Weird Shovelware DS Games

[@stylerrobin]

what's your favorite DS game?

[@Ninormaal]

999 maybe

[@smudgetwo]

professor layton & the lost future is unmatched

[@Ninormaal]

@@smudgetwo yeah that one owns tbh

[@Cool_Kid95]

Fossil Fighters Champions

[@video_witch]

shoutout Feel the Magic

[@Amsosorryscotty]

Fun fact. Peanut butter gamer asked on twitter on how to beat a level in the game. One of the actors that played Cody. Responded with: the best way to beat that game is to eject it and physically destroy it.

[@thedugal1373]

There's a hell of a lot more DS games that are entertaining than people think, it was a pretty fantastic console.

[@BAKU2K2]

Especially when you start diving into the world of Japan-only releases, a good chunk of my DS collection are imports.

[@nonifuji1566]

Please give some JP game recommendations

[@sangan3202]

​@@BAKU2K2Jump Ultimate Stars is one of my favorites

[@BAKU2K2]

@@nonifuji1566 - Tales of Innocence (a fan translation is available.) - Mizuiro Blood (A cute WarioWare-style minigame collection based on wordplay, but with a surprisingly dark storyline.) - The 3 Taiko no Tatsujin DS games ( Touch de Dokodon, 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken, and Dororon Youkai Daikessen.) - Coropata (this game goes for crazy amounts of money, a PC version is also available on Steam.) - Puyo Puyo Fever 2 (The first Puyo Puyo Fever was released in the west, but not the sequel.) - Puyo Puyo 7 - Puyo Puyo 15th Anniversary - Kotoba no Puzzle Mojipitan (It's like Scrabble, but with Hiragana.) - Battle & Get! Pokemon Typing DS (Also released in Europe, but the Japanese version is cheaper and easier to find.) - Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (A similar game called "Elite Beat Agents was released in the west.) - Utacchi (A Pop'n Music spinoff)

[@nonifuji1566]

@@BAKU2K2 Thanks man, this should help my JP studies

[@milapiepers502]

As someone who was obsessed with both bakugan ds games thank you for giving bakugan propaganda. Bakugan deserved so much more than it got as a franchise it was so incredibly good

[@gestaltblitz8296]

I really want to forget the fact I just read the phrase bakugan propaganda and didn't need to do a double take.

[@maccamachine]

I played them as a kid and thought they were fun I’m sure I wouldn’t think so now

[@holofech9744]

the problem with bakugan is, the actual game is pretty bad. Comparing to its contemporaries, pokemon battles are interesting and have strategy, same with yugioh. idc tho, bakugan is cool as hell

[@darkhydrat9096]

God, I love the Bakugan DS game. I spent so many hours trying to 100% it and jamming to music that goes way too hard for no reason. The gameplay is a bit repetitive at times, yet Bakugan and card combinations keep every playthrough fresh. It is a bit of a shame that Masquerade and Hal-G are less threatening than the Subterra tournament, but I genuinely love this game

[@darkhydrat9096]

@TheAnubisWarriorEpticface Oh yeah, no, the Subterra Finals are brutal for some reason and I didn't even use Ventus. I routinely struggle with that tournament more than with Marduk

[@whilenya4714]

Both this video and your comments are validating my love of the Bakugan DS games and I appreciate that. (You are so right about the Subterra Tournament also, I just straight up quit the game for months as a kid when I got to that part. I mean, I did manage, but it didn't need to be that difficult.)

[@mikrokosmochi]

The bakugan game made me learn how to draw perfect circles really quick, so when i touched pokemon ranger after it i was so good😭 downside of everything is that i did all of it with a pencil instead of a stylus, so my screen is really fucked up lmao

[@cinnamoncat8950]

It's so cool seeing others that live that Bakugan game, I loved Bakugan in general as well and actually named one of my cats Bakugan when I was a kid

[@faeb.9618]

throwback to me playing that as a kid and having no idea what to name my character. so because i was a very stupid child i named him dan. like the anime protagonist. and then dan actually showed up. it was an awkward playthrough at times

[@neverendinglute3125]

I think the Tinker Bell DS games really turned out well. It sticks to a lot of girl game tropes but it’s gotta be my favorite licensed DS games

[@princessfetus]

A lot of the Disney ds games turned out amazing! There was this little mermaid game I played, and you went around solving puzzles a lot. Plus finding treasure!

[@candylide]

​@@princessfetusIdk if we are thinking about the same game but you just unlocked some deep core memories...I loved a DS mermaid game when I was a little girl that I completely forgot about

[@askerror1987]

One of my favorite "girl" games on the DS had to be the Tangled DS game. I can't even remember if it was good or not, but little me LOVED playing it. I must have replayed it start to finish at least a dozen times

[@bees7914]

Seconded, I unironically still adore the first Tinkerbell game for the DS. It's mostly a collection of minigames in an overworld but it's such a fun little experience even if it's a little bit repetitive? I only wish it felt like there was really an endgame because despite having a lot of the same girly licensed game tropes it felt pretty immersive, something the Disney Fairies lineup was pretty good at in general imo.

[@echowoods7977]

i loved tinker bell and the lost treasure as a kid!! the free play was so much fun, i LOVED making my own fairy and going through a quest as her. it was like a single player pixie hollow and i loved that too, it was awesome

[@video_witch]

I love that you treated these shovelware games with respect and gave them a fair shot. This was a nice positive video and I loved hearing about all these games. You have gained a new viewer

[@princessfetus]

There is so many anime styled games that were originally from Japan but an American company took over to translate it and put a new title on it. My favorites are the imagine series, which are Otome styled games where there is so much depth and care in each game. Imagine Ballet Star is a classic. One that is so amazingly beautiful you cannot ignore it. There is so much plot, different clothes to buy and wear, practice, mini games, and you can choose between 3 girls. It’s an amazing series.

[@Meowteorite]

I absolutely loved the Imagine series as a kid - I think my favorite was the cooking one. There was so much love put into the game.

[@scrubbingbubbies]

i literally only clicked on this video because of imagine ballet star. it was so amazing im really sad there’s barely any content about it on the internet

[@ryanrenn4815]

imagine ballet star was my CHILDHOOD!! I'm replaying imagine ice champions and actually having so much fun? ballet star's story mode was pretty fast in comparison, but it made me so nostalgic to return to it at the age of 20 :')

[@queendiamond770]

My favorite one was imagine figure skating! I never managed to finish it though. Edit: the _american company_ that published all the Imagine games is actually Ubisoft lol

[@monikawischnewski]

My favourite DS game growing up was Princess Debut 😍 I still have it and is the cause if my Otome game addiction lol.

[@junebug241]

Great vid! I have so many fond memories of the Bakugan DS game. Although as a little girl who liked “boy games” it always sucked being locked into a male character haha. Fossil Fighters, Dragon Quest Monster: Joker, etc. etc. It always took away from the immersion just a little bit. Glad that it was mostly done away with during the 3DS era. Also happy to see some Toree footage during the video! Such a fun game.

[@stylerrobin]

yeah, it was sad how many games only had one player character. fossil fighters champions had a girl option though!! also yes toree is wonderful

[@ghoulchan7525]

Oh man i played that Bakugan game on DS with friends at school. And yes girls played it, me included. I think all of us were sad there was no girl option 😅. One person had it on an R4 card with cheats that allowed them to make Max power units.. it wasn't super fun to play against them.

[@fairyofmoltenlead]

I grew up with the bakugan game mentioned in this video on the Wii, but I had a bakugan ds game that had you play out kaiju battles and I think also had stealth missions! Beside the point though, I do think it’s funny I grew up with these games a bit differently, as over time I went from being just a tomboy to full on trans masculine, so the timeline in my mind is really fascinating to see, especially picking up the Wii game again about 5 years ago (I unfortunately don’t have the ds one anymore 😔)

[@pastelshadows6437]

I played the shit out of it as a preteen girl obsessed with Bakugan and Beyblade! It sucked that there was no female player character, but I always had that kid fantasy of crossing over into my favorite media franchises and this was close enough lol. I see there's another video with a thumbnail of Mira so maybe it'll be that other DS shovelware Bakugan title I remember? I only really _remember_ this one but I distinctly remember having two of them... EDIT: Seems the other one was actually Battle Trainer! Had to go look it up.

[@jax3506]

i feel this so bad. i played yugioh on the psp and remember being SO sad that i couldn’t be a girl. it was heartbreaking since i always liked “boy” geared games. i played bakugan on the wii so much though i think i still own it 😭

[@kirblastname1963]

when i was a kid and obsessed with bakugan i had been playing the hell out of the ds game from a bargain bin for $3 at target. i had played it all the way to completion and discovered a hearty amount of post game content suprisingly and was enjoying it day in and day out thoroughly. that christmas my relatives who didn't really know me at all coincidentally had found out i liked bakugan, and knew i had a ds. as a poor child that year i was excitedly awaiting what could be inside the two ds game presents underneath the tree, only to be suprised upon opening the first one. a second copy of bakugan on ds, as i saw it i wondered if the local gamestop would trade anything for it, a while passed before i opened the second oddly ds shaped christmas present. it was a third copy of bakugan on ds.

[@inactive_ina]

HELP THIS IS SO TRAGIC

[@thisisnotapplejuice]

what’s interesting to me about the petz franchise is how different the games are from each other. i had both dogz and hamsterz life and they were worlds apart, hamsterz being more like nintendogs but with hamsters and dogz was more rpg like where you had a character and could do tasks in an isometric pixel world. i‘m pretty sure dogz used to exist under a completely different name and was just bought by ppl from the petz franchise and they stamped their name on it. it’s still one of my favorite childhood games though edit: i remembered a video i watched about this topic (the rise and fall of petz by you’ve got kat) and dogz ds really was just a reskinned game/different game bought up and sold under the petz style name, something ubisoft apparently did frequently with this franchise

[@ectopasta]

Ubisoft did the same for the imagine games! the Ice skating games were just rebrands of the KuruKuru ◇ Princess series on the ds- i adored the dress up aspect and the simple, championship story line- it also had a dating aspect which i thought was really neat when i was 10, lmao

[@luiswaverly5632]

Played Petz Catz 2 here ! It was so different than the pet simulator that shows up when I google its namesake, I got to throw rocks at a dragon in that game. I think Dogz and Catz is essentially the same

[@daniellewilliamson4215]

I was OBSESSED with Dolphin Island as a kid and still found it super enjoyable as an adult. The first Dogz was another favourite, but the shovelware that sticks out to me the most was Pony Friends. Hear me out here - it's a pet sim where you have to take care of and train a horse, BUT the actual bulk of the gameplay is a touch-based photography game done entirely on horseback trails. It's like a spiritual successor to Pokemon Snap but with real animals.

[@PleaseEndMyLifeDad]

THAT GAME WAS SO GOOD. one time i when i was 8 deleted my horse cause i thought it was ugly, and then cried for a week cause i thought it would work like real life and the horse was just sitting in a shelter all sad id left it.

[@daniellewilliamson4215]

@@PleaseEndMyLifeDad I'm sorry I shouldn't laugh but this is the funniest thing I've read all day

[@sierranicholes6712]

no honestly like i remember being surprised playing dolphin island because i was at an age where i was starting to realize what shovelware was and that a lot of it was just clunky and not fun, so when dolphin island was actually kinda fun and not bad i was like dang ok maybe i shouldn't judge a book by its cover haha

[@queendiamond770]

Omg I played that😂 it was so relaxing

[@codelyo_ko9123]

i still have pony friends ahah

[@TheLugiaSong]

The DS really was the pre-mobile game platform now you mention it. With some long-term games like pokemon mixed in. I still have Dolphin Island somewhere, I remember really liking it :)

[@cutegamesclub]

DS has so many hidden gems that just end up being forgotten about. I'm so excited to see you went out and bought a bunch from the thrift store and shared them! I'm now thinking of trying the dolphin game.

[@Ilsezwarts]

You should! If you like games where you can just turn your brain off and play some good mini games, I recommend it. It gets decently challenging at one point, too. I never finished it as a kid 😅 its a really good game while you're on vacation, haha. And it's really cheap second hand so if you dont like it, no big deal. The sequel is good too btw

[@Terumimi]

As someone who ADORED the bakugan game (had both the wii and ds version as a kid) you essentially wrapped up everything i love about it into a neat little bow! Only thing you really missed was mentioning the ost and how it went WAY HARDER THAN IT EVER HAD ANY RIGHT TO. One of my favorite game osts of all time I also had the zack and cody game and honestly? I was mixed on it, but generally thought positively of it (though i dont think i ever finished it)

[@stylerrobin]

NO CAUSE WHY WAS THE FINAL BOSS FIGHT SO HARD

[@Terumimi]

@@stylerrobin bro the final boss was like such a weird difficulty spike???? Only one thats worse is the NIGHTMARE that was the subterra tournament, which was made worse by the fact that i was always a ventus kid-

[@SquishiestSquidy]

@@stylerrobinI hope you’re talking about the battle to unlock Battle Axe Vladiator. No matter how fast you are at the battles, he will always win within 2 seconds

[@Michazike]

LETSGO LEGO BATTLES NINJAGO This was a great video! I really like your editing style, and I liked the message in the video too. A game doesn't need to be a Triple A established IP to be good,\ or to have an impact on someone.

[@RedTotey]

i see bakugan in the thumbnail and I click

[@Catmat-kv5ky]

Same

[@Ningy909]

based

[@TheDragonfriday]

I see Alice I click

[@gooseyboygavin9143]

I thought it was nami from one piece :(

[@Emperorwolf999]

I played the sh*t outta the ps2 version

[@WerewolfCat890]

i LOVED petz dolphin island as a kid and actually completed it! when you do, you get access to a digital artbook with design sheets and things of the like. i remember it very well because they included scrapped designs for all of the characters!

[@Viftss]

As a kid I really liked the Imagine Cooking nds game, they somehow managed to add a storyline about a plush rabbit and other stuffed toys coming to life and teaching you life lessons in between cooking mama esque gameplay lol

[@PATUZ96]

OMG DOLPHIN ISLAND! I found it years ago abandoned on the bottom of a statue here where I live with other 2 bad ds games and I still have this thing so clear in my mind lmao. unexpected to see someone talk about this """hidden gem"""

[@snailstrailz9394]

I remember playing dolphin Island as a kid, I loved it a lot though I never finished it back then. Thank you so much for reminding me about it!

[@phospadparadschaa]

i love your channel! somehow this ended up on my youtube recommended and i'm so thankful that it did. these games get meme'd on so much (rightfully so sometimes) but honestly this era of licensed and shovelware ds and gba games means so much to me. whenever i was stressed out from school as a kid i would be able to calm down playing these games. the tinny, crunchy audio and music, the compressed visuals, the weird controls, they were all so much fun for me. I really appreciate you mentioning the artists. a lot of the time people get so used to seeing art that they forget there's even an artist behind it, or entire teams of people. i would love to have been a fly on the wall in one of the studios producing some of these weird titles just to see how they came up with these games knowing how shoestring the budget was. the URBZ has some insane character art and 3D models. a lot of these games introduced me to some very stylized music and artwork. i think its important that these snippets of videogame history are somehow preserved, because it would be a shame if they were no longer in circulation for kids now.

[@the1stwing]

I remember having this John Deere game, it was this Harvest Moon-like farming sim and it actually had a lot of stuff for what is essentially a glorified tractor ad. A variety of crops, animals, heck even a few minigames. It barely even used the touch screen amazingly

[@Jabberwockia]

Salivating at the thought of a glorified tractor ad game

[@the1stwing]

@@Jabberwockia It's called Harvest in the Heartland, I do recommend giving it a try if you Ike farming games

[@ZesTofthelemon]

Zubo was a DS """shovelware""" game made by EA Bright Light that was literally a rhythm-based turn-based RPG where attack cutscenes played out to the beat of the music and you had to tap at the right timing to boost damage, similar to M&L's "OK!/GOOD!/GREAT!/EXCELLENT!" system but the attack always plays out in its entirety. The kicker is that the composers were _Christian and Joe Henson_ - the former co-founded Spitfire Audio, who makes digital audio workspace plugins so you can emulate instruments to make music, and the latter most people would recognise for composing basically every major thing Ubisoft does nowadays. That game was one of the many reasons why I'm so into music and (non-anime) rhythm games nowadays, it's genuinely amazing.

[@ryanv9152]

Shout out to the Bakugan DS game for having CRAZY themed levels. I don't think I ever got past the water one (lol), but it was crazy interactive with stage hazards and boost pads to navigate your little guy around

[@bubblefishy7]

When you started talking about Dolphin Island, nostalgia hit me right in the face. I remember playing it A LOT, struggling in later levels and being frustrated that you can only play with dolphins/whales and not the other marine animals (I really wanted to swim with the sharks and turtles). In the end, my mother gave it to my cousin as a gift and I was really mad 😅

[@tao_1]

the first bakugan game had no business having such a banger soundtrack, they should not have given me the ability to sit there and just have my soul leave my body and ascend to a higher plane of existence unknown for us mere mortal just because the aquos arena theme reached the 40 second mark

[@JustAnInsomniac_7]

Honestly the Battle Brawlers DS game to me has always been phenomenal. I just love the story and the stuff you said about it

[@epickittymonster4435]

This video reminded me of the ds game Imagine Cooking, which is like Cooking Mama meets in depth visual novel. The dolphin game you showed definitely reminded me of it, very similar vibes. Imagine Cooking has such a good story and replayability and it was honestly one of my favorite games as a kid. I replayed it multiple times because it was so enthralling to me. Hell, that silly ware game almost got me to cry at the end no matter how many times I played it. I really wish I knew where my copy went because I want to play it again. If you continue this series I hope you find it because it's such a good experience

[@YTSirBlack]

Speaking of Bakugan, There are 4 Bakugan games released on the DS: 2 are ports of the console games (Battle Brawlers and Defenders of The Core) The other 2 are exclusive for that system (Battle Trainer and Rise of The Resistance).

[@rizzydizz375]

Dolphin Island was definitely a “diamond” in the rough kind of game for me when it comes to the many shovelware games that came from the DS. I still go back and play this game every now and then. Dolphins, orcas, penguins, flamingos, manatees, mantarays, just to name a few if the animals. Not to mention a secret final animal you get to train/tame once you get to the end of summer that threw me for a loop when I got to it. In terms of shovel games, definitely a game to pick up if you think you’d enjoy a kind of sim game where you take care of a water park and put on shows for guests of the park. The memory games, which are the feeding and medication daily tasks, get increasingly harder too as the game progresses but not so much that they’re unmanageable. Just a decent game overall for a shovel game.

[@DionneDion]

It actually has a sequel too funnily enough. Petz Rescue: Ocean Patrol in case you're interested.

[@Solaceon]

I was an extremely tomboyish kid and I still loved Dolphin Island. That game was awesome.

[@monst3r_child832]

as far as i'm aware, EVERY MySims game that was on the DS had a version for the Wii and as far as i can tell, the Wii and DS versions are so far removed from each other gameplay-wise that the only reason they share the same title is because they have the same environment and/or similar stories

[@timmyb.3426]

The MySims games on the Wii are usually better than the DS games for the most part. The only one where I like the DS game better than the Wii was MySims Racing, the one featured in this video. Even though the video seemed to talk not so positively on it, I personally still enjoyed it myself.

[@Fauxglove]

The art style and gameplay for Dolphin Island looks pretty much identical to Petz Rescue Ocean Patrol, which was a wild slap of nostalgia to see

[@edwheezer6231]

I fell down a Dolphin Island rabbit hole a bit ago and wanted to share that there's actually two sequels! I see you already found Ocean Patrol, but there's actually another one: Dolphin Island: Underwater Adventures! (Or Petz: Dolphin Encounter some places) It's the only game I've played and it looks pretty different from the other two, but it has the same main characters making it technically a sequel. It's... pretty okay overall, and it might be worth checking out. Also, the reason the games are Petz games some places is because Ubisoft! Apparently it was common for them to publish existing games under the Petz branding and release them in new parts of the world. The Dolphin Island/Planet Rescue games got swept into that. Just a weird bit of trivia. :]

[@ninjacat230]

I think you and I have different definitions of shovelware

[@whilenya4714]

My favorite DS game is LostMagic! It's such a good title, the magic system especially is the coolest thing. Turn based strategy RPG. Awesome use of the touch screen. Overall decent story. Chrono-Trigger-like implementation of New Game +. Besides, the soundtrack's amazing! What's not to love? It was my favorite as a kid, and I still play it to this day whenever I'm bored of newer titles.

[@snivylovescake]

Man seeing Dolphin Island was a blast from the past 😭 I never did beat it but man it gave me so much anxiety whenever any emergency event happened. I loved this game so much lol

[@Hawkatana]

I used to love the Bakugan DS game when I was a kid. It was the first game I ever remember 100%ing and kept playing religiously, even when my mum told me to stop. I still have it in my collection to this very day.

[@ar15kittykat]

I remember finding a cartridge of the zack and cody game on the floor of a walmart as like an 8 year old and not having a clue how to play it- I think I was scared of the graveyard mini game too for some reason Kinda happy to see that the game was actually good and I just sucked at playing it as a kid LMAO (Also happy to see nostalgia popping up for the ds era in all its shovelware glory)

[@passtheboxfox5374]

This video truely is a love letter to the quirkiness of the wii/ds era of the 2000s and frankly, i miss it. I'd kill to have a sick flip phone and play with other people on public transport with my DS. Plus i'm a sucker for 00s web design (it's not ugly, it's stylish)

[@justsomesimplenuclearbirbs4313]

The DS has so many titles. While yes a good chunk of them *are* shovelware, some that shovelware has a purpose. Educational titles made for kids, licensed spinoffs for fans of that specific IP, puzzles for the casual and elderly and ports of PC/early mobile games. Over time the DS line wasn't just being marketed towards kids and teens, but also adults and the elderly. When the DSi came out the DSishop allowed ports of both PC and early mobile games on top of waterdown ports of retail games and completely original games at an affordable price. To anyone who played any of the G.G. Series titles on DSi, there is a Japan only collection of them that was released physically on DS which is both *really* rare and also expensive.

[@gemmanana]

You unlocked a memory with Dolphin Island for me... I used to play that as a kid as well and even tho it was a bit stressful at first bc I didn't know English well enough back then I figured it out later and really enjoyed it! It was one of my favorite DS games. Would love to try it out again

[@SwedePotato314]

I have soooo many of those “218-in-1” shovelware multi carts and I ADORE THEM. still. To this day as a grown woman in my mid 30s with kids, a career and a home, I can tell you proudly that I still play and love Bakugan and all those ridiculous games. There’s some absolutely gold ones out there, I found them initially out of boredom mostly but I have 0 regrets.

[@glumdrops3678]

I’m so glad you gave everything a fair chance!! A lot of these games are so frequently disregarded by so many, but means a lot to so many other people

[@philbogie171]

omg i remember playing the monster high skating game so much when i was younger. I ended up becoming really great at it, but i havent played in forever. this video makes me wanna play it again tho lol, great video!!!

[@ShenDoodles]

Just to be clear, Toree 3D isn't a shovelware game despite being the background footage for this, it's an awesome $2 platformer.

[@BlazeHeartPanther]

That and its sequel are really good. Also, I recommend checking out the creator's other games MacBat 64 and Super Kiwi 64 if you love platformers like Banjo Kazooie and Super Mario 64 for a really cheap price. Great budget platformers, especially SK64 with charming polygonal graphics and great music tracks for its levels.

[@diana_mp4]

Oh man, I remember games like Bratz Super Babyz (nightmare fuel) and this Sims one where I'd restart just to buy the big mansion over and over again. Since this is a video about the DS and lesser known games, I'd like to take this opportunity and ask: does anyone remember the name of this game where you picked an animal and managed a theme park in space with fellow animal NPCs walking around? All (or most) the attractions were minigames and I believe the color palette was very purple. Definitely a game for a very young audience. Whenever I try to find it all I get are more well known "build your own theme park" games.

[@bossuhole]

petz dolphinz encounter is by far one of my favourite ds games overall. the characters, although a bit shallow (i mean, its a kids game) are so wonderful and fun, the exploration is amazing, and the entire message of the game is about how pollution is bad and that only we can do something to help. great game tbh

[@luciddreamqueen812]

My favorite ds game was A Witch’s Tale. It was a bit confusing and unfair, but I loved it so much once I figured out how to play it. The music was so pretty and the art was amazing and the story was wonky but charming and my fav part was the “was it a dream or real” overarching theme combined with the story extending into the new game plus was so so fun to explore and discover. I’m forever grateful for my aunt giving me an Amazon gift card that forced me to dig though miscellaneous ds games for cheap.

[@VGMelodies]

I've had Imagine: Fashion Party for years, and it has become a Shovelware staple when friends come over and we don't know what to do, ahaha!

[@Fulcrum96]

The Bakugan game was the shit. I still have very vivid memories of playing this game in particular under the covers at night while I should've been sleeping. Another relatively obscure DS title that I adored was Spectrobes.

[@nintendoloverin9567]

Just gonna drop this here: In the Petz Catz Clan DS game, somehow I managed to get a weird looking cat with a distinct dark red head, grey/blue/greenish body and it was pretty big compared to the rest of them. I failed to find a lot of talk and content about that game and I gave away my game with savefile to a relative I can't´get in contact with. Even back then I thought that must have been some bug or glitch...

[@Purpie_Slurpie]

this was absolutely lovely, thank you as a certified DS kid myself, the passion that I have for the handheld console line is immense, and I really wish that it wasn't destined for obscurity

[@k303]

I played Kurupoto a lot when I was a kid and loved it, I recently vaguely remembered it and found it again It’s so cute

[@HarmonyHope7534]

I totally adore that Bakugan game. I went out of my way to make a taller Marucho and pretended my character was him from the future lol

[@DionneDion]

Petz Wild Animals Dolphins actually has a sequel that seems to be forgotten, called Petz Rescue: Ocean Patrol. Maybe you can cover that one too sometime, seeing as you quite enjoyed the first one. I believe it's a direct sequel too, with some characters returning (although with new designs).

[@AidanDrotzur-uz5sz]

I never thought I'd see you mention dolphin island I remember my mom git this just because she was obsessed with dolphins And i thought it was actually surprisingly good, not that good at all but way better than you would ever expect

[@princessfetus]

If you want a real monster high game experience with effort and care do either the 3d port or the ds version of New Ghoul at School. While the 3ds game is updated with all the newest characters, has different monsters, etc. The ds game is so nostalgic, with the design of characters and the more poly like design. It’s a great game.

[@phorchybug3286]

The first 2 choices have that sort of DSiWare charm to them.

[@robotprom5323]

me and my sister shared a ds and my dad would randomly buy like 5 games from the bargain bin every couple months. i kind of thought there were like 100 games max on the ds and i would be confused and shocked none of the other kids knew about polly pocket waterpark adventures

[@pickle-juice3517]

Omg you’ve unlocked a deep memory for me I loved that dolphin game when i was little and completely forgot abt until now

[@kay12755]

I was so into Dolphin Island! I forgot about it totally! I never managed to finish it - it's genuinely pretty hard to care for all the animals at once, especially as a kid.

[@ChozotheBozo]

My favorite bargain bin DS game has to be Trioncube. Even though it was published by Bandai Namco and made by the guy who made Mr. Driller, it didn't review well and almost nobody knows about it. I loved it to death, it was a puzzle game with some incredibly satisfying combo systems. It was the perfect blend of laid back and in-the-zone, it hit that sweet spot like a good game of Tetris.

[@tangosteen]

8:05 my neighbor had the zack and Cody game when we were younger. I still don't know who they are, but damn was it great when you have like 3 games

[@Mawwy-Mawwy]

Talking about both Bakugan and Dolphin Island gave me such nostalgia, I used to love them so much when I was a kid, Amazing video!!

[@liztoady]

I’m so glad you mentioned my favourite game: The Sun Crossword Puzzle !!!!!!! I got it in CEX for £1 and it’s actually impossible, but if it’s mainstream enough to be mentioned in your video, then I guess I should give it another go !!!!!!

[@krabs6457]

ok so the dolphin game you showed looked extremely familiar to me and i was like “hey i think i played that as a kid but i don’t remember a game named ‘dolphin island’” and this led me down a rabbit hole what i owned as a kid was “petz rescue: ocean patrol” a game with the same characters, ui, and gameplay, but with a different name according to wikipedia this game was a sequel to “wild petz: dolphins” which after some research i learned was actually dolphin island but renamed under the petz moniker however, there is also a europe-only sequel to this game called “dolphin island: underwater adventure”, which is not the same game as “petz rescue: ocean patrol” and after more research, i learned the game is known as “planet rescue: ocean patrol” in europe so basically what i played is some other game with the same characters and same gameplay but with a different name and i’m utterly confused at where this fits into the dolphin island timeline

[@ladyviren]

Ty for reminding me of the glory that is all star cheer squad. I had it on the wii and the soundtrack is such a banger. And the gameplay was fun too. Gonna listen yo thr soundtrack later lol

[@byakuyatogami2905]

Bakugan and Monster High were so my thing as a kid. Also lowkey i love collecting obscure games. Sometimes its just things that look interesting and then "oh shit its 200 dollars on ebay"

[@James050]

Since i started collecting games i started buying up all these cheap Wii and DS games. And some of them i have actually had a good time with. Night At The Museum 2 on the DS, Shaun The Sheep Off His Head DS, family Ski (Wii), Cars The Videogame (Wii), Toy Story 3 (Wii - Incredibly Underrated game.)

[@jigzyonline2]

Toy Story 3 was dope. Edit: And Cars!

[@Ilsezwarts]

Dolphin Island is great! The sequel is really good too. Saw someone else here talk about the tinkerbell games, and I agree with that too! As a young girl in the early 2000s I had a TON of the imagine games,, some of those are pretty fun, I remember really liking the elementary school teacher for some reason. I'm trying to buy back a lot of the games I got rid off as a teen and I still need to get to that one, recently replayed Dolphin Island and the first tinkerbell one and they "hold up" pretty well. I enjoyed playing them, and I can see why kid me liked them so much. Also, some games get pigeon holed into shovel ware too even though they're not really, like the new style boutique/ style savy games (different name for different regions)

[@CCClarinet12]

Most of my old games I still have but I am trying to buy back like the 5 i lost on car rides (in a car we no longer have)

[@sushiroll3795]

Bro, you mentioning Dagedar unlocked an ancient memory for me. Holy shit, I hadn't thought about that game for over a decade.

[@adolin.kholin]

I slammed the table in excitement when you mentioned Dolphin Island. That was my childhood. However. There is ONE day that you literally can't seem to actually get through, and I never knew how to beat it. You have to clean and take care of so many things at once and the time limit is brutal. I tried so many times, and never got through it, and neither could my brother. We even looked up guides a few years ago. I HAD to stop playing because I simply couldn't play it anymore. You mentioning it makes me want to try and see if I can actually beat it these days. Oh no, what have you done. (I do agree with you that a few things definitely didn't age well. Unfortunately a reoccuring thing in old games.)

[@CCClarinet12]

OMG I NEVER GOT PAST THAT DAY TOOOOOO

[@CCClarinet12]

I still have the game I should try again now that I am a teen and not an 8 year old haha

[@adolin.kholin]

@@CCClarinet12 omg please do tell if you can do it now lmao. it's one of those curiosities that wont let me go

[@CCClarinet12]

@@adolin.kholin I FAILED 5 TIMES I AM LITERALLY RAGING OVER A DOLPHIN GAME FROM MY CHILDHOOD HAHA 😂

[@adolin.kholin]

@@CCClarinet12 FUCK LMAO. Im SO close to emulating this STUPIDLY HARD game to see

[@spookycreachre]

Dolphin Island (or Petz Dolphinz as it was titled for me) was my very first DS game! I loved it, but managing all the animals became too difficult and I never finished the game. Super fun video! It's nice seeing these games get attention.

[@dropdeaddrawing]

I adored the dolphin game as a kid. As a small artist at the time the style of the character art was so inspirational. I still love dolphins to this day, and that game played a part in that for sure.

[@Emperorwolf999]

Darkus Leonidas is the best version because it fills out the team, makes more sense with the dark themes of his story, and gives you a chance on the final boss

[@lrgogo1517]

This video has such a curious taste. Most of the time the format looks and sounds like your average Chat-About Games Josh... but then BOOM, it cuts to experimental ThorHighHeels-looking graphic design. When he recorded footage of his Bakugan next to cassettes for _Umurangi Generation_ and _Twinkle Park,_ I was surprised, and then became very unsurprised.

[@implozia1360]

You basically did what I did when I got Wall E from a thrift store and Trauma Center from a yard sale. Also thanks for the Bakugan bait! I briefly played the Wii so thanks for making sure I touch the DS one too! Cheers!

[@Hylianguy38]

I remembered going to a five-below store and saw a dozen copies of Bakugan for the DS. Speaking of shovelware, that store also had a dozen copies of Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer for the DS.

[@duw4ng]

Glad I'm not the only one that's interested in the vast realm of Shovelware games on the DS 😅

[@joeyburkhart6602]

I owned the Bakugon game! I remember being so mad cause my brother named the charater "Ethan Simmings" or something, and was so mad because no other charater revealed their last name!

[@alyssumowo]

I clicked on this for background noise, expecting it to just be another video about tearing bad shovelware games a new one, but it actually surprised me with how positive it was, even with games you disliked! The video just felt really sweet overall and it makes me happy ^u^

[@thespookycore4344]

While I wouldn't call it shovel ware, style savy trendsetters prob holds my personal record of most playtime for a non online game besides breath of the wild. My friend had the 1st game and it stuck with me for years until trendsetters came out and I finally had a 3ds.

[@labertasche58]

Omg I love dolphin island. I did buy it because I was a dolphin obsessed kid lolol but I remember it very fondly. Except that my touchscreen was broken af and so I kept failing the dolphin trainings and made me cry a lot lol I'm actually going to try and find it, watching this really made me want to play it again lol

[@shawnarocha3029]

I gotta say I'm surprised that Bakugan for the DS is basically the Wii version which is all any fan could ask for. I remember when I was around, eh maybe 13 my brother got Bakugan Battle Brawlers for the Wii and it had me in awe. The monsters along with the animations was all my little heart sought in a good game. I knew nothing about the franchise and I played the game wayyy more than my brother ever did lol. Couple years ago I actually played through the entire thing and enjoyed every second of it. Honestly just seeing you play it and talking about it makes me want to go run and boot it up right now.

[@qwertyzorovague]

The Bakugan DS port was literally my childhood. I used to have the game on a few consoles but lost the copies. Then I saw bakugan in a gamestop for the DS one day and immediately got it with my allowance. Flash forward today, I'm still replaying it whenever I get the chance. There's something about 100%'ing it in particular that other games didn't have at the time. and that's honestly the best part about it! I enjoyed the hell out of the minigames I had to play during a battle, and even wagering what my money (ingame) was spent on. I figured out the bronze warius cheat by accident and to this day sometimes still use it.

[@LyntBrandstar]

wow, i had no idea skullitimate roller maze had a DS port, i used to play the 3DS version to death, its pretty decent but a bit scuffed in some places

[@year2082]

my favourite ds games are pokemon black+white and fossil fighters champions, but my favourite shovelware game has always been this game just called pony friends. it was a pet care simulator type game where you looked after up to three of your own horses. you could wash+brush them, feed them treats, and put them out in the field to do tricks, but the bulk of the game was actually based around trail riding+taking pictures of the wildlife. most of the time you'd just see small animals like squirrels but if you were really lucky you'd get something like a deer or a bear. it was also a way to earn in-game currency; once a day you'd get a quest on a specific trail to find a lost item or take a picture of a specific animal and you'd get enough coins to cover that day's supplies. there was also a lot of customizability for what it was. you could choose all of your horse's equipment down to the horseshoes (including drawing your own custom saddle blankets), and there was even an option to make your dream horse for a slightly higher in-game fee than choosing one of the default ones. i think that was a lot of what really drew me into it. there was also a racing minigame where you could cheer your horse on through the ds mic to make it go faster. i wonder how many parents that ever annoyed lol

[@krv3]

my deck on battle brawlers right now is pyrus leonidas, aquos seige and darkus gargonoid with the seige g power boost, earthen mound, and +100 g power per points won gate card. The ability cards are prevention, double aquos attack and one that adds 200 g power to darkus if my opponent is aquos.

[@Lyoko.G]

The Bakugan DS game was THE shit. I loved it so much as a kid that I 100%ed it and absolutely ruined my dsi bottom screen from the spinning minigame

[@cakeghoul]

Holy shit I fucking loved skultimate roller maze as a kid, I always found it weird that it had no multiplayer options, turns out the wii version does have multiplayer, but it's a weird relay co-op thing where only one player can play at a time, also the wii version had stamina meters and non-midi versions of the soundtrack. The other monster high DS game i had was ghoul spirit. you make an oc and play through a recreation of the school, it even has voice acting for some lines. This one also came out on the wii. There was also a spiritual successor called new ghoul in school (not to be confused with new ghoul @ school) that added more characters, more customisation options and updated the school to be how it looked in the show at the time. I had so much shovelware and "girls games" on the ds as a kid. I love them all and still have them as well as my original dsi which still hasn't broken. One series that I would always come back to were the imagine series. If you ever do a sequel, I think you should try to check out those games. I'd also recommend the Style Boutique/Style Savvy series too, but most are on 3ds and are much higher quality than shovelware.

[@neverendinglute3125]

Style savvy is unparalleled. A silent giant that dominated the fashion game neiche. Every game they put out just made you realize how much they pushed the limit of what all they could put in. Glad it’s getting a successor

[@AmazingRoni]

yess!! i was never lucky enough to get skulltimate roller maze (despite the movie being my sister's favorite and my 2nd favorite) but i STILL have ghoul spirit it's so fun!!

[@cakeghoul]

@@neverendinglute3125 I'm so hyped for fashion dreamer, but I also got impatient to the point I'd google the release date every few weeks or so. Which reminds me, I should probably google it again.

[@cakeghoul]

@@AmazingRoni The only 2 MH movies I saw as a kid were Freaky Fusion and Haunted, but I recently got nearly all of them on DVD. Now I just need Scaris and Boo York.

[@moosevelt9148]

Sorry your Ghostbuster cart didn't work, I remember the game fondly! Maybe a little unintuitive and difficult, but still a good game. You basically run your own Ghostbusters business between story missions, upgrade your gear, and drive around a full 3D NY city in Ecto-1. Pretty cool stuff for a kid! Bakugan was a great DS game. I really enjoyed Ninjatown, a town defense game, and Lego Battles too. Lego Ninjago Battles was a trash sequel.

[@implozia1360]

Third time watching this video and currently playing the Bakugan DS game (I played the Wii one as a kid!), Thanks again for making this video and embedding yourself in my memory forever xD

[@_vlpin]

Dolphinz reminded me alot of Tigerz and then You said it was a PetZ game and I thought "that makes sense lol". Tigerz was my first DS game so I remember it very well! Your ode to shovelware warms my heart to be honest, as a child I picked games based on whether I liked the cover and the screenshots on the back of the box, so I ended up with alot of obscure little games that nobody has heard about. And because they cost as much as those big IP games I felt bad for spending money on them later down the line. But, I guess, I had fun with them after all so isn't that what matters most?

[@table2.0]

The Bakugan DS game is fire actually, literally one of my favourite games ever Oh my god, you unlocked a core memory with the Dolphin game

[@eddyrikulollol]

Friend bought me that zack and cody game because they knew i played games... Awesome video, there is way too many shovelware games for ds and wii

[@NyxTheNerd]

That Bakugan game is genuinely one of the best shovelware games I've ever played. I love how the DS version is almost the exact same as the console versions. I love how the PS3 and Wii versions utilize the motion controls and how the DS translates it. I personally usually emulate the PS2 version because it has a normal controller layout but any version is amazing.

[@Skarzar]

That Bakugan game stole hours of my life, replaying it for each element you could choose for your starter guy. When you showed the in-battle minigame, especially the "rub the screen" one, I yelled. Once nearly took the tip off my stylus trying to win one of those lol. And bless you for mentioning the lack of gender options, was legit so sad as a 15 yr old girl, booting it up to see I couldn't be a chick lol

[@IdolatryVT]

Similar to dolphin island (may be a sequel or a prior game) is ‘planet rescue ocean patrol’. Focuses more on the wildlife rescue aspect. One feature I remember vividly is getting to swim/dive in the enclosures with the animals, as well as the general aesthetics of the game. I never personally got far in it, and I don’t remember the plot at all, so I can’t say if the unfortunate character designs are still present, but I’d still recommend the game if you liked Dolphin Island.

[@DionneDion]

It's indeed a sequel, some characters return but with a bit newer designs.

[@Pepstep_07]

"the art direction could kill an indian elephant" INSTANT SUB that made me choke on my food