So I was originally doing research for a game called Beetle King on the DS, and I then fell down a different rabbit hole. This game Beetle King was originally part of a series of DS games called SIMPLE DS. In Japan, Beetle king was called “Vol.3 THE 虫とり王国 ~新種発見!ノコギリカブト!?~”, which meant it was only the 3rd game in the series. In total, there are 48 games in the series. I ended up stumbling upon the website that showed all of the games in the SIMPLE DS series. On the website there are two empty spots with “coming soon” box art. Though, this website probably hasn’t been updated in a while, since it looks a bit broken and the latest date on the website is 2009.
I started wondering if there were actually two more games that were made or were in development, but got scrapped or went unreleased? Or I suppose those empty slots could be placeholders in case they would release more? I just wouldn’t think you’d do that if it says “coming soon” on it.
Also on a side note, I’m curious how many out of the 48 games got localized. So far I only have seen one, which is Beetle King, but I believe that one only came out in Europe. I haven’t looked into the other games yet, so if you guys know any others, let me know.
So about the other games being localized, here’s what I found:
Billiard Action —> Vol.2 THE ビリヤード Released in EU
Break Em’ All —> Vol.4 THE ブロックくずし Released in US and EU
Essential Sudoku DS —> Vol.7 THE イラストパズル &数字パズル Released in EU
Flushed Away —> Vol.17 THE ネズミの アクションゲーム Released in US and EU
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords —> Vol.23 THE パズルクエスト ~アガリアの騎士~ Released in US and EU
In total 6 games out of the 48 were localized in English. Only 3 of the 48 are available in both US and EU. If there are ones I missed, please feel free to add or correct my list.
So after some more digging I came across a spreadsheet that contained every Simple DS game, including which games were localized in Europe. Seems there are two more games on this list that I didn’t have in my previous post. Those two games are Party Carnival and Super Speed Machines.
Party Carnival —> Vol.6 THE パーティーゲーム Guessing this only came out in EU?
Super Speed Machines —> Vol.13 異常気象を突っ走れ! THE 嵐のドリフト・ラリー Released in US and EU
So now, 8/48 games have been localized in English.
Again, let me know if I’m missing something or something is wrong.