Topic: Famitsu Unveils New DS Titles

[Aussie Ben PGC]

Including a TINGLE RPG.  If that hasn't got your attention, then I don't know what will.

The latest issue of Famitsu has revealed more than thirty new Nintendo DS titles, including quite a few first party ones.  You can check out some screens on these new titles (including the aforementioned TINGLE RPG) at Famitsu.  Without further delay, here's what titles were featured in the magazine (please note that any release dates are Japanese):  

 
• Adult Brain Training 2  
• Seiken Densetsu DS [Secret of Mana DS]  
• Rainbow Island DS (Jan 5)  
• Gyakuten Saiban 4 [Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney] (2006)  
• Tales DS  
• Daikoukaijidai DS  
• Magical Vacation: When the 5 Stars Line Up  
• ASH (Archaic Sealed Heat - Mistwalker RPG)  
• Wishroom  
• Kaitou Wario (Kaitou means 'Mysterious/Phantom Thief')  
• Custom Robo DS  
• English Training DS  
• Tingle RPG  
• Detect Hacker  
• Densetsu no Starfi 4 [Legend of Starfi 4]  
• Puzzloop DS  
• Mario Basket 3 vs 3 [Mario Basketball]  
• Crossword  
• Jigsaw Puzzle  
• Sudoku  
• Bomberman Story  
• SD Gundam game  
• Stylebook series (Bandai)  
• Ocha Inu no Heya  
• San-X Dreamland  
• Dangerous Jiisan  
• Nobunaga's Ambition DS  
• Dracula [New Castlevania Game]  
• Yu-Gi-Oh!  
• Tenchu  
• Vs. Puzzle Papi Inu Vector Wan!!

   

Titles of Note    

Tingle RPG  
 The top screen shows Tingle holding a bomb with the number "9", while the bottom screen has a gigantic insect crawling around with what appears to be a big red target on it.  You can also see a bomb with many little balloons attatched to it near the insect.  Perhaps the game will play out similarly to the Tingle Tuner in Wind Waker, where players did not control Tingle directly?    

Densetsu no Starfi 4  
 The fourth game in the Starfi series of games - the previous three were available for Game Boy Advance in Japan.  In this game, the top screen shows the action while the touch screen displays a map.  Starfi (as you may or may not have guessed) is a starfish.    

Mario Basket 3 vs 3  
 Basketball with a Mario flavour.  The top screen shows the action, the touch screen shows a layout of the court.  Confirmed characters include Mario, Luigi, Peach, Wario, Bowser and Paratroopa.  There are also Question Mark boxes scattered on the court, including one with coins spewing out of it.  Looks like you have to hit those boxes when you have the basketball.  Turtle shells are also displayed on the touch screen, suggesting Mario Kart item mischief as well.  Finally, this game is Nintendo Wi-Fi compatible!    

Kaitou Wario  
 Not sure what to make of this platform game.  The top screen shows a Metroid-like map, as well as what appear to be power-ups.  There's also a clock shown - could this be timed, similar to Metroid?  It's definitely Wario, though - that Wario hat shown in the touch screen is enough of a clue!    

Thanks to Mario from our forums for the initial heads up, and TYP for assistance with this article.

[joshnickerson]

I want the Tingle RPG, for the sole reason it will be trippy as hell.

IGN must be puking their guts out *L*

[Aussie Ben PGC]

Hah, those were my first thoughts on the Tingle RPG exactly.  And what's the deal with not releasing the Starfi games out locally?  I know I've had a go of one of them before (can't remember which one) but it was great fun.  A nicely made platformer with great graphics and a hilarious running animation for the starfish.

[Bill Aurion]

You forgot to mention that Mario Basket is apparently being deved by Square-Enix themselves...

[Toruresu]

What? By Square-Enix? Does this mean that SE and Nintendo are good friends again, or is this what Nintendo had to do in order for them to port FF3 and FF:CC to the DS?

Weird.

[Bill Aurion]

"Square Enix president Yoichi Wada, in attendance at Nintendo's DS press conference in Japan today, officially unveiled the title. According to Wada, Square Enix approached Nintendo with the idea after realizing that basketball would be the perfect game with which to exploit the DS stylus."
~IGN  

[Ian Sane]

"You forgot to mention that Mario Basket is apparently being deved by Square-Enix themselves..."

They get Square Enix working with them and they come up with another Mario spinoff?  God I'm getting so sick of this.  There's no point in attracting third parties if they're just going to work on Mario spinoffs that Nintendo themselves could work on.  The whole point of having third party support is that they provide something DIFFERENT than what Nintendo themselves provide.

Anyway Wario looks awesome.  I find the idea of Tingle RPG really weird.  What is it with Nintendo and that guy?  They seem to love him a whole lot more than anyone else does.  I don't like the idea of Zelda spinoffs.  Too much Zelda is going to burn the series out.  Mario spinoffs started off great too and now my response to any non-platform Mario game is "meh".  Mario's boring because Nintendo has overexposed him and I don't want Zelda to turn out the same way.  Four Swords Adventures was awesome but so was Super Mario Kart.  The spinoffs start off innocently enough but next thing you know you've got Zelda Pinball.  This Tingle RPG might be awesome but I don't want Nintendo to start milking Zelda (ewwww).  Nintendo's got to cut back on their franchise games.  No one cares about Mario anymore and no one is going to care about ANY Nintendo games if they don't watch it.

[Mario]

Quote
No one cares about Mario anymore

Japan does! Super Mario Bros is the number one game there right now, and there are two other Mario games in the top 20.

Quote
Thanks to Mario from our forums for the initial heads up, and TYP for assistance with this article.

Yay! I keep forgetting about the send news to PGC feature, maybe I should use that more often.

[31 Flavas]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane

The spinoffs start off innocently enough but next thing you know you've got Zelda Pinball.  This Tingle RPG might be awesome but I don't want Nintendo to start milking Zelda (ewwww).  Nintendo's got to cut back on their franchise games.  No one cares about Mario anymore and no one is going to care about ANY Nintendo games if they don't watch it.

Ok, if no one really cared about Mario anymore, why do Mario games still sell? Mario is a popular character. If you don't like then, well, you don't have to buy or play them. I don't see anything wrong with Pinball games (or real life pinball machines) based off of popular franchise/TV shows/Movies/etc. They are all fun to play because Pinball is fun to play.

[Ian Sane]

"Ok, if no one really cared about Mario anymore, why do Mario games still sell?"

Mario still sells within the Nintendo fanbase but it used to be THE game.  It was mainstream and everyone loved Mario.  Super Mario Sunshine was a good seller by Cube standards but it was weak compared to what Mario used to bring in.  Mario used to sell like GTA and Halo do now.  It doesn't anymore.  Only Nintendo fans who would buy a Nintendo console no matter what buy Mario now.  That's a pretty big drop for a former killer app system seller that would attract all sorts of people beyond the Nintendo fanbase to Nintendo consoles.  Mario used to be special and a Mario game, even if was a spinoff was a BIG deal.  Now they release like 8 Mario games and year so none of them are special.

It's like how Mega Man still sells but it used to be considered one of the industry's elite games and now it's not.  There's still a fanbase but it has become so played out that Mega Man games don't mean anything anymore.  Mario is getting into that territory.

Neil Diamond still makes albums.  So does Paul Simon and Paul McCartney.  But does anyone who isn't a diehard fan care about those new albums?  No.  They might still sell okay but they're not relevent anymore.  Mega Man and I'd say Sonic as well are like Neil Diamond and Mario's rapidly becoming that as well.

[Arbok]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
They get Square Enix working with them and they come up with another Mario spinoff?  God I'm getting so sick of this.  

Just to play devil's advocate, couldn't Super Mario RPG be considered a "Mario spinoff"? Just wondering, as I have a unholy addicition to that game...

[31 Flavas]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane

It's like how Mega Man still sells but it used to be considered one of the industry's elite games and now it's not.  There's still a fanbase but it has become so played out that Mega Man games don't mean anything anymore.  Mario is getting into that territory.

Uh huh... Noone cares about megaman now, either? Ian, get outside a little more now and then. It will honestly help with your grasp on reality.

[Ian Sane]

Super Mario RPG comes from a time where there wasn't 8 Mario spinoffs a year.  Plus Square has already made the Final Fantasy's and Chrono Trigger and a whole bunch of other games that provided variety to the SNES lineup years before Super Mario RPG came out.

Plus Square is known for RPGs so Super Mario RPG was like a dream game.  I don't freak out about DDR Mario because it's clearly a Konami game that's different than anything Nintendo would make.  Super Mario RPG was different than a typical Nintendo game.  This is Mario Basketball.  Square has as much cred as a basketball game designer as Nintendo themselves.  There's no real special appeal in having Square work on this game.  Square's expertise (ie: RPGs) isn't being put to use.

[Darkheart]

WHAT THE HELL I think square can do whatever it freakin wants.....

We are gettin a fully 3 d final fantasy (in traditional form not like ffcc)
Getting FFCC DS
A new Mana series game
Slime Mori mori rpg

Thats 4 nintendo ds exclusive games thats comin from square enix, if they want to make a damn mario basketball game leave them be.

[Toruresu]

"We are gettin a fully 3 d final fantasy (in traditional form not like ffcc)"

What game would that be? FF3? I thought that was a port/re-make, in 2d.

[31 Flavas]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane

Square has as much cred as a basketball game designer as Nintendo themselves.  There's no real special appeal in having Square work on this game.  Square's expertise (ie: RPGs) isn't being put to use.

If I am reading Bill's post correctly, Square themself asked Nintendo if they could do it. That to me looks like Square wants to get experience with non-RPG material, nothing wrong with that. If it comes out good, it will show Square is more then just a one trick pony.

[Darkheart]

Quote
We are gettin a fully 3 d final fantasy (in traditional form not like ffcc)"

Quote
What game would that be? FF3? I thought that was a port/re-make, in 2d.

Yep it was announced last night, square revealed that ff3 is going fully 3d on the ds, they also announced ffV and ffVI will be ported to the gameboy with "additional content".

Theres a blurry screenshot out there of the ff3 3d screenshot, and from what i could make out it looked really sharp and nice.

never mind found some screenshots.....

pic 1

pic 2

[TMW]

Erm...wow.  A complete remake.

No wonder its taking so long.  

[Bill Aurion]

Ian, you can't possibly win in this case...Square-Enix is working not only on Mario Basket (which they came to Ninty THEMSELVES, k?) but also FFIV and FFVI for GBA, FFIII remake, FF:CC, and Children of Mana for the DS...That's ALL they came up with, eh?

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Maybe it's the lack of sleep talking here, but Ian is really pissing me off today.  I agree it is odd for Square Enix to be doing a Mario basketball title, but I'm sick of reading Ian's trolling posts.  He initiated the complete debasement of that 200+ post talkback thread, and I will not let him do so here.  If I see Ian repeat himself in this thread, I swear I will lock this thread up myself.  

[Toruresu]

*speachless*

With all of these games coming out for DS/GBA, my gaming needs are satisfied.

[Pale]

Man... man... man...

Screw you square...  FF 1-6 is gonna be playable on the DS...

Now I need to go buy FF 1 and 2 for the 3rd and 2nd time respectively just so I can have them all....

/sigh

Do me a favor... You can do this for me... Don't make me buy a PS3... you are the only ones that really can....  Release all your stuff on the Rev too... I mean come on.....

please?

[Pale]

Quote
Originally posted by: TheYoungerPlumber
Maybe it's the lack of sleep talking here, but Ian is really pissing me off today.  I agree it is odd for Square Enix to be doing a Mario basketball title, but I'm sick of reading Ian's trolling posts.  He initiated the complete debasement of that 200+ post talkback thread, and I will not let him do so here.  If I see Ian repeat himself in this thread, I swear I will lock this thread up myself.

It's not all Ian's fault though... I've realized this recently...

Ian can have his stupid opinions... we can't take them from him.. What we need to realize is that arguing with him won't get anyone anywhere.  He's in a talkback thread... let his opinions mix with ours and all he'll look like is a crazy guy who looks a gift horse in the mouth all the time.

[Deguello]

Really Ian.  On this day when a MOUNTAIN of DS games are announced apparently AS exclusives, DS wifi debuted and looking simple as pie, and a wide range of third party support, you single out one game and write more doom and gloom?

This is getting pathetic to the point of being very disturbing.

You used to rant VOLUMES about how Nintendo should get third parties back.  You whined about S-E's support being token and half-hearted.  Now they are on a Nintendo system FULL FORCE and virtually exclusive along with a TORRENT of support from third parties and you complain about a Mario Basketball game as if it was the only thing shown that day?!

What the hell is wrong with you?!  

[Ian Sane]

"Yep it was announced last night, square revealed that ff3 is going fully 3d on the ds"

That's kind of cool though it's kind of odd that of all the Final Fantasy games to pick from to remake in 3D they pick the ONE game that we've never had in North America in it's original form.  It's a cool idea but if there was ever a time for a straight port this was it.  Oh well.  I'm sure Square will make liberal use of the Rev download system so we'll probably get it there.

"If I see Ian repeat himself in this thread, I swear I will lock this thread up myself."

Fair enough though I'm not the only person that repeats himself.  In the talkback thread half the time people countered my points with the exact same point someone made before so I had to repeat myself.  I'll leave the issue alone here though.

[RABicle]

Shut your twat Ian.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Oh sh--When did Deguello get out of that boobytrapped basement I set?

[Deguello]

Enough stupidity can bring any man out of exile TYP.

[Berto2K]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"Yep it was announced last night, square revealed that ff3 is going fully 3d on the ds"

That's kind of cool though it's kind of odd that of all the Final Fantasy games to pick from to remake in 3D they pick the ONE game that we've never had in North America in it's original form.  It's a cool idea but if there was ever a time for a straight port this was it.  Oh well.

Tell it to JPN players who voted for the game to be remade for DS.
 

[Deguello]

Quote
Super Mario RPG comes from a time where there wasn't 8 Mario spinoffs a year.

And on this singular note that is lost in the Ian-itude, this is ridiculous.  There were more Mario Spinoffs on the SNES than the N64.  Even the GameCube.

I defer these as evidence.

SNES

GC

N64

You fail.

EDIT:  EVEN THE GBA had less Mario spinoffs.  GBA

[KnowsNothing]

Thanks Deg, I've been saying that for ages, but I never backed it up

[vudu]

Deguello - did you actually look at those links?  Mario doesn't have very many real (read: playable) cameos prior to GameCube.

Let's dissect the N64 one.  Out of the cameo appearances, Mario isn't playable in any of them.  In Banjo Tooie his name is mentioned in passing.  In DK64, you can play the original DK arcade game staring Jump Man.  In F-Zero 64, the character Mr EAD kind of looks like Mario.  In Majora's Mask, the Mask Merchant has a Mario mask on his backpack.  In Ocarina of Time there are some Mario themed pictures in one of the rooms in the castle.  In Pilot Wings 64 there's a Mario bust carved into the side of a cliff.  In Pokemon Stadium 2 there are a bunch of game screens on the TV in your room, one of which is Mario 64.  And in Sim City 64 there's a Mario statue you can get.

These hardly count as Mario spin-offs.

[Berto2K]

Quote
Originally posted by: vudu
Deguello - did you actually look at those links?  Mario doesn't have very many real (read: playable) cameos prior to GameCube.

Thats pretty much what a cameo is.  Just showing up.

Quote
Originally posted by: vudu
Let's dissect the N64 one.  Out of the cameo appearances, Mario isn't playable in any of them.  In Banjo Tooie his name is mentioned in passing.  In DK64, you can play the original DK arcade game staring Jump Man.  In F-Zero 64, the character Mr EAD kind of looks like Mario.  In Majora's Mask, the Mask Merchant has a Mario mask on his backpack.  In Ocarina of Time there are some Mario themed pictures in one of the rooms in the castle.  In Pilot Wings 64 there's a Mario bust carved into the side of a cliff.  In Pokemon Stadium 2 there are a bunch of game screens on the TV in your room, one of which is Mario 64.  And in Sim City 64 there's a Mario statue you can get.

These hardly count as Mario spin-offs.

Did you happen to scroll down at all?

Spinoffs:
Dr. Mario 64 (USA only)
Mario Artist (series) (Japan only)
Mario Golf
Mario Kart 64
Mario Party
Mario Party 2
Mario Party 3
Mario Tennis
Mario's Photopy (Japan only)

Learning to read is good people.

[wandering]

True... but these DO count as spinoffs:

Quote
BS Super Mario USA (series) (Japan only)
Dr. Mario - BSX | NP (Japan only)
Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium (series) (Japan only)
Mario & Wario (Japan only)
Mario is Missing!
Mario Paint
Mario's Early Years: Fun with Letters
Mario's Early Years: Fun with Numbers
Mario's Early Years: Preschool Fun
Mario's Super Picross (Japan only)
Mario's Time Machine
Picross NP (series) (Japan only)
Super Mario Kart
Tetris & Dr. Mario
Tetris Attack
Undake 30 Same Game (Japan only)
Wario's Woods
Wrecking Crew '98 (Japan only)
Yoshi's Cookie
Yoshi's Cookie - Kuruppon Oven de Cookie (Japan only)
Yoshi's Safari

Anyway, that list of game releases is making me froth at the mouth with excitement. A new Tingle RPG? Awesome. I look at this as being kind of like the REV controller: there, they removed 2 buttons and a stick to make the controller better, but are releasing a traditional shell to appease harcore gamers. Here, they removed 1 tingle from Twilight Princess to make the game better, but are releasing a new Tingle game to appease the hardcore Tingle fans.

[Ian Sane]

Counting cameos is kind of silly.  Plus I would debate the merits of including the Mario educational titles which were neither developed or published by Nintendo and have the legitimacy of the CD-i Zelda games.

Last year alone there were 8 games released for Nintendo systems that featured Mario in a starring role.  That's an insane amount.  And I'm not counting related series like Donkey Kong and Wario.

[KDR_11k]

The educational games used the franchise and you're arguing that the franchise is becoming worn out. Made by Nintendo or not, these games look the same to the customers. Or would you argue that games like Mario Baseketball shouldn't count because they're not made by Nintendo?

[PaLaDiN]

Hang on a sec...

Putting in the effort to make Mario a playable cameo instead of just a mentioned cameo is now a bad thing?

[stevey]

oh man too many games I only was able to save 700 dollar because of tvman post but now It be all spent on the ds and not the rev. well I never buy tingle game

"I don't want Nintendo to start milking Zelda (ewwww)."

Ah Ha Ha Ha

[nickmitch]

Well since good things come in threes, I'll be expecting to see my video game collection still where I left it when I visit my home this weekend, and I'll also be expecting to get laid.

[WuTangTurtle]

getting off the current topic, i was curious what is Tales DS?

Am i just dreaming or is this the Tales RPG series that im hoping for it to be?

[Karl Castaneda #2]

It's funny. The PSP got a simple port of Tales of Eternia. Nintendo, though? Namco's pally-pal? Original stuff.

I <3 Namco.

[PaLaDiN]

It's the Tales RPG series that you're hoping for it to be if you have any taste in games.

"It's funny. The PSP got a simple port of Tales of Eternia. Nintendo, though? Namco's pally-pal? Original stuff."

Let's not jump the gun here. We still don't know anything about this game.

[Pale]

Man, speaking of Namco... I hate to rain on everyone's parade, but why with all of these announcments (including at least 1 namco game) have we still not heard anything about hte supposed Katamari DS game?

[stevey]

That was a miss-print in np and the new Famitsu unveiled it for the psp  

[KDR_11k]

Katamari PSP would require a change of the control setup, you just can't control a tank with a PSP.

[WuTangTurtle]

is that true? no Katamari DS? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Aussie Ben PGC]

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
Katamari PSP would require a change of the control setup, you just can't control a tank with a PSP.

Er, what about the D-Pad and the triangle/circle/square/cross buttons?  They're in perfect symmetry with each other.  Sure, it's digital, and clunky, and will be awful to control, but it's certainly doable.

[Artimus]

Didn't people play Katamari PSP at the TGS and say it was clunky and awful to control?