DS games, Anybody pick up anything new? Options

[unitself]

I grabbed Contact a few weeks ago.
I am not 100% satisfied with my purchase. I like the look and everything, it's just the combat system that I really do NOT like. It's so passive. You have no control over the character at all! You push "action" and he punches/swings like every two or three seconds. I would have much prefered him to swing when i push a button (like Sword of Mana) or a pure turn based setup. Also, the leveling system is very odd. Getting stronger by doing things is fine, and I understand it. It's just that I really have no idea how strong I am until I am in combat and either losing badly or suddenly killing with one hit. But, I like the story and characters and I already spent the cash... so I'm going to continue with it.

I would like to pick up Children of Mana. I had fun with Sword of Mana (for the most part) and I think CoM will address alot of what I had problems with while playing SoM - like a MAP!! But I am playing an older Zelda game which is taking care of my hack and slash for the moment.

I even think that that Pokemon game - where you turn INTO a Pokemon - looks kinda fun.

[Benja]

I grabbed Contact a few weeks ago.
I am not 100% satisfied with my purchase. I like the look and everything, it's just the combat system that I really do NOT like. It's so passive. You have no control over the character at all! You push "action" and he punches/swings like every two or three seconds. I would have much prefered him to swing when i push a button (like Sword of Mana) or a pure turn based setup. Also, the leveling system is very odd. Getting stronger by doing things is fine, and I understand it. It's just that I really have no idea how strong I am until I am in combat and either losing badly or suddenly killing with one hit. But, I like the story and characters and I already spent the cash... so I'm going to continue with it.

I picked up Contact recently also when I upgraded to a ds lite and wanted something new to play on it. I'm not very far into it, but it is definitely a very quirky game so far.
On the battle system, depending on what outfit(ffX-2?!) and/or what weapon you are using, you can use special attacks. At the start at least, there are 5 little green dots on the top of the screen that fill up as you fight. Each green dot is equal to one special attack. Other than that though, I agree it is very passive.
The "you can only eat so much food then your stomach is full" part of the game is um, interesting? realistic? different, I'll go with different.
I plan to keep playing for a while, but ff3 does come out tomorrow, so we'll see.

I don't know much about it, but Elite Beat Agents looks quite funny. The buttons on my ds might be a bit small for my feet though.
My wife has Cooking Mama, she seems to like it, I'll have to watch her play some .
The Phoenix Wright games always looked good, anyone play the first one?
Pokemon games are usually quite well made. Too many of them are coming out in a short period though, I can't keep them all straight.
I'd like to hear if Children of Mana is fun. You buy it and tell me. ok? ok.
ff3 looks really good, hope it plays good. Anyone see any reviews on it yet? And what's up with the cheapest I've seen it being sold for being $40 U.S.? Every other game is usually $35 at most, and normally is $30 the first week...