The DS is definitely not hurting for games. However, there aren’t as many titles published by Nintendo as you would expect. The games Nintendo does publish in North America tend to be part of popular franchises, and the company has been accused in the past of favoring established series over new properties.

Things are starting to gradually shift. Nintendo took a chance and released Rhythm Heaven in North America. The Legendary Starfy, the fifth game in the series, is going to mark the series’ debut outside of Japan. Perhaps this is a good sign that Nintendo is going to be more accepting of new properties in the future.

Gamertell’s taking a look back today at some of the Nintendo published DS titles that have been passed over until now. A few had tentative US release dates that never happened, and whispered rumors have spread about the possible release of others. One thing’s for sure, all of the following games would be welcome additions to the North American game library…

The DS game Jump Ultimate Stars is quite an elaborate fighting game. After all, 300 characters from 40 different manga series appear in the game either as fighters or support characters. With all of those options, creating a deck can be a daunting feat – especially if you’re a beginner and you don’t speak Japanese.

So today in Important Importables, we are going to offer a few Jump Ultimate Stars theme deck suggestions. Since even that could get a bit long (there are loads of possible creation options and everyone’s fighting style may vary), we’re going to focus on three anime series – Bleach, Naruto and One Piece.

The story about the $102.51 copy of Suikoden 2 is a common one among gamers. And of course everyone’s heard of the $1,217 mint condition Chrono Trigger. Video games aren’t just a means of entertainment, they can also become valuable collector’s items.

There will always be rare titles and dealers are going to exploit them. Childhood favorites will be hoarded and sealed away until you see them on eBay 10 years later and something inside you compels you to own it again – even if you sold it back at GameStop for credit towards something like Grand Theft Auto 4.

The influx of DS titles ensures that some will be rarer than others, and some games are already fetching high prices online. After examining both eBay and Amazon, I have put together a short list of 10 DS games which prices will likely skyrocket as years go by.

Click through for the complete list…

It’s a given that not all Japanese games will make it outside of Japan. Some didn’t sell well enough in that country, others were too focused on a certain age group and sometimes they’re just too weird.

At the same time, there are quite a few phenomenal or funny games which should get a worldwide release, but don’t. Sadly, gamers don’t get a list of reasons from publishers or developers as to why we’ll never have the honor of playing a domestic version of one of these titles, but usually it is pretty easy to understand why.

So this week we’ll review four DS titles which will very likely never, ever be released in North America.

First off, I realize this week’s cross stitch is a bit late. (Normally they’re up on Mondays or Tuesdays.) However I ran into a little problem concerning thread color (the two shades of brown were actually identical, imagine that), so I didn’t finish the piece until Wednesday night.

Jump Ultimate Stars is easily one of the best DS titles. It’s just absolutely perfect, and insanely addicting. There also happen to be some amazing sprites in the game. Since I’m something of a closet Naruto fan, I decided to create a cross stitch of a character from that series who happened to appear in that game. Since I also happen to like dogs, I decided a Kakashi cross stitch was in order. I like to call it “Storytime.” Aren’t the puppies precious?

When it comes to the Nintendo DS, developers seem to go nuts and explode with ideas, resulting in an almost ridiculous amount of games. If you combine the Japanese, North American and European games released so far, you end up with hundreds of unique titles.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that they are all good as gold.

There is a lot of mediocre material to wade through to find the shining stars of the DS family. That being said, there are a few DS games which are honestly the best of the best. Sadly, some are imports which will likely never come stateside. The funny thing is, what may be the absolute best game for the system is trapped overseas. This is why everyone must import it.

Now before I leap into the love-fest for the best import, I want to also make sure to bring to your attention two other games that would be worthy additions to any player’s library…

For hardcore gamers a rare, imported game could make their holiday extra special. The only problems are that there are tons of games out there and they can be pretty pricey. Also the key is to find a game which is easy to play even if the only Japanese you know is “Domo arigato Mr. Roboto.”

So, for this installment of Important Importables, I’ve put together a small compilation of Nintendo DS, PSP, Playstation 2, and Xbox 360 import games which are sure to delight any gamer. You’re probably wondering why there aren’t any Wii or PS3 games listed here though. The fact is that there really aren’t that many games for those two systems in Japan that aren’t already available here. If there is a game that isn’t available here yet, it will be in a few months. Its pointless to import something when waiting two or three months will yield the same game, only in English and probably $20 cheaper.