Nintendo always make a big deal out of the software that’s available for their consoles when they launch – they know that the box itself isn’t any use on it’s own, and that customers need a compelling reason to walk out of the shop with a Nintendo console under their arm. The games company don’t always manage to get it right though – as was seen with the launch of the N64, and the US launch of the GameCube. Where were Mario, Samus and Zelda?
So, Nintendo have announced with great fanfare the titles that will be available around the launch of the DS – and whilst they’ve got a Mario title in there (they learned from that mistake then), not all titles will be in the shops on November 21st. Mario had better be, for their sake. The games announced are Madden NFL 2005, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf, the Urbz: Sims in the City, Ping Pals, Feel the Magic XY/XX, Raymand DS, Ridge Racer DS, Mr Driller: Drill Spirits, Asphalt Urban GT, and of course, Super Mario 64.
It’s disappointing that there will be no Animal Crossing, Zelda, Metroid or Advance Wars titles at launch, but Nintendo are promising that they will be along in the coming months. Nintendo need these titles to differentiate their handheld console from the forthcoming PSP which will have pretty much the same sports games on it. However, the DS has an advantage over the PSP when it comes to sports simulations games as it has two screens: for example in Madden NFL 2005, one screen will show all 22 players with the other zooming on the action.
With 120 titles in development for the DS, there certainly won’t be a shortage of software for it – and it’ll need every single game if it’s not to be trounced by Sony’s PSP.
