The Nintendo DS by itself is a really great gaming system. But add to your Nintendo DS the actual R4 DS Card, and you’ll have access to hundreds, if not thousands, of homebrew games and applications – all of them free.
1) LemmingsDS – An excellent classic game, and it’s back. Come, excellent gameplay mixed with Strategy!
Lemmings were one of the best games on the Amiga personal computer – later ported to the C64 and then the IMB PCs of the day. It went on and was later converted to the Commodore 64 computer as well as IBM PC’s as well. I honestly think this game set the stage for many of today’s classic strategy/brain games. All of the original 120+ levels that could be found on the Amiga version of the game were remade for the NDS. So you essentially get every single story that was initially designed and made for the Amiga system, and the c64 too. A must-have for any comical severe strategy game lover.
2) Quake DS – Not the first, but the original First Person Shooter Game To Set The Standard!
It’s the original Quake that was released for PC. There really isn’t any more to say—probably the original first-person shooter game and the one that started the whole first-person shooter genre. And now, it is available for the Nintendo DS – so long as you also have an R4 DS card to play it on. Carefully and precisely remade for the NDS and NDSi Console.
3) click is the remake/conversion of one of the best classic platform games on the Amiga computer, and now you can enjoy it on your NDS / DSi console
Another one of those classic games that you just can’t seem to get out of your system. Just put click and your R4 DS and into your Nintendo DS to be transported back to a time when side scrollers and platform games were all the rage – and perfected. Rick Dangerous was the must-have side scroller of the day. Anyone that did not have a Nintendo DS system had either one or both of these games in lieu of. Side scroller that is really taken to the extreme.Great graphics (for the time), absolutely challenging, and not to mention loads of fun!
4) DSLinux – This puts a portable Linux Computer in your pocket by way of your Nintendo DS
Yes, the much desired and wanted/requested Linux for your Nintendo DS. Before cards like the R4 DS Card, it was unimaginable for us to be able to load Linux onto a system that fits in the palm of our hands. While there are a good number of ports for different OS and game systems, the truth is you can’t really enjoy them on anything other than the NDS because of the touch interface. Because you can use the NS Stylus as a mouse, just as you would use it on your PC, you genuinely do get the same benefit of loading all of your favorite games and apps, etc… On your Nintendo DS.No longer just for personal computers, with the r4 DS card, you can have Linux on a new platform. If you have a Nintendo DSi, then you’ll need the R4i SDHC version of the R4 DS Card.
5) ScummVM – Your point and click solution to the best point and Click Games!
If you’re a fan, past or present, of point-and-click adventure games such as Monkey Island, Beneath a Steel Sky, and others, then you must have ScummVM Ds.ScummVM is the ScummVM project. The ScummVM project is an attempt to re-engineer many classic point-and-click adventure games of the 80s and 90s to run on modern computer hardware. Games and Game system technology has changed tremendously since these games were released, and as such, ScummVM tried (successfully) to replicate the gameplay of the original game in their proper classic form. ScummVM, unlike many emulator projects or rather remakes of fun, actually does need the original classic game so that it can use the graphics and sounds from the original. ScummVM was written and coded in a manner that quickly and easily allows it to be ported from one operation system/machine to the next.
And that’s the roundup for this week. In the coming weeks, I will review and talk about some of the best emulators of classic computers and game systems – that you can actually play and use with your Nintendo DS.
