Games that pushed the DS to the limit

[toadhall]

I totally enjoyed the new article on racketboy about games that pushed the SNES to the limit and somehow came to thinking about the DS/DSi.

I just bought my DS lite in September 2010 so I don't have that many games for it just yet. I only bought it so I could play DQIX. I've tried a handful of other games since then but I've never really seen a game that seemed to push the DS to the limit. Granted, all I've played so far have mostly been RPGs and remakes and remakes of RPGs.

I started wondering about what games were there that made you go "WHOA, I didn't know the DS was capable of doing THAT!" and I really couldn't come up with any because when people talk about DS games, it's mostly about the gameplay (i.e. Phoenix Wright, Trauma Centre, Rhythm Heaven) and the innovative uses of its dual screens and stylus and less about its technical prowess (cough).

So I put the question to you, fellow racketeers:

What games did you think pushed the DS to the limit?

[YoshiEgg25]

I remember one that was like a good cop/bad cop game, but I forget what it was called. It apparently had awesome 3D effects, but the gameplay was widely panned.

Pokemon Platinum otherwise comes to mind, if only for the Distortion World. Black and White are supposed to go very far with the hardware as well.

[k.vlaros]

Fun topic!

Some suggestions....

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars- fabulous quasi-3D top down driving action.

Solatorobo- Won't be helpful unless a miracle happens and it's localized or you have a Japanese DS, but this is one of the very few games to take advantage of the extra umph of the DSi - versus the standard DS - processor

Dementium II- Incredibly smooth first person perspective engine

[Bradtemple87]

Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, I actually really enjoyed the game and the swipe controls

[HellHammer]

Metroid Prime Hunters is a pretty damn good portable FPS experience, especially considering the demo was available at DS's launch. Offers local and online multiplayer.

Contact doesn't push many limits, but it is fairly impressive to see the DS provide awesome 2D sprites on one screen, while you cruse around and battle in 3D on the other.

Hotel Dusk had a great art style and really nice looking character animations. The cut scenes look pretty good too. Not to mention the fact that it's puzzles took advantage of pretty much every single feature available on the DS.

Mario Party looks like a sub-par Gamecube game, but it manages to recreate the visuals and multiplayer fun, and do so across four DS systems, simultaneously, and from only a single cartridge.

And I'll second Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword. It's the closest thing the DS has to a PSP game.

Also, Final Fantasy III & IV 3D remakes are probably pretty 'limit pushing', I don't know, they never remade VI.

[toadhall]

Hmm. I should compile these games into a list on the first post for easy reference. Perhaps some (all?) of the games can be found on the cheap now? I'll do it later when I'm not so bushed.

Hotel Dusk had a great art style and really nice looking character animations. The cut scenes look pretty good too. Not to mention the fact that it's puzzles took advantage of pretty much every single feature available on the DS.

Hmm. Not sure about this one. I've played this and while it's a remarkable title and one that uses the DS screens to good effect I'm not sure if it really pushes any limits. I could be wrong though.

Keep 'em coming guys!

[AmishSamurai]

I know that for emulators and flashcarts, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and The World Ends With You are popular benchmark test games. However, the final boss of TWEWY on higher difficulties has a tendency to lag actual hardware with it's bullet-spam, as do your attacks in Bangai-O Spirits. So those three could be.

[Frizz.Meister]

Metroid prime hunters - When compared to other 3d ds games its clearly better

Mario basketball - Whilst you could argue that the courts where small so nice graphics were easier to create, there is just so much going on all the time it's impressive

Mario 64ds - No game on the DS ever had graphics this good again. I bought my ds for this game and then most 3d games looked like crap.

Mario KArt - Maybe, most things are 2d in a 3d world but the overall effect looks very high res and colourfull.

[k.vlaros]

I forgot one that actually sticks out like a sore thumb...

Bangai-O Spirits.

[Erik_Twice]

I don't think any DS game pushed the limits of the DS. The only limit pushed was the RAM, leading to slowdlown onmany games but other than that, I don't think any game pushed it.