@RobbyBevard:
My final pins sets tended to be slashy move, TWO burning fires (so one goes while the other recharges) boomerang, healing whale, and random other thing depending on my mood. (I loved the icicle spike, but it was so low power, it was hard to justify keeping)
Try the monkey pin, it's the one with more charges of the healing ones, and if you use the puck for it, it's a full heal.
Also the tigger one that you have to blow to the microphone and slash deals more damage and is easier to pull of.
I use the dash pins, the wolf and one of the A class so I can escape everything.
Someone recently loaned me a ds and I finaly got the chance to play this the way that it deserves, a lot easier in the actual machine, I played the hell out of it, and STILL got to get around 100 more pins!
Not excited to grind my characters to max stats or get all the clothes, specialy the ones that require full SnakePin, TiggerPin and LionPin. Once was enough.
The 2 screen split should be easier to get into, in the first days I was constantly raped, even if I already beated th egame, the learning curve is somewhat unnecesarily high, not having the puck should give you some defensive advantage, or the enemies having clearer tells to know where to dodge, a little flash in the screen that I'm not looking, or a sound (that could come out of both screens) isn't enough.
Other than that, it's an excelent game. And even that, you get used to the combat quick enough.