Hey look! Another actual post about the DS!

So with the DSi coming out recently and a few people I know just getting regular DS's, I thought I'd throw together a list of recommended games. I tried to think about how to organize them and as I threw titles into a list, my mind somehow sorted them on a scale from casual puzzle stuff to really involved, nerdy stuff. So, stuff that my mother-in-law would play on hers to stuff that nerds like me seek out. The casual stuff is pick up and play, while the nerdy stuff is very deep and customizable.

Okay, first up we've got a bunch of puzzle games: Planet Puzzle League, Henry Hatsworth, Professor Layton, Picross, and Puzzle Quest (along with it's updated space version PQ: Galactrix). The gameplay between PPL and Hatsworth is nearly identical, well for the lower screen on Hatsworth at least. The top screen is a side scrolling Mario-type game that can be modified by going into the puzzle game on the lower touch screen with the X button. It's structured so that you never have to worry about both types of gameplay at once, and I'm completely addicted to it. I'll probably play it when I finish this post since Tues. is Biggest Loser night on our DVR and it doesn't seem to have the same strange gravitational pull for me that it does for the wife.

Next up are a few games that make interesting use of the stylus. Kirby's Canvas Curse is neat for drawing paths on the screen that your character interacts with. Even though it came out quite a while ago it's still unmatched in this type of gameplay. Felix & Felicity is an amusing little attempt at it, but not nearly as good. Soul Bubbles is a real sleeper hit. You move an air bubble through a maze using the touch screen. It's a great mix of puzzle & action gameplay. While we're talking about the stylus, it's worth mentioning the touch-controlled Zelda and Animal Crossing. They were some of the first to innovate the "touch where you want your character to go" concept on the DS and they're from Nintendo themselves, so they do it right. I could never get into Animal Crossing since it's basically the Sims, but I've heard that people like it.

Okay, now to the nerdier portion. The Castlevania series are great classic side scrolling action games w/ a ton of enemies, and weapon/item customization. I've spent a bit of time with Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown and have been very impressed. Think GTA3 adapted for the DS but done VERY well. Rounding out this list is the excellent remake Chrono Trigger for some classic Japanese RPG and the absolutely crazy The World Ends With You. Don't pick up this last one unless you enjoy keeping track of very different action on the top and bottom screens and keeping your characters in the latest fashions for the areas they're in. Ya, it was a bit much for me. But I enjoyed the concept that you got new items based on what WiFi connections you connected to or what other DS's wireless signals you came in contact with.

Wow, this is getting long so I'll wrap it up. I purposely tried to avoid all the big sellers on this list since you'll probably get those anyway. But don't take this to mean that they're not good. You can't go wrong w/ Mario Kart, New Super Mario Bros. and Zelda. I've probably played MKDS multiplayer for more hours than all the others combined. That's sort of how this little blog got started, we get together on Wednesdays and play and yap about games.