Rough Draft

Nintendo DS

I've been thinking of getting a Nintendo DS for a while, and after playing Kirby's Canvas Curse on Jeff's while we were in Boston I couldn't resist any longer. So, over the weekend I picked up a snazzy cobalt blue one along with Advance Wars Dual Strike and I've been having a blast with it so far.

I was originally thinking of getting Kirby as my first game, since it's a game that really could only be done on the DS. But for now I decided to just get Advance Wars since I've really been enjoying playing the ROM of the original the last few weeks and because of Jeff's rave review. Advance Wars does feature some multiscreen battles as well as allowing you to use the stylus to command your troops which is nice.

The dual screens, touch screen interface, and WiFi support are all cool features, but only if there are great games to take advantage of them.

Fortunately, there's quite a few such games available now, including the aforementioned Kirby's Canvas Curse. There is also a game I saw at Gamestop called Trauma Center: Under the Knife where you use are a doctor and use the stylus to perform various surgeries. It sounded like it could be pretty fun and unique, but I was afraid it could also end up just being gimmicky and repetitive. However, it looks like the game has gotten quite favorable reviews so I may end up picking this up. I've also been hearing wonderful things about the new Castlevania game.

And those are just the games out now! The next month brings even more exciting titles like Mario Kart DS with WiFi support, Animal Crossing Wild World, and Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time. It's honestly been a long time since I've been this excited about so many games for one system. I just hope I can find time to play all of them.

If you've been toying with the idea of getting a DS, I highly recommend you pick one up immediately.