I just bought a DS. Please give me some good games

[Dylonius Funk]

So with the 125 bucks in b-day money i decided to take the plunge and dive into the current(well sort off) generation of gaming with a DS. I knew i would like it more than a PSP since, well it's Nintendo, it's got more wireless capabilities, and lots of good games. Problem is i'm not sure what good games there are mixed in with all the TV/film/anime tie in garbage i see. It seems like the Nintendo portables are becoming the easiest way to make a cheap game and cash in on some current popular trend ( I told my friend i want to know what alignment of the planets resulkted in The Suite Life with Zack and Cody getting a game, he told me he wants to know how That's So Raven got two :D )

So what i need are some ideas of a good game to get my collection started with. I know of some good ones like Phoenix Wright, Trauma Center, Mario Cart. Multiplayer is preferred but not necessary. Also i was wondering what the internet surfing capabilities of the DS are. A friend showed me his PSP and he had the internet up, the real internet not eh crappy condensed made for mobile internet but the actual Yahoo.com website. I saw that you had to buy a browser for the DS, is it worth it?

[Arcturus]

If you like RPG dungeon crawlers, Etrian Odyssey is a fun game. It's been taking up most of my DS time lately.

[ColoradoJim]

Also i was wondering what the internet surfing capabilities of the DS are. A friend showed me his PSP and he had the internet up, the real internet not eh crappy condensed made for mobile internet but the actual Yahoo.com website. I saw that you had to buy a browser for the DS, is it worth it?

I don't have time right now to cover the games but I do have the browser for the DS and it handles pages and forums much better than my Palm TX. I have DSL and the speed of the browser connecting via my wireless router is faster than dialup so it is bearable. You won't be able to watch youtube or play java games though. Also the browser can only open one page at a time although you can set favorite links and such to help out. Not a must have by any means but you can also IM online via one of those websites that allow mobile IMs so you can chat with AOL users and other chat programs.

[Sugei]

If you like old school side scroller action I highly recommend the two Castelvania games, Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin. You can pick up Dawn of Sorrow for pretty cheap too.

Another old school gem is New Super Mario Bros. I am not much of a Mario fan so although I do think that it is an excellent game I have not bought it.

If cash is a problem you can always try renting games. I have used Gamefly rental service in the past and it was a nice way to try games without having to buy them.

My next purchase for my DS will be the new Zelda game but I have been tempted to try out one of the new Pokemon games to see what all the buzz is about.

[ADC]

You want a good side-scroller? They've already told you about the Castlevanias, and that's fine, but you really want to check out Super Princess Peach. Not a great challenge, but way too much fun. Also, Megaman ZX is a very fun game in the classic style.

I echo Arcturus' recommendation of Etrian Odyssey, which has swallowed the past month of my gaming time. Also, if you enjoy top-down action adventure games, you must get Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (the best DS game ever). Way too much fun.

Want to use the stylus and enjoy being the M in S&M? Trauma Center will do you so wrong, you won't want to be right. Shit fire and save matches, that game's hard!

And the power of Mister Miyamoto compels you … to get Mario Kart DS.

[Johnny]

Go for:

Yoshi Touch & Go
Nintendogs
Warioware Touched
Trauma Centre
Kirby Canvas Curse
Project Rub
Ouendan
Ouendan 2
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow
Castlevania Portrait of Ruin
Princess Peach
Viewtiful Joe Scratch
Phoenix Wright
Mario Kart
Mario & Luigi Partners in Time
Sonic Rush
Animal Crossing
Bleach 1 and/or 2
Starfox Command
Metroid Prime Hunters
Resident Evil
Nanostray
Tetris
New Super Mario Bros
Cooking Mama
Rocket Slime
Phoenix Wright 2
Yoshi's Island
Hotel Dusk
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
Elite Beat Agents

Can't go wrong with any of those.

[ancar]

Cooking Mama is a nice game to play in 15-20 minute spurts. All sorts of stylus usage, and you can get it pretty cheap. Although, it is pretty girly, just as a head's up.

Elite Beat Agents is another one that's fun with the stylus--it's a rhythm-based game with many recognizable pop/rock songs (not sung by the original artists, of course). I think this one's pretty cheap as well.

These days, I've been pretty much playing Mario Kart and Animal Crossing: Wild World. These are both good ones to use the WiFi capability for multi-player fun.

[saeba_ryo]

You have to get Planet Puzzle League. It's the DS version of Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon, one of the greatest if not the greatest puzzle games ever made.

[Mr. Spiffy-Pants]

Trauma Center was alright, but the puzzles get a bit more difficult the further you get into the game. New Super Mario Bros. rocks! FF3 is good as well... I don't have a ton of DS games myself. I bought it mainly for FF3 because I'm a big regular FF series nerd.

[Dylonius Funk]

Thanks for the good dieas everyone. I decided to take a spin over to Wal-Mart after i got off work earlier tonight and see if their selection had improved./ Sadly the same stuff that was out of stock when i was there a couple of days ago was still out of stock. Both Pokemons, New Mario, Mario Kart. I ended up going with Yoshi's Island DS, though Elite Beat Agents looked pretty good as did Conflict. I'm gonna load it up before i go to bed tonight and give it a whirl. Though i really wanted Mario Kart, but i guess I'll have to wait on that one/

[Andrew Cunningham]

I am shocked no one mentioned Puzzle Quest yet.
The number one selling DS puzzle game of 2007, I've logged quite a lot of hours on that.
Basically and RPG, but all the random battles are handled with a bejeweled type puzzle game, but enhanced with spells. The other rpg elements give you variant versions of the puzzles, even if the actual plot is pretty much a waste of time. But the puzzle game itself is consistently entertaining.

Avoid Yoshi's Island DS, though - you're better off picking up the GBA port of the original game.
The DS version starts out like a less innovative version of the original that keeps a lot of bad ideas (that fucking helicopter) and ditches some good ones (bonus items?) and as it goes on the level designs just become comically impossible. It's like they had a check list of things the could do with levels to make you frustrated and miserable, and ran through as many of them as they could in every level for the last half of the game.

Half the fun of the original Yoshi's Island was going back over levels to get everything. I've been playing it through recently, and there's only a few levels I haven't managed to max out. But Yoshi's Island DS has dozens of levels I barely got through in the first place, and definitely can't be fucked to go back and trying and get the extra items. And at least one of the bonus levels was such a crock of shit I ended up shedding a hundred lives and finally giving up completely.
Fucking terrible game.

Most of the DS time I've logged was with old GBA games, since I never had a GBA. Astro Boy, Minish Cap, the Mario ports.

[ADC]

I am shocked no one mentioned Puzzle Quest yet.
I wouldn't. I played it for a few hours right after getting it and haven't played it since. If you really want to play Bejeweled, play Bejeweled. If you really want to play an RPG, play an RPG. Putting the two together makes both take too damn'd long.

[The Creation]

i don't own a DS, but the following games are on my wishlist:

New super mario bros
Final fantasy fables: Chocobo tales
Yoshi's island

and when it comes out:
final fantasy xii revenant wings

[ColoradoJim]

I am shocked no one mentioned Puzzle Quest yet.
The number one selling DS puzzle game of 2007, I've logged quite a lot of hours on that.
Basically and RPG, but all the random battles are handled with a bejeweled type puzzle game, but enhanced with spells. The other rpg elements give you variant versions of the puzzles, even if the actual plot is pretty much a waste of time. But the puzzle game itself is consistently entertaining.

I also recommend getting Puzzle Quest. Although there is a bug in which the first puzzle is never random, I just play a game outside the main game to refresh that puzzle and then go into the main game. The plot isn't anything to speak of, but the gameplay is very addictive and has a bit more variety than you would expect from a bejeweled game.

Basically you can customize your character with items that help you get certain gem combos and also unlike bejeweled, the standard game screen does not require you to clear the screen as you are actually trying to use skull combos to get the other character down to zero.

Once you have built up your character enough, some options start to open up including building your castle and getting tribute from cities you have conquered. With your castle you can access very different puzzle rules although the screen may look similar. There are different puzzle rules for trying to capture a monster, getting a custom weapon, capturing a city and so on. The capturing a monster puzzle is probably the closest to classic bejeweled as you have to clear the screen but the better monsters can be very hard to clear.

I have beaten the game with one of the character classes of which there are 4. While the storyline is the same for all of the characters, the spells they use can be quite different so it is quite replayable.

[Kikuchiyo]

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is an amazing game that blew me away with the amount of content in it. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow should be just as good, and I'll probably post a review as soon as I finish it. Also, Animal Crossing: Wild World is very fun if you don't mind quiet games like that. And New Super Mario Bros is very good quality.

I also want to add that you have to get all the GBA Metroid games right now! I know they are GBA games but they are still amazing on the DS! :)