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Going on a trip to NYC next month, and my wife bought a DS to occupy ourselves on the flight. How about a shoutout for some good DS games? The last handheld game I played was Advance Wars on the GBA, so.... yeah, I don't even know what to say I like or dislike to help guide the suggestions in any way.

FFTA and FFTA2. Quick strategy RPG missions, most of which play under 15 minutes. Dialog is quick, and the story is simple. What I like most about FFTA2 is they didn't change a whole lot; they just added a shitton more content. And they made the story even simpler (so far anyway).

Advance Wars has a few sequels, the last couple of which are DS specific.

Metroidvania games. (DS plays GBA games) Most people like Metroid: Zero Mission better than Metroid: Fusion. Not sure which Castlevania is the best one.

If you like AW you might like Fire Emblem. The first GBA one is the better one IMO, great characters and writing. If you've never played a Fire Emblem game you owe it to yourself to try one out.

New Super Mario Brothers.

Various Final Fantasy remakes if those interest you.

I enjoyed Custom Robo Arena.

I have Brain Training (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dr-Kawashimas-Brain-Training-Nintendo/dp/B000EGELP0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1219498086&sr=8-1) in mine at the moment. Debatable if it is a game but it is actually good fun to pick up considering what it is. Probably not good for a long flight though unless you really like sudoku.

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was pretty good.

The World Ends with You is a good rpg that isn't exactly a j-rpg like all of square's others.  Combat is much more actiony.

Elite Beat Agents is pretty fun if you are into rhythm games.

New Super Mario, cuase it's classic mario. 

Geometry Wars is really fun imo.

Castlevania, portrait of ruin is pretty good too.

'Adventure' games:  Phoenix Wright of course.  These games are the gems of the system.  Just get all of them, much happiness will ensue.  Hotel Dusk was ok...kind of an interactive novel, which for some reason I couldn't put down but wouldn't say was actually good either.  Trace Memory is fun if you can get it for 15 bucks or less...it lasts literally 3-4 hours, so that's about what it's worth.

RPGs:  I'm enjoying etrian oddysey at the moment.  Yes, I just finally got around to the first one.  It's as hardcore as everyone says though...only play if you don't mind dying ad infinitum.   Final Fantasy 3j didn't stand up well to the test of time for me.  Pretty lame.  The World Ends with You is interesting, but I just can't get into the action part of the game very much.  I play it maybe once every week or two and then just put it down feeling sort of meh everytime.  I'm alone on this one though I think, it has gotten uniformly great reviews.

Puzzle:  Tetris DS is solid...never got into Meteos so much.  Planet Puzzle League I haven't played...but since it's Tetris Attack, it's immediately awesome.  I really need to get it.

Rhythm:  Elite Beat is definitely worth a good amount of fun.

Action:  Contra 4 is old school to the max.  If playing through levels over and over again still sounds like it could be fun to you, then you'll love it, because it's a great rendition of an earlier genre.

If for some reason you're really into old-school/hardcore, try the new Bangai-O Spirits - it's definitely an acquired taste, but I love the hell out of this (but I also enjoyed the original DC release too).  As far as puzzlers go, I liked Meteos and Gunpey, but neither is amazing.  I'm somewhat surprised that nobody's mentioned Professor Layton and the Curious Village, which I though was just great at hitting my adventure/puzzle game buttons.

Mega Man ZX and ZXA are pretty good, in my opinion, if you're into 2d platformer shooter stuff.

Had a lot of fun with Rune Factory, which is kind of like half Harvest Moon (farming game, if you never played it) and half "Generic Fantasy Dungeon Crawl RPG".

Contact, I thought, was fun, but a bit quirky, so might not be your cup of tea.

If you're looking for GBA games, there are a bunch of excellent ones there.  Gunstar Super Heroes is amazing, Mega Man Zero, Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, Zelda: Minish Cap, Sonic Advance, and Astro Boy, I had fun with.  Wario Ware is a fun way to kill some time, too.

What are the games that really use the stylus in imaginative, and engaging ways?

Depends on what you mean by "imaginative". Kirby's Canvas Curse might qualify. Trauma Center: Under the Knife isn't particularly imaginative but it is engaging. Elite Beat Agents falls into that category as well. There's also that RTS whose name I'm blanking on at the moment where you draw spell symbols with the stylus.

And of course there's Nintendogs, schild's favorite DS game :awesome_for_real:

Edit: possessive

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is pretty good in this regard, in my opinion.  There's a fair amount of drawing of magic symbols, writing clues on the map, using the stylus to sketch out a path for your boomerang, that kind of thing.  I am not a big fan of the game, but it does take advantage of the DS hardware pretty well (and not just the stylus, also uses the mic and a couple other features, as well).

New Super Mario Bros., Mario Kart, Puzzle Fighter.  Also, Spore Creatures will be out by then and the half hour I played of it was pretty fun.

Ninja Five-0

That's an impossible to find GBA game, but close.

Finally, a thread to bring me out of lurk mode.

I'll vouch for Trauma Center (which seemed plenty imaginative to me, but whatever) and Kirby Canvas Curse. Meteos and Puzzle League are decent puzzle games of the line-up-similarly-colored-blocks variety, if you're into that. Meteos' gameplay isn't particularly innovative or interesting, so some of my friends hated it, but the intense, frantic, keep-everything-floating-at-once action was enough to keep me absorbed for quite a while. Puzzle League was an okay game on its own terms, I guess, but the game is slowed waaay down from Tetris Attack, so if you're familiar with that game the DS version pales in comparison (basically, every multiplayer game started out with both players instantly making 8+ chains right from the start and then neither player could ever ever recover from the giant wall of garbage, and whoever made a single mistake first lost).

Mario Kart DS is always a good time, though maybe I just think that because it's the only game in the series I'm good at. Doesn't use the stylus at all.

Oh, and if you go the Trauma Center route, try not to get too far into the game. The incredibly difficult later missions may instill within you the irresistible urge to throw the game out a window, and I don't think your DS will survive the 50,000 foot drop.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is slightly better than Symphony of the Night.  If it was on a real console, it would eat lead and shit gold.

For RPGs, Final Fantasy IV is better than the original.  I'm very partial to Contact in the RPG space.

If you're thinking of a light RPG, Etrian Odyssey is 98% combat in the Japanese-Wizardry-Dragon-Warrior style.  I'm also getting some fun out of Izuna 2, but that's a fushigi no dungeon.

Professor Layton will make you angry enough to eat babies.

I hear that giant robot game is pretty good, can't recall the name.  Looked awesome when I watched some gameplay.

Man I own so many freaking ds games....

Any of the castlevania games
new SMB
Trauma Center
Yoshis Island
Planet Puzzle League
Nano Stray 2
Space invaders
zelda
Tetris
Mario Kart
Metroid
Contra
Polarium

Has anybody tried the Civilization that's out now for the DS?

Oh man, I forgot to add, NEW INTERNATIONAL TRACK AND FIELD

Man I love this game. I am doing a BIIF on it right now hahaha.

I just got it two days ago.  I freaking love it.

It plays very similar to the original Civ from way back when.  There are many civs to choose from.  However the map is fairly smallish and only 5 civs are present in any given game.

I definately recommend it.

mmmm N+ is out for the DS

Yea, was playing it last night. It's good.

From the Abyss is not so good.

Wait, a fun DS game thread without mentioning Worms 2: Open Warfare??

That is my favorite DS game and one of my favorite game series of all time.

Bubble Bobble is fun, although i mainly play the original version. My GF and I have also put a suprising amount of time into Cooking Mama. I got stuck on a certain level in Advance Wars Dual Strike and can't get back into it. Good game though.

I can't make my mind up about Warhammer Squad Command as I've not had a chance to play it properly. The graphics were a bit ropey though they should have gone with sprites instead of 3d.

The guitar emulator is a bit rubbish.

I'm looking forward to Korg DS-10.

I've got an import of Korg DS-10. It's fucking amazing and I might actually make some music with it. I really want to score a shitty 8-bit game with it. It rubs all those spots so nice.

Any translation issues with Korg DS10 ? I might import a copy if not.

When it comes out, get Locke's Quest. Should be out very soon.  It's a fun mixture of real-time strategy action. Like Ramparts meets Tower Defense.  Seriously, check it out.

For no particular reason, I picked up a DS today and Izuna 2. It's a fun, simplistic fushigi no dungeon clone.

I ended up getting FF4 and Professor Layton. I enjoy them both immensely. The wife got Pokemon Pearl, Petz 2: Catz, and we threw in Brain Age for shits and giggles. So far, I'm very impressed with it. This might be one of the best consoles ever, if I keep having as much fun poking things with the stylus as I do now.

Just picked up Guitar Hero On Tour the other day.

It is  :grin:

Holy crap thank you for mentioning that, because listen to the Kraftwerk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N9usPnjXtE)!