Today, Sega announced that Jambo! Safari Animal Rescue will be arriving on the Wii and DS late this year. In 1999, Jambo! Safari was first released as an arcade title powered by the NAOMI arcade board, which is based on Dreamcast technology. Players will once again find themselves in the role of a safari park ranger who must rescue and care for animals, except this time with updated graphics and more depth than its arcade predecessor.

Taking place in the lush African Plains, Jambo! Safari will throw players into a free-roaming world filled with missions to tackle such as helping animals, taking photographs, and traveling in hot air balloons. Customization options will be available for the four selectable park rangers and the vehicles, such as the Land Rover Defender.

Each version of the game is being designed to harness the unique features of their respective system. Instead of using a lever to capture animals like in the arcade version, Wii owners will be able to lasso them by swinging the Wii Remote. The DS version will let players use the stylus to diagnose and treat the animals.

In addition, there will be multiplayer modes in the Wii version where friends can work together to complete missions or race ostriches.

In Europe, the game will be titled Ranger Adventure.

JOIN SEGA ON A JAMBO! SAFARI

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (May 20th, 2009) -- SEGA of America, Inc., and SEGA Europe Ltd., today announced Jambo! Safari Animal Rescue, an action packed African adventure exclusively for the Wii and Nintendo DS system. Hitting stores late in 2009, Jambo! Safari Animal Rescue takes the fun and excitement of the classic 1990's arcade title and reinvents it with modern graphics and deeper gameplay.

As with the original, the new Jambo! Safari allows you to play as one of four safari park rangers, but this time they are fully customizable. With the ultimate goal of becoming a fully qualified ranger, players must take on high speed challenges and exciting rescue missions across the rich and varied free-roaming landscapes of the African Plains. Using one of the four customizable vehicles, including the licensed Land Rover Defender 90 and 110, rangers will need to drive around and ensure the animals in their park are healthy and happy. Jambo! Safari Animal Rescue missions include rescuing animals in need, diagnosing and treating them before releasing them back to the wild, wildlife photography, sight seeing adventures and even hot air balloon rides!

In the Wii version of game, Jambo! Safari Animal Rescue (known as Ranger Adventure in Europe), players will immerse themselves in a true safari experience by swinging the Wii Remote like a lasso and using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to drive through the beautiful plains of Africa. Jambo! Safari Animal Rescue for Nintendo DS has been adapted to make full use of the stylus and dual screens while interacting and caring for the animals of the African Plains.

"Jambo! Safari Animal Rescue lends itself perfectly to the Nintendo platforms with motion sensitive controls and touch screen capabilities that translate all the action from the arcade into an expanded game universe", commented Sean Ratcliffe, V.P. of Marketing SEGA of America. "Jambo! Safari Animal Rescue is the perfect combination of education and fun as players collect animal fact informational cards during the course of the game which can teach children all about their favourite animals."

Alongside the single player adventure to become a ranger, Jambo! Safari Animal Rescue for Wii will also contain a co-op mode enabling players to share certain missions with a friend. Party games are also included which can be enjoyed by up to four people with a series of mini-games which include Ostrich Racing and Meerkat Madness among others.

Jambo! Safari Animal Rescue will be released for the Wii and the Nintendo DS system late in 2009.