My girlfriend is staying in China for a few months, and I'm going to meet her there soon.

I'm thinking of buying her a DS. She likes platforming games but I don't want to give her a Mario game since we've played a few of those lately (Mario 64, SMG), so I was thinking of either Yoshi's Island DS or Kirby: Canvas Curse. She likes these two characters, so I'm a bit divided. Any recommendation on which is better? The Kirby one uses the stylus, which I never tried playing with... Is it enjoyable?

Also, is Nintendogs really any good? I didn't read much about it, but it seems like one of those Tamagotchi style gimmicky games which I don't think are her style... I want to buy her at least two games, if there's anything outstanding out there feel free to make suggestions.

Also, since it will be a while until I get it to her, I was thinking of buying one DS for myself for uhm.... testing. Yeah, that's it, I'm only buying it so that I can find out whether she'll like it or not :P I'm thinking of getting Contra 4 for myself since it's been many years since I last played a Contra game.

Thanks for any help!

There are so many good DS-Games that it is difficult to recommend something.
I can't say anything to your first question, because I never played Kirbys Canvas Course, so I can't say if it is any good.
However I played Nintendogs and I liked it. It's really cool, because it uses the Stylus and the Mic of the DS. Sadly I rented my copy to my little niece and haven't seen it since than. (I am pretty sure she hasn't lost it and just don't want to give it back ...). Also you or better your gf must like the style of the game. It's a game which you should play every day for only a few minutes. However if you know that you don't have the time to care for your virtual puppy, because of a vacation for instance, than you can give it into a pension into the game.

Now for some other games I would recommend:
Advance Wars (both parts)
Phoenix Wright (all parts)
Yu-Gi-Oh (the 2008 edition, but only if you like the card game ...)
Zelda

I'd definitely get Canvas Curse, it uses the stylus so well that it makes me people cry in the streets with joy. I know I did.

As for Nintendogs, I put off buying it. I'm sure she'd love it quite a bit, but for the average gamer it can get boring after a while. If it's for your girlfriend however, she'll probably enjoy it so it's a definite purchase for her.

And go for the DS. Although I don't recommend starting off with a game that will bust your chaps, you might want to start off light and build up to it.

You should get animal crossing too.

NSMB is really good, even if you have played the 3D marios to excess.

How abou one of them Castlevania games? It is platforming with added twists, so very nice.

On Nintendogs: It is fun. However, after 2-3 months of playing and enjoying it and naming the dogs after me and all my friends, my GF started to say that it is boring. So yes, a fun game, but one that she might tire of eventually.

Kirby is much better. YIDS was disappointing and reuses YI material too much.

What about Pokemon D/P?

Buy the Green DS!

It's godlike :)

Canvas Curse is really really good. :)

Thanks for all the replies :)

I just bought a black (sorry iFlower7) DS for the "testing" phase :P They didn't have many games at the shop, so I got New Super Mario Bros. I'll get the other games later, and probably a white DS for her.

I tried playing it a bit, it's pretty cool. At least at first, it's pretty weird that it has two screens though :)

@Rol: Well, I guess I'll have to take advantage of the weak dollar and get it from the US then!

Hey Tingle, how is fairy land?

Why dont you recommend the game you are in? I mean Rosy Ruppee land sounds glorious.