A decade or so ago, I remember my local GameStop location having a sale on the last of its dwindling NES and SNES inventory, selling single cartridges for prices under $10. I skipped those deals back then, but I think about that clearance a lot these days – especially every time I see some of those cartridges that easily cost 10 or 20 times the price on eBay and the like.
I’m bringing that up now because it seems like GameStop is doing a similar “gotta go” cleanup for its stock of Nintendo DS titles. Nearly 900 DS games previously sold for around $5 (already not a royal amount) are now clearance priced for anywhere from $1 to $3 on GameStop’s website.
Obviously, that list of well-priced games contains a lot of really unsaleable nonsense: minigame-filled shovelware; cheap “Brain Training” knock-offs; simplistic “Imagine” style simulation games; and the worst kind of fast licensed cash-ins the bloated DS library has to offer. But if you’re willing to do some digging and check out some old reviews, there are some true classics and interesting experiments to be found from the broad, free era of pre-smartphone touchscreen game design.
We’ve saved you some trouble and created the list below to outline the most interesting titles we’ve found in GameStop’s extensive sales. Remember that all these games will work on any 3DS or 2DS hardware. Be warned though, GameStop generally doesn’t provide original packaging or manuals with the DS titles used these days.
We can not Guarantee these DS game prices will rise in a decade or so, when the kids who grew up with the Nintendo DS suddenly have a lot of disposable income to throw at a nostalgic collection of old cartridges. That said, we can pretty much guarantee that these games will never sell for much fewer than they are today. As Nintendo prepares to cut the DS line in favor of the upcoming Nintendo Switch, now is the time for value-oriented gamers and collectors to strike.
Some Clearance Recommendations