Nintendo DS Game of the Month: May 2006

As much as we'd like it, we know that everyone on the planet can't show up on IGN's Nintendo DS channel on a daily basis. So for those people that can't get here regularly, we certainly sympathize when you're suddenly assaulted on all sides by a massive flood of games during the interim between the last time you showed up here. It makes it difficult to tell just what's the cream of the crop, especially when you're trying to budget for that one or two titles every month. Nintendo DS games aren't expensive...and too many games can just take up way too much room in one's pocket.

We're here to help. At the end of every month, we'll offer our choice for the Game of the Month for the Nintendo DS system. Sure, you can certainly look through our review scores and read up on all the great games released on the system, but like many readers, maybe you're curious which one we'd choose over the other...even if one received a higher score. We've received hundreds upon hundreds of emails asking questions like, "If you only had the money for one game, which one would it be?" This is our way of answering this question.

After we've finished evaluating every game to come down the pipeline, we put our heads together and decide on a single "best of" winner that's worthy of the title "IGN Game of the Month". Pretty simple, don't you think?

Now that we have the guidelines out of the way, let's move on and congratulate this month's winner...

Why We Picked It: How on earth couldn't we pick this one? New Super Mario Bros. has a lot to live up to, as the official Super Mario Bros. series is considered the absolute best of the platforming best on any platform. There hasn't been an official continuation of the series since the Super NES Super Mario World, so it's been a long time coming for a true Mario fix. Expectations were incredibly high for this Nintendo DS offering, but anyone who kept them on a reasonable level got themselves one hell of a Mario adventure.

IGN DS Game of the Month Runner-up: Dreamworks' Over the Hedge

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Vicarious Visions

Release Date: May 9, 2006

Reader's Game of the Month: New Super Mario Bros.

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo

Release Date: May 15, 2006

Reader Review quote: What makes this game great is the fact that nothing new is done overly, and nothing old is excessive. Everything is balanced evenly so you have an great experience in the many worlds.


BrooklynMario

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