Guilty Gear Dust Strikers (Nintendo DS, 2006)

Guilty Gear, although not a very original 2D fighter (it follows the standard Street Fighter formula), has always been one of the most beautiful games out there. With innovative character designs and over-the-top special effects, watching it in motion is always a spectacle. This version, instead of taking advantage of the DS's power, has been drastically crippled. Chopped up animations, bland backgrounds and a confusing, simplified control mechanic mess up what could have been a great entry into handheld territory.
The controls have taken a simplistic turn for the worse. Your character no longer crouches (down button = block). Special moves are assigned to a single button, and super moves are now reduced to a simple d-pad motion and button press. Sadly, this removes the complexity of the previous games along with their huge multihit combos, forcing this game into almost becoming a button-masher. Shoulder buttons are used for "roman cancel" and "psychic burst", which are just ways to repel other players surrounding you. Jumping may actually make you climb to an upper platform instead of placing an aerial attack, and if you block repeatedly, you may drop down a platform or two, since tapping down twice will make you drop a level. Even though the concept of using both screens to fight placing platforms around the levels is original, it's not very well implemented. It ends up being a bit cumbersome, not quite emulating what other platformer/fighter hybrids have done (think Smash Brothers or the japanese import Jump Superstars). 2D fighter veterans are going to have a hard time getting used to platform hopping, since staying on one platform all the time usually spells getting ganged up and beaten.
An important new aspect is the 4 player simultaneous brawling. A nice feature for any fighting game, but kind of pointless if you play it by yourself. In arcade or Story Mode, the computer has a nasty habit of sending it's other 3 minions to gang up on you. Challenges like this are good, but until you get used to the awkward controls, this usually spells many trips to the continue screen.
As for game modes, it has the usual Arcade, Story, Vs etc., but given that this game has such odd controls, a training mode would have been ideal. There's also a few stylus minigames which would be pointless if every high score didn't unlock new special moves for the game's one and only customizable character, Robo-Ky. A nice incentive, but the minigames are bland and can get old really fast.
Also, don't try looking for a story here. Fighters are notorious for atrociously bad storylines, but this one is beyond ridiculous. The characters have no backstory or motives to fight, so I only recommend the story mode if you wanna have a good laugh at how absurd and cliché'd the dialogue can get.
The blaring rock music is very appropriate, and the sound effects are your usual grunts, screams and of course, the bouncy announcer's voice.
Multiplayer is probably what saves GGDS. That is, if you can actually get 1-3 of your friends to link up. But don't get your hopes up too high, the dumbed down controls may sometimes ruin the fun.
Buy this game if you only need a short burst of 2D fighting fun. Even though it's a step back for Guilty Gear, multiplayer and Robo-Ky customization make up for a few of its shortcomings. I recommend it if you absolutely cannot wait for the next great DS fighter and need an immediate fix. This game can be good, but only in short intervals.