The touch screen. The two screens. The end of the Game Boy line. These are the things that the Nintendo DS was known for when it launch.
Without a strong launch lineup, and with the announcement of the PSP, the first serious competition in the handheld market for more than a decade, few had much confidence in the two-faced bastard child. People pointed at the Game and Watch and Virtual Boy and thought that Nintendo's portable domination was over.
But then, the hits started coming. Metroid. Mario Kart. Castlevania. By 2008, the DS had arguably the best lineup of any handheld in the history of our medium. Pokemon, JRPGS, portable remakes, side-scrolling revivals, even adventure games found perhaps their only remaining home. Niche games like Phoenix Wright and 999 found shelf space next to Nintendogs and Professor Layton.
In the end, it was the incredible library that became the legacy of the best-selling portable (and perhaps best-selling CONSOLE) of all time.
Honorable Mentions:
Animal Crossing DS
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Contra 4
Dragon Quest IX
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy Tactics A2
Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Metroid Prime: Hunters
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword
Picross 3D
Pokemon Black/White
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Radiant Historia
Rhythm Heaven
Tetris DS
WarioWare: Touched
WarioWare: DIY
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Perhaps the most original game on this list, The World Ends With You, or TWEWY, takes advantage of the DS' unique features more than any other. With gameplay taking place on both screens at once, it takes either a great multitasker or seriously crosseyed individual to use the combat engine to its fullest. Gameplay on the lower screen is frantic, as you use a variety of pins with different powers to activate many varied attacks with the swipe of a stylus. Some attacks even involve use of the built-in microphone.
As the third game in the series, and the final featuring Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney doesn't add anything new to the premier Lawyering franchise. It doesn't have to. Instead, Trials and Tribulations spends every second of its five cases fleshing out characters that were already fan favorites, and adding a few more that beg to see the surface of your DS again some day. The story rounds out the events of the series to this point, wrapping up all the loose ends and finishing with a poignant finale that hits closer to home than any previous case Wright has handled. While the series got an upgrade later the same year with Apollo Justice (that took advantage of the DS' hardware power better) it hasn't yet matched the emotional pull of Phoenix Wright's final outing. It also clearly had a lot of influence on the recent LA Noire, which feels almost like Rockstar's interpretation of the series.
A remix of perhaps the best Pokemon game in the series, HS has about as much content stuffed onto it's little cartridge as one could possibly fit. When the original first came out, it was among the best games I had ever played. The day-night cycle, huge number of creatures, and a whopping 16 gym leaders made it a huge step over its predecessors. Then they took all those things out for future games. I didn't much care for Ruby and Sapphire, and was starting to get tired after Diamond/Pearl. But then they brought those great missing features back, introduced the infamous PokeWalker, updated the look of the game, and made the most perfect game in the series. While the Pokemon formula is in desperate need of a makeover, The Pokemon formula you've known since 1995 simply doesn't get better than this.
It's DDR for your hands! While that's an adequate description for the base gameplay, it in no way describes just how crazy the game is. An Americanized version of Osu! Tatake! Ouendan!!, EBA creates scenarios for each song that range from helping a pair of valley girls have a good time to saving the human race from enslavement by aliens. Dancing is performed by hitting dots that appear on the touch screen at just the perfect time. The game spawned a lively online community of people making their own version's of the game's gameplay with different songs. Elite Beat Agents is perhaps the best rhythm game since PaRappa the Rapper, and there may never be a better one.
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes is easily the most underrated game on the Nintendo DS. Unfortunately, it seems most people don't even realize it exists. For example, it was on TWO "game of the year 2011" lists from official Giantbomb staff and guest developers. 2011. Two years after the game ACTUALLY came out. Clash of Heroes created a fantastic puzzle-rpg in December of 2009, but people wouldn't acknowledge it until it came on a downloadable service.
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia isn't some Castlevania revolution. It doesn't have touchscreen controls, doesn't use the microphone, and the only use of the second screen is for a map. The only major difference from any other Castlevania is that a major portion of the game takes place OUTSIDE of the castle. Castlevania is no revolution, but it perfected every element of the formula. Weapons are equipable to each hand, creating a great combo system. And while the story in the series typically goes little farther than a Belmont killing Dracula, this one has all sorts of wonderful little emotions, and a tragic main character. There hasn't been a true Castlevania since, and why bother? It can't be better than Order of Ecclesia.
People have been looking for a portable Super Smash Brothers ever since the first one came out on the N64. But while it sounds like the series will finally go with you on the go with a 3DS iteration, Jump Ultimate Stars has filled the gap quite nicely for the past few years. Featuring the very best characters out of the "Shonen Jump" manga serialization, Ultimate Stars replaces Mario with Goku, Link with Naruto, Samus with Ichigo, and Kirby with Luffy. There are over 100 playable characters and many more "assist" characters, used not unlike support attacks in the Marvel vs Capcom series. The fighters are animated 2D sprites, and battles are won in the familiar vein of knocking an opponent off a stage. Attacks are responsive and generally well balanced, and unlike Smash Bros, Ultimate Stars has a fully functioning stamina mode (like a traditional fighter). It'll take over 100 hours to unlock all the characters, and you'll enjoy every minute of it.
Oh, how we missed the classic Mario formula. It's hard to believe that, before New Super Mario Bros., there hadn't been a 2D sidescroller under the Mario name for some 15 years. The iconic game returned on the DS in one of the best Mario games in history. Many of the old favorite powerups returned, but Nintendo didn't rest on their laurals. The Giant Mario, in retrospect, seems like such an obvious ability, and it's a blast to use.
A personal favorite of mine, Shantae combines Mario and Zelda while including RPG elements to create not only the best downloadable game, but a game that can be judged with any full retail piece of software that the DS ever saw. The music is likely the best on the platform, and the 2D animation may be right up there as well. And of course, the platforming is about as tight as can be. Shantae controls great, and the dungeons she drops into are cleverly designed. There's no reason that anyone with a DSi shouldn't have Shantae in their arsenal.
The whole Professor Layton series is a fantastic puzzle franchise, fit for anyone that likes testing their noggin, but the Last Specter stepped things up. On top of another game full of awesome puzzle-solving action was a full-fledged RPG with over 100 hours of content available. I CANNOT WAIT for Professor Layton to team up with Phoenix Wright on the DS later this year.