This game has one of the highest ratings in history of game reviews at the sites that aggregate reviews. It shows that Mario still has it after all these years. You wander through the galaxy, bouncing around on tiny round planets, finding rabbits, locating power stars, and defying gravity in efforts to save the galaxy from Bowser.

2. "High School Musical: Sing It!" (Nintendo Wii $50, PlayStation 2 $40, everyone, Buena Vista)

In my house, the kids have memorized the songs from the "High School Musical" movies. So this karaoke singalong had surprising staying power with them. It got them out of their shy shells and crooning like Troy and Gabriella. It gives grades on how well you hit the notes at the right time. The game itself isn't outstanding, but the subject matter has enthralled a certain demographic that will tolerate an OK game just to sing the songs.

3. "EA Playground" (Nintendo Wii $40, Nintendo DS $20, everyone, Electronic Arts)

This was a refreshing original game from EA that allows you to be a kid in a playground, using the unique properties of the Wii controller to play games such as dodge ball, tetherball, darts and others. My 7-year-old particularly liked it and got a workout too.

4. "Bee Movie Game" (variety of platforms $30 to $50, everyone, Activision)

This movie-based game gets off to a slow start as it rides along on the humor of Jerry Seinfeld's bee character, Barry B. Benson, an angst-ridden bee who wants a different job. But the environments are colorful, and when you get outside they can be quite a bit of fun. As in the movie, you can be swatted back and forth by tennis players as a bee stuck on a flying tennis ball.

5. "SimCity Societies" (PC $50, everyone, Electronic Arts)

The latest incarnation of "SimCity" gives a view that is closer to the ground, so that you can make out individual Sim characters and see the distinct nature of each building in your city. You can place more than 500 structures in your city and craft its personality into a land of suburban malls, the dense urban environment, or a bucolic farm community.

6. "Mario and Sonic at the Olympics" (Wii $49, DS $35, everyone, Sega)

We like this because you can put your own Mii character into the game as an Olympic athlete. This game actually gets you some good exercise as if you were training for the Olympics. Our favorite games include swimming, where you use the Wii controller to move your arms back and forth really fast, and the trampoline, where you lunge upward with the Wii controller and press buttons in the right combinations before your Mii character lands.

7. "Thrillville: Off the Rails" (variety of platforms $30 to $50, everyone, LucasArts)

You play a theme park architect who can create all kinds of crazy roller coasters, even those that soar off into nothing. When the roller coasters fly off the edge, the guests parachute to safety. Part of the fun is going around and talking to the many different guests and playing little arcade mini-games like a tank-battle game.

8. "Pinkie Pie's Party Parade" (PC $20, everyone, THQ)