Yesterday in another thread someone mentioned a game called Monster Tale. It's a DS exclusive metroidvania, pretty fun but people in general forgot it, so much in fact that the remaster that was supposed to come out on the 3DS in 2015 was silently cancelled. All of this got me thinking, what are your favorite NDS hidden gems?
My top 3 would be:
3 - Ace Attorney Investigations 2
The Ace Attorney series can't really be considered niche or hidden, can it? but while the mainline series was successful on the console, the Investigations subseries died in the west after the first entry. The only way you can play this is wi th a fan translation and, well, pirating the game since Capcom never brought it here. It's a shame, really, because Investigations 2 is imo on the level of Trials and Tribulations in terms of quality, it's the absolute best the series has to offer.
2 - Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
Made by the same devs from Monster Tale, Henry Hatsworth is a game that mixes puzzles and platforming and it's G R E A T. One of the most unique games on the system, with an incredibly colorful artstyle, solid gameplay, catchy music, it's simply fun. It's hard to describe it and make it sound fun, so please try it whenever you get the chance, I doubt the game is too expensive nowadays anyways.
1 - Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
I know SMT isn't really the series you think of whenever someone mentions hidden gem, but I rarely see people online discussing it and the remastered versions for the 3Ds seemed to just exist without causing any impact at all. I really don't get why, because SMT: DS (devs really tried every possible combination to end up with DS in their game's initials, huh?) is a great strategy game. Regular SMT and Persona fans might be thrown off by the lack of dungeon crawling that the series is known for, and the game could be a bit more balanced in both mechanics and difficulty curve, but it's still incredibly addictive and fun. The sequel is even better, so if you're interested in them please check the remastered versions out.
Honorable mentions: Rhythm Heaven, Radiant Historia, Puyo Pop Fever (not an exclusive, I know), Tetris DS (after Effect, it's probably the best version of Tetris).
My top 3 would be:
3 - Ace Attorney Investigations 2
The Ace Attorney series can't really be considered niche or hidden, can it? but while the mainline series was successful on the console, the Investigations subseries died in the west after the first entry. The only way you can play this is wi th a fan translation and, well, pirating the game since Capcom never brought it here. It's a shame, really, because Investigations 2 is imo on the level of Trials and Tribulations in terms of quality, it's the absolute best the series has to offer.
2 - Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
Made by the same devs from Monster Tale, Henry Hatsworth is a game that mixes puzzles and platforming and it's G R E A T. One of the most unique games on the system, with an incredibly colorful artstyle, solid gameplay, catchy music, it's simply fun. It's hard to describe it and make it sound fun, so please try it whenever you get the chance, I doubt the game is too expensive nowadays anyways.
1 - Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
I know SMT isn't really the series you think of whenever someone mentions hidden gem, but I rarely see people online discussing it and the remastered versions for the 3Ds seemed to just exist without causing any impact at all. I really don't get why, because SMT: DS (devs really tried every possible combination to end up with DS in their game's initials, huh?) is a great strategy game. Regular SMT and Persona fans might be thrown off by the lack of dungeon crawling that the series is known for, and the game could be a bit more balanced in both mechanics and difficulty curve, but it's still incredibly addictive and fun. The sequel is even better, so if you're interested in them please check the remastered versions out.
Honorable mentions: Rhythm Heaven, Radiant Historia, Puyo Pop Fever (not an exclusive, I know), Tetris DS (after Effect, it's probably the best version of Tetris).
