There’s no billion-dollar toy biz based on it, but Legend of Zelda is one of the most challenging and innovative games ever made for kids. The new installment, Phantom Hourglass, updates Nintendo’s crown-jewel series with an elegant 3-D interface that’s seamlessly navigated with the DS player’s stylus. Much like last year’s terrific Zelda game for the Wii, this edition proves you don’t have to go all dark and dystopic to push games forward — or sell Happy Meals to be successful.
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Nintendo DS
On sale now
$34.99.