My list of games ("favorites")

• Animal Crossing DS
  

  I'm not sure how to describe Animal Crossing. It is probably a little bit like a SIM game. But I wouldn't know that, because I never played any of them. It reminds me the most of a tamagotchi: you play a villager who has to keep a village happy. This means that you have to weed, you have to be social to your neighbours, you have to earn money (to build yourself an ever bigger house). An interesting aspect is that you can't do anything wrong. If you largely ignore your neighbours, it is not like "GAME OVER". Another interesting aspect is that there is no goal (surely the goal is not to stay alive, because the game can never end).
  

  To me, the most interesting aspect is that the game is real time (if that is the right term): the game is synchronized with the real world. So, if I switch on the game after diner, it's evening at Animal Crossing too. The lady that sells turnips only visits the village on sunday mornings. And of course the shops close at 23:00. But it's not only the time-of-day or the day-of-week that is synchronous, it's autumn now, so the trees have brown leaves. Rumour goes that in a couple of weeks there will be snow... It's a brilliant concept!
  
  The game even has wireless multiplayer, so that you can visit a friend's town from anywhere in the world. And that's important, because his town probably grows different fruit...
  I read on the internet that people (like me) loved it, but I thank my brother-in-law for showing it to me. Even my wife and my kids love this one.

• Mario Kart DS
  

  I don't like games. And racing games are among the most boring ones. But my brother-in-law introduced me to Mario Kart. The trick was that you can play wireless to someone with a DS but without Mario Kart! It's fun, it's diverse, it's expanding. Its great! It's no wonder that this is a Top-Seller (being ported to each new Nintendo game console). And, believe it or not, but even my wife plays this one.

• Professor Layton and the Curious Village
  

  A lot of Nintendo marketing, but again my brother in law who suggested I try this one. And I loved it. This is a set of over 100 puzzles wrapped in a story line rendered via an animated movie. One of the few games (now that I am playing games) that I realy finished. And then you can even download extra puzzled via the build-in WiFi connection.

• Professor Layton and Pandoras Box
  

  The succesor of "Professor Layton and the Curious Village". Since I liked that one, I decided to believe Nintendo's commercials and try this one too. I must admit I finished this one too, but somehow a bit less than its predecessor.

• The Legend of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass
  

  This is a very typical not-for-me-game. You are a hero combatting monsters, conquering the world by sailing around. Your conquest is to rescue a princess blahhgh.

  Having said this, I played this for hours (although I can't claim I finshed it). It's fun. Mostly because it is actually a series of puzzles cleverly hidden the story, like how to use your boomerang to hit a switch on the other side of a cliff.

• Big Brain Academy
  

  This is the first cartridge I bought (due to the Nintendo marketing probably). Diverse "puzzles" that have an air of fun around them (whereas Brain Training gives me the feeling I'm back in class). Simple to operate, a few puzzles are a bit unclear at first (e.g. dog-to-bone). Great. Also for the smaller kids.

• Sokoban
  

  The well known classic where a guy (controlled by you) has to move boxes to a destination. But he can only push, not pull. Quite addictive.

• Picross DS
  

  This a DS implementation of the "Japanese Puzzle" (also known as Nonogram, Paint by Numbers, or Japanese Crossword). Square cells are painted to get a picture (in each of the rows and columns there are some numbers that indicate the lengths of the painted sections). Quite nice.

• 42 Classic games
  

  The second game I bought. Because my father-in-law loved it (yes, I advised him to by an NDS :-). Lots of games from simple to hard. Most of them card games (which I do not like too much), but also real classics (Reversi, chess) and some action games (bowling, darts). There's always someone on the other end of the WiFi connection to play with. There is also a mode that forces you to play all games one at a time. Even the card games appear to be quite fun then.

• Dr Kawashima's Brain Training - How Old Is Your Brain
  

  Gift from my wife. Less diverse games then Big Brain Academy. Gives more of a back-to-school feeling (making 100 multiplications, or remembering 40 words). Some fun aspects though (it asks what you ate yesterday, and then asks the same question one week later). My first games that uses the microphone (displays the word 'blue' in red and then you have to say blue). Includes 100 suduko puzzles (why?).

• Zoo Keeper
  

  Again: my brother-in-law is to blame. Simple action game Tetris genre. You swap adjacent tiles in a grid. Each tile has an icon of an animal on it. When three tiles in a row have the same animal, the tiles disappear. The six minute mode is addictive. Especially for my wife.

• Tetris DS
  

  The well known Tetris. No whistles, no bells. But addictive. Especially for my wife.

• Magnetica
  

  Simple action game Tetris genre. It should be no surprise by now that my wife loves this one.

• Puzzle Series Vol. 5 - Slither Link
  

  Puzzle. Most favorite game of a collegue of mine. Never seen it on paper yet, but it seems to exist. Quite fun. One problem: game is in Japanese only. See my manual.

• Nintendo DS Browser
  

  I couldn't resist buying it (techy like me). Opera web browser (with javascript, but without flash). Use it to check imdb.com while watching TV. Or to send a mail via google mobile. Or to check geocaching.nl while on holiday. Comes with a RAM expansion pack

• Hotel Dusk - Room 215
  

  Bought, but no opinion yet

• Castlevania - Portrait of Ruin
  

  I bought it as 3rd game. It ranked high, I didn't know the gaming world, so let's try it. Big mistake. This sort of thing is not for me. I tried to sell it. Nobody wants it!