Tuesday 19 December 2006
January, February, March: three long dull months that follow the feast with their days devoid of light, their nights empty of warmth and your pockets short of coins. But there is a reason to carry on and to save up again because Nintendo has revealed the games set for both DS and Wii running right into the sunny days of early April.
Top of the list for Wii is the appearance of Wario Ware: Smooth Moves due on 12 January, with Excite Truck set to slide into view in the second month, on 16 February. Completing the line-up will be SSX Blur, Mario Party 8 and Sonic and the Secret Rings, which don't have specific dates yet but are all due in March.
Above: Leave your dignity at the door when you step up to play the even more embarrassing, if slightly less frantic, Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
January looks like an expensive month for DS owners, too, with Children of Mana and Star Fox Command set for 12 and 26 January, respectively, while Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin will be resurrected in February and Pokemon Ranger will appear on 30 March. Phoenix Wright will also return in Ace Attorney Justice for All but, at the moment, publisher Capcom is not revealing an exact release date.
But there are some surprising absences from both lists. The often promised and even sometimes seen Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass have all disappeared with no fixed dates confirmed for any of them. However, all three are still due to appear at some stage in 2007, and as soon as we know when that will be, we'll let you know.
