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Flower started a big trend in 2009.

(Credit: Thatgamecompany)

In many ways, 2009 seems to be the year download-only games hit their stride. Between the iPhone and iPod Touch dominating the portable market with the ever-growing App Store; the release of the completely disc-free PSP Go; and the Nintendo DSi--which also can download games from an online store--portable gaming has started to move beyond the cartridge and disc. Even in home consoles, there's been a continuing focus on lower-cost downloadable games and DLC sold on Sony's PSN, Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade, and the Nintendo Wii's WiiWare as alternatives to pricier disc-based titles.

While download-only games can't be resold, and lack a physical hard copy for display or archive, there's no denying that downloadable games cut down on clutter. Plus, it's likely that box-free gaming will be our destiny in the next decade, so you may not have a choice either way.

From Rockstar's double-fisted set of GTA side games culminating in The Ballad of Gay Tony to Nintendo's ongoing set of experimental artsy games, it's been a great year to go boxless. While some of the games on our list are available in disc or cartridge form, we're focusing on the download versions here.

Check out our gallery of the most notable 20, and feel free to chime in on ones we might have missed.

Downloadable Games of 2009 (photos)

The new metallic blue DSi with five titles.

(Credit: Nintendo)

Starting on Black Friday, Nintendo will offer two new DSi bundles featuring metallic blue or white Nintendo DSi systems, plus more than $20 in DSiWare games, the company announced on Monday.

The new bundles will come with different games, depending on the DSi customers buy. The metallic blue version of the DSi will come with five Mario DSiWare titles, including Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again; Dr. Mario Express; WarioWare: Snapped!; Mario Calculator; and Mario Clock.

Nintendo's white Nintendo DSi comes preinstalled with Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters; Brain Age Express: Sudoku; Brain Age Express: Math; Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics; and Photo Clock.

Nintendo said the DSi bundles will be available as long as supplies last, though a company representative wouldn't divulge how many units will be shipped. Nintendo also pointed out that although the white DSi has been around for a while, the Metallic Blue color is new. So far, Nintendo hasn't responded to my inquiry about whether or not it will offer a Metallic Blue DSi as a standalone unit after the bundle runs out.

Both the White DSi bundle and the Metallic Blue offering will be available in stores on Friday for $169.99, the same price as the standalone DSi.

See also: Be prepared for Black Friday tech deals

Microscopic music: Electroplankton Trapy

(Credit: Nintendo)

The Nintendo DSi's downloadable game store has been, for the most part, a landscape of lesser games and strange add-ons, devoid of some of the more memorable Nintendo franchises and virtual console-style re-releases some might be looking for.

We were excited that Electroplankton, one of the more obscure yet cult-popular titles on the DS, has seen a re-release on the DSi in America. Designed by artist Toshio Iwai, Electroplankton are best described as musical pets, each one a unique musical toy with different controls.

The original cartridge featured 10 Electroplankton, each with unique quirks to explore. We own a copy and still love to pop it in from time to time. While it costs $29.99 on Amazon, each of the DSiWare downloads that the title's now broken into sell for $2 each. Five of the original 10 are currently available.

For a quick two bucks, these are very entertaining toys that thrive perfectly on the DSi's built-in memory and feel like they make more sense in this form than as a cartridge. They haven't changed since the original release, but this is a great way to pick one up for a try. Electroplankton isn't the first DS game to be broken into bits--Brain Age Express and Clubhouse Games have gotten similar treatments--and we look forward to Game & Watch hopefully being the next to pop up.

Electroplankton (DSiWare)

Is Style Savvy Nintendo's secret weapon this holiday?

(Credit: Nintendo)

Different games are made for different people. I can understand that. Nevertheless, it's disappointing that Nintendo addressed its new game, Style Savvy, exclusively to girls. An adaptation of a Japanese game that Nintendo has already found great success with, Style Savvy is entirely devoted to fashion. You buy clothes, you sell clothes, you dress up your avatar, and you open your own boutique to sell your fashion solutions to the world. When Nintendo sent its alerts and asked us here at CNET to check out the game, we were slightly less than excited about it. That doesn't seem like great news for a game that's front-and-center in Nintendo's holiday lineup, but then again, we're not the target audience.

This box doesn't exactly scream "buy me."

(Credit: Nintendo)

I am far from interested in fashion, and the box design looked a lot like other DS shovelware released by many, many companies already. To be honest, my colleagues thought I was crazy to even be covering this game in the first place. Still, I was curious. I said I'd give it a try. And so a copy found its way into my DS. And, to my great surprise, it's still in there days later.

First off, this game is a retail/shopping simulator. The main focus is on greeting new customers, listening to their shopping requests, and then recommending a piece of clothing to fit their budgets. It might sound boring, but the reward is guessing right and getting a very satisfied customer who might buy even more, adding valuable income to your supply. With that money you buy more items from the design center (10,000 items cycled by season and randomness adds up to an Animal Crossing level of diversity). An in-game fashion magazine even shows off new fashion trends for the season, which parallels actual time.

The game starts you off as a store employee and then puts you in charge of your own store, where you try to succeed as well as you can. Everything you wear and how you behave also affects your performance, creating a surprisingly casual, yet deep, experience...and as you can see, I pretty much became hooked. I'm not embarrassed to admit that. The game is also controlled via stylus and with the DS turned on its side in "book" format. Its pace is slow enough for a subway ride, and the many small interactions create a persistent microgame that can be played in intervals as small as a minute.

My main issue, however, is that this game is officially targeted at girls. ... Read more

The DSi XL's larger screens make it significantly bigger than the existing DSi.

(Credit: Nintendo Japan)

Nintendo recently announced a new DSi model for the Japanese market. How does it differ from the current DSi, and when can gamers in other parts of the world expect to be able to buy it? Read on for the answers.

What is it?
The DSi LL (as it will be called in Japan) or XL (how it'll be referred to in Europe and North America) is a supersized version of the Nintendo DSi.

What is different about it?
The DSi XL will be almost an inch wider than the DSi, a bit thicker, and it will have two 4.25-inch screens (that's an inch larger than the DSi's screens and 93 percent larger than the screens of the older DS Lite). It will feature two different-sized styli: a traditional thin stylus and a large rounded one that takes the shape of a pen. The portable console will have a similar battery life to the DSi's, about 4 to 5 hours on maximum brightness and 13 to 17 hours on the minimum setting.

Except for the larger size and extra stylus, there doesn't seem to be any other major differences on the XL. Like the DSi, it does not have a Game Boy Advance port, so it can't play older GBA cartridges.

Nintendo DSi XL photos

Can I transfer my downloaded DSi games (DSi Ware) to it?
As of this writing, Nintendo has not said how it plans to handle this issue. That said, DSi Ware games are currently nontransferable.

Why is Nintendo making yet another DS model?
We're not totally sure about this one. The two best bets: the DSi XL's larger screens may appeal to older gamers who are visually impaired, and the larger size could be helpful to those with big hands for whom the DSi's real estate is a bit too cramped. But the obvious sacrifice is portability--the XL will no longer fit into a pocket.

When will it be available, and how much will it cost?
The DSi XL will go on sale in Japan on November 21, 2009 (as the LL) for around $220. Nintendo has confirmed that it will be released in Europe and North America in the first quarter of 2010, but the company has yet to name a price.

(Credit: CNET)

GameSpot on Monday published a report from the Japan-based Nikkei news service saying that a new Nintendo DSi with two larger screens is slated to hit the market as early as this year.

Supposedly, the bump would increase the dual screens' size from 3.25 inches to 4.3 inches. While that sounds like a huge upgrade, there are a few reasons we're just not ready to believe this yet.

First of all, this new redesign would force the production of a brand new casing, something we're not sure Nintendo is ready to spend money on with the DSi still fresh in the market. Second, Siliconera got word from Nintendo PR saying the story is pure speculation.

Finally, we just don't think a 4.3-inch screen for a DS system makes any sense. Since DS games remain locked in a specific resolution, the larger the screen gets, the more likely it is the games won't look as good as they do on a DS lite or DSi. Not to mention a new DS would certainly be the ultimate slap in the face to those who just purchased a DSi.

When the Nintendo DSi was first announced, flaunting, among other things, an ability to download games directly from Nintendo to system memory or an SD card, our minds leaped to visions of a portable Virtual Console on the Nintendo handheld.

It would be a museum of Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, to be chosen from the hundreds of thousands of titles dating back to 1989. Much like the Wii's Virtual Console, it would be a mix of greatest hits and the obscure. Best of all, it could be affordable.

Unfortunately and quizzically, Nintendo still hasn't launched a Game Boy Virtual Console. We have no idea why, honestly: Nintendo handhelds have been locked out of playing classic Game Boy titles for years, and some of them are truly worth revisiting.

Game Boy games we want to see on the DSi Virtual Console--photos

Also, let's not forget the size of these games. Since Game Boy and Game Boy Color game cartridges could only hold a small amount of information (by today's standards), downloading these games to your DSi's SD card or internal storage would be ideal.

We went back in time and plucked a short list that should serve Nintendo well. Check out our picks for the portable Virtual Console To Be (hopefully).

Note: we didn't even dare to dream about Nintendo offering up Lynx, Game Gear, and Turbografx titles for the DS--that's another fantasy altogether.

Nintendo games: you either like them or hate them. For most of the world, it's like. Among Nintendo's various cutesy-quirky franchises, a recent one--and one of Nintendo's best--happens to be the gorgeously designed puzzle adventure series known as Professor Layton. Although Japan has already seen four installments of the top-hatted man and his chipper little boy companion, English-speaking territories are only up to installment No. 2.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village, which hit the DS in early 2008, was a surprise critical hit and successfully balanced old-fashioned brainteasers with a graphic adventure. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is now in stores, but CNET editors Jeff and Scott got a chance to play over the weekend. Their takes are below.

Scott:
Finally, a DS game worth buying! No offense, but it's been a rough couple of months since Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and Rhythm Heaven hit in the spring. Nintendo's been very quiet with its own first-party releases, and Professor Layton 2 is one of its first big titles to sink your Nintendo fanboy teeth into. But even if you're not a fan, you might want to consider becoming one.

As in Curious Village, the game opens with beautiful voice-acting and a hand-drawn animation style, a throwback that almost looks like work from Hiyao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli. While it's not exactly clear what the mystery is and why exactly Professor Layton and his boy wonder Luke end up daytripping on a train called the Molentary Express, give the game some patience and enjoy the random (and sometimes forced) puzzles. Soon enough you'll fall into the rhythm and enjoy a pretty excellent hybrid casual/adventure game.

The Professor Layton games make excellent use of the touch screen, both in navigation and puzzle-solving. One hundred fifty new brainteasers are part of the package, and Nintendo promises more available as free downloads like it did with Curious Village. It's a meaty but not epic amount of gameplay, and the 150 puzzles will take some time to figure out. In terms of the number of mysteries of sub-games available in Diabolical Box, it easily meets Curious Village and at times exceeds it.... Read more