Just a short note to say that I bought a Nintendo DS Lite on Monday and have been enjoying the heck out of it since. I’ve bought two games so far: Mario and Luigi Partners in Time, and Super Princess Peach. Partners in Time has been my favorite because it’s like the first two Paper Mario games in that it’s turn-based, and it’s also very cute. I’m running around with baby versions of Mario and Luigi, plus there’s a baby Peach, a baby Bowser, and a younger Toadsworth. I’m currently on Yoshi Island putting out fires by 1) letting baby Mario drink spring water, causing him to get all round and squishy, then 2) having baby Luigi whack baby Mario with a hammer, causing Mario to spit out some water onto a fire. It’s completely adorable and I’ve been enjoying spitting up everywhere.

Super Princess Peach is also enjoyable. It’s like an old-school Mario sidescroller, but Peach doesn’t die upon being touched by an enemy, which I always thought was more frustrating than enjoyable; instead, she has three hearts that diminish when she gets hit. She has different moods you can invoke that trigger different things. For example, you can make her angry and she gets so mad that a fire starts, allowing you to burn obstacles and enemies. You can make her really happy such that she flies, allowing you to gather extra goodies in the air. It’s a ridiculously girly game, what with Peach squealing and running around with her yellow parasol Percy (or is it Perry?). Percy-Perry is tougher than he looks, though: if you’re holding an enemy and duck under the parasol, the parasol “absorbs” the enemy to refuel Peach. “Absorbs,” my ass! I see Percy licking his lips after Peach stands back up; I hope she never gets on his bad side.