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Nintendo reveals Euro Christmas line-up News
GameCube GameBoy Advance News by Tom Bramwell
Metroid Prime 2 will form the backbone of Nintendo's Christmas Cube offering in Europe, while Pokémon Leaf Green/Fire Red and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap stand tall in a diverse list of first party GBA offerings.
In a release issued this morning, Nintendo of Europe outlined its Christmas releases, starting with budget-priced party game WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$ on September 3rd and concluding with the release of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
In between, Cube owners can look forward to the long awaited, localised European release of Animal Crossing, also out on Sept 3rd, Pikmin 2 and Donkey Konga in October, and Paper Mario 2 and Namco's Tales of Symphonia in November, which ought to keep RPG fans happy for a month or so.
Curiously though there's no place on the list for Mario Party 6, which we had very much expected to see in its traditional pre-Christmas slot. Perhaps Nintendo bumped it to give Wario Ware a chance to shine? The list also virtually confirms recent reports - including one this morning - that Star Fox and Geist are now due out next year.
This leaves Nintendo, once again, with a lot of titles that are bound to gather critical acclaim - and almost certainly deservedly so - but with the exception of Metroid Prime 2 not that many that are likely to scythe through the competition during a hectic Christmas rush.
Any GBA owners bound to an elderly relative's couch this Christmas won't have too much to worry about, however, with a number of exciting titles due on the handheld - despite the impending launch of the Nintendo DS, which is due out in Europe in early 2005. In fact, it'll be interesting to see how GBA sales fare in the run-up to Christmas purely on that basis.
We'll be in the queue though, busily scrabbling to get hold of Mario Golf Advance Tour (Sept 17th), the eagerly awaited The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Nov 12th), Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Nov 19th), and Super Mario Ball (Nov 26th - it's the new name for Super Mario Pinball, since you ask). Square die-hards will be pleased to see Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls down for early December, too.
Key exclusives due out on Nintendo platforms in the run up to Christmas:
- GameCube
- Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Party Game$ - September 3rd
- Animal Crossing - September 3rd
- Pikmin 2 - October 8th
- Donkey Konga - October 15th
- Paper Mario 2: The Thousand Year Door - November 12th
- Tales of Symphonia - November 19th
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - November 26th
- Game Boy Advance
- Mario Golf Advance Tour - September 17th
- Pokémon Leaf Green/Fire Red - October 1st
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap - November 12th
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong - November 19th
- Super Mario Ball - November 26th
- Mario Party Advance - December 3rd
- Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls - December 10th
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martyngates
18/08/04 @ 10:25
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"the eagerly awaited The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap" - ive never heard of it whats it about?
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AnotherMartin
18/08/04 @ 10:34
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Apart from AC which I've played to death on import I'm pretty interested in all the GC ones. Pikmin 2 and MP2:E are being picked up straight away, the rest will definatly be looked at as well.
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Tiger_Walts
18/08/04 @ 10:37
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Minish Cap is a top down LTTP style adventure. The Cap in the title allows Link to shrink, allowing the GBA to show off some nice scaling tech.
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Tiger_Walts
18/08/04 @ 10:40
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There are 5 or 6 there that I want, which is more than my wishlist for the other formats combined. I also have 2 of those titles already; you cannot call that a poor line-up.
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The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
The preview in this month's gamesTM refers to this as 'The Magical Hood' rather than 'The Minish Cap'. Has it been renamed for the West? I hope not, 'cos 'The Magical Hood' sounds terrible! Anyway... bugger off, you lot - this is the best Nintendo Christmas line-up in ages. I haven't bought a Cube game since this time last year, and there's five titles there which I'll be wanting. What exactly did you want? |
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What a joke of a line-up. How do they expect to compete. All been there seen it done it stuff also.
oh, quiet you. of that list, i'll be buying about half of it most likely. true, metroid prime 2 is really the only "killer ap", but damn, the other stuff ain't half bad either. looking forward especially to the new Zelda and the Paper Mario too. The original was rather enjoyable. edit : oh yes, and thats just the format-exclusive titles too. what about Zelda 4 swords on cube? a very valid question. any clue, Mr. Bramwell?
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most recently on 18/08/04 @ 12:04
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groovychainsaw
18/08/04 @ 11:37
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They will unfortunately be thrashed this christmas - look at the exclusives on the other platforms... nintendo has nothing here that will capture the market :-( This is upsetting, it will be a quiet xmas for my gamecube
/dons flameproof suit to escape nintendo fanboys... /cant run fast enough with it on ;-)
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most recently on 18/08/04 @ 12:38
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groovychainsaw
18/08/04 @ 11:46
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Like Grand theft auto - you might not like it, be im pretty confident it will sell, along with killzone, anything EA produce. I'm not saying this is a good thing, but nintendo are so out of touch here, even though i want to get some of these games (warioware and animal crossing especially)... thats what i meant when i said they were going to get thrashed
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gamingdave
18/08/04 @ 11:48
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I want Wario Ware, Animal Crossing (dont know why I never imported), Donkey Konga, Paper Mario 2 and MP2. Already got Pikmin 2. Looking forward to MvDK and the new Zelda aswell. Been playing Mario Golf on GBA for a while now, realy nice golf game and games last just the right length of my commute if I dont drop too many shots.
Not suprising PS2 and Xbox fans will snub this list. Apart from MP2 theres nothing theyd give more than 5 minutes attention too. Their loss. |
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Paper Mario goes on the list. As does Wario Ware...I'd be daft enough to buy Donkey Konga too seeing the fun people were having with Samba De Amigo at the LAN.
Might pick up Pikmin 2 but probably won't bother with owt else. I do wonder if the PAL release of AC will affect people like the US / Jap release did (Probably not which means we'll be fucked for the sequel!) Peej |
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Like Grand theft auto - you might not like it, be im pretty confident it will sell, along with killzone, anything EA produce. I'm not saying this is a good thing, but nintendo are so out of touch here, even though i want to get some of these games (warioware and animal crossing especially)... thats what i meant when i said they were going to get thrashed
I do like (some) of those games, but that's what the PS2/Xbox are for. Personally I'm glad that Nintendo take a different approach. If they did the same kinds of games as everyone else then I'd have stuck with just a PS2. As it is, the line-up is suitably different to warrant a second console. Sales-wise they probably will get thrashed at Christmas, but that doesn't necessarily mean their line-up is 'wrong' or 'out of touch'. It's just 'different'. The way to get it wrong this Christmas would've been to do what they've done for the last 9 months and release 'almost nothing'. |
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I think the christmas line-up could be viewed as both weak and strong, depending on which perspective you take. A Nintendo fan, such as you Blerk, will probably think it looks like an exciting line-up and I'm sure Nintendo will sell decent numbers, at least of Metroid Prime 2 and Paper Mario 2.
The problem is that it seems like Nintendo are content with preaching to the converted. I really can't see any of those titles luring in new fans. Nintendo really would have needed RE 4 to lure in a different kind of customer this christmas.
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most recently on 18/08/04 @ 13:49
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Tweakmonkey
18/08/04 @ 12:18
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"It's a better lineup than I was expecting but it's hardly going to shift many cubes"
It depends what you are looking for. There are reasons to buy *every* console. /waves hand like Obi-wan - "these are the games you're looking for" |
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Probably is saying something though if N get thrashed this Xmas as they don't appear to have enough popular franchises to compete all that well, despite releasing a Mario RPG, and a Metroid game, not to mention Pikmin 2 a Miyamoto franchise. This simply would almost have been unheard of a while ago.
Nevertheless aslong as it stays with the competition to be a viable platform then that's something and there's a good enough line-up next year. And I spose from a personal point of view those games are all better IMHO than any else that's being released anywhere else. |
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I love the way people say "that line-up sucks" and then, when challenged, just say either "Halo 2" or "GTA" - which is like one game on each system. Halo was great yes, but so was Prime. All three systems have one big heavy hitter (Prime 2, Halo 2, GTA) for sure - but which of the other two also have back-up *exclusives* in the vein of Pikmin 2 and Paper Mario 2 then?
Christ, if they release too much people moand that they can;t buy them all - if they release just a few people say it's a weak line-up. Get a grip folks - I'll be enjoying at least four of those titles in addition to Halo 2 this xmas. |
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A Nintendo fan, such as you Blerk, will probablythink it looks like an exciting line-up
I'm not a Nintendo fan as such. I just prefer games that are (in the whole) a little less 'mainstream'. The very worst thing Nintendo could've done for me would've been to fill the list up with titles that would 'shift millions', as these are generally the sorts of titles that leave me cold. The same applies to other platforms. That's not to say that Nintendo is flawless in this respect - I can't stand the platform-based Mario games, for instance. But that list is suitable quirky to get my interest up... |
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martyngates
18/08/04 @ 12:36
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R-Type III (ZOO Digital) - 1st October 2004
why did it take them so long to make a gba rtype! it better be good |
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Blerk: I just assumed you were a ninty fan, since you had the most positive of the opinion of Nintendos line-up of those posting in the thread and with "fan" I just meant "someone who generally likes Nintendo games" not "rabid fanboy".
Also the point I was trying to make was that this line-up could be viewed both as good or bad, depending on wether you look at it from the perspective of a cube owner wanting their fix of typical Nintendo games or if you want the line-up to attract a lot of new cube buyers. |
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Tweakmonkey
18/08/04 @ 12:57
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So there we have it. The 1st party Nintendo line-up is either good or bad depending on your opinion.
/falls off chair |
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Looks a pretty good line up to me.
Metroid Prime: Echoes, Paper Mario 2 and Tales of Symphonia are all definitely on my shopping list. Pikmin 2, Animal Crossing and Wario Ware are all decent possibles I'll probably pick up when I see them in the sales bins. It's also great to see Final Fantasy I & II putting in an appearance on the GBA. To be honest, aside from GTA:SA, Half-Life 2 and PoP2 (which I intend to get on the Cube anyway), there's little else due in time for Christmas that I'm currently looking forward to. It has certainly been a quiet year for the Cube so far, but I think this makes up for it. :) |
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The R-Type conversion is supposed to be pretty poor :(
As for the cube list, it's practically all sequels or built on an existing franchise. Same shit Nintendo have been giving us for years now. Talk about originality eh? I'd buy 3 of the titles, Mertoid 2, Tales of Symphonia and Tiger Woods 2005. |
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As for the cube list, it's practically all sequels or built on an existing franchise. Same shit Nintendo have been giving us for years now. Talk about originality eh?
oh, please. that list reeks of originality : pikmin, animal crossing, wario ware etc. yes, some may be sequels but i think an clever and fun original idea should span more than one game, no? i mean, its nothing that other consoles and companies aren't doing.
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most recently on 18/08/04 @ 14:26
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Tiger_Walts
18/08/04 @ 13:19
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As for the cube list, it's practically all sequels or built on an existing franchise.
You could say that about the lists for the other consoles too. |
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