Mario Party DS

Mario Party feels as though it belongs on the DS. The second screen gives players a bird's eye view of the game board at all times so that they can keep track of the locations of other characters and important board features, including pitfalls, shops, and, of course, the coveted stars needed to win the game. And nothing has been lost in translation from console to handheld. The game still has the same engaging 3-D view of the action on the bottom screen, not to mention just as many game boards, play modes, and minigames as any of other Mario Party titles.

Plus, the touch screen allows for some interesting new minigame activities. Favorites include drawing circles with the stylus to twist a music box crank in an attempt to play the classic Super Mario Bros. theme at the proper tempo; blowing into the mic to control the speed at which a bomb fuse burns; tracing the mugs of famous Nintendo characters; and swiping the stylus back and forth across the screen as quickly as possible to shear slices off a cucumber. Simply put, Mario Party hasn't felt so satisfying or fresh since the original debuted on the Nintendo64 nearly a decade ago.