier DS Castlevania were all good games - actually, really good games - but not the sort of thing you could use to hook a new fan or to make a convert out of a Castlevania apostate. Order of Ecclesia is, however, exactly that sort of game. It's an awesome gift for any devoted action gamer, with extra value for fans of 2D gameplay. While you can still level up your protagonist (Shanoa) to try and hit bosses harder, and try to search out better equipment and healing items, Ecclesia is far more demanding on the action side of the game than any previous DS Castlevania. At least for your first runs through, you're really going to have to work for your victories by memorizing patterns and hunting for safe spots. The results are a truly thrilling, absolutely stand-out game that's absolutely a steal at only thirty bucks.

2. The World Ends With You

  • MSRP: $39.99
  • Genre: Action RPG
  • Type: Kids
  • Why: The World Ends With You is the traditional Square-Enix RPG broken down to its roots, and reconstructed for the Shounen Jump set. Serious gamers may get a kick out of the power-leveling, too, but the weirdness will definitely put off the casual crowd.

I didn't care much for The World Ends With You when it came out, but after many detailed discussions with the actual target audience (my teenage relatives), I have decided my real problem with this game is that I was just too darned old for it. The World Ends With You is a love-letter to teenage angst, self-involvement, and way people get over it, and the game unquestionably features some great sprite work and a unique battle system. If you want to buy an RPG for a young person in your life who you know likes the genre, you probably can't go wrong with this game. Old fogeys like me grumping about the combat probably just makes it seem cooler to them.

1. Chrono Trigger DS

  • MSRP: $39.99
  • Genre: Classic RPG
  • Type: Serious
  • Why: Serious gamers are usually old enough to be extremely nostalgic for games like this that they played back in the day. Chrono Trigger's appeal to Kids hasn't diminished even a little, and while Casuals may find it very difficult, chances are they'll find the basic gameplay appealing as well.

There are few video games you can truly call timeless, but Chrono Trigger is one of the few whose appeal hasn't diminished as technology got better. In fact, it pioneered so many of the features that modern RPG fans now take for granted that the game just doesn't feel old at all when you pick it up and start playing. This is a great gift for an old Chrono Trigger fan you might know, or for pretty much anyone else who's never gotten the chance to play it. People of any age who don't like Chrono Trigger are rare indeed, so rare that this is the one gift on the list that you almost can't go wrong with.

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