Welcome to the 2005 Planet GameCube Louie Awards. That's right, this is our fifth annual awards ceremony where we honor the best and shun the worst of the year. We also take a little time to recognize a special someone who's put forth a lot of effort within Nintendo, and ponder over what we expect for the New Year.

One of the more surprising aspects of this year's judging came down to picking the best DS games. We were all pretty surprised that this quirky little handheld quickly picked up some excellent, noteworthy games. Otherwise, many of our picks were landslide decisions. It's no secret this year has been slow for our beloved GameCube, but that doesn't mean we didn't have access to some fantastic games.

So sit back, relax, and pop open a Barq's. It’s time for the show.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts in Talkback