NOA clarifies release dates

Nintendo of America has clarified the release date information on its website, which last week reportedly showed F-Zero GC and Wario World slippages before a gust of wind kicked up and returned the page to its original state.

First of all, the bad news: as feared, F-Zero (which loses the 'GC' outside Japan) has slipped until August 25th, and Wario World takes up its old position of June 23rd.

However, there is a degree of good news in the updated release list. The US release list now includes Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (also June 23rd), Donkey Kong Country (June 9th), Golden Sun: The Lost Age (April 14th) and Mario Golf (July 28th). Another set of e-Reader cards is also due out, but we won't worry about those over here (sniff).

Of the games on the release schedule we weren't expecting to see, Advance Wars 2 is a pleasant surprise; Donkey Kong Country can't be much other than a Mario Advance-style port of Rare's visually arresting platformer; and Mario Golf is now due out a month earlier than F-Zero, despite a quiet period of incubation.

All in all, it's not a bad list of first party games (which also includes the new Zelda - due out in the US this coming Monday). But cynical though it may sound, we're already wondering how many of them will slip to 2004 in Europe…