the limitless potential
super paper mario
i played the first paper mario for the SNES for about five minutes and thought it was lame... way too RPG for me. but the prospect of another wii game that was actually worth playing - on top of the impressive-looking visual effects - got me to trade in god of war 2 for it. they scaled back the RPG-side and instead of final-fantasy-esque turn-based battles, it's like a traditional mario side-scroller with hit points thrown into the mix. but there are plenty of RPG elements left - like gaining experience to level up and gain skills; side-quests; and purchasing items (and an inventory that is way too small).
the levels are creative and the dialogue pretty funny, but the crap you have to do between levels, to find the next one, is excruciating at times. i suppose they felt the game was too short and wanted to beef it up a bit. the flip-effect you've seen in the ads wears off in coolness after a while because you end up doing it everywhere to try to see if there are any secrets hiding behind the landscape. plus you end up walking around as bowser most of the time, because his attack doles out twice the damage of everyone else.
it's a good balance between a platformer and an rpg, though, and worth playing if you like either genre. 
clubhouse games
finally found a copy of this - and while obviously not deep, there are so many minigames packed into it that you pretty much have to enjoy at least one or two. as someone who doesn't play a lot of cards, i found a few that i'd never heard of that i kinda dig now. nearly all of the included games are solid...
... except one called pig, where you try to swap cards with the other four players to get four-of-a-kind, and when you do you grab one of the coins in the middle before the others. the person who doesn't get one loses. a fine concept in theory - but play against three computer opponents (that move considerably faster than the human being considering they are the game), no audio notification when someone gets four, and that the coins are so small your stylus doesn't grab them properly, and you're pretty much hosed.
they should have put spoons on here, IMHO. and when you get four you throw your DS across the room and you win. were any of you at that game of spoons in high school when jon davis had an iron fall on his head trying to go for a spoon? i am aiming to electronically recreate that experience.
ryan, you left out the part where Biggin' almost gets pushed out of a second story window in the brawl.
j, glad to hear you finally picked up the game. you shall never be bored on the can ever again.
Didn't Jeff Davis jump out of Mrs. Hursting's window once?
No, you're thinking of Brian Mascari when he jumped out of Mr. Favrot's window. Dude landed in the bushes by the flagpole and sprained his ankle. If he'd have landed 2 feet to the right, he'd have died, for real.
All Jeff did was break his finger on purpose to get out of Doc Cameron's history class. Lightweight.
dude would even come to my class down the hall and take orders there too. Mr. Hudson was the man. 20 minutes later, Jeff would drop off a sack of McMuffins on Hudson's desk. half were for Mr. Hudson himself. that guy could put those things down like they were candy.
i still love that guy.