The low cost of DS game development and the extraordinarily high popularity of the system make the DS an excellent way for new developers to find an audience. 5th Cell is a notable company who has done great with the DS -- which is why they've made this Gamasutra list of breakthrough developers. Level-5 has been huge for a while, thanks to Dragon Quest VIII, but Professor Layton upped their profile significantly.Have any developers come to your attention since you started playing the DS? Old or new, have you become a fan of a company for their DS output? We're sure there are some out there without the number 5 in their name.







Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-14-2008 @ 9:21AM
RyGy said...
Renegade Kid has my attention with Moon, I never played dementium but I've been wanting to pick it up for a while.
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8-14-2008 @ 11:20AM
Nigeria said...
If we're primarily talking about DS games then I wouldn't be able to give you a concrete answer, but if we were to consider all platforms then I'd easily say Grasshopper.
In the last two years I've played Killer7, NMH, and Contact - a DS game, and they've all been awesome. I can't wait for Flower, Sun, and Rain to be released in the autumn.
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8-14-2008 @ 12:05PM
aj said...
I haven't really noticed any developers, really, but I've become a huge fan of anything Atlus puts out on the DS. It's almost like they're making games just for me and my weird ass tastes (well, except for that one that sucks, you know which one I mean). But publishers? Nah.
I got into Level-5 after Dragon Quest VIII and Rogue Galaxy, but those are PS2 titles, so it doesn't count. I've yet to play Layton, but I want to. I just have to find it for less than 40$ around here.....
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8-14-2008 @ 1:02PM
Ashley said...
I echo that sentiment.
8-14-2008 @ 12:11PM
Zealot said...
Although I only own one of their games, which means that I can't make any personal judgments, I've seen a lot of interesting things come from Success. Although opinion on Izuna is divided, Drone Tactics and Rondo of Swords are generally considered mediocre, and Touch Detective considered outright bad, at least they're trying.
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8-14-2008 @ 1:20PM
Kimiko said...
Goes to show what "they" really know. Touch Detective was great.
8-14-2008 @ 2:08PM
rosemo said...
I'm going to have to agree with Kimiko. If I were reviewing Touch Detective 2.5, I would have given it a score of 7.5 out of 10. It wasn't nearly as bad as some sites made it seem. In fact, for a couple of reviews I questioned whether or not they even played it. I picked it up for about $8, so its worth a shot.
8-14-2008 @ 2:51PM
Zealot said...
Yeah, I've been meaning to give Touch Detective a try in spite of popular opinion. The fact that 90% of the comments I've seen about it on the internet consist of such insightful statements as "the mushroom looks like a p---s LOL HAR HAR HAR" doesn't really leave a lot of valid criticism left to take into consideration.
8-14-2008 @ 4:45PM
chibi_wings said...
I've actually enjoyed their titles like Rondo of Swords (it's only mediocre with respect to graphics) and Touch Detective 2.5 (the little of it that I've played so far). I haven't tried Izuna.
8-14-2008 @ 1:25PM
Kimiko said...
Atlus, Eidos, Flight-Plan, Infinite Interactive, Success.
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8-14-2008 @ 4:53PM
chibi_wings said...
Cing and their adventure games (Hotel Duck, & Trace Memory) Image Epoch and their Luminous Arc (I loved it and I can't wait to get the second one), and as I've mentioned above Success. Atlus has also earned a place in my heart for Etrian Odyssey and its localization of Image Epoch's Luminous Arc series and Success' games. I liked Atlus before, but now it's a favourite of mine ^^
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8-14-2008 @ 5:40PM
Adam Dolph said...
Renegade Kid, Success/Ninja Studios and Cing
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8-14-2008 @ 6:11PM
FantomRedux said...
The only dev whos really been new for me is Matrix, the makers of the 2 FF remakes. The rest of the games I've bought were either developers I already knew about (Capcom I
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8-15-2008 @ 12:04AM
Allengator said...
I can't believe no one has said iNiS yet. After playing Elite Beat Agents, then importing (something I had never done nor thought about previously) both Ouendan games, I find myself checking out their other offerings and looking about once every other week to see when (I would say "if", but I'm trying to learn to be an optimist) the next EBA/Ouendan will be coming out. iNis gets my wholehearted vote.
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