The Nintendo DS offers one of the most expansive video game libraries, along with unique features such as dual-screens, a touch screen, and a microphone, making it an innovative successor to the GameBoy Advance handheld gaming system.
However, not all games utilize the Nintendo DS’s unique features. Below are the top 5 games that offer truly unique, innovative video game experiences for the DS handheld gaming system.
Scribblenauts – Word-Based Puzzle Game
Scribblenauts is a word-based puzzle game which features a massive set of puzzle and action levels, requiring players to use their imaginations and write words which become real objects in the game. Write “Chainsaw” and the game creates a chainsaw, which can be used by the player to cut down trees or attack enemies. Write “Giant Enemy Crab” and a huge crab monster comes to life and attacks anything in its way.
Due to the open-ended nature of the game, the solutions to Scribblenauts’ puzzles is limited only to the player’s creativity. The sheer amount of objects available to use and the nearly endless ways to solve puzzles makes Scribblenauts one of the most innovative and enjoyable titles for the Nintendo DS.
Visit Scribblenauts Reviews, Overview, Score, and Summary for more information on Scribblenauts for Nintendo DS.
Nintendogs – Pet Simulator
Tamagotchi, Digimon, and countless other pet simulators have come and gone, but no virtual pet game has ever allowed such unique interaction as Nintendogs.
Using the touch screen, players can pet and play with their dogs, give them baths, take them for walks, enter in frisbee throwing competitions, and more. Using the microphone and voice recognition software, players can call their dogs’ names and teach them tricks (such as Sit, Roll Over, etc).
The dogs feel more lifelike than any pet sim that came before it, and the innovative uses of the Nintendo DS touch screen, dual-screens, and microphone gives Nintendogs an endearing quality that simply cannot be replicated on any other gaming system.
Electroplankton – Music-based Mini-Games
Similar to Nintendogs, Electroplankton stretches the boundaries of how a “video game” is defined. Electroplankton offers ten unique, for lack of a better word, mini-games which allow the player to create melodies and music.
Every mini-game featured primarily uses the touch-screen, but a few also use the microphone. In one mini-game, four fish swim across the screen to a beat, and allows the player to make a recording on each fish to create rhythmic pieces. Another allows players to create bubbles by touching the screen, which expand and make rhythmic noises. And another has fish bouncing off plant leaves – each leaf creating a different tone.
Electroplankton offers soothing visuals and engrossing audio effects, with clever uses of both the Nintendo DS touch screen and the Microphone. Few games offer as much creativity as Electroplankton.
Pac-Pix – Drawing Puzzle Game
The first Pac-Man game released for the DS was simultaneously the most innovative. Players draw Pac-Man, along with other objects such as arrows and bombs, to solve puzzles and gobble up ghosts.
Using pattern recognition software similar to Palm Pilots, in Pac-Pix, players draw Pac-Man by starting with the iconic mouth and creating a half circle backwards. If successful, Pac-Man will spring to life and chomp away.
Even though the design offers little in the way of longevity, this unique concept offers one of the most original experiences available for the DS gaming platform.
Trauma Center: Under the Knife – Surgery Game / Simulator
For those looking for both a genuine game experience and clever use of the Nintendo DS’s unique features, Trauma Center offers both.
This unique Nintendo DS title allows players to role play the part of a surgeon – saving lives through emergency operations using the touch screen. Players will stitch up cuts, repair broken bones, and even destroy vicious parasites. Trauma Center offers one of the most intense gaming situations available anywhere.
Each “level” has a set time limit, which counts down faster if part of the surgery is botched, and if the player runs out of time the patient dies. Due to the unique concept, incredible challenge, and suspenseful premise, Trauma Center: Under the Knife is a truly innovative title for the Nintendo DS.
Top 5 Most Innovative Nintendo DS Games Conclusion
The Nintendo DS offers new and inventive gaming experiences that simply cannot be found on another platform. Gamers looking for something different will certainly find it in Scribblenauts, Nintendogs, Electroplankton, Pac-Pix, and Trauma Center.
