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my way to the DS was a bit of a journey, really. it took me a long time before i finally let the buzz convince me and got one. and how right the buzz turned out to be! the DS is the coolest console i have had in a long time. i waited forever before i bought my DS - i only bought it about three weeks ago (dec 2010). i loved the GBA SP. but it was so tiny that after a while of playing my fingers hurt and my hands cramped. that was a serious drawback of the SP. when the DS first came out i didn't see any reason why one would want two screens and thought that nintendo had seriously shot themselves in the foot with that thing... also the first DS was so bulky and ugly, that i didn't like it one bit. so i stayed away. at some point however, some of my siblings and even my dad bought the DSi and they all seemed to enjoy that console a lot (mostly kawashima and stuff like that). i was puzzled by that but still personally felt fairly indifferent towards the DS - i happily continued playing my SP instead...when the DSi XL came out i considered getting a DS for myself for the first time, because i thought it would be a worthy replacement/addition to my GBA SP, because of the more comfortable size for my hands and the backwards compatibility via the GBA cartridge slot. but alas! they ditched the GBA slot. so since the games i was excited about were all GBA titles, i decided against the DS again...then finally i started reading about some of the games and watched gameplay videos of phantom hourglass, new mario bros, and mario kart DS and i loved what i saw. that was the first time that i also became interested in the DS itself, not merely the DS as a GBA extension. then the SD cartridges came out (supercard and such) and that solved the missing-GBA-slot-problem, and finally the SNES emulator came, and that sold me. so i got the DSi XL, the supercard, and some original cartridges with worthy DS titles (new super mario bros and kart, zelda), and started delving into the DS world myself, and what can i say - it is a brilliant console with some very good games, and thanks to the supercard, it is backwards compatible as well, enabling me to replay some of my classic favorites from the SNES and GBA. it couldn't be any better... ... or could it??? (hint -> 3DS...!)

the gamecube had a pretty good lineup of quality games, if you ask me. i enjoyed that console quite a bit, and in fact, i still play games on it from time to time today, even though everybody has moved on to the next generation consoles (xbox360, ps3, and wii) for a couple of years now. here are some titles i enjoyed playing:mario themed games:

super smash bros. meleemario smash footballmario golf: toadstool tour

all these games were really good fun, especially in multiplayer. both golf and football could have done with more courses/arenas, and especially would have benefited from a more challenging AI, and most of all from personalized characters that grow and improve their skillset, the longer you play with them. nonetheless both games still had lots of appeal as multiplayer games.(now i hear that super mario sunshine was excellent too, but i never played it myself. i personally never liked the 3D jump-and-run versions in the likes of mario64, sunshine, and galaxy. i don't know, call me conservative, but mario jump-and-runs have to be side-scrollers for me, so i am glad they went back to that with the new super mario bros for DS and Wii...)cube zelda games

the legend of zelda: wind wakerthe legend of zelda: twilight princess

both were excellent games, although occarina of time on the n64 is still the best. of course, occarina of time came out as the master quest for the cube. i bought the limited edition of the wind waker, which included the master quest, but i never really had the urge to play it, because i had played it already on the n64...other 3rd person action-adventures (cross-platform)

beyond good & evilsphinx and the cursed mummystarfox adventures (only on gamecube)prince of persia: the sand of time

now beyond good & evil was really good, albeit a bit too short maybe - either way, i am very much looking forward to a sequel to that excellent game. and sphinx was a beautiful game with a good story, good gameplay, but most of all an amazing atmosphere. i am glad i played it. starfox adventures was beautiful and had good gameplay. it could get frustrating at times, because of difficult levels, but all in all it was a good game. sands of time was the 2nd reboot of the prince of persia franchise (after the first two original games, which were 2D side-scrollers, and the mostly forgotton prince of persia 3D for the PC, which was a bit buggy and had awkward character movement, but was still a good game). sands of time was very good. great level-design, great gameplay, good story. other good cross-plattform titles

SSX 3burnout 2 - point of impactcrazy taxi

SSX 3 was a brilliant snowboarding game. and it was huge! the amount of racetracks, challenges, characters, outfits, was overwhelming. great graphics too, good soundtrack. all in all great fun. same goes for burnout 2. an awesome racing game. neither game worked all that well in multiplayer though, as the reduced screensize took quite a bit of the fun away, but they could also be played competitively by taking turns, which is what i did for the most part... and crazy taxi of course was a port from the arcade/dreamcast classic, and was a fun game for sure...splinter cell series (cross platform)

splinter cellsplinter cell: pandora tomorrowsplinter cell: chaos theory

all were good games, and fun to play. i am not a big fan of the series though, as the level-structure is too linear for my taste - i prefer open-world-levels, where i can choose my path independently [i.e. the first hitman game (PC), the first ghost recon game (PC)], as opposed to being forced to move through a level that is shaped like a narrow 'corridor', while overcoming scripted challenges that were put in my path. nonetheless, all splinter cell games were well written and well made games, and certainly worth playing. not liking the corridor approach to gaming is a personal preference...===========games i played and didn't enjoy

metal gear solid: twin snakes (remake)resident evil (remake)resident evil 2 (remake)prince of persia: warrior withinsmuggler's runtrue crime: streets of LAmedal of honour: european assault

i had never played the original mgs: twin snakes and i think that was the problem. the remake had beautiful graphics, but the gameplay seemed outdated. if i had played and loved the original, i am sure i would have been more forgiving, but i hadn't and so i wasn't. same goes for resident evil - never played the original game. the graphics were incredibly beautiful. the atmosphere was very compelling, and only briefly but repeatedly interrupted whenever the terrible voice-acting came into play. but all in all the game seemed too dated, and i was always short of ammo. i realize that this is a theme of the series, but it seemed utterly ridiculous for an armed special-task-force to just be carrying one clip of ammo into a mission. sorry.i didn't like the art-direction of the warrior within. too dark, too gothic, too close to god of war. just my preference. it didn't work for me... smuggler's run was based on a good idea, but the gameplay was repetitive and boring, and lost its appeal really fast... i bought true crime relatively late, and maybe i just shouldn't have waited so long. i was amazed to see that the graphics were actually worse than some n64 titles (turok 2 on the n64 had better graphics for example) and definitely not on par with other gamecube titles that had combined good gameplay with good graphics and had already shown that the console is capable of much better visuals than that (for example with beyond good & evil, twilight princess). i was disappointed by the gameplay and annoyed by visual quality and stopped playing really fast...