Nintendo DS Download Play Multiplayer Retrospective

[Raz]

The Switch showing more emphasis on local multiplayer games with how easy it is to hand off a controller to somebody and play a game together, it excites me because of how well DS multiplayer games worked (for me, at least). I'm still very interested in multiplayer DS games, mainly because I have fond memories of playing local multiplayer with friends and family, and that they can still be played on both the DS and the 3DS families of systems today.

Single Card DS download play games usually had features stripped to encourage Multi-Card play (AKA sell more copies), but even for those special games that had all the same features for both Single Card and Multi-Card gamemodes, you still had to deal with the time it took to download the game to the system(s).

I was wondering if anyone here wanted to talk about their experiences with DS Download Play and Wi-Fi games. I wanted to focus on local multiplayer since Wii and DS Wi-Fi games lost online support in 2014 but local multiplayer is still possible today (although there are custom servers out there).

A list of multiplayer DS games can be found here.

Here are a few of my personal favorite DS multiplayer games to get started.

Mario Kart DS
Probably the most popular multiplayer DS game that isn't Pokemon, Mario Kart DS is the first DS Wi-Fi game (if my memory is correct). It supports up to 8 players, but if you use Single Card play, only eight courses (Mushroom cup and Shell cup) of the 64 courses can be selected, and everyone who doesn't own the game plays as Shy Guy in a standard kart. It also allowed you to create your own emblem which is displayed on your vehicle and besides your name before Wi-Fi races.

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
The first main-series Dragon Quest game with local multiplayer. Almost all of the main story can be done co-op with 4 players. It has a class system similar to DQIII and a skill tree system similar to DQVIII. There is a lot of post game content that you may or may not like (its MMORPG-esque, although you could say the whole game is like that). A lot of the post-game quests and other content were downloaded from Wi-Fi, but you can download the quests locally from someone who already has them downloaded. Admittedly, I've clocked over 1000 hours across multiple cartridges, if you can believe it.

Namco Museum DS
A collection of 8 Namco games on one cartridge. 7 of them are old arcade titles that you can send demos out to other DS systems, but the real Download Play goodness comes from the great Pac-Man Vs., which is a kickass multiplayer version of Pac-Man designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Originally released on the GameCube, one person plays as Pac-Man and everyone else plays as the ghosts. It required a GBA to play in addition to a GameCube, though. The main difference is that everyone has their own screen to look at instead of the ghosts using the TV and Pac-Man using the GBA. It's single card Download Play too, so you only need one cartridge while your friends bring their systems. Also, Mario isn't here to announce your victories and losses like in the GameCube version. I feel like not a lot of people know about this, since the Pac-Man Vs. logo on the box didn't get a lot of cover real estate, while the GameCube version was its own game (or took up half the cover if you had the Pac-Man World 2/Pac-Man Vs. combo pack).

[fastbilly1]

Bomberman DS
It is the chibi Bomberman Land artstyle that finally got a traditional Bomberman game. Allows for 8 players full download for multiplayer. Maps span both screens with tunnels between the two. It is an intense party game that is perfect for random gaming.

[TheSegaSaturnGuy]

I also loved Bomberman DS. Mario kart was always tons of fun at lunch at school. I also remember playing a ton of Metroid Prime Hunters via download play (it sucked that you couldn't play more than 4 players though). The DS download play feature was awesome if you weren't able to afford tons of games!