a game for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo gamecube, or a game that would work on my old laptop.
For DS:
I quite liked Final Fantasy Tactics A2. Not as good as the first game by a long shot, but not offensively bad and there's plenty of new unit types to play with. Final Fantasy III was fun, partially because it's just a 3D version of an NES RPG. I've never played FFIV DS though, and if you're going to buy those versions I recommend just buying the PC rereleases to avoid the hassle of changing carts and playing on a tiny handheld. The stunted, unnecessary, half-formed online "features" for both DS and PC are probably long dead anyway.
I also quite liked Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. I feel like it gets a bad rap because the DS itself wasn't a terribly great console, but I had a lot of fun. I like the Spirit Train a lot better than the boat in Wind Waker, at least.
Metroid Prime: Hunters wasn't the worst DS FPS I've ever played.
For GC:
I recommend Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It may be rushed, but I prefer it to Wind Waker's all-style-no-substance approach. There's also the Gamecube ports of the N64 Zeldas, if you want to play games better than Wind Waker and Twilight Princess combined.
Metroid Prime is a no-brainer, and I may be weird but I find a lot of fun in Smash Bros. single-player.