I've dabbled in portable games over the years, but after a few months I always came to the conclusions that 1.) portable games are weak rehashes of console games, and 2.) little screens hurt my eyes.

But with the Nintendo DS's two screens, one touch-sensitive, and microphone allowing for games impossible on consoles and disproving my first conclusion, I broke down and re-joined the portable arena yesterday.

What convinced me? Oddly, a game making only token use of the DS's unique features: New Super Mario Bros.

New Super Mario Bros. may not be innovative, but it does do the other thing that can still excite me about a video game: it significantly improves upon what I have already played. This is not a new Super Mario Land; New Super Mario Bros. is a legitimate successor to Super Mario World.

New Super Mario Bros. wasn't the first DS game to catch my attention. Kirby: Canvas Curse tempted me last year, but it was only one game. Not enough to justify buying a system, especially one I thought would strain my eyes. Several other interesting DS games followed, adding to the temptation. New Super Mario Bros. was merely my breaking point.

So yesterday I pre-ordered a DS Lite and copy of Big Brain Academy from an Internet retailer, bought a copy of New Super Mario Bros. from the local Circuit City, and ordered copies of Brain Age, Kirby: Canvas Curse, Meteos, and Puyo Pop Fever from other Internet retailers.

That's six games plus the hardware required to play them. Quite an investment.

Now I pray I enjoy these games enough to ignore the eye strain. The DS is not just one little screen hurting my eyes; it's two.