10 Nintendo DS JRPGs You Should Definitely Avoid

Even though I love the Nintendo DS and have played a lot of DS JRPG adventures, there's always a crop that's a bit harder to recommend. While it's true that tastes can and do vary, some games are just hindered by various factors, be it story, gameplay, or overall balance.

So while the DS had a lot of fun JRPGs on it, this particular group is not one I'd recommend to everyone. They're adventures where the aggregate review score was less than 80 for each of them, despite how pretty they might be. Furthermore, my own tastes flavored the overall ranking.

There are some iconic series here, classic movies turned into JRPG adventures, and one catastrophically bad miss from a series that should have known better. So get ready to put your wallets away with this list of JRPGs you should definitely avoid!

10 Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker

Joker in the Deck

I remember how excited I was when I picked up Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker on my DS. It looked like a mix of Pokémon with Dragon Quest style, and I thought I'd have an amazing time with it. And while the visual style and story were fine, the part that held it back was how ridiculously grindy the adventure was.

While many monster collectors can be a grind, I felt that Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker took it to a whole new level. So much so that after a dozen or so hours with the game, I had lost patience with it entirely, and never played the sequels that followed the adventure.

In fairness, some have a rosier impression of the game, and that's fine. That's a big part of the reason that it's the first game on this list. But the deeper we go, the more objectionable and harder to recommend the games will get.

9 Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume

Tactical Error

On paper, Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume is a fun tactical adventure with a surprisingly deep story. It even featured multiple possible endings. Meaning that fans of the series definitely had a lot to enjoy with this handheld adventure.

The problem is that this particular adventure was one that played it too safe. That's probably because it was the first handheld by Tri-Ace, and it really shows. The game has decent graphics, but ones that even on the DS felt rough and unmemorable.

The real nail in the coffin, however, is the game's music. Like many handheld games, the washed-out audio in Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume made it hard to really enjoy the tunes. And when you're spending dozens of hours on a tactical adventure, you want it to look great and sound even better.

8 Avalon Code

Not a Code For Success

As a longtime fan of Nintendo, I'm generally willing to give games a little more grace when they try ambitious new things. But let's just be honest — creativity is great, but it's also a bit of a double-edged sword. The same burst of inspiration that can lead to something great also has the chance to make it a hot mess. Which brings us to Avalon Code.

This is a game all about apocalyptic visions and a magical book used to remake the world. That Book of Prophecy is utilized with the stylus, which was very novel. The problem is that the actual execution of the game's ideas was more than a bit flawed.

It's a pain to page through the book to find the spells you need. It's also frustrating how mundane the actual story was. So even though Avalon Code is quite innovative, it's also a flawed experiment.

7 Glory of Heracles

Unheroic Journey

The Greek myths are heady and formative for much of our society. And while they've been translated well into action series like God of War, as well as rogue-likes such as Hades and Hades II, there hasn't been as much luck with the JRPG genre. And even though Glory of Heracles does its level best, it doesn't manage to change that situation.

Even though the game features surprisingly good localization and colorful artwork, there's one key area that utterly fails to grab the players: the Ether system, which is integral to the combat. Not only was it not intuitive, but the Ether Reflux system, where you could lose health based on your Ether levels, was a huge frustration.

This is one of the rare times when, if it had just tried to be less innovative, Glory of Heracles probably would have been remembered as a much more enjoyable JRPG adventure. Sometimes less is actually more.

6 The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road

Less Fun Than a Winged Monkey

I'm a big proponent of adapting classic movies into strange new forms. Sure, it usually doesn't work, but that doesn't mean it can't. And with a series as iconic as The Wizard of Oz, there's a lot that's creative fodder. And while The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road is a novel JRPG take on the series, it's also one that probably should have stayed safe at home.

While the game is attractive and has an interesting story, with the player defeating dragons and gathering elemental spirits, the gameplay itself is awkward. Movement is entirely handled by using a stylus to maneuver a virtual trackball, which gets old really quickly. As for combat itself, that could have been the highlight, but that's a pain as well.

Each character has different amounts of actions they can take in battle, and if they don't contribute, they can't take damage. Furthermore, The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road feels like it's both trying to accommodate new and old fans of the genre, and fails in both instances.

5 Heroes of Mana

Not Magically Delicious

The Mana series is beloved and has been around for quite a long time. But the painful truth about it is that for every exceptional entry, there are usually a couple of really poor ones. And Heroes of Mana was unfortunately one of the latter.

On the plus side, like other games in the series, it's rather pretty. But that's about the only thing this role-playing adventure gets right. The story is lackluster, and the actual gameplay tries and fails to innovate with real-time mechanics, which are further impacted by AI actions that are less than helpful.

If you can look past the rather frustrating gameplay, you might find something to enjoy in this handheld adventure. But for everyone else, Heroes of Mana is one Mana game you should avoid.

4 Sands of Destruction

Grit in the Cracks

Like many of the games on this unfortunate list, Sands of Destruction looks good at first blush. It's really attractive, has great music, and an interesting premise where you're essentially the bad guy in a world ruled by Ferals. The problems mostly come from the game's lack of originality (other than featuring a badass Teddy Bear).

Everything is solid here, which is exactly where it goes wrong. For everyone who expected something better from the visuals, they quickly found that Sands of Destruction was just average. And that's exacerbated by the fact that this is a rather linear and short JRPG adventure.

On the plus side, the game managed to spawn a pretty interesting anime and manga adaptation. But for videogame fans, it was just another forgettable quest.

3 Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow

Black and Blue All Over

Mistwalker is one of those names we associate with big swings in the JRPG genre. And with Blue Dragon, they were trying something really new. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it was successful, as seen in Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow on the DS.

This adventure mostly utilizes action role-playing combat and features decent spritework. Sadly, much like Sands of Destruction, the story is very forgettable here, more so because you make your own avatar. It also wasn't great that the 3D environments were pretty ugly, making the game a bit of an ugly duckling.

Honestly, if they went to the effort to completely overhaul Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow on more modern consoles, it might be the game it should have been. But until then, it was just one adventure that fell flat.

2 Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled

Exiled from the GBA

Originally, Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled was supposed to release on the Gameboy Advance. But by the time it was slated to come out, that system was drying up, so they decided to bring it to the DS instead. Which turned out to be a horrible mistake.

Put simply, that rough port by a small and now defunct team was the kiss of death for Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled. While it looked okay, the whole experience lacked polish. Meaning it featured an infuriating encounter system, as well as a ton of glitches that made the game a chore to play.

For really patient gamers who can put up with that sort of annoyance, you might find something that makes this old JRPG adventure worthwhile. But the final game on this list is one that absolutely nobody should ever experience.

1 Lunar: Dragon Song

Song of Despair

As someone who learned to love JRPGs thanks to games like Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, it pains me to have to include Lunar: Dragon Song on this list of JRPGs. But I have to, because having played it on the DS, I can confirm it's one of the worst games I've ever played.

Put simply, Lunar: Dragon Song gets everything wrong. Running costs health, your equipment breaks on a regular basis, and you have to choose between getting items and experience points at the end of battle. It's a grindy horror show of a JRPG, and it's so bad that it almost made me give up the genre entirely.

I'm not sure why the developers failed to just follow suit after the first adventures, or even emulate the style of the incredibly fun PSP remake. But Lunar: Dragon Song is the sort of JRPG that won't win any fans to the genre. And that's a crying shame for such a generally great series.