Actually this is where I tend to agree with Bolivar, in terms of Franchises that are well known, for me, the DS is actually somewhat narrow. Off the top of my head, I can remember:

Mario
Pokemon
Professor Layton (YES!!!)
Dr Kawashima and his brain training stuff
Toon Link Zelda Series
Odd Metroid Game

Past that, I honestly can't really remember any other franchise. That's not necessarily bad, but it does restrain a system as to what games it can produce. Of course, I can counter myself by saying single, standalone games are by themselves amazing. Case in point? The world ends with you. So far, it's a single game but it is just epic and amazing.

In my opinion, for all I know what I've just said is utter tripe.