Hey all,
RetroArch on a smartphone is downright bodacious, but I absolutely need a physical controller for most games. While I’ve been fiddling with it, I’ve discovered a couple DS games that work surprisingly well as touchscreen-only games. I wanted to share my thoughts & see if anyone else has recommendations for other “playable on a touchscreen” games:
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Zoo Keeper is a very fun match-3 game. With the DS you’d use the stylus to move the tiles around, but it’s perfectly suited for a modern touchscreen, too. Whole thing appears to be playable without any controller. I’ve sunk tons of time into this in waiting rooms, lately.
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Sega Casino - not nearly as strong of a recommendation as Zoo Keeper, but it’s totally playable without a controller. I’ve only really played the Texas Hold 'Em game, but it scratches that poker itch.
RPGs (Squeenix, Pokémon, etc) work pretty well since they’re mostly menus, but still require a controller (software or otherwise) to interact. I’m thinking Ace Attorney might be a good fit, but I haven’t acquired a copy of that yet.
I’m looking for other suggestions! Ideally, totally playable without any software/hardware controller. I’m curious to know what else might be out there.
I’m also recommending exploration - I never would’ve played Sega Casino on a DS, but it turns out to be a great “mobile” game. No ads, no microtransactions, no subscription, and no tracking. I can play a little poker without feeling like I’m being preyed upon.
ds has a ton of visual novels, particularly games by spike chunsoft or atlus
The Zelda games on DS are almost entirely touchscreen controlled
I’ve been playing the Mario 64 DS Rec Room on mobile for like 15 years now. It’s the only reason I keep a DS emulator. Sometimes I need to gamble with Luigi.
Also Yoshi’s Touch and Go.
I played the life out of Mario 64 on the N64, so I never gave the DS version much attention.
But you say it’s got a room where you can gamble with Luigi, eh? That sounds fun.
Yes, I highly recommend getting a rom of 64 DS and using the Action Replay code to unlock all Rec Room games. It’s perfect for mobile.
The Professor Layton games are pretty much all touch.
I know little about those. They’re similar to Ace Attourney, yeah? Sort of an interactive novel? I’ll check em out
More just a whole bunch of logic puzzles strung together in a story.
Polarium would probably work well. It was one of my favourite DS puzzle games back in the day.
