The Best RTS Game? - Lego Battles; AKA My Childhood

hello there! today i'm raving on about one of my favourite games - Lego Battles - a little-known real-time strategy game made for the Nintendo DS!
Official Discord server: / discord
Outro music: • EDGE Soundtrack - Kakkoi
My Gear:
Stadium USBKIT Microphone
Redragon Karura 2 K502 Keyboard
NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 Graphics Card
HP EliteDesk, 8GB RAM
Intel Core i5 vPro Processor
PICTEK RGB Wired Gaming Mouse
This video was edited using Filmora 11.

[@Ponpokemon]

Thank you so much for playing LEGO Battles! So happy you like our game! We had so much fun making it! ❤❤❤

[@ArtieB]

thank you for making such an amazing game! I think I speak for a lot of people when I say it was a huge part of our childhoods!

[@Ponpokemon]

@@ArtieB that is so awesome to hear. While we did receive letters from some fans you don’t have a direct connection with many fans when they are 7-12! Fun fact: did you know the game was originally built as 3 different games that linked together?

[@MithritWhitebeard]

Friends mentioned this recently and so I checked it out here - It's a shame there aren't more LEGO games, especially with so much love put into them

[@bassemanden1318]

Bro this game was my childhood, it showed me the whole RTS genre i always have loved them games.@@Ponpokemon

[@MintyFox6432]

You guys honestly made the best ds game I ever played. I spent so many hours playing it and is probably why I love rts games now! It was part of my childhood and I'm glad it was ^^

[@shreksnow1918]

I have so many fond memories of this game. My favorite campaign was the Mars Mission one. I really wish that Lego would have made more rts games. Sure there was that Rock Raiders game, but that was before my time. I really hope that with Travelers Tales losing their exclusivity license we get to see more games like this. That would be fun.

[@JamesTDG]

Agreed, especially since I want the battles series to be remastered and put on modern platforms! I am tired of emulating the game and being unable to easily mod the game to add custom units. I can change textures, but that's about it, sadly...

[@kaiserstorm886]

It really hurts that this game doesn't have more videos on it

[@matthewknight5926]

Something I love about Lego battles is the fact that playing the other side in the war isn’t just a generic evil playthrough. The leaders range from unabashedly good and best and evil yet sympathetic at worst. King is a noble man just trying to protect his kingdom from the hordes of the undead. Wizard is trying to gain magic power to resurrect his dead lover. Brickbeard and his crew seek an ancient treasure and defend native islanders from an invading imperial occupation. Broadside is sent in to hunt down a roaming criminal of the seas. Gemma and Biff simply stumbled upon a power source that earth can benefit from and wants to stop a potentially deadly alien force from exploiting it. And Alien Commander and his hive are simply stranded on Mars and desperately want to leave but a corporation see them as a threat to their mining operations. All of this more or less being communicated through a handful of simple but effective cutscenes. The game doesn’t give you enough to make you deeply care about these leaders in a personal level but you are given enough to kind of know what they’re about and why they are fighting who they are. Obviously it’s a Lego strategy game so In the grand scheme it doesn’t matter too much, but I always loved as a child never needing to be forced to play “the bad guys”

[@lordlantern599]

As a kid, by FAR the most frustrating level in the entire game was the final level of Act 2 for the Pirates Campaign, I forget its name but it was easily the highest difficulty spike in the entire game, you had to survive entire swarms of enemy units from at least 3 different directions, for 8 entire minutes. This single level was probably 10% of my entire time spent playing the campaign, but yeah at least the Pirate music slaps....

[@ArtieB]

damn right the pirate music slaps never got too far into the game as a kid; but that level just sounds like Stand Fast but more difficult. and i imagine you know how much i hate Stand Fast. when I replay the game in full, I'll be sure to look out for that level lol

[@swannykiid]

I DISTINCTLY remember this level and had to come back a few years later to finish the game 100% to beat that level and also one of the latter space hero missions as that too was horrendously hard as a child

[@cursedwanderer1753]

It can be cheesed. I simply build up a base and then let Brickbeard take the chest, which starts the countdown. But at that point I have a powerful base.

[@ethanwinters7576]

The level is called Booty Haul, and it's said to be the second toughest of all levels (the first being "End Game", which is Imperial Act 3, level 4) and it took me months to beat it as a kid, yet last time I played about 2 years ago I got it first try!

[@thogrimironhammer8563]

​@@cursedwanderer1753 yeah that is prob a better way, than building it up after getting the chest. That is what I did also back then. I thought I was really smart back then for that. The cheese 😂

[@ictogon]

Damn the soundtrack brings back so many memories of sneaking out of church services to go play lego battles with my friend

[@ArtieB]

because Lego Battles is more important than Jesus

[@ictogon]

@@ArtieB Does Jesus have 6 campaigns in one game on the Nintendo ds?

[@ArtieB]

@@ictogon does Jesus have an absolutely banging OST? didn't think so!

[@etrkingnoob]

bruh -_-

[@JadeMythriil]

It took me years to realize that each one of the eras represent the three earliest Blizzard Entertainment RTS, namely, Warcraft, Tides of Darkness, and Starcraft.

[@ArtieB]

You're right! Never noticed that, although I imagine it's just a coincidence.

[@myriad9597]

No, that is wrong. The factions represent two opposing lego sets. There are no elves in the kingdom faction, and orcs are a minor element in the Wizard's faction. The imperials have little to correlation to the tides of darkness alliance, aside from using ships and gunpowder. The pirates have little correlation as well, aside from being "raiders". The astronauts, aside from being sci-fi humans, have little is common with the terrans. They don't use bikes, don't act like southern hicks, and don't use any sort of ballistic weaponry. Plus they are sent from and receive orders from earth. The aliens have little in common with the zerg, aside from being aliens. The faction has biomechanical tech as opposed to the zerg's pure biological tech. Furthermore, they appear to lack a hive mind. Aside from sharing vague tropes, the Legos battles factions have little to do with blizzards works. If thus was a intended reference, it was a poor one.

[@JadeMythriil]

@@myriad9597 Of course, I'm not saying the three settings are an exact reference to Blizzards games. I'm just saying each setting has some gameplay elements that are similar to Blizzard's earliest RTS games.

[@myriad9597]

@@JadeMythriil I do agree the gameplay is similar, if simplified.

[@Ponpokemon]

We looked a lot at Warcraft 1 and 2, StarCraft and Age of Empires among others.

[@K4YT]

It's crazy and sad to realize that it's almost going to be 14years since I last touched the game.. I'm now gonna be 25. Wow....I loved this game as a kid. I 100% completed it in a week as I would stay up most of the night even on school nights just to beat the campaigns and find all the collectibles.

[@KamranMSHoule]

This was my first RTS game and i instantly fell in love with the genre. There's something so deeply satisfying to my brain about being a commander in charge of whole armies, setting them against the enemy, and i trace that fully to lego battles

[@Gamer-Star]

As someone who's been replaying lego battles lately I can say this it's been a fun ride playing it again

[@buffybuff992]

Fuck yeah dude, imma go try and find it.

[@JSchmitty]

I'll never forget visiting my grandma as a kid and she had this game for me. Seems like a lifetime ago man, time sure flies. I'd love to see another Lego battles game, but that'll never happen.

[@GavinWantsPizza]

Really one of my favorite games growing up! Campaign was awesome and playing against my brothers in the car was always great. I would always have fun making a secondary base just in case and usually spending more time on it so my main base would get destroyed lol. Great video! :D

[@SayakatheSnoo]

As someone who plays RTS games that are considered traditional, I'll say that the ability to choose your roster between the different civs' units rather than choosing civs with a specific spread of units, so to speak, with the civs mostly differing in gameplay and a few exclusive units (i.e. in Age of Empires III, the Germans play a primarily cavalry-focused game that has them being shipped their exclusive cavalry unit, the Uhlan, while the Dutch have banks that let them basically generate gold) is rather unique.

[@octoplus5683]

12 years without seeing the graphics, listening to the music or the effects, pure nostalgia, lovely game. Thanks

[@chadwickshishkebab6481]

I used to play lego battles with my brother and we banned Agent Chase alongside Space criminal leader, because hotwire is so broken. Other times we would use the hotwire glitch to capture our own heroes. But using the glitch on builders were my favourite since you could have flying and fire breathing boats which looked so bizarre. Love this game so much.

[@ArtieB]

oh yeah i've heard SO much about how broken the hotwire is; i think i got demolished a few times in local play when some of my friends used hotwire lol

[@SuperStarEevee]

hotwire on its own is already incredibly good, but the fact that it's a buggy mess in the users favor is the icing on the cake

[@gonkdroid8279]

This is so nostalgic, both the music and the general design/vibes of this era of Lego

[@Shot5hells]

From my memories and the experiences other people recount, it actually seems like the difficulty was really well tuned to the game's target audience. It was a very solid level of challenge for a kid imo, but still manages to be a good time as an adult.

[@ArtieB]

the best kind of difficulty level! I love coming back to games I played as a kid and still finding them challenging, it shows that the game devs genuinely put a really good amount of effort in and actually care about the game (even if it's a listened one, like with these Lego games)

[@Rynewulf]

Im shocked that this game has a nostalgic video for it, I havent even met another person who even encountered a single rts for the ds at all, let alone the lego one!

[@kabob0077]

Honestly, having an RTS as good as this for a small Handheld like a DS was insane and I shall always cherish my copy. Also, I wish we had a Dune port for DS, this is proof it would work.

[@TheLeondude]

Ah, LEGO Battles. The game that introduced me to real-time strategy. 😊 And long before I got into RTSs about two years ago to boot.

[@mrfoxly6833]

Now this takes me back. When this came out I was young enough to want to play it, but also old enough to recognise the returning characters from Lego Racers. I have fond memories of sweeping the map with a squad of Grav runners, or loading a massive force into four transport ships and launching a mass invasion on the enemy base. If anyone tells you they miss the days when Lego games weren’t all the same, show them Lego Battles. It’s easily the best Lego game of that particular era.

[@Harrison23673]

The game is one of my childhood favorites. sad that i never had the chance to play with someone who was actually good at it. Lego ninjago wasn't as good as lego battles tbh. The fun part was when you get to hack your opponents units with that alien criminal doing that glitch🤣 but great video btw🫶🏻🤙🏻

[@timthewarlord2304]

Man I remember this game for some reason. The game kept on getting corrupted somehow it didn’t work properly

[@tornbreeze7467]

The sad thing is that I just didn't get 100% through the game because I didn't know anyone to play a 3 player game let alone win one...

[@lilpoop0860]

Great video, from how good this game is I expected to see more videos reviewing the game, but yours is actually the first video that (to my knowledge) has summed up this game pretty well. This video was definitely worth the wait

[@Sednas]

Probably one of the greatest games ive ever played.

[@franciscoparra6562]

LEGO battles is a fantastic game, I love the wide variety of units to control in that game, the story in the three eras is somewhat simple but very interesting, I have never played in multiplayer, but at least I can play alone in addition to offering a wide variety of maps for free battles. In my opinion it is the best LEGO game for the nintendo DS.

[@Salamastradon6885]

Thank you for making this video, this game is underrated and deserves some more love than it got, I have fond memories of playing this game and always wished that made either a sequel or a re-boot of the game on a modern console or PC. One of my First experiences into RTS genre and helped me love the genre.

[@danh8553]

loved the Mars Mission RTS game

[@Gronglegrowth]

Oh wow, I used to play this all the time. Completely forgot about it until seeing this.

[@caoimhecampbell5985]

There's so much that can be said about this game I love it so much it was my childhood as well :)

[@jobelplayedminecraft3700]

dow dark crusade will always be in my heart

[@divineteddy2210]

when i first got my DSi Christmas 2009 one of my first games was lego battles and i have to say this game was brilliant and took up a large chunk of my childhood

[@katze405]

lego batlles was one of my favourate games as a child on the DS definetly LOVED it, so many good memories, I also played so much of the ninjago games

[@MACMAN2003]

I loved playing this game when i was younger. i specifically remember getting the ranged units in the earth campaign and going nuts building lots of them

[@Ralffi009]

Thank you for reminding of this classic game on ds. I will probably play through my old copy for old times.

[@kamitsu2352]

ACTUALLY MY CHILDHOOD. used to play this in like 2013/14 on the DS and my 3DS and i couldn't complete any of the campaigns 100% so i just set up custom matches between me and AI lol. thanks for covering this

[@stoney7622]

I’m endlessly happy that so many other people enjoyed this game. Felt like a fever dream but I had so much fun playing this as a kid. Me and my step brother both had a copy and we’d play the vs. mode all the time. I beat all the campaigns multiple times

[@dragongaming2890]

both lego battles and ninjago where such big part in my life and my current obsession with rts's and videogames and its amazing to see someone cover these games

[@simonstuffi]

i completely forgot this game existed, thanks for giving me back my memories

[@carlmetaltaku3150]

Be blessed for making this video about one of my childhood games. Sincirly: a OG who played it back in 2009

[@t.wcharles2171]

This game was my childhood, the music is still so nostalgic.

[@Cxqzil]

The detail in this video and the nostalgia this brings is just insane and u deserve thousands more subs

[@a.bdioro5302]

I’ve never heard of you, I’ve never seen any of your other videos, but seeing the words “Lego battles “with the words “best RTS game “ together in the title immediately not only earned you a like but a subscription from me

[@OfficialDonJuul]

This game was actual peak, the multiplayer was so much fun and will never forget my heated battles against my brother haha

[@KeifersIsAwesome]

BRUH I got this game when it came out. I still love it. The soundtrack is beautiful, the stories are surprisingly good, and I'm pretty sure the music also drastically affected my music tastes. Glad to see someone finally made a video covering it. ^.^

[@basey456]

Holy shit im not the only one. Gonna relive this on PC

[@Adrians_Ideas]

Dude well done! You just reminded me of a core childhood memory! Played the hell out of this the Christmas year it came out, but never realized how hard the ost was😂

[@VioletAeonSnowfield]

I adored this game. So so much. The stories were amazing

[@caspianbchalphy]

You mentioned “Stand Fast” and ai got flashbacks…. that was quite the level

[@SurfMonkey52]

Awesome video! I'm happy to hear someone else loved this game as much as I did as when I spoke to some friends about it they either hadn't heard of it or just didn't like the game. Now I want to replay this game after watching this video. :)

[@cameronwain1254]

The music from the first King level put chills down my back! Gawwdd I loved this game so much

[@striderfox71]

My lord this game took my childhood to new heights on the 3d back in my day!

[@austinblack7991]

I still have the game along with Lego battles ninjago to this day thanks for the nostalgia!

[@CristianCooks]

Bro this game made me love RTS games since I was little , I remember playing this when I was around 10 so circa 2013.

[@leonst.7471]

Oh hey I remember this game, a friend of mine owned it back in the day I loaned it for a while but it didnt leave such a big print on me maybe due to our family computer had at the time Age of Empires 2 and 3 on it and some other older RTS games which satiated my lust for that

[@jackjmar]

U just unlocked a part of my brain I haven’t seen in a decade

[@mariobrothersfan2792]

I’m pretty sure these two games taught me how to strategize as a kid while I was waiting for appointments and recitals and stuff

[@theemiester4090]

I couldn't figure out this game at all when I was a kid so I'm glad I can look back now and see how the game was actually supposed to be played

[@erichares841]

Great Video and you got my Sub^^

[@ekeexl]

Disfrutamos tanto de este juego que se nos fue nuestra infancia para siempre

[@Keyblind]

Used to wireless this with my friend such a great rts honestly

[@diegeticfridge9167]

Amazing video bro, so glad to see someone’s giving this game the respect it deserves!

[@hastyswept5486]

the hardest level is absolutely one of the first where you have to find the map hidden in the level🤣that has my child self stuck for about a year till a mate helped me out

[@ArtieB]

really? I always found that level pretty simple lmao then again, other people apparently didn't get stuck on stand fast like I did so who am I to talk

[@juiceblock772]

The soundtrack of this game lives in my mind forever. And this game got me into rts games. It had no right being as good as it was!!

[@ArtieB]

the pirate theme did truly slap

[@JohnDoe-wt2zz]

Fav game of all time I think, this is why I'm obsessed with Castle's fantasy era sets. I recently ordered a troll and a dwarf minifig on bricklink because of nostalgia for this game.

[@HugeSleep]

Lego Battles was lit, It was my first rts game didnt really think I would like it but I got hooked.

[@HTownFan]

Lego battles and Lego ninjago were so much fun when I was a kid I absolutely loved Lego battles

[@jupitersky]

Oh my word, I've never seen anyone talk about this game and it was SO GOOD!

[@ArtieB]

thank you, I appreciate it!

[@olinwhattam9662]

I genuine thought this game was a fever game, a figment of my imagination from my childhood. Then I had a sudden urge to see if it was real or not through research. Hearing all the old sounds gave me the craziest nostalgia since I haven’t played this game on my ds in probably a decade

[@wanderingaming5805]

Played this game a ton with my friend on DSI. We would battle in multiplayer but instead of fighting all the time we would make a full story with main characters and go on little adventures and stuff. We would use builders as civilians because they wouldn’t fight each other, and some of the transport ships also wouldn’t attack one another I’m pretty sure

[@rabiessex3911]

Damnnnn this takes me back. Fricking loved that game, played it on the ds for days

[@user-dq1jc8fd5u]

My childhood too! i loved the Mars Mission with the green alien

[@castledcolt2x772]

Favorite childhood game pirates were soo much fun still play it for memories.

[@johndoesthingssometimes]

Gotta be the most underrated Lego game ever

[@headcrabo..2301]

I just remembered this game exists and now I NEED to find my old ds and original copy and PLAY It!!!

[@anonymoususer188]

Hey. What timing. I literally dug this exact game out of my collection to start replaying it yesterday.

[@TNTMusic5757]

It has been around 3 years since i found my cartridge. I used it so much, the Logo peeled off of the cartridge. It was one of the first DS games I've ever played. I got it in 2013, so I've has it for over a decade.

[@stachman9531]

actually sound interesting, i like rts games

[@tripleg6]

Congratulations on remembering this great game.

[@graftednormalcy1376]

I do remember hundred percenting this game when I was younger. Its also on my "non-pokemon DS games I boot up occasionally" shelf. Good game for sure.

[@briangeer1024]

I think I gave this game away or something because I don't have it anymore. I remember having fun hotwiring the enemy hero or just dumping a massive army into the enemy's base using flying ships.

[@CharmandaS2]

Thx for the tipp, never heard about this Game

[@hoxey1452]

I couldn't find anything on this game it was my childhood thank you so much for putting attention on it

[@psychosound4417]

Nice video Artie. I loved this game as a kid. I remember playing wirelessly with a friend of mine who moved away at a young age.

[@fleef08]

Dude I also have so many memories of this game from my childhood. In Germany the game was realeased with the name "Lego Strategie" which means "Strategy" obviously, instead of "Lego Kämpfe" which would stand for "Battles". Thx for this awesome video, wish I could go back in time :( Greetings from Germany 🙌🏻

[@Bgamboe132]

I clicked the video and immediately heard the sound track straight from the gods❤

[@pitfishpit9887]

Lego Battles is my favourite game ever ♥️

[@Rubberduckerino]

OMG YES! I used to play this with my little brother all the time

[@vanillaconfusion89]

Omg core memory unlocked, I forgot this game even existed

[@petesbricks]

My childhood! I remember linking up with friends and battling each other on our DS's!

[@ArtieB]

easily the best part of the game!

[@loslingos1232]

I need to play this again... I think I still have this somewhere, both the DS and the game. And the Ninjago battles game as well.

[@BrickyBobby]

Great game and vid !

[@haychpea]

I played this game so much as a kid, one of the first games I got when my parents bought me a DS Lite for Christmas

[@TheTancam]

This was the first game I ever 100%, the red bricks... all the maps... secret heroes... I'd pay a lot for a new similar style.

[@ArtieB]

if you haven't played it already, StarCraft is pretty similar in terms of core gameplay. as for the maps, heroes, red bricks and stuff I can't help you - closest thing is other Lego games

[@purugigi]

You should give Age of Empires 2 a try!

[@taffyadam6031]

Ninjago battles lol

[@cucuycharles]

This is true

[@Upsedriss]

Loved this game as a kid, stil do even tho you can cheese many of the missions by just taking your time before going to the first objective and cut every tree in sight. The OST is incredible.

[@ArtieB]

for sure, absolutely love the music - especially the pirates theme

[@Your_nans_old_sock]

Man I can’t believe it’s been over 7 years since I last played it

[@SupremeRTS]

I remember getting this for Christmas back in 2010, was such a good game

[@jefferymuffinsbobmarley6128]

I love this game so much. I was describing it to my friend recently and he got me into Age of Empires. The only thing id say lego battles really had going for it over Age of Empire, is the feature where you could swap each person in your army to be any faction you want it to be

[@ArtieB]

I absolutely loved being able to make the most ridiculous army, comprised of a wizard, an army of pirates and a spaceship