The Nintendo DS and the 3DS were two of the video game company’s most popular consoles, offering iconic gameplay experiences with the benefit of being on handheld systems. Across both consoles' video game library, the DS and 3DS have their fair share of diverse titles, from fighting games, to puzzle challenges, and even action adventures.
However, many fans of Nintendo’s two handheld systems may be unaware of the top-notch horror games on the platform. While these games might not be as edgy as those on other consoles, they provide worthwhile video game experiences nonetheless. These six games on DS and 3DS are the best horror games for the systems, and make for excellent Halloween first playthroughs!
Castlevaniais a franchise with a long history on Nintendo platforms dating back to the NES. The Nintendo DS was no exception, withCastlevania: Order of Ecclesiabeing the third game in the series on the system. Released in 2008, the game offers upa classic side-scrollingCastlevaniaexperience, with players controlling the character Shanoa.
The game was released to positive reviews and was favorably compared tofranchise highlightCastlevania: Symphony of the Night. Plus, it offered a strong challenge toCastlevaniafans compared to its previous titles on the Nintendo DS. Overall, the game has a boatload of great content for a DS game over a decade old at this point.
As good asOrder of Ecclesiais, it just barely qualifies as horror.
Fatal Frameis an iconic horror series, combining supernatural threats with photography-like gameplay. The Nintendo 3DS saw a spin-off of the series inSpirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir. This iteration of theFatal Framegameplay allows for the photography element to really shine, considering players can make use of 3D graphics and the gyroscope camera.
In the game, players use their 3DS camera toactually discover ghosts in their real worldthrough the use of AR technology. It can get pretty creepy to see these supernatural beings in your living room, even if the game has very little content in it. It’s not the biggest time-sink on the Nintendo 3DS, but it’ll surely creep you out beyond belief.
Visual novels may not be the most immersive form of gameplay, buthistorically they’re great at terrifying their players.Theresiais a strong example of this, taking the genre to Nintendo DS in 2008, where players assume the role of Leanne, an amnesiac girl who awakes in a lab and soon discovers the truth about the world’s destruction at the hands of a bio-weapon.
Among other visual novels on the Nintendo DS,Theresiais certainly one of the scariest, and even incorporates point-and-click-esque gameplay as players navigate rooms and discover clues. Considering the state of the world over the last few years,Theresiacontains a pandemic-inspired plot that adds a whole new layer of fear to the experience.
With the Nintendo 3DS came upgraded graphics and more complex games, withResident Evil: Revelationsbeing an example of one that makes great use of the console’s hardware. The game follows the belovedResident Evil 4in the franchise’s chronology but incorporates elements of survival horror games for a much more intenseResident Evilexperience.
The result is a game that seems far ahead of its console’s capabilities, with some reviewers noting the game’s graphical quality compared to other titles on the same system. Though some felt the game could’ve had scarier elements,its setting and gameplay mechanics do a great jobof keeping the player on their toes at all times, like the best horror games do.
There were two games in theDementiumfranchise released on the Nintendo DS, butDementium 2is clearly the superior title. This first-person survival horror game stands out quite a bit from the rest of the DS’s more family-friendly library. Players control a mental facility patient attempting to escape from captivity, encountering monsters along the way.
As far as horror games go on the Nintendo DS,Dementium 2isone of the most genuinely terrifying, featuring truly gruesome monsters, an eerie setting, and other horrifying visuals. Even the game’s cover art is nightmare-inducing! If you’re looking for a horror game to play on the DS, it hardly gets much scarier thanDementium 2, or its predecessor for that matter.
It’s unlikely that any real fan of horror video games would consider theLuigi’s Mansiongames to be particularly scary at all. Nevertheless,Nintendo knows how to craft an incredible adventure game, which is exactly what players get with the 3DS’sLuigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, which finds Luigi reuniting with E. Gadd to investigate numerous mansions.
Though it doesn’t have as many blatantly creepy elements as the first game released on GameCube (and which later got a re-release on the 3DS),Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moonis an appropriate level-up of the original game’s simplicity. Rather than explore a vast mansion, players get to accomplish levels that streamline the game’s horrific chapters.
