I am relegated to ma DS at the moment. Can you guys recommend any good DS games please?

We have the regular subjects, Professor Layton, The World Ends With You, Etrian Odyssey's, Advance Wars, Pokemon. I just thought of Phoenix Wright as well, I must get a hold of that.

Not overly fond of pixelated rpgs on small screens like Chrono Trigger or Dragon Quest.

Anything else that is good? Any hidden gems?

*Also any great Game Boy Advance games for my DS slot as well please.

Hoo, boy....where to even begin?

A lot of Mario stuff is good.
If you haven't played Super Mario 64 before, Super Mario 64 DS is a good one.
I personally enjoyed all the "Mario & Luigi" RPG series (mainly because of the puzzles, but I mean, come on, I have sort of a reputation for this sort of thing).
New Super Mario Bros. is great if you liked the previous Mario platformer games. Similarly with Mario Kart DS and previous Mario Kart games.

If you're not a big fan of Mario, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is a real gem.
I've heard equally good things about Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, which I haven't personally played yet but plan on doing so.
Oh, and Elite Beat Agents became sort of a cult classic of rhythm games as well.
Another one I still want to play is Hotel Dusk: Room 215.

Picross 3D is nice if you like puzzles.
Rhythm Heaven is fun if you enjoy quirky games, just beware that you'll have to be doing some SERIOUS work if you intend to get a perfect rating on every song, as the game encourages you to do.

And obviously, yes, the Professor Layton and Ace Attorney series are must-plays.

You have to be more specific as to your tastes(RPG's, platformers, ect.). Also, the games you listed, do you own already, or are you considering buying them? There are sooooo many good DS games. If you have a 3DS then the eShop is awesome as well.

Hard to say, I like really awesome fun games that are classics, lol. I would say "must plays" would be the idea. Not that into platformers. Puzzle games are good on DS because they don't need good graphics.

I have owned and played most of the ones I mentioned except Phoenix Wright and The World Ends With You. I'd be interested in picking both up.

And thanks Zeo, good recommendations. I'll definitely look into Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.

PLAY THEM. ALL OF THEM.
Trust me on this.
You will not be disappointed. I'm glad I saw this thread. It reminded me of a bunch of DS games I still need to play.

If you like the Etrian Odyssey games, I would recommend The Dark Spire.

Ah yes, I remember jotting that one down when I saw it a fair while ago.

I wish I could find some Phoenix Wright games to play. I might have to get them shipped.

I'll try to list some that haven't been mentioned yet.

WarioWare - Touched! -> It's a must. It's a series of very fast, irreverent microgames, intended to get the most out of the touchscreen.

Trauma Center -> It's a crazy game about doing surgery with your stylus. It goes from suturing wounds all the way to using your special medical powers to fight sentient viruses attacking a patient's heart, with a stop at difusing a bomb inbetween. It can get pretty crazy, but there's no other game like it out there, and you feel pretty awesome acing a surgery.

Castlevania -> There's three of them for the DS: Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia. They are all great, and if you're at all into metroidvania games, hard to find much better than the Castlevania series. Dawn of Sorrow might just be the best Castlevania even, taking SotN ideas and running with it, but they all have multiple playthroughs with different characters with radically different playstyles, so whichever you pick, you'll get your money's worth.

You said you aren't all that interested in RPGs, but if you are interested in playing The World Ends With You then you must be at least partially open to them.

In that case I'll recommend Dragon Ball Z -Attack of the Sayans if you care about that series, it's just about the Sayans Saga, and despite being turn-based, the animations and feel of all the moves felt more accurate to me than any of the fighting games.

Also, the Shin Megami Tensei games, they're always dark, crazy, and have some great stories and characters. No other series is quite like it. On the DS you have Strange Journey, which wasn't considered one of the numbered main line of games only because it takes place in Antarctica instead of Japan, and Devil Survivor, which mixes the series' combat with grid-based strategy.

Alien: Infestation;
Castlevanias (Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia);
Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars;
Final Fantasy (III, IV)

Final Fantasy 3, the Castlevanias. There was a port of Disgaea as well.

Ghost Trick, one of the best game i ever played, definitely on my top 10 of all time.

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is an overall good game. However it has a fatal flaw at one point where you can't progress until you yell into the mic to get an item. Seriously, imagine being a kid in the back of your mom's car or a passenger on a bus and having to yell to get to the next level. There's also might have been a part where you have to blow into the mic (another poopy mechanic) to proceed and another moment where you can't continue until you say "yes" in a conversation (even though you still say "no").

As for actual recommendations, Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver is pretty good. I myself sunk a lot of hours into that. Only thing that the series needs is the ability to save during a battle. It stinks when you have somewhere to be and you just encountered a trainer w/ 6 pokemon. Still, they're great for pointing out the hilarious logistics of the world.

Does that rule out Radiant Historia? Because seriously, that game is incredible.

When I saw you post in this thread, I thought you were going to tell me that there's a Freddi Fish 2 port for DS.

Unfortunately there isn't. It is on mobile phones though, so it's the next best thing! :D