Nintendo handheld consoles are fertile ground for Nintendo DS ROMS hacks as they are easy to access and relatively easy to hack into games.
The second screen, which is also touch, also gives the console a unique selling point, as it is often used for maps, menus, or other quality-of-life improvements. If implemented well, give users DS games an advantage over the versions that appear the same games played on other consoles.
The DS also provides programmers with unique opportunities to create ROM hacks. The second screen, which is also a touch screen, offers unique opportunities to update, enhance or even revise the usual structure or appearance.
Like the best GBA ROM hacks, there are plenty of Pokémon RPGs and hacks, fewer than on GBA, for example, perhaps due to the added complexity of dealing with that second screen, but what are the best hacks? What do we have? Have the retro dodo towers caught your attention?
Delight in the dual-screen action we discovered in our search for the best NDS ROMS hacks, and remember, if you can’t get your hands on the original console, there’s always the option of emulators.
1. 2018 Robo Arena Redux
Once again, a more accessible and more uncomplicated cheat than many that follow on this list, the Redux Cheat for Custom Robo Arena changes the pace and balance of the action RPG to improve the game in many ways including much more repeatable.
While the typical game sees some additional robot parts that are inaccessible until later in the game, the mod allows players to purchase them from the first few stores found during the game. The more powerful robot models are also available early, but for a fee (unless you can buy them later in the story!).
New weapons have been added, and existing weapons have been adjusted to make them fairer or easier. It’s clear that a lot of attention has gone into making Custom Robo Arena as fun as possible without shaking up and obscuring the core game too much and already highly entertaining.
While part of the fun of many cheats is that they take existing games and add enough content to make them feel brand new, in the case of Custom Robo Arena, it’s still the same game, only better!
2. 2018 Shadow Dragon
While the title of this mod is incredibly literal and tells you exactly what it does, let me explain exactly why this is so important.
This Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon ROM cheat allows players to use items that could only be accessed through the game’s online stores closed by Nintendo in 2014.
This had the effect of doing some weapons, and even a character class was almost useless, but this mod restores the game to its full glory.
It’s a real shame and incredibly disappointing that Nintendo didn’t even allow players to update their game versions to include these items once access to the online store was removed. Still, thankfully madders stepped in, and this ROM hack saved the day. For players who weren’t lucky enough to have this access back then.
Last but not least, this ROM hack shows just how helpful the modding community can be in maintaining gaming experiences for everyone, not just gamers who were away from home at a particular time and place. One of the best Nintendo DS ROM hacks, and thanks for your time and effort, madders!
3. 2012 Monster Trainer
This cheat emphasizes the monster training elements of Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (which ranks high on our list of the best DS-RPGs). While it is pretty subtle in many ways, it makes the game much more fun for players who want to make it easier to recruit and train more monsters in their party, reducing the need to hunt down their favorite characters.
It also allows monsters to use gear that more logically suits their personalities and abilities, along with minor changes to the prior experience.
Dragon Quest V was already a critical and commercial success and is still highly valued today, so there may be some gamers who like the “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality, but what about? This trick’s smart to focus on one aspect of the game that many players would have liked to see more of and then turn it up to eleven.
One of the oldest hacks that made it onto the Nintendo DS Best ROM Hacked list when I was almost ten years old, completely transformative, but only by offering something different can the game take on a new life.
