Mine has definitely got to be The World Ends with You for Nintendo DS.
The Story
The story is absolutely stunning. It follows the story of Neku Sakuraba, a 15 year old boy who finds himself in a life or death game called “The Reaper’s Game” where he has 7 days to win, or faces earasure (wiped from existance). I won’t reveal more than that because honestly, I couldn’t live with myself spoiling the game for someone– the story is that good.
The Gameplay
The gameplay tends to be devisive among the fanbase. The Battle system fills both screens. The Bottom SCreen is Neku, and the top screen is your partner. You control Neku using the stylus, while the top screen is controlled by either the D-Pad, or the A,B,X,Y buttons (depending on what handed you are). The way Neku fights is determined by what Pins you have equipped to him. He could create streams of fire as you press and hold the bottom screen, slash with a sword type weapon by slashing an enemy with the stylus, you could create shockwaves by blowing in the microphone. There are tons of possibilities. The top screen is controlled by pressing the directions to create a combo.
Outside of battle you can do a variety of things, like go to shops, interact with people, or enter battles. The Menu is elaborate to be sure though. In it you can see enemy descriptions, equip clothes, pins (your attacks), and even change your level (Lower your Level, the less HP you have but the higher your Drop Rate for rare items becomes). Speaking of, leveling up only affects your HP. To upgrade your stats you must eat and digest said item. Both eating and digesting affects stats. Like you could eat a Raman Bowl, and immediately your Sync Rate goes up. After battling 4 battles, you digest it and your Attack goes up by 2. Similarly with battles, there are fashions in the game, and battling while having specific fashions equipped could affect the trends in Shibuya– the more popular a certain brand is, the better it boosts your stats.
I could go on, but the game is just so good.
Worth every Penny. There’s an HD Remake for the iPad2 and iPhone for those who prefer mobile, but be warned it’s widely regarded as infiror due to it “adapting” two screen play to a single screen. If you can, get the Nintendo DS version– way better (as a lot of Pins are unobtainable in the iOS one without people around).