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.
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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!
6 Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia
Metascore: 85 (DS)
Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo DS , Nintendo 3DS
- Released
- October 21, 2008
- Developer(s)
- Konami
Castlevania is a franchise with a long history on Nintendo platforms dating back to the NES. The Nintendo DS was no exception, with Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia being the third game in the series on the system. Released in 2008, the game offers up a classic side-scrolling Castlevania experience, with players controlling the character Shanoa.
The game was released to positive reviews and was favorably compared to franchise highlight Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Plus, it offered a strong challenge to Castlevania fans 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 as Order of Ecclesia is, it just barely qualifies as horror.
5 Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir
Metascore: 54 (3DS)
Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo 3DS
- Released
- April 13, 2012
- Developer(s)
- Koei Tecmo
Fatal Frame is an iconic horror series, combining supernatural threats with photography-like gameplay. The Nintendo 3DS saw a spin-off of the series in Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir. This iteration of the Fatal Frame gameplay 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 to actually discover ghosts in their real world through 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.
4 Theresia
Metascore: 61 (DS)
Visual novels may not be the most immersive form of gameplay, but historically they're great at terrifying their players. Theresia is 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.
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Among other visual novels on the Nintendo DS, Theresia is 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, Theresia contains a pandemic-inspired plot that adds a whole new layer of fear to the experience.
3 Resident Evil: Revelations
Metascore: 82 (3DS)
With the Nintendo 3DS came upgraded graphics and more complex games, with Resident Evil: Revelations being an example of one that makes great use of the console's hardware. The game follows the beloved Resident Evil 4 in the franchise's chronology but incorporates elements of survival horror games for a much more intense Resident Evil experience.
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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 job of keeping the player on their toes at all times, like the best horror games do.
2 Dementium 2
Metascore: 75 (DS)
There were two games in the Dementium franchise released on the Nintendo DS, but Dementium 2 is 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 2 is one 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 than Dementium 2, or its predecessor for that matter.
1 Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Metascore: 86 (3DS)
It's unlikely that any real fan of horror video games would consider the Luigi's Mansion games 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's Luigi'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 Moon is 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.