Our favorite DS homebrew games
Got a new M3 Simply or R4 homebrew cart and looking for something to do with it? A growing team of dedicated homebrew developers have been tirelessly working on independent game projects for your amusement, and the best part is that these games are free! We appreciate all the hard work of these DS homebrew developers, so we would like to acknowledge a few of the most impressive games out there. Some of these free games are really interesting and would warrant a purchase from many DS players if the titles were available at stores. We give you a preview of what to expect, as well as step-by-step procedures to download and run the games on your homebrew-playing device of choice.
Word Up!
Tetris meets Bookworm. Word Up! Is a puzzle game that requires you to link together adjacent blocks with letters to make words; the longer the word, the more points you get. As you can see, the game features snazzy graphical effects and makes good use of both of the DS screens. Blocks fall from the top screen at a constant rate, forcing you to keep going for as long as you can. The game features excellent audio and controls, and it’s a really nice game to play for short bursts of gaming. Much like Setsuzoku Puzzle, Word Up! starts out a bit tough, but practice makes perfect!
TO PLAY:
Setsuzoku Puzzle
This nifty puzzle game is a lot of fun to play and highly addictive. You must match pairs of blocks that have the same color and shape. Blocks don ‘t need to be next to each other; you can remotely link them as long as you don’t take more than 2 turns to do so. The game does a good job of explaining how to play and a few special rules available; simply access the game’s Instructions menu to learn everything you need to know. The game features a variety of levels, but trust us, it’ll take you a while to get past the first one. Although the game is very challenging at first, as soon as your eyes learn to work fast you’ll be matching shapes quickly in no time. Intuitive controls and amazing audio make the game even better. Setsuzoku Puzzle is certainly one of the most fun and addictive homebrew games out to date.
TO PLAY:
Population Tire
Population Tire is a simple mini-game featuring Homestar Runner favorites like The Cheat and Strong Sad. Your task is to keep the tire bouncing; as you prevent it to hitting the floor, your score increases. Balloons and characters act as score multipliers, while breaking floating Cold Ones decreases your score. Population Tire is a nice mini-game for those moments in life when you only have a few minutes of play time. Here’s some footage of the game in action:
TO PLAY:
Monky
Monky is a really nice platformer featuring familiar character sprites and sound effects. You, a monkey, run around the level collecting bananas, defeating enemies, and looking for the 5 words to spell out MONKY. Once you get the letters, you may move on to the next level. Based on the amount of bananas you collect and the number of enemies defeated, the game gives you a ranking for each level you complete, a neat factor that increases replayability. Monky is a great little game with good music and physics; unfortunately, only two levels are available at the moment. We look forward to further development of this nice platformer diversion.
TO PLAY:
As homebrew development for DS continues, more great games like these are certain to be released, and we’ll make sure to let you know which ones are worth your time!
