The Nintendo DS sold 154 million units and had a library so deep that you could play nothing but best ds games for a decade and never run out of quality. The dual screens were a gimmick that became a revolution, the touchscreen preceded the smartphone era, and the cartridge slot produced RPGs, platformers, strategy games, and visual novels that still hold up better than most modern releases.

Here are the best ds games of all time, ranked by a player who owned the system from launch day to its final breath and has the worn-out hinge to prove it.

The Untouchables

Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver

The peak of Pokemon. HeartGold and SoulSilver remade Gold and Silver with the DS engine, added the Pokewalker pedometer accessory, included two full regions (Johto and Kanto, 16 gyms total), and let your lead Pokemon follow you on the overworld, a feature so beloved that fans demanded it in every subsequent generation. The post-game is the most substantial in franchise history, the presentation is the best the sprite era ever produced, and the complete package represents everything Pokemon can be when Game Freak puts maximum effort into a release. Among the best ds games by any metric, and arguably the best Pokemon games period.

Chrono Trigger (DS)

Square Enix's masterpiece arrived on DS with the definitive version: the original SNES game with all content intact, a new translation, bonus dungeons, the anime cutscenes from the PlayStation version, and dual-screen map display. If you've never played Chrono Trigger, the DS version is where to start. If you have, it's still the best way to replay it. The time-travel narrative, the combo-attack combat system, and the multiple endings remain benchmarks for the RPG genre nearly 30 years later.

The World Ends with You

Square Enix's most original game of the 2000s, and one that used the DS hardware more creatively than anything else on the platform. You fight on both screens simultaneously using different control methods (touchscreen on the bottom, D-pad on the top), set in a stylized version of Tokyo's Shibuya district with a fashion-based equipment system and a soundtrack that defined "cool" for an entire generation of JRPG fans. The Switch remake changed the combat; the DS original is the pure vision. One of the best ds games ever made, full stop, and the one most likely to be someone's favorite game of all time.

Mario Kart DS

The Mario Kart that introduced online play to the franchise and delivered the tightest racing mechanics the series has ever had. Snaking (advanced drift-boosting on straightaways) created an accidental competitive scene, the mission mode was the best single-player content in any Mario Kart before or since, and the track selection (Waluigi Pinball, Airship Fortress, Delfino Square) produced instant classics. The online servers are long gone, but the local multiplayer with download play (one cartridge, multiple DSes) remains one of the best portable multiplayer experiences ever built.

The Must-Plays

Pokemon Black and White / Black 2 and White 2

The most ambitious Pokemon generation and the only one that told a story worth caring about. Black and White restricted the Pokedex to entirely new Pokemon until post-game (a divisive choice that forced players to engage with unfamiliar creatures), introduced N as the series' most compelling rival, and asked questions about the ethics of Pokemon ownership that the franchise has been too scared to revisit since. Black 2 and White 2 delivered a direct sequel (the only one in the mainline series) with a changed map, new areas, and the Pokemon World Tournament, which let you battle every gym leader and champion from every previous generation. Together, the four games are the creative peak of the franchise.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

"OBJECTION!" became a meme because the game it came from was genuinely brilliant. The Ace Attorney trilogy is a visual novel courtroom drama where you cross-examine witnesses, present evidence, and unravel impossible cases through logic and contradiction-finding. The writing is laugh-out-loud funny, the cases escalate from stolen artifacts to murder-by-supernatural-means, and the climactic courtroom reveals hit with the energy of a season finale every single time. The DS touchscreen made evidence presentation tactile, and the microphone let you literally shout "Objection!" at your DS, which everyone did and nobody regrets.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

The strategy game that should have made Intelligent Systems as famous for Advance Wars as they are for Fire Emblem. Dual Strike added a second front (battles on both screens simultaneously), new CO powers, and a difficulty curve that scaled from accessible tutorial missions to genuinely brain-melting endgame challenges. The multiplayer is the real legacy: hot-seat turn-based strategy on a handheld was endlessly replayable, and the map editor extended it further. One of the best ds games for strategy fans and criminally underappreciated outside its core audience.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Level-5 built a puzzle game inside a mystery narrative inside a European-animated art style, and the combination shouldn't have worked as well as it did. Every NPC has a puzzle for you, every story beat gates behind logic challenges, and the atmosphere (a quaint village with a dark secret, animated in Studio Ghibli-adjacent style) elevates what could have been a puzzle collection into genuine interactive storytelling. The sequels are excellent; the first game is where the magic started.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

The Metroidvania that proved the DS was built for the genre. Dawn of Sorrow continued Aria of Sorrow's soul-collecting system (defeat enemies, absorb their abilities), added dual-screen mapping, and delivered the tight exploration-based combat the GBA trilogy established. It's not the most inventive Castlevania, but it might be the most mechanically polished, and the DS library has three more (Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia) if you get hooked.

New Super Mario Bros.

The game that revived 2D Mario after a decade-long absence. New Super Mario Bros. was the first traditional side-scrolling Mario since Super Mario Land 2 in 1993, and it sold over 30 million copies because the formula (tight jumps, creative levels, accessible difficulty with optional challenge) never stopped working. The Mega Mushroom and Mini Mushroom added novelty, and the coin-collecting structure gave completionists a reason to replay every level.

Elite Beat Agents

The best rhythm game on the DS and one of the most purely joyful games on any platform. Tap, slide, and spin to licensed pop songs while absurd stories play out in the background (a babysitter fights off a bear, a retired baseball player battles a fire golem, a little girl summons the power of music to bring her dead father back on Christmas). That last one is real, it happens in a rhythm game about tapping circles to "You're the Inspiration" by Chicago, and it made millions of people cry. Among the best ds games for anyone who thinks games can't be emotionally affecting with cel-shaded visuals and a Madonna tracklist.

The Deep Cuts

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

The Dragon Quest that went portable, went multiplayer, and became a phenomenon in Japan (it sold over 4 million copies in its first week). The job system is deep, the co-op dungeon crawling via local wireless was addictive, and the post-game treasure maps provided effectively infinite content.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

From the creator of Ace Attorney, a puzzle game where you're a dead man possessing objects to prevent murders by rewinding time. The puzzles are clever, the writing is sharp, and the twist ending is one of gaming's best-kept secrets.

Kirby Canvas Curse

The first game that justified the DS touchscreen as a primary input device. You don't control Kirby directly; you draw rainbow paths for him to roll along. It's inventive, it's smooth, and it proved the stylus could be more than a gimmick.

Nintendogs

The virtual pet game that sold 24 million copies and turned the DS into a household appliance. Pure comfort gaming, zero challenge, maximum serotonin.

The Takeaway

The best ds games represent a generation where Nintendo's hardware gimmick (two screens, one touchable) forced developers to think differently, and the results were a library no other handheld has matched in depth or variety. From Pokemon's peak to rhythm games that made people cry to courtroom dramas you shout at, the DS did things no other console could because no other console was shaped like it.

The hinge is broken. The backlight is dim. The library is forever.