Hardcore gaming on the Nintendo DS

By Stephen Munn | November 28, 2006

Despite its reputation as a more “mainstream” device, the Nintendo DS is home to some of the best hardcore titles I’ve played in more than 20 years of gaming experiences. I’ll show you three, and explain what makes them so hardcore, as well as what makes them worth playing.

The Viewtiful Joe series first appeared on the Gamecube in 2003, saw a great sequel and a not-so-great fighting game spin-off, and eventually some PS2 ports. The main two games got critical acclaim for their unique style and concept, though I immediately noticed the similarities to the classic Mega Man games from the NES era. The games are also infamous for their shocking difficulty level, so much so that the PS2 port of the original Joe was given an easier difficulty level option.

Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble is a side-scrolling brawler, built by Clover for Capcom, that showed up on the DS about a year ago and didn’t sell a whole lot of units, as I understand. The action was pumped down for the handheld format and the puzzle challenges were pumped up, and the result is a game that is every bit as addictive, if perhaps not as challenging, as its console forebears. Frequent autosaves keep the game moving forward and make boss battles far less frustrating than they are in VJ and VJ2, but the challenge in the battles themselves is still there, and they’re just as creative and original as on the consoles.

The Castlevania series is still going strong after more than 20 years, and the franchise has seen far more hits than misses. One such hit is Konami’s Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for DS. While one could argue that the modern games don’t have the difficulty level that the original Castlevania did, I would have to respond that most of the difficulty in the original Castlevania came from the game’s pacing and controls: timing a whip strike to take out a bat could be harder than doing it in real life. Modern 2D Castlevanias have smoothed the controls to a science and all the deaths feel far more mean than cheap. Dawn of Sorrow has some touchscreen features that really don’t add to the experience, but it’s a well-designed game with a surprisingly well written story. Don’t miss its GBA prequel, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, while you’re at it.

Ossu! Tatakae! Ouendan! is a rhythm game, built by iNis for Nintendo, that came out in Japan last year. I imported the game from Play-Asia.com, after seeing some really interesting articles on the game at various sites. While the US release, Elite Beat Agents, which is a totally new game built on the same gameplay engine, is every bit as fantastic as the original, it is not quite as hardcore. Why? Well, I can’t speak to the difficulty level. My skills were honed on Ouendan!, which was as infuriatingly challenging as it was addictive, such that when I got my hands on Elite Beat Agents, I beat the first two difficulties in one evening each, the third in two, and the fourth in a further three. This doesn’t make it a less worthy purchase, in fact I still play the game, long after beating it.

No, the hardcore in Ouendan! is higher because the songs are in Japanese. J-pop is pop, yes, but it’s not Cher, it’s not Chicago, and it’s not the Jackson 5. If you could understand the words, Ouendan! might not appeal as much (in fact its sales in Japan were mediocre, as far as I know). But it’s hard to imagine any game topping it for sheer fun value on the DS.

Some other hardcore titles on the DS include the well-reviewed Mega Man ZX, which I have yet to play, and its precursors on the GBA format in the Mega Man Zero series. Just steer clear of the Mega Man Battle Network series, which is geared more for the Pokemon set.