Got one for my birthday, it's pretty sweet (though expensive still; it's still $140 for the "package deal" that comes with the red DS lite, the somewhat girly-looking carrying case and Brain Age 2, and that's hardly a bargain).
WHO IT'S FOR: With the current selection of games, the main target seems to stray from the current typical audience of the 18-35 single male gamers: while staying true to its younger fan base (with the standard Pokemon releases . . . they're seriously milking the hell out of that franchise for all it's worth), Nintendo has also extended the welcome mat to the older generation and the stereotypical female population (with more puzzle games, and
Dogz and
Catz and whatever other pet they can tack a "Z" on to to make it plural) . . . and probably also the apparently large population of those with ADD ( . . . rather than epic RPGs, it's got lots and lots of minigames). It was definately a precursor for the Wii console, not only in its interactivity but also its expansion of target audience.
PROS: The two things that Nintendo is very good at: 1) Making the same damn game over and over again and convincing people to buy it, and 2) Taking a profitable franchise and running with it. As with all of their other systems, they've pimped out
Metroid and
Mario and
Pokemon, and this time they've adapted them into the touch-screen environment. But they've also thrown in a few different versions of Suduku, crossword puzzles and color-matching puzzle games (a la
Doctor Mario). But, even as I know this is just the same stuff with a different interface, I'm still buying it. Why? I don't know. There's something strangely addictive about making little toy Marios run around with little hammers and bonking the bad guys, I guess. And it's voice-recognition ability is pretty cool, too (even though you'd feel like a complete moron talking to your DS in public).
CONS: Some games are just not cut out for the small screen and touch-screen capabilities. Example: the controls on
Zoo Tycoon suck. And the nice, shiny DS does pick up fingerprints like nothing else. Needs lots and lots of cleaning.
GAMES I WANT/HAVE: Brain Age 2 is pretty fun, even if the little doctor guy completely rips on you ("Your Brain Age is 35! Wow, you must be tired!").
Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis is strangely addicting, I don't know why. I'm looking forward to getting
Final Fantasy III and many of the puzzle games that are out.
GAMES THAT I'LL AVOID: 1) Anything that ends in "Z" unnecessarily:
Dogz, Catz, Horsez, Bratz, Babyz . . . . 2)
March of the Penguins. I don't know what the game play is about, but if it's anything like the movie, I want to skip that whole game of "sit there on an egg and starve for three freaking months in the snow". 3)
Feel The Magic: XY/XX. No offense, as I see that it appears to have a following, but what the hell is this game about? After reading the
blurb on Nintendo's website on it, at some point you've got to ride a unicycle across a catwalk to win some chick's attention. WTF? I'll pass.
OVERALL: More expensive than it probably should be, but fun nonetheless.