Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Nintendo's handheld line-up

DS/GBA line-up, Euro dates, Mario & Luigi 2!

Through a montage of video snippets during its pre-E3 press conference and various press releases in its post-conference press pack, Nintendo today outlined a huge line-up of handheld games spanning GBA and DS platforms in Europe.

The one we're going to give a whole paragraph to is Mario & Luigi 2, because it made us so excited our laptops fell off our knees. And it's on the Nintendo DS this time!

Naturally there were lots of DS and GBA games on display to get excited about, and Nintendo Europe's post-conference literature mentioned dates for some of them.

Fire Emblem: Sacred Stone (GBA) is due in November, a month later than Pokémon Emerald (GBA), while the likes of Another Code (June 24th), Bomberman DS (June 30), Meteos (September 23), Advance Wars: Dual Strike (September 30), Nintendogs (October), Metroid Prime Hunters (October), Castlevania DS (Autumn), Kirby: Canvas Curse (November) and, of course, Mario Kart DS (November) were confirmed for Europe.

There were also mentions for Harvest Moon DS (November), Mario Tennis Advance (GBA, December) and, sooner rather than later, the fairly rubbish Ridge Racer DS (June 3), while a number of games were shown that haven't been dated yet or that your crumbling correspondent's sieve-like memory may have forgotten even existed. We will likely see these in Europe, but final confirmation was not forthcoming in the frenzy that surrounded today's events.

Those included Donkey Kong Country 3, Dynasty Warriors Adventures, and the likes of Trace Memory and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (announced yesterday at Capcom's press event) for DS, while Electroplankton, Animal Crossing DS, New Super Mario Bros., Viewtiful Joe DS and Trauma Centre: Under The Knife are also on the way.