Over the weekend, Nintendo held an investor’s briefing in Japan where President Satoru Iwata defended lower-than-expected hardware sales for the Wii and DS. Though the Wii doubled sales of the PS3 through the holiday season, it was not enough to stave off comparison to 2009, when Wii sales were almost double what they were in 2010. To calm the masses, Nintendo showed off a few new titles. Most notably, the game maker debuted a trailer for a new Kirby game for Wii, reports PAL Gaming Network.
Unlike Epic Yarn, this is new title is a return to the classic sidescrolling gameplay that made Kirby an icon. Developed by HAL Laboratories, best known for Kirby games and the hit Super Smash Bros. series, the game has a feel that’s very similar to Kirby Super Star, a SNES Best of Kirby collection of different games that ranks as one of the best entries in the series to date. However, it also appears to make extensive use of polygons and other 3D effects, putting it in line with many of Nintendo’s recent 2D revivals like Donkey Kong Country Returns and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. This new Kirby is scheduled to hit shelves sometime later this year.
Four more games on the horizon
At the briefing, Nintendo also unveiled two Japan-only titles for Wii: Tower of Pandora (seen above) and Rhythm Heaven. Pandora will hit shelves sometime in the first half of this year, while the Rhythm sequel will see release before year-end. The Big N also confirmed that both The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (for 3DS) would see release this year, but that Ocarina of Time will come out first, reports G4. Skyward Sword is in its final phases of development, but as anyone following Nintendo will learn, the company does not release its core products until they are highly polished and deemed “ready.”
