25 Best Nintendo DS Games #5 – #1

Continuing the hot streak established by Superstar Saga and Partners in Time, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is a bright, fun RPG, with action-packed battles and varied gameplay. Some of the game will see you as the two Mario Bros., both of whom have been shrunken down and forced to navigate Bowser's insides. The rest of the game you're in control of Bowser, wrecking shop and not even bothering to take names. The Action-RPG combat mixes nicely with the out-of-combat gameplay: a combination of puzzle solving and platforming. Like any good Mario game, Bowser's Inside Story never bores the player by staying on the same thing for too long.

Every Mario Kart title brings something awesome and new to the table. While the mainstays of the Mario Kart series are all here -- Grand Prix mode, Balloon Battle, etc,. -- Mario Kart DS's big addition is its robust online multiplayer. For the first time, players could conveniently play together online. This meant you could finally blue shell player one without fear of physical retaliation (although, generally, if you're blue shelling someone, it's considered okay for them to give you a pop on the arm).

It's hard to believe that Nintendo managed to pack so much turn-based strategy goodness into such a small package, but they managed it time and time again with the Advance Wars series. You can build and organize units, strike down your enemy, and refine your tactics until you're a tank-commanding machine! There's not any especially significant changes to the formula in this third outing, but the addition of the second screen does make it much easier for players to absorb the vast amount of information available to them.

There are two major things that make Phantom Hourglass stand out against the rest of the Zelda games -- your boat, and the Phantom. Your boat is a customizable craft, and it's how you'll be traversing the waterlogged world of Phantom Hourglass. Like its Gamecube forefather, Wind Waker, Hourglass gives you a grand sense of being an adventurer. It's hard not to feel like Indiana Jones when using the stylus to draw on a map to mark treasure, danger, or just add a little doodle or two.

It's tough to pick a favorite game amongst the DS Pokemon titles, so we thought: why not pick them all? Pokemon Black and White, Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, Pokemon Platinum — they're all glorious. Each new Pokemon title expands upon the previous, adding new pocket monsters, new techniques, and occasionally new gameplay elements. There's a reason that so much of the internet is devoted to the game — there's a lot to cover. Secret Pokemon, optimal team synergy, and genealogy are but a few of the elements that keep players coming back generation after generation. The mantra, "Gotta Catch 'Em All," has taken on new meaning since the original Game Boy titles. What was previously a fun distraction has become a life quest. If you wanna catch 'em all, you've got to be a true poke-master, not just some noob Bug Catcher looking for people to challenge with his Metapod. Pokemon deserves the #1 spot in our list of the 25 Best Nintendo DS Games.