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As someone who owns way too many DS games, it’s easy to see a few great games that the vast majority of people pass on for one reason or another. While several games, such as Elite Beat Agents, Brain Age and Cooking Mama, have benefited from being on the receiving end of positive reactions across the Internet, just as many games are passed on to fade from gamers’ collective consciousness.

This article is designed to illuminate five of the best, yet forgotten DS titles of 2006 that were lost in the shuffle of the biggest year for the biggest handheld in the world.

The Five Most Under Appreciated DS Games of 2006 (and the Cheap Ass Way to Get Them)

As a quick note, these were the five most under-loved games on Cheap Ass Gamer, not across the entire internet. That's why Contact and Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime will not appear on the main list as they've been pretty highly buzzed all year on CAG despite selling far below what we thought they should. Without further delay, here’s my list of the five most under appreciated Nintendo DS games of 2006 in no particular order:

1. Scurge: Hive
- Half Metroid, half Secret of Mana, all fun. While Scurge: Hive suffers from being almost identical to the GBA version of the game, the gameplay and story are both solid. Scurge: Hive pits you in the role of the intergalactic female bounty hunter Jenosa Arma. You suit up to fight a mutant virus ravaging a space colony, and yes, you're infected with it too. So plot-wise, this is a near total rip off of Metroid (particularly Fusion).

Why is this worth playing then? While the frosting on this cake is the same as Metroid, the cake of this game is as different as angel food and pineapple upside down cake. Because Jenosa is infected, she must constantly find purification stations to suppress the disease. If your infection reaches 100%, your health rapidly begins to decrease. The game is a constant battle between exploring the spaceship while searching for purification stations.

While the gimmick of the game is neat, Scurge: Hive would suck if the gameplay isn't as fun as it is. Playing sort of like the exploration part of Sigma Star Saga, Scurge: Hive has you exploring the world in an action RPG with your blaster and various gadgets. Furthermore, the game adds in a ton of strategy as you're given the option to change the type of energy your gun fires out. Unlike Metroid though, if you shoot an enemy with the wrong type of energy, it powers them up. This adds a huge amount of strategy to the game especially when you consider you're constantly having to find purification stations for your infections.

Scurge: Hive clocks in at around 12 hours, but multiple difficulty levels, hidden costumes and an unlockable boss rush mode lengthens the game quite a bit. Scurge: Hive can be found used currently at EB/GS for $19.99. It's an early candidate for Spring clearances as it hasn't sold that many copies.

2. Break Em' All
- Attention collectors. Break 'Em All is destined to be the next Monopoly, Battleship, Yahtzee, Boggle (currently the rarest DS game in case you're wondering). At only $20, it's a steal at the moment. Like most "rare" games, you'll probably want to pick up a copy to sell and a copy to play though because this is such a quality title.

Break 'Em All is arguably the best Breakout/Arkanoid port we've ever seen outside of the arcade. The DS control scheme allows for pinpoint controls that were never really pulled off all that well on a d-pad. Furthermore, Break 'Em All allows you to drag your stylus on any part of the screen if for some reason you don't enjoy playing on the bottom of the screen.

Break 'Em All offers a ton of replay value too. Tokoton Mode offers 50 well designed standard levels or over 3,000,000 (yes, three million) randomly generated levels of block and ball play. There's also a quest mode that adds in boss battles to the mix. Furthermore, Break 'Em All uses a neat Gradius like power up system to differentiate it from every other ball and paddle game.

Break 'Em All is a ton of fun for you and your friends. With 2-8 player single-card play, and a summer release date, I find it utterly shocking that this game never found an audience. Regardless, it's $20 right now, less if you can find it used or with a Gamer's Gift Card in Best Buy. Even if it doesn't become a huge collector's item, Break 'Em All is a ton of classic gameplay at a value price.

3. Magnetica - Of course, one of the games I choose has to be out of stock at all major retailers. Magnetica, better known in the United States as Zuma (which Popcap Games ripped off friends, not the other way around), is a puzzle game where you fling different colored marbles with your stylus at a constantly tightening string. Get three in a row and the marbles pop, combos get chained, and your score goes up. Simple, right? Well not exactly. Magnetica tosses in a variety of obstacles to try and slow you down. Between wind, black holes, magnetic walls, smoke screens, and a variety of other impediments, Magnetica is one of the most challenging puzzle games on the DS.

Magnetica (Actionloop in Europe) is easily one of the best experiences to ...