April has come to an end, and so IGN does its game of the month. This is for specifically for the Nintendo DS though, so it is no surprise that the winner of the DS Game of the Month is Pokemon. IGN recommends this game, as you'll get a lot of game for your money, and as we know, Pokemon is an amazingly fun series. Some of the past Game of the Months have been Castlevania, Meteos, and of course there have been many more.

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 those 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.

Why we picked it: Look, we'll be frank: Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl aren't tremendous leaps ahead of what Game Freak already did on the Game Boy Advance a few years back. It's more of the same, but with a few enhancements to update the classic design. But even with the modest update, it's pretty cool to see how well the ten year old design still holds up. It's a design about pure gameplay, not about powerful presentation -- there's so much to see and so much to do in this game, right down to the ability to play online and voice chat while doing it. You'll be playing this one for a few weeks before you'll be done catching 'em all. And, if anything, you definitely get a lot for your gaming buck.

Sakura via ds.ign.com »