PixlBit

Hoo boy, so much good stuff on the DS! I've never played every game I wanted to on any console, obviously, but the DS was the last time I made any sort of progress towards that. Let me just touch (haha) on some games you didn't mention.

You didn't mention the Castlevania games. Any reason for that? 

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is a stylus-controlled action game that I thought worked really well.

Contra 4 was a real return to form for that series, though it is very hard.

Elite Beat Agents is a really fun rhythm game that is so silly.

Ghost Trick is an excellent puzzle action game by the writer of the Phoenix Wright games (I fully agree with Cary's recommendation on those as well). Ghost Trick is fun to play and has a great story. It did get a modern reissue too.

Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure is a cool mash up of 2D platforming on the top screen and Puzzle League-esque gameplay on the bottom screen. I really like this one but was never able to beat the last boss because it got so hard.

Legend of Kage 2 is a great retro-style 2D action game. Heck, it's technically a sequel to an NES game!

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (often shortened to 999) is SO GOOD. It's a Japanese visual novel interspersed with lots of different puzzles. Those do a good job of breaking up the story but the story is really the star here. I cannot recommend it enough.

Speaking of good stories, Radiant Historia is an RPG with a cool parallel timeline story. Neat battle system too.

Lastly, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 is a great use of the DS's touch screen and features a nutty anime story.

Dude, I remember the fervor about Ecks vs Sever when it came out on the GBA. A competent FPS on a handheld! I never did play Ecks vs Sever but I got a similar game called Back Track that seemed like a competent Doom clone on the surface but turned out to be such a derivative waste of time. I wonder if I would have liked Ecks vs Sever better.

I borrowed The Two Towers on the GameCube from a friend and loooooved it back in the day. I did everything you could in that game. I always wanted to play The Return of the King but never got around to it.

I played a fair bit of Lament of Innocence and for better and worse, that really is a GBA Castlevania pulled into 3D. But man, Leon's theme is SO GOOD.

I immediately hopped on the eShop and wishlisted those two new picross games! Thanks for the heads up. I enjoy simply completing picross puzzles but I really like when a game has a good theme, so these are welcome additions...though they are noticeably more expensive! I would go with Capcom first too, so I will probably get at least that one eventually.

Metroid Prime is my favorite game, so I am very biased for it but you really do need to play that all the way through it. The Switch remaster is really great. I'm partial to the original lock-on controls but that version does include more typical FPS twin stick options.

Dang, so much great stuff on the GameCube! Have you plaed either of the Baten Kaitos games? I feel like you would enjoy those.

I played Tales of Symphonia back in the day and got really far into but never beat it. The battle system never clicked with me and boss fights were always slogs that I could only beat if I had enough healing items. I have always meant to try another game in the series but haven't gotten around to it.

I've played a few of these but there are a bunch here in the "hopefully one day" category, like the God of War games (which I own all of one way or another), Okami, FF XII, Fatal Frame 2, and Klonoa 2. Such a treasure trove.

I have always wanted to play the portable Klonoa games...and I think they recently got added to Switch Online, so maybe I will!

Well, Ys VIII is a great starting point. I'm certainly interested in getting some more games in the series.

Haha, that's not a bad description!

The GBA has so many great games. It's easy to forget that it had a relatively short life before the DS came out. I don't want to comment on all these games but...

I still haven't played Minish Cap and I even have a loose cart of it somewhere (it's also on Switch Online as well, I think). Both of the Metroid games are great, Zero Mission being a great distillation of classic Metroid. As for the Castlevanias, I don't know why Harmony gets such a bad rap. It is so much better than Circle of the Moon, in my opinion, but yeah, Aria is the clear winner of that bunch.

You sure have a lot of RPGs and tactics games!

I am surprised Astro Boy: Omega Factor is not on this list because that is a peak action game. Treasure really knocked it out of the park with that one.