Review by SANDRA DER:

I bought this game for my 7 year old who is a big fan of the T.V series, however he played the game for maybe 5 minutes

he said it was boring and he didn't like it.. I also bought Mario & Luigi Bowser's inside story, He loved that one.

He also loves Mario cart, and Mario 64. I don't recommend this game, if you think your Child who's a huge fan of the show will like it, based on loving the T.V series, It's likely he or she won't.

Review by Josephine M. Newstad:

Star Wars the Clone Wars:Republic Heroes - Execellent - my 6 year old Grandson loves it - he is a real Star Wars fan. I ordered it from Amazon.com.

Review by Nite:

After countless spin offs the real deal is here: Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. The Pokemon craze has been around for years. Ever since the Red and Blue versions hit way back, Pokemon has been huge. It's tried and true formula has worked for over ten years, and it's pretty apparent that the formula isn't going to die now. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are a lot like the Pokemon games that preceded it, but they've really thrown in some good touches here. Still, most players who've been playing since the Gameboy days, or even as recent as the GBA days will still get a "been there, done that," feeling. Still, the game is good, addictive and it will keep you busy for hours on end.

As I said, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl have a "been there, done that" kind of feel. You begin as a rookie trainer in a village, and under some circumstances, you are asked by a professor to go and collect Pokemon data using a Pokedex. On your journey your goal is to collect as many Pokemon as you can and train them to take on other trainers, and to get all the badges from the games various gym leaders, while you've got a rival who is out doing to same thing to prove he's better than you. In addition, there's an evil organization called Team Galactic that has plans for a new world order and to do that they need all the Pokemon they can get. If all this sounds familiar, that's because it is! It's the exact same formula that worked for the original Pokemon games on the Gameboy, the games on the Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance. The story, of course, is simple and charming, but where Pokemon has always managed to shine most is it's fantastic and addictive gameplay.

Pokemon is actually really strategic and in-depth. That is to say, it requires a lot of thought, and believe me, some of these battles (especially against the new Pokemon that are introduced in this version) require a lot of your skill. Battles are turn based, where you select a command and then watch a round of combat. There's a paper/rock/scissors effect here, however. Each and every Pokemon has a type, and some of the attacks they use reflect its type. This makes up what deals massive damage, what deals no damage and what deals just normal damage. Grass may be strong against water, for example but grass is also weak against fire, but in turn, fire is weak versus water. This effect plays through with seventeen and different types, and there is no best type because every type has a weakness. It's because of this element that Pokemon is so much fun to play. Just trying to construct the perfect team will take you more than a day, and with over 100 new creatures to collect, you can form endless amounts of teams. Just catching all the Pokemon alone will keep you busy for well over 50 hours. To add to the effect you'll face several other trainers as well, and you never know what they'll throw at you. Your strongest Pokemon may very well become your weakest in certain battles just because of its type.

The battle system itself is made even simplar by the touch screen. Where as before you were scrolling through menus, battling can simply be done by touching the different options on screen. It makes battling a lot faster, especially because the icons are pretty big. Luckily, there's never really a point where you have to use the touch screen if you don't want to, and battling can still be done the old fashioned way if you so choose.

As with Ruby and Sapphire there are also moments of two on two battles. Usually they come with either two trainers taking you on at a time, and you'll send out the two Pokemon in your top roster, or you'll be with another trainer who will send out his or her Pokemon with yours. It adds to the strategic feel of the game, but the moments of two on two battles are pretty few and far between.

In your journey you'll also receive a nifty watch that works based off the time of your internal clock. This means that much like Gold and Silver, it'll switch between day and night. Some Pokemon come out only in the early morning, others come out late at night. Some Pokemon only come out on certain days. Either way, those itching to catch each and every Pokemon will enjoy this aspect of it.

As I said before, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl have added some new things. The most important new thing however, is how much easier it is to trade Pokemon and battle with your friends. Using Wi-fi on the DS is far better than the various link cables or having to go out and buy the wireless adapter for the GBA. You can battle with people all across the world, and do other things as well, such as trade with them. Of course, in order to enjoy the full benefits of this you'll need the friend code to do it, and sometimes. In order to get the full experience of the online gaming world in Pokemon, you'll need to register friend codes. If you don't you can't enjoy some of the better perks, like being able to talk to a friend using the microphone of your DS as you battle. Still, the combat is enhanced greatly when playing online. If you don't want to play online you can easily connect to another DS and battle it out that way with your friend simply sitting in the room.

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are also full of little secret goodies. There are the legendary Pokemon, Pokemon contests, and of course, even after you've finished the main story there's more to be done. You can transfer Pokemon from your GBA versions by sticking it into the GBA slot of the DS. No matter how you slice it, Pokemon can easily keep you busy longer than several RPGs combined

I wish I could say the graphics and sound are absolutely amazing, but they're really not. For as much fun as this game is, it's certainly not the best as far as graphics go. The same goes for the sound as well. Pokemon has never really been a game you go after for eye-candy, though. There are some moments where some 3D effects come out, but not very many. The sprites are more or less the same sprites they've been using since the Red and Blue versions. Ideally, the game doesn't look all that much of a step up from Ruby and Sapphire, and they were not fantastic looking games either. It's really colorful, but the DS is capable of so much more than this. Likewise, in battle is still as horrible as ever. Fun to do it, but the Pokemon still only flinch to attack, and there aren't a lot of animations going on, and we're still looking over the Pokemon's shoulder. Essentially, the combat engine hasn't changed since the series first outing in 1998. There are some move animations that look really good, but aside from that it's hard to look passed the simple fact that the game's combat engine hasn't really evolved since the original games came out way back in 1998. This isn't the original Gameboy, this is the Nintendo DS.

The sound is also no exception. A lot of it sounds really tinny. There are some tunes that definitely sound Pokemon like, but again, it's using old technology on a system capable of a lot more. Most of the sound effects such as the Pokemon's cries are ripped straight from--you guessed it--the original Gameboy versions released in 1998. That's not to say all the tunes sound bad, it's just to say that a lot of what you're going to hear is recycled.

Despite the games graphics and sound, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are still excellent games. There's a lot more depth here than people think, and a lot of stuff to keep you busy for a long time to come. Even those who are tired of the same simplistic plot and formula will find something great here.

Pros:

+Simple, yet addictive gameplay

+Deep, strategic combat system

+Touch screen controls make battling easier

+Wi-fi connection works well

+Over 100 new Pokemon join the roster

+Simple storyline that anyone can understand

+Being able to battle trainers all across the globe and being able to trade with them is fantastic

+Game can keep you busy for hours with all there is to do, easily over 80 hours worth of gameplay

Cons:

-You can still only save one file

-Graphics and sound are horribly outdated

-The formula works, but there are bound to be gamers out there who are sick of the same old storyline

Review by Female Spy:

Pokemon Diamond is a good step up from the other pokemon games. I have been a fan of pokemon since the old red, blue, and yellow versions for gameboy. This game makes them look like glitched up things of the past. Here's my opinionated scoop on the bad and the good of this game, in that order.

The Bad:

1. Same old thing. What I mean by this is, although the story has it's differences from other games, it's still basically the same idea. You get to pick your first pokemon from: Turtwig (a grass type), Chimchar (a fire type), and Piplup (a water type). Once you pick your first pokemon in a setup somewhat similar to the Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald versions, you are off on a journey to basically be both the ultimate trainer, and the contest master. You will meet a new, psychotic evil team, who has the wrong ideas about the pokemon world and such. There is also the same goal of beating the elite four, and the return of that tedious training you must do to get past the gym leaders. All I am saying, is this game will probably be a newer experience to those who are just getting to know pokemon.

2. It seems like the Pokemon company are starting to get low on ideas. First off, long time pokemon gamers may notice they haven't introduced as many new pokemon as they did in Gold, Silver, and Crystal. What's more, they even started intertwining old pokemon into the new games, just giving them different index numbers. Of course, it's hard not to include the old pokemon when many of the new ones are either pre-evolutionary forms, or even evolved forms of them. Cute and cool, but may not cut the mustard. Now don't get me wrong, there are some cool new pokemon (Piplup, for example, has become very popular among pokemon fans). All I am saying is, the game designers seem to be digging in the bottom of the barrel.

3. The secret base system just isn't as good. Now, I love the Underground! The prospect of digging for fossils, heart scales, and other rare items appeals to me; but who here has played the Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald versions? In those versions, you can have secret bases in trees, in rock walls, and even in bushes, in any desirable route. This game, not so much. You have to have to create your base somewhere in the Underground. Now, that may not be too bad for some, as you can create it wherever you want, provided you have the drilling tool. BUT WHY DO THE STUPID ROCKS HAVE TO BE THERE?! This is what really stinks; you can't move the rocks unless you capture someone elses flag. I think in order to do that, you have to have Wi-Fi connection, and infiltrate somebody else's base to get their flag. I have dial-up (because high speed can get expensive), and have heard Wi-Fi will not work with it, so I'm out of luck. I'm stuck with the dumb unmovable rocks (that are always in the way), in a base that looks like everyone elses (except maybe with different decorations), that lacks variety in landscaping.

4. The Poketch (Another awkward name, but it stands for pokemon watch) could use a bit more work. It's good if you only have a few things you can access from it. However, when you get more things, you basically have to start tapping the screen like crazy to get what you want. All I'm saying is a quick selection feature would have been nice.

5. Another annoying rival. Long time pokemon gamers will know the type. Pesky, bothering you at the wrong times, always beats you to the gymleaders even if it seems impossible that he did so, picks the starter that beats yours in type and boasts about it, and is supposedly a long time "friend" of yours. Yeah, very irritating.

6. Getting the national pokedex is a bit of a pain. Until you get it, you cannot rely on help from stronger pokemon in a couple of the older versions either.

The Good:

1. Waaay more life-like! This game is the most three dimensional of the pokemon hand-held games I have ever seen! This makes it more life-like in some areas, as it makes you feel you're actually on the ground rather than in a hot air ballon, or something in the air, looking down on everything.

2. Time is more realistic. This could also weave in with more life-like. Rather than change instantly from day to night or vice versa at six, like in Gold Silver, and Crystal, or not at all (like the other pokemon games), Pokemon Diamond actually has day phases. There is morning, afternoon, dusk, evening, and even late night! Gameplay is good no matter what time you play! The game also acknowledges days of the week (example: Drifloon comes to the windworks factory on Friday), though maybe that isn't used as much as it was in Gold, Silver, and Crystal. All the same, it is a better and well-developed system.

3. They brought back the night guards! It brings back fond memories of Gold, Silver, and Crystal, to have police men who will only fight you at night...

4. The gyms are better than ever! Maybe a tad harder than I like, but the traps and stuff don't have a deja vu feel to them. It's a totally new experience!

5. The Underground is awesome! I enjoy digging up rare items and spheres! The only thing I wish to warn is: don't dig to many spheres in the ground! The older spheres will start disappearing if you bury too many spheres.

6. The contests have come back with a vengance! Do you know those old contests in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald? You feed your pokemon pokeblocks in hopes the audience will like how it looks, then you try to outshine the others with moves in a period of four turns on a single judge. Well, that kind of contest is now the thing of the past! First off, instead of pokeblocks, players must feed their pokemon a food called poffin. It's made of berrys still, but in a different way that uses the stylus. It's like you cook your pokemon's food now. Then there's the dancing, the accessory and poffin accented physical appeal, and rather than one, THREE judges you can appeal to! Contests are now more difficult, fun, and entertaining!

7. More trainer card features! You can actually sign your name in your own handwriting using the stylus on the back of your trainer's card! You can also shine your badges, which do get dull! I thought these were interesting and entertaining tidbits of the game.

8. The poketch is cool! Yes, I complained about it not having a quick select feature in the bad; but regardless, this thing is still very cool and useful in the game! Hidden item? Throw away the item finder and use your dowsing app! Forgot where you plant a berry? Find the locations of pickable berrys with the berry finding app (that may not be what it's really called). Chances are, if there's a feature you want your poketch to do, you will find it eventually.

9. The new pokemon are cool. There aren't really enough new ones, and the ideas seem to be a bit... lacking in a couple of areas; but still, the new abilities, moves, and pokemon make for new and exciting gameplay.

10. I believe there are a lot of legendaries. This means more rare pokemon for you (and a good deal of them are cute!)

11. This game is more "people friendly". Quite often, you will team up with a character in the game who will heal your pokemon after each battle, and offer his or her pokemon for assistance in double battling format. This is a great opportunity to learn to work with the pokemon that are not yours. The only drawback, is that you will meet two wild pokemon at once. If there is one you want, you can't catch it until you defeat the other pokemon. In addition, your "partner" will attack every turn not knowing to let up. On these facts, it is better to try and catch pokemon alone.

12. Animations are included, and there are many good details. This time there are differences between male and female pokemon other than the symbol. These differences are slight and difficult to tell, but it is good attention to detail. On top of that, pokemon animations are included (example: Starly flaps its wings when you see it). Another new good detail is being able to tell how much a pokemon weighs against yourself.

13. Taking care of berries is easier and more realistic! Don't recall when you last watered that berry in Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald? Well, now you can tell! The soil actually changes to a light color when the berry plant hasn't been watered, so you know when to water it! The only challenge that remains is being able to water it several times a day...

So, that about raps it up. Overall, this is an awesome game beyond belief! If you want hours of entertainment, love pokemon, or even just enjoy playing videogames in general, then this is one of the best games you can buy out there.

Review by Eagle Vision:

I gave my daughter this game for her birthday, and pre-ordered this just in time. The cartridge is accompanied by a Special Collector's Edition Figure Naga with a Gate Card.

The premise of the game is just like the one with action figures, Gate Cards, and Special Ability Cards. You work on customizing your character based upon their looks and clothing. One limitation of the game is that you can only create one character at a time. You can progress in Story Mode by participating in battles, where you win points to upgrade your Bakugan, get additional Bakugan and get Gate/Ability Cards.

The graphics are above average for the DS platform. Game play, if you're a Bakugan Fan, is enjoyable. You choose which cards to play and then roll your Bakugan in the arena to collect G-Power and Additional Points before you land on a Gate Card. When the opponent rolls and lands onto the same Gate Card, the battle begins. As opposed to the figurine/card game where battles are won based upon point totals alone, your points are tallied based upon the Power Rating and then you will perform a battle using hand/eye coordination to win. The best of 5 battles wins the match.

My daughter says she loves the game since it is so fun. Her only complaint is not being able to have more than one profile.

Overall, this is a fun game, even for me. Coupled with the Special Edition Bakugan, this makes my daughter very happy.

Review by virginiaplain:

My niece wanted the Bakugan toy. Now I am left with a non-standard packaged DS game. I was expecting there to be a hard shell case inside.

When you open the cardboard flap of the outer box, the game cartridge is just sitting in there wedged in the cardboard. You lift that cardboard up, and beneath that on the bottom of the cardboard box is the pamphlet for the game.

For the money, I am very disappointed that the cartridge & pamphlet are not in a typical hard shell case as all other DS games are.

They should mention this in the product description!!!

Review by M. W. Harris:

I bought two of these for my two kids for Christmas, and each one works perfectly. The boys were so stoked being able to max out their Pokemon on Diamond and Pearl! Whoever said "cheaters never win" obviously didn't use an Action Replay DS for playing Pokemon Diamond. Really was money well spent. As another reviewer put it, they were the Kings of the DS! Given that, I want to try to address some of the complaints I've seen about this excellent product.

I easily installed the software on my computer (Windows XP operating system -- I can't address it's compatibility with Vista or Mac), and easily updated said software by clicking on the "update" icon. Updating the codes on the device itself wasn't as intuitive as I originally thought, though, and I initially couldn't get it to work because my computer couldn't "see" the device. Yes, the instruction booklet could be written more clearly; however, anyone that has more than a nodding acquaintance with computers shouldn't be put off by what is an all-too-common complaint with computer components: poorly written instructions. After I *carefully* reread those instructions it was obvious what my problem was. The Action Replay DS must be inserted in the Nintendo DS (with the cable attached to the device and plugged into a USB slot on your computer) and the Nintendo DS must be then powered on for your computer to "see" it and to enable you to update the device. I'm guessing the small amount of power trickling through the USB connection isn't enough to enable the thing to work, but whatever the case is, you have to have it in a powered-up Nintendo DS for it to update. If your computer can't find the driver for your Action Replay DS, just tell it to search the internet for it and it'll find it for you (it'll find something called "NDS" something or other), then just tell it to install it.

Once you've established connectivity, if you use the software to do a "quick update" it will delete all the codes currently on the Action Replay DS and attempt to replace them with all the codes on codejunkies.com for the Nintendo DS. What you'll find is the hackers at codejunkies.com have been busy writing new cheats for new and old games since your Action Replay DS was packaged. The end result is they have more codes than your Action Replay DS can hold, thus, when you get about 80% of the codes loaded, it'll give you a message along the lines of "update canceled, memory is full" and will stop updating the Action Replay DS. Since it takes several minutes to get to that point, I recommend you only update the codes for those games you actually have. Just peruse the codejunkies US list, and drag the folders for the games you want to the main window, and the software will replace the existing data (if it already exists on the Action Replay DS) with the new data. There are other ways to manage this, too, and I'll leave it to you to read the instructions to find out.

In any case, I'll bet you ten bucks that 99% of the complaints for this are from people who didn't follow the directions. It's OK to complain when something truly doesn't work, but it just makes you look foolish when you didn't even follow the written instructions that came with the thing. Besides, other than smashing it with a hammer, jamming a crayon in the cable socket, or cutting the cable, I'm not sure how you could "break" this thing. Of course, 7-year-olds are prodigies when it comes to breaking things, so I guess I shouldn't speak so fast. Anyway, I hope this all helps someone out there.

Review by S. Yung:

I bought this product for my Pokemon Diamond for DS. As you have noticed, there are a number of complains about this product. To warn you; This product can be fragile. For example, if you touch the part exposing the computer chip of the action replay, part of the memory of the chip (codes) may be corrupted or erased.

Here is a little background on how to use it before buying:

To fix that, reupload the codes using the included program. To install, simply run the set up program(the mini cd)like you would normally do for purchased programs. When you launch the program, you may notice that there is one box where the codes come from code junkies automatically when you have internet access("Subscriptions"), another that is labeled "My Codelists", and the last huge box is labeled "Nintendo DS". To connect the Action Replay with the computer(Windows XP(home or professional), no mac, no sure about Vista), insert the action replay into the DS and turn it on. Use the included USB(Universial Serial Bus) and connect it with the computer and the action replay. The "Subscriptions" starts to list the codes that is in the action replay. From the "Subscriptions", you can drag the games or cheats to the "Nintendo DS" box to update the action replay with the codes that you want easily and quickly.

Adding Customized Codes:

You may have noticed that some users say that customized codes cannot be used. Yet, if you click software update(the ds game picture on the right), the software on your computer is updated, emabling you to add user-made codes that you want to use that is not on CodeJunkies. All you have to do is drag the game that you want to "My Code Lists", then to "Custom code list". Now there are more options for you, including adding games and adding cheats. Remember the 28-line complex codes that you want to use? Now, all you have to do is copy and paste the long code to the "Custom code List" under the game when you use adding cheats. Thats pretty much it for my before buying and after buying buyers guide.

I hope this helps people that are lost/mislead about the product, eventhough I agree that you don't get any customer support from them.

Review by E. Coleman:

I had needed a Guitar Hero Grip...that was my main reason buying this bundle. It comes with your standard guitar hero grip. No different then the one included in the very first Guitar Hero On Tour DS Game. It also comes with a sleeve to change the old guitar hero with the new band hero sleeve in the guitar grip. Also comes with the stylus pick. The DS Game. Instruction booklets. You know the usual. The two big things with this DS game that sets it apart from all other Guitar Hero/Rock Band DS games. You have the drum skin for playing drums and the microphone will allow you to sing vocals. The Microphone is a little inaccurate but the game makes up for it by having a higher margin for error when singing. The drum skin is nice. Only works and fits with the DS Lite! I found it fun and a nice change to the series. The guitar features of the game work just like any Guitar Hero game on the DS. There is also Wi-Fi compatibility with the Band Hero WII Game. If you have the Band Hero WII game you can use the Band Hero & DS system to act as a live playlist editor for the Wii Game. A nice add-on, although not really very important option.

I found it to be a really good DS game. Fans of GH DS games should love it and love the changes. The tracklist is a little more pop and lighter family friendly rock then Guitar Hero and Rock Band games. But many of songs are still fun to play even so.

I recommend Band Hero DS to any Guitar Hero fans, especially fans of the Guitar Hero DS series of games.

Review by Francine M. Turflinger:

I found some videos on youtube that made the game sound fun. So I asked for as a christmas present. When I got the game, I was very excited to play it. When I started playing I had heard of some of the songs and some of them I started to like. The only problem that I can find with this game is the small selection of songs. It only has 30 songs (which I'm pretty sure isn't many, but I only have rockband games besides this). This game is the only reason I haven't traded in my ds for a dsi. Its great fun.

Review by Pebbles (young autistic women adult gamer):

Hello I'm an autistic adult gamer.

This is my review on Alvin & the Chipmunk's the squeakquel ds game.

I love this game & I'm 22 I got this part Christmas of 2009 & really enjoy it everytime I play it I sing along with the song's out loud. It's one of my favorite ds games. Plus it's addicting to play I have a hard time putting it down sometimes.

If you like the chipmunk's then try out this ds game I have both chipmunk ds games & the squeakquel is by far better than the first ds game it hold's my attention better & longer that's what I like in a ds game is a ds game that will hold my attention & this does that at for me.

Happy Gaming Everyone!

Review by Darlene J. Tejada:

Bought this game for my daughter and she loves it. She is a big fan of Alvin and the chipmunks.

Review by Brandt M. Mohney:

This game was really fun! My daughter got it. SHE LOVES DOLPHINS!!!!!!!!!!!

She says this game was awesome. She said you become a dolphin trainer and help other endangred animals. This is totally worth your money. This game is also educational. My daughter also wants to be a dolphin trainer.

We recently visited the zoo. She got to talk to a dolphin trainer. The trainer showed her some hand signals. Then, this ds game showed her more!

My daughter and MY SON WHO IS 6 recomends it! WORTH YOUR MONEY!!!

Trust me, this is a game for your dolphin girl!

Review by :

This game is, i beleive, origionally a asian gsme because the charictures are drawn in anime. The game is fun for awhile but then gets as little duller. You rescue animals with either a teen boy or girl and help feed, treat, trqain and clean up after them. I am on the eighteenth "level" and am getting a little bored just feeding anf treating. you get new animal alot but don't do anything different with them. it's ok.