Nintendo of America announces DS, Cube, GBA dates

Nintendo of America has officially dated a bunch of its 2005 titles on Cube, GBA and DS, giving us a firmer idea of when we'll have to start nagging importers about the likes of Star Fox: Assault and WarioWare: Twisted!

The DS, first, will see WarioWare: Touched! arrive on 14th February, followed a month later on 14th March by Pokémon Dash. Yoshi's Touch & Go (aka Balloon Trip) will also be out in March along with Retro Atari Classics.

EA is planning to have Need For Speed Underground 2 ready sometime in the first quarter, it's just not sure when, with Ultimate Card Games and Ultimate Brain Games following in May and June respectively. Then there's World Championship Poker to look forward to (or not) in the second quarter.

Sadly the likes of Metroid Prime Hunters, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing and Advance Wars aren't close enough to pin dates to yet - not even tentative ones - but Nintendo is keen to remind us that they're coming, along with a US version of quirky puzzler Polarium.

And in a quirk of rather handy timing, when the second half of our DS Games To Watch in 2005 goes up this lunchtime you'll be able to find details on all of the above across both parts.

The GameCube, meanwhile, arguably has its biggest prospect to look forward to today, 11th January, as Resident Evil 4 lands at retailers in the US, which may dilute the impact of SEGA's Virtua Quest, which is also out today, but hey ho.

As we move further into 2005, February will see NBA Street V3 with its Mario All-Stars team arrive on the 8th, followed by Star Fox: Assault on the 14th. March will give us Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Dragon Ball Z: Sagas and Mortal Kombat: Deception from Midway, with its Cube-specific playable versions of Goro and Shao Kahn.

Looking further ahead, Donkey Konga 2 should give us more cause to dig out the bongos in April, with repeatedly delayed FPS Geist due in the second quarter, and Killer 7 poised to arrive in "spring". Oh, and Nintendo reminds us that there's still that new Legend of Zelda title to look forward to thereafter.

Finally, then, the Game Boy Advance SP. Yesterday saw US gamers finally get their hands on The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, which we've all been enjoying for some time, and they will also get to try Rare's Banjo Pilot later this month.

February will welcome the likes of Ace Combat Advance and Klonoa 2 from Namco, with WarioWare: Twisted! and its gyro sensor controls landing on 21st March, Mario Party Advance touching down on 28th March, and Pokémon Emerald set to arrive on 25th April.

Perhaps more exciting than any of that though, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones should be with us (or US to be more specific) in the second quarter. And if you can't find a few good reasons to get onto your local importer in amongst that lot, then let the lord help you, because we surely can't.