I've got a 6 hour layover in Detroit coming up so I decided to finally buy a DS. That DS turned into a DS lite as all the ones on Craigslist for less than $60 turned out to be gone. Then all the DS lites for less than $80 turned out to be gone. Then all the DSi's for less than $100 turned out to be gone.

So, I said f*ck it and bought a 3ds for $130.

Please help me very carefully select old DS or new 3DS games to help me not regret this purchase as little as possible (I'm pretty sure I'll regret it in the long run but would like to mitigate those feelings as much as possible).

I'm not in a position to ride a bus every day or something so I'll be laying this 45 min's or more at a time at airports or waiting for appointments. I love strategy and rpgs and pretty much anything with a sense of progression. Big supporter of Fallout: NV and Dead Island despite their flaws. Love Silent Storm and Baldur's Gate.

Greatly appreciate your help.

@Kojdog: Give THIS thread a shot for DS games. For 3DS games there is Devil Survivor Overclocked. It's a tough strategy-RPG.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time if you haven't played that in a while / at all ? It's fairly long and is arguably 'one of the best games of all time'.

There's the Advance Wars, both in a family friendly, and a slightly more serious variety. I've only tried the family friendly version and was sorta put off by it narrative but the game itself seems solid.

I really enjoyed the enchanced HD version of Clash of Heroes, and while the DS version neither looks as good, nor (according to a friend who played it) has all the features of the remake (some units don't have any special abilities) I think the core game is fun enough to recommend.

Also, while I've never played it myself, I've heard good things about Puzzle Quest, specifically 2.

Lastly I'm gonna say Ghost Trick. It's not what you asked for, but whatever, more people should play that game.

Should have just got a book.

@JJOR64: Checking out the linked DS thread. Is DS:OC kind of a classic JRPG (super grindy, long, with ppl in schoolgirl outfits)? I appreciate those but I'm nut sure that's what I'm looking for as opposed to something a little more tactical.

I thought Valkyria Chronicles was the shit but it was because of the gameplay, not the anime junk in between (although it really helped to sell it without being the meat).

Thanks for the input. Any specific ideas if they're floating around on the top of your head beyond Devil Survivor? I really appreciate the expertise this board offers.

@HandsomeDead: agreed

mynotebook.

Quick, return it while you still can!

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@RockmanBionics said:

...........Ghost Trick more people should play that game....

This is true.

@EnchantedEcho: Zelda ordered. 'Bought time to revisit that outside of highschool

@RockmanBionics: Clash of Heroes now ordered, Ghost Trick on consideration. In the 'More Serious' Advance Wars link you game me there are two titles. Days of Ruin and something else. Do you have a specific recommendation between the two?

@Kojdog: Like I mentioned I have only played the family friendly Dual Strike, so I don't know a lot about the other games in the series. As for the other title "Dark Conflict" it's apparently the European and Australian name for Days of Ruin.

I took a quick glance at the Wiki and they seem to be pretty filled out, so I suggest reading both of those to see what you'd prefer.

@RockmanBionics: Huh... consulting inner sources. Thanks for clearing that gaff up. I should fact check my own shit, sorry.

@TaliciaDragonsong: Just bought despite Kessler's horrible QL :P

$130 seems like a pretty good bargain. Anyway The World Ends With You and Elite Beat Agents are great. If you're into Pokemon, Black and White were actually pretty fun.

Elite Beat Agents, Phoenix Wright, Ghost Trick, Devil Survivor (or the OC variaty), 999 (amazing), Professor Layton, etc...

I'm just going to mention stuff that hasn't been mentioned yet (except Ghost Trick - this needs to be mentioned until everyone with a DS plays that game).

Castlevanias - If you have to just pick one, go with Order of Ecclesia.

Picross 3D - Personally, I thought the game could have been a lot better than it was, but it's a very good pick-up-and-play type game.

Ghost Recon - I haven't played this yet, but this seems like something you might enjoy.

The Professor Layton games

The Ace Attorney series

the Castlevania series (I highly recommend Dawn of Sorrow)

and Hotel Dusk.

Regular DS: 999, ghost trick, layton, phoenix wright, Dragon quest 9

3DS: street fighter, Zelda

Alright, updating this topic now that I have some of this stuff:

The 3DS is... quite alright, actually. To be clear, the last mobile system I owned was a gamegear, so my impressions of what a mobile system should do are admittedly a bit out of line.

Anywho, I bought my partner a Wii for Christmas a couple years back, then a Kinect last Christmas. The second I was showing off the 3ds to them they said "so it's a wii and kinect combined, right?" I didn't have the heart to tell them it was neither so I agreed.

I now have:

Ghost Recon blah blah (the 3DS one)

Final Fantasy Tactics A2

Many more to come but not before my Detroit trip

I have to say:

The 3d effect works much better in the one game (Ghost Recon) then anything the 3ds came with. The AR cards are cool but they feel very inconsistent. That being said, Mario frozen running across my bar is freaking amazing (for about 2 seconds). Despite the obviously short term thrills that was easily worth the cost difference between a DSi and 3DS. Anyways, Ghost Recon really makes the 3d obvious and nice even if it doesn't really add to the gameplay.

It's neat but I'm pretty sure I could live with out it.

Onto FFTA2, wow. There are some good games on the DS platform. I'm an hour in and hooked more so than the PS1 tactics got me... and that's shortly after when I thought XCOM TFTD was the best game I had ever played.

QUESTION: I saw Jagged Alliance is on DS. If I liked JA2 on PC but thought JA was infuriating, should I go ahead and skip that, even at $10?

Thanks