Handheld Games are Awesome

[anarchyfeverMember]

Please talk about your favorite handheld games here!

Allow me to start off

I love Golden Sun : Lost Age, I played it to 100% and loved every second of storyline.
Having an entire map open to you is something special, especially in a handheld as old as
the gameboy colour, the puzzels were difficult and it had an excellect summon system which out
of the shear hugeness I never abused correctly.

However it had it’s faults, once you missed certain Djinni you couldn’t go back which made it
so fustrating if you made such a mistake. And the customization of classes was so big you NEEDED
a guild to understand what was what without being totally sucked into it, I don’t like dedicating
my life to one thing.

One of the newer games I really enjoyed was Miles Edgeworth Investagations, I felt it added a very
new element with the logic system however I did feel that it would be interesting if you could make
mistakes of logic and get a wrong answer. It kept me hooked to the end which I feel tends to warrent a good game,
I can tell when I’m getting bored as I stop playing.

[kingdumbheartMember]

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, is by far my favourite game for the PlayStation Portable, the story is just so deep and touching. The brilliant voice talents of Mark Hamill and Leonard Nimoy enhance the story brilliantly. Especially since Nimoy is the voice for Xehanort, the main antagonist.
The ending for each of the three playable characters are both tragic and dark. This is a great prequel to the kingdom hearts franchise, and i hope Kingdom Hearts 3D will tie up all the loose ends, ready for Kingdom Hearts 3, released/announced sometime in 2013 or 2014. (Tetsuya Nomura claimed that Kingdom Hearts 3D will lead directly into Kingdom Hearts 3, so who knows, maybe Kingdom Hearts 3 will be announced at the E3)

[solrakMember]

@anarchyfever Wait! Wasn’t Golden Sun on the GameBoy Advance?

[badthoughtsMember]

Pikaman Yellow. The first turn based RPG I ever played and christ what a revelation that was. Remains one of my favourite games to this day. I’d go deeper into it’s greatness but I’m a little tipsy at the moment so maybe later.

[anarchyfeverMember]

A mistake, Golden Sun is GBA of course.

Anyway more games, recently I got Breath of Fire 2 (GBA), the original is an excellent game I remember
not being able to put down, it features around a by who can unlock the ability to transform into
different dragons (ok I’m being vague) from memory I would put it next to Golden Sun in terms of
enjoyment. BoF2 so far has a really nice battle system and I’m looking forward to continuing with it.

It’s also come to my attention that a lot of PS1 titles are being re-released on the PSP such as
Ogre Tactics, which is nice as I would never of known of them otherwise.Ogre Tactics has elements that
I wish Final Fantasy tactics had, like the ability to use more than six units, that said the difficult is
rammed up making individual units quite fragile by theirselfs and easily overrun if your not paying attention.

One thing that saddens me is that some characters are unsavable due to your being of low level first play through,
Which is one thing that has put me off playing for a while as I know a certain female character is going to die
because of the next scene where she is auto placed in an impossible to defend position, however the game over all is very nice if a bit slow when using magic and summoning (everthing slows down on the PSP1000, but not so much on the 3000).

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  anarchyfever.

[koopakirbyMember]

Radiant Historia
I’ve seen one post here defaming it, but that’s absolute balderdash. The battle mechanics? Fantastic! The art style? Unique and radiant! The music? Orgasmic! The plot? …Actually some twists are rather obvious, but it’s still VERY solid. It is one of the best RPGs Ive played since Chrono Trigger, and has some great ideas, characters, and for those completionists, LOADS AND LOADS OF SIDEQUESTS.

[butsukoyMember]

I love my DS. It’s favorite system and has some of my favorite games on it. I’d say portable games are the appetizers of gaming. It’s great to have a substantial game that you can bring to a trip or relax with on the bed.

A game worth mentioning is Ghost Trick. First off, the animation of this game is silky smooth. It’s kinda hard to believe how well it looks considering it’s on the DS – it’s stunning. To compliment the game’s stylish graphics, Ghost Trick has a very interesting premise. You’re start the game dead and proceed to use your ghostly powers to manipulate objects and find out about your past. Along with a memorable cast of characters, an engaging story, and some catchy music, Ghost trick is certainly a title to try out for yourself. It’s even out on iOS with the first two chapters available for free, so it’s worth a shot if you like Phoenix Wright or pomeranians.

[freddiebertMember]

I agree with butsukoy, Ghost Trick is fantastic. Such a unique game in terms of character design, art, and writing. One of the best handheld game purchases I’ve ever made, definitely a game that kept me glued to my DS.

Other than that, got really into the Ace Attorney series, but that’s about it. Handheld games have to be really compelling for me, the reason it was made on a handheld and not a console has to make sense, otherwise I’ll just wish I had a controller.

[mcmickenMember]

I still keep my DS around so I can play the RPGs like Dragon Quest and Suikoden. Got a place in my heart for Harvest Moon/Rune Factory too.

Always had a gameboy of some sort, always found them handy to have something to play on holiday or if on a journey.

[anarchyfeverMember]

I was wondering what people thought about handheld games becoming obsolete due to Mobile/Phone gaming.Hearing the reasons I feel companies have missed a couple of important points:
The lack of wealth which we are feeling today will only continue until all of the corrupt capital created by unethical capatilism practice is eroded.

People (espcially kids who are generations mobiles/phones need to advertise to) will not be able to fork out £300 – £600 for an Iphone/Pad, which are the companies seen to be the next big game producters, for a “toy” while everyone gets poorer and poorer.

Apple doesn’t make cheap electronics, so won’t they also be affected by the same problem game companies are today?
Why was the PSPGo a failure? No material games? No second hand games which other handhelds offer so parents can spend less on games for kids?

Anyway, Golden Sun Dark Dawn came out a few months ago and I have to say I counldn’t put down my DS, I felt like nearly everything was perfect, the story was gripping, the action and battles felt intense and I really felt for some of the characters who died early on.

However one problem with the game is the difficultly, I felt like the game is catered to a younger generation (which I can understand) however I wish they could of added an option to have harder puzzels and less help, however you have to be careful as you can miss Djinn.You don’t need to of played the last two to understand the basic story which is nicely explained in an artistic table, the inventory

I would say it was an awesome opening to a continued storyline and I can’t wait for the next game.

[solrakMember]

@koopakirby *Looks up Radiant Historia on google* -Unreleased in Europe. *Fuuuuuuu-*

@anarchyfever I agree with you on the Golden Sun: Dark Dawn thing. The game is fantastic, but it felt stupid easy. That could have been avoided by adding a difficulty selection, or even a harder new game+ ( I wouldn’t mind that, this game deserves to be played twice).

One of the best handheld games I ever played is “Infinite Space” for the DS, made by Platinum Games. It’s like an anime space opera RPG. You’re the captain of a fleet in a journey across 2 galaxies to save the entire Universe. The main gameplay are the space battles, which are very strategic and not grindy at all.
The graphics are awesome (for a DS game), the characters are interesting and there is a ton of them, the battles are fun, the story is epic and engrossing, and the soundtrack is amazing (by the same composer of the No More Heroes OST, another amazing soundtrack).
It took me 80 hours to finish the game, and then I unlocked a New Game+ with new ships and a new extra mode without story.
In short, if you like Spaaaaaaceee, you should check this out.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  solrak. Reason: Maximum Derp

[flyingpwnerMember]

freddiebert:
I agree with butsukoy, Ghost Trick is fantastic. Such a unique game in terms of character design, art, and writing. One of the best handheld game purchases I’ve ever made, definitely a game that kept me glued to my DS.

Other than that, got really into the Ace Attorney series, but that’s about it. Handheld games have to be really compelling for me, the reason it was made on a handheld and not a console has to make sense, otherwise I’ll just wish I had a controller.

I agree with all of this.

As for some other handheld games, has anyone here played Swordcraft Story? Great game for the GBA. One of the few games I’ve played that revolves heavily around making your own weapons. Heck, the plot revolves around it. The combat was fairly interesting too. I was always surprised not more people had heard of it.

[eldangoMember]

Wario Land 2 for the good old Game Boy.

Fantastic game, one of the best games Nintendo has ever made in my opinion, though the Wario Land series sadly doesn’t get a lot of credit, despite its high quality.

For those unaware, this game is the first in the series this isn’t Mario-esque, instead being all about puzzle solving. It has the unique feature that you can never actually die, but the levels are instead designed so that you can still technically “fail” by stuff such as missing a jump or having a special enemy attack you, sending you further back in the stage and keeping you from advancing. Most enemies will make you drop coins (needed for 100% completion) when attacking you, while others will ‘transform’ you by doing stuff like setting you on fire, freezing you and feeding you cake to make you even fatter. Some of these are necessary to solve the puzzles. Did I mention this game is awesome?

The game contains 50 normal levels with a hidden treasure in each, plus a super difficult bonus level and one unlockable minigame. I’ve spent loads of time with it, especially on trips.

[anarchyfeverMember]

The only Mario I’ve ever liked is Mario 2 Six coins, because I felt it you had a reason to play and the levels were interesting and trying to find the secret shortcuts were fun to find.

However Wario was a beast of a series, 1,2,3 and 4. I really enjoyed getting as many coins as possible to get a mansion as big as possible. All the different bosses and the way the everything worked was so more interesting for me than Mario where if you screwed up, you were screwed.

Who do you think is the better rolemodel?

A plumber who seems to have some sort of relationship issue where he puts himself in mortal danger just so he can be friendzoned to death.

Or a badass who knows what the score is and does everything he can to make life better for himself, and does it in style.

Anyway another game…ok this one is kinda new but I was given Dragon Quest 9 and while it’s a good game I think it does have some hang-ups, however it might just be that it’s a game quite far in its age and so isn’t like the original 1, 2 etc.

First are the controls, I started playing DQ9 just after I stopped playing Final Fantasy: Four Heros, and I must say it was a rather jarring experience.

FF:FH makes good use of both the graphics and most importantly here THE STYLUS! The use of the touch screen was too rough and difficult, having an arrow make me go in a direction, why can’t he just move to where I touch? and for a game this late in the DS’s life I felt the game suffered.

Also I think the game suffers when it comes to believability, that is, in a fantasy or sci-fi there are generally well established rules given as to why something is what it is.

I felt the angels and the plot twist were a little too clear, however the angels don’t really have a motivation. I feel like it started off a little too slow and then the plot twist was being forced too quickly.

Now if you started off in a world where the angels had given up their job for a thousand years and YOU decided to continue it and caused the plot twist THEN I would be more involved in the characters motivation.

However it was nowhere near what I would call a bad game, it’s good from what I can tell, but these elements that I’ve stated made me feel like the game was made for fanatics of the series, not for people just coming in.

Many people compare Final Fantasy with Dragon Quest, so for a minute let me compare these two in their ninth game.

FFIX was a game that went back to its roots but also mixed it up, none of the enemies (except one or two) were the same, most of the characters looked nothing like humans, you start off as a bad guy (See FFIV), EVERYTHING had been changed, and it blew me away, it was a game to say good bye to the PS1 much like Zelda Ages and Seasons for the GB Colo(u)r and where the FF series was serious about philosophy and ethics for the last time (so far).

Compare that to DQ9 and you start off as a goody two shoes, you have no idea what the plot twist was except it was “bad” and you have no “real idea” what you’re doing except trying to piece together a very big puzzle, but the puzzle ONLY affects the angels, so why should I care? You don’t meet people on the way to share you’re experience (which is a massive element in FFIX) and the whole game just feels very isolated. one goody two shoes VS the world.

I need to still complete the game, but I think the fact I have passed it up for other games is an indicator that I’m not heavily involved in the story, however maybe I’ll play it to the end and really love it, only time can tell.

[butsukoyMember]

I’ve only played V and IX, but from what I’ve experienced, Dragon Quest feels more like a storybook kind of game with how simple everything is and the way the story unfolds. It goes at the pace you want to go – you travel around, meet some people, help solve the town’s problems, and move on, all of this strung together by the overall plot and theme. While Final Fantasy reaches for the epic, Dragon Quest feels more down to earth. Or at least that’s how I feel – maybe I’m just crazy. But this crazy person will say that Dragon Quest V for the DS is absolutely fantastic. It helped me realize what I look for in a game.

As for the rise in mobile gaming, I don’t think it’ll impact the handheld market too much in the long run. There may never be a device as popular as the DS, but there are people out there who still like handhelds, and as of now, phones and handhelds deliver different experiences. Also, buttons. I think there’s enough room for games you can snack on and those that’ll whet your appetite.

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