this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2025
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There are certainly games on the DS that don't have the stylus gimmicks, but here are the biggest/most dissapointing ones that come to mind:
The thing is, it isn't just the games that use the stylus that are the gimmick. The entire second screen IS a gimmick. Instead of a single better/bigger screen, you get two lower res medicore screens. You now have to look at two screens, you now have a heavier handheld that feel awkward (to me) to hold in the correct position, especially if you end up needing the stylus. The fact that the PSP came out in the same month as the DS and was better in many ways did the DS no favors.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow ended up causing me severe wrist pain and I had to stop using the console entirely and sold it. The fact that there ARE good games on the system is actually more annoying. Because of weirdness of the DS, all the games were difficult, if not impossible, to port to other systems. Much like the Wii, it essentially orphaned a whole generation of games from future ports without a ton of work to change how the game works.
Interesting, thank you!
Since I'm no Zelda fan there was no pain there (although I collected the games for my collection). I have fond memories of all 3 DS Castlevania games.
I do recall the tacked on stylus rune crap but that didn't leave any lasting impression. Still, I agree!
Prime hunters as well as Mario 64 have crap control, full stop. At that point I'm even more angry at the 3DS for getting analogue control (with 'new') and then not using it! (kid icarus)
Anyhow, thank you for elaborating.
You're welcome, thanks for letting me vent! The 3DS repeated the sins of the DS and added their whole new gimmick. And yet again, it trapped an EXCELLENT Zelda game (Link Between Worlds) on the system as well as the 3D Mario Land (I don't recall the exact title). I had decided not to bother buying one even though the Zelda game is the sequel to one of my favorite games of all time, but my friend gave me his when he got one of those larger XL models so I picked up the aforementioned Zelda and Mario. I quickly saw why he got the larger model, my hands cramped using those teeny tiny controls. It now belongs to my daughter, so it worked out, but it's funny, I still have a working OG Gameboy and GBA SP and those feel fine to use. Nintendo just lost me with their controllers. Even now, I only play the Switch using a Sony DS controller using the 8Bitdo adapter. Their first party controllers are nigh unusable to me.