Mario Kart DS -- Rehashed tracks, horrible wifi support, callous-inducing control scheme with no way to edit it. It was good, don't get me wrong, but not as amazing as it's made out to be, and not even close to being the best Mario Kart, as some have claimed.

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I have four fingers, and I am pointing them at:

4. Brain Age. It's fun for a while, but after a week or two of doing the exercises, it's just monotonous, and the level of benefit tapers off. After awhile I was just doing sudoku puzzles on it - I can get Zendoku if I really want to do that, thankyouverymuch.

3. Mario Kart DS - see the first commenter. "Rehashed tracks, horrible wifi support, callous-inducing control scheme with no way to edit it. It was good, don't get me wrong, but not as amazing as it's made out to be, and not even close to being the best Mario Kart, as some have claimed." I have nothing to add that onepointfivevolt didn't already say, except that sadly the horrible wifi in MKDS just showed us that the friends code system Nintendo's saddled us with is here to stay, like a monkey with an overactive bowel disorder.

2. Metroid Prime Hunters - Lordy, lordy, what a piece of crap this was. The expectations were set WAY too high. Number one on my complaints: every. Single. Control. Scheme. Sucks. Dear Nintendo: I have big hands. I don't want to get hand cramps playing your FPS. End of discussion.

Here's the one I'll get crucified for. Last but not least...

1. New Super Mario Bros.

Seriously.

The new play mechanics (woohoo, super-big mushroom) were not enough to make up for the fact that the game is way too short and provides neither challenge nor replay value, in any way whatsoever. And, well, like I mentioned, it's *easy*. I don't know if this is part of Nintendo's whole casual gamer approach, but NSMB was so watered-down I beat it in one night. I was expecting something approaching the challenge level of SMB1, given the way it was being promoted, and I was sorely disappointed.

There was also absolutely no need to go back and 100% it by getting all the coins, finishing all the levels, et cetera. As far as I can tell, your reward for doing so was a big fat nothing. Whoop-de-doo.

I traded it back the next day.

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I want to agree with pretty much everyone here when I say NSMB, Metroid Prime: Hunters, and Mario Kart. On the other hand, these three games seem to have, in my opinion, been simultaneously over hyped AND gotten the praise they deserve. Make sense? I didn't think so. :)

It comes from the fact that all three games really were innovative when it comes to how they played and what they brought to the DS.

As far as remakes go, NSMB was top notch,

MP:H found a way to bring PC like FPS deathmatching to handhelds, and

Mario Kart brought another fun installment to a long running franchise (yeah, it could be considered another remake, but for the sake of listing the three I decided to mix it up a little.)

On the other hand, NSMB was incredibly easy,

MP:H had a control scheme which seemed far to complicated for many gamers, and

Mario Kart. Drifting. 'Nuf said.

I really do think all three were incredible games, to a point. At the same time, I feel their shortcomings caused the hype to be to much... "overly" so, you might say.

I COULD go back and proofread this post, in order to double check my logic and grammar. Instead, I shall simply hit submit, log into my email, and approve the comment. Livin' on the edge! :)

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*far TOO complicated.

*caused the hype to be TOO much.

Damn.

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New Super Mario Brothers.

I have to agree with Phil. The game's popularity is easily explained. There hasn't been a 2D Mario scroller in years so everyone who played SMB, SMB 3 and SMW went nuts for this game. It even appealed to the new "non-gamer" crowd because they most likely figured if they were going to be playing video games, they should be playing Mario. What I can't understand however, is how the game wooed over so many critics as well. NSMB in relation to a game like SMW feels like Halo 2 is to Halo. That is to say that on the surface they both appear to be sequels, that is to say, the same game with a whole bunch of upgrades and prettier graphics. However dig a little deeper and they feel completely different! NSMB is slower, the level design is plain and uninspired and the entire endeavor reeks of cash-in. The multiplayer modes make the game an 8.0 to say the best but nothing about this game justify it as the best game on DS and some websites have rated it as such.

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I have to agree with ya, Alisha. MPH was way overrated, IMO.

SG

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the holiest of holy cows: metroid prime hunters, phoenix wright, and elite beat agents. i played elite beat agents in particular for about half an hour, and promptly sent it right back in to GameFly.

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Say Phil. Did you ever use the thumb-strap on MP:H?

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I find MPH to be over-rated by major reviewers, and under-rated by gamers. It is a good game, a lot of fun with friends, and goodness the control scheme was a dream when you got used to it. Cramps every once in a while, true, but it was so precise! I'll trade a little discomfort for such precise aiming.

Mario Kart is not over hyped. End of. The Wifi was lacking, but it was internet play darn it! No longer did you have to have a friend right there to play with. It was simple and limited, but it was also Nintendo's first entry.

NSMB, perhaps. It was a great game, and a ton of fun, but it was too easy.

My most over-rated game is Star Fox Command. I did not like this game at all. The story, what story? You mean some of you actually played through this multiple times to get the different weak endings? The control was difficult at first but ended up okay. Needed to be a bit tighter though. The Wifi was absolutely terrible. Much worse than MK, and came out almost a year later. The strategy element felt taped on, and the fights were repetitive. I was very disappointed.



With all due respect,
Fox

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YES! NSMB was way too easy. Fireballs on Bowser? Come on! I didn't even realize that you could do that until World 8 because I never thought the Mario Universe would stoop so low. It also took me a day to beat it. Waaaay too easy.

I like Brain Age though. Ok, maybe it doesn't make you smarter but when you share one DS between four family members Brain Age becomes a real fun challenge course for "who is the smartest sibling". Definitely worth the $20.

Metroid was fun. Overhyped, but not a bad game once you got used to the control scheme.

I think Pokemon was overhyped. I was super pumped to play a new game, but it ended up being so similar to Red and Blue that it just got boring. Also is it just me but is leveling up twice as easy as it used to be?

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Contact and Lunar Knights. Both are boring as hell, have terrible level design and are nowhere near as interesting or fun as reviewers claimed.

As for Metroid Prime: Hunters, it has an 85 on Metacritic, which I think is just about where it belongs. I thought it was amazing when I first played it, but can't bring myself to play it again owing to the tough control scheme.

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Nintendogs FTL

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Nintendogs. God that game sucked.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you!
...for saying Pokemon. I didn't want to be the first to say it. Although I'll admit a bias here - I got bored with Red/Blue after about, oh, 1 minute of play. Cute as they are, it's just not the game for me.

Risking further hate mail, I'd also put Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin on the overrated list. Enjoyable, yes, but all that game of the year talk in the reviews were a bit much in my opinion.

I agree with the comments on MPH's cramp inducing control scheme but I picked up a thumb stylus and it's way better. Plus, I find it more accurate (or so I like to tell myself).

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Pokemon games will ALWAYS be overhyped. When the formula changes so little between iterations of the series, and there's such a massive fanboy audience, it's inevitable.

NSMB - Agreed. It was good for what it was, but I'm surprised game critics haven't been more, well, critical. The new mechanics were largely gimmicky and under-utilised.

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EBA is the only one I've been unhappy with so far. Piece of crap. Tapping the glass to a beat is not fun.

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I have to agree, I was severely disappointed in New Super Mario Brothers. It was waaaay too easy and the power up schemed flawed by being able to tear through everything with the fire flower. Again, it no replay value whatsoever. I'm glad someone pointed out how flawed NSMB is, I thought I was the only one (or maybe I grew up and lost the love for the Mario Bros.)

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pokemons and animal crossing

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Whoever has a dis-taste for NSMB obviously hasn't played the multiplayer. That's worth 34.99 for me.

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I must be a crappy gamer then, I found NSMB to be really hard.

My vote? Tetris DS. It's just not got the simple charm of the game boy original and the whole music thing is annoying - I'd rather play the NSMB minigames. Which are amazing and should have a game to themselves. So good.

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