This was done as part of 32 Bit Cafe’s 2026 Valentine’s Day Event, please go check out the other submissions!
Last updated: 2/9/2026
Quick credit to Solaria's Guide for helping me figure out the scan lines here, it was super helpful.
The DSi was a weird console, to say the least. It was a new DS, like a proper new DS with new games and new features and more power and a whole new UI. Except it barely had any retail exclusives and didn’t always take full advantage of that new processing power. It was mostly just a DS with an eye and better internet connectivity, though it UI served as the basis for both the 3DS and Switch UIs!
And I loved mine as a child.
The DSi XL (Raspberry Flavored) was the first console I ever had that was mine. She wasn’t my mom’s DS that I got to borrow to play Wild World, she wasn’t my and my brother’s Game Cube that was still stored in his room so I had to go in there to play Pikmin, and she wasn’t the family’s Wii over in the living room if I wanted some good ole’ Wii Sports.
No, she was mine, that I could take anywhere.
I mainly played in my bedroom, laying on my bed, but I did bring her elsewhere. I’ve brought her to school where my friend used Mario Cart’s online share feature to let me play with everyone else despite me not having a copy of the game. I brought her to a friend’s house (who had a Licorice Flavored DSi) to trade Flipnotes. And it was AWESOME.
My DSi is still full of old Flipnotes I made/collected as a kid. She’s also filled with photos of ancient art from the dark days of 2013, and shrill voice clips from God-knows-when.
Yeah I don’t have a capture card, if you cannot tell. All images here WILL be bad. Deal with it.
Unfortunately, my DSi is showing her age. She’s a roughly 16(!!!) year old console as of making this shrine and one that was well loved and used… until I got my first phone in like, 2015. Then the need for Flipnote Studio for music was no more. (I had an Mp3 player as a younger child but lost it at some point, oops.) Point is, she’s a little messed up. The charging port is busted and won’t take a charge unless you hold the cable at a specific angle. L button no longer works. Annnnd the game cart slot sometimes randomly fails to read the card. All things I could fix with time and skill, probably, though I have not the skills at the moment.
You may have also seen that her screen is all scratched up. Uh. I did that as a kid. Lost the pen so I used the tip of a fake flower as one instead. I should and maybe could replace the screen but honestly? It doesn’t effect the screen’s ability to function that much, and it gives her character. I honestly want to keep the old messed up screen for as long as I can get away with it. Battery and charging situation have got to be fixed though, no questions asked.
As mentioned before, there are very few physical games out there that are exclusive to the DSi. I have owned none of these, probably because of this list of five, only three made it to North America. As physical releases; one made it to North America exclusively as DSi ware instead.
I don’t have much to say about these games, as I owned and played exactly zero of them in my life. But I wanted to have a little hub of DSi game information here because it was really annoying for me to find resources about these. That or I’m bad at video game research, you tell me.
The Exclusives List
And as a little bonus: Ghostwire: Link to the Paranormal (links to IGN) was a planned DSi exclusive that was canceled. I went ahead and also found this trailer on YouTube for it but… yeah.
If you have any better sources of information for these games, then PLEASE shoot me an email at GrubDog@proton.me or a Signal DM at Grubdog.18—every little bit helps!
Anyways you may have noticed none of these are Nintendo games. Yeah they did the smart thing and kept any DSi exclusives as DSi ware to be downloaded, rather than physical releases that could be sold alongside normal DS games. Still, the fact these exist at ALL is FASCINATING.
And while I have you captive for a moment: there’s some DS games with DSi exclusive features and of course a long list of DSi ware games. I won’t go into either, but I will provide links to Wikipedia’s page on DS games with DSi exclusive bits and Nintendo Wiki’s long list of DSi ware games. Enjoy!
Now we’re getting into the GOOD stuff. I don’t remember all of the games that I played as a kid, nor do I think it would be a good use of anyone’s time to go over them all. I did, however, want to highlight a few games I have strong memories of and (when possible) share crappy photos of them. Because why not? These overviews will not be in-depth or informative in any way, just me rambling about crap.
It’s a basic arcade game where you eat beans and try to not let them destroy your platform or bonk your silly little noggin. Good time killer as a kid. Why Pyoro was a bird and not a lizard will forever be a mystery… (to me).
I made funny noises into the OG bird app.
What more do you want me to say.
“My Farm” was a whole series of games. I ended up with this one because it let you keep tigers and I thought that was cool.
Anyways, all of the “My Farm” games are the exact same, just with different coats of paint. You have a farm on the top screen where you can watch your animals run around. On the bottom screen, you can manage your farm. Feed and wash each animal… individually. Buy new animals and supplies. Sell animals and animal produce. That’s all really. Some animals make produce passively, others need to be bought as babies then sold as adults to (presumably) be eaten. Implying that monkeys and tigers in this world are just meat livestock. Huh…
It’s honestly very mindless and simple, but I adored it as a kid. And honestly, having it at default speed in the background while I do other things seems like a good time. Because GOODNESS is the default speed SLOW.
This one honestly deserves a shrine all of its own some day, and I will probably make one. But Flipnote studio is how I, for better and worse, found the music I loved as a child and developed my sense of humor. It was also my first introduction to the internet before I was allowed to just get on YouTube on my own.
I also made… So so much terrible art on it. Dear god.
You only get a sneak peek until I can get to make a shrine just for Flipnote studio. Consider this a mercy.
Petz did Pokémon Sun and Moon before GameFreak did. Dang.
Yeah Ubisoft wanted to try and do the thing where they released two similar games at once to make more money. Resulting in Moonlight and Sunlight magic. I had both as a kid, though I only have Moonlight Magic now. Not that it matters, because both are nearly identical.
The game has a simple loop, one that keeps my attention more as an adult than Kittenz does now. You pick an egg, hatching an odd fantasy creature. You fill up its three needs of food, play, and cleanliness by playing three different minigames. You also try to find the pet’s favorite items while doing so. Fill the bars, and you get to go to the magic world where a fourth mini game awaits. Do well and you unlock another pet and more items. Pretty simple.
Also, finding a pet’s favorite items is what makes it level up and do better in the magic world.
I’ll probably come back to this one too, I may want to do a shrine for it… Maybe. Less certain on that, but I def want to beat the game at some point. Because this was actually fun to play, if very simple.