Full Japanese DS lineup revealed

TOKYO--Nintendo today announced that it will be releasing 12 titles for the DS handheld on its launch in Japan on December 2. Five of the titles will be Nintendo-developed, and seven titles will be from third parties. Two additional third-party titles are also confirmed for release within the year. The standard price of DS games will be set at 4800 yen, although one game, Intuitive Stroke (One-Line Puzzle in the US), will be priced slightly less at 3800 yen.

According to Nintendo, there are currently 124 titles being developed for the DS by 46 publishers. The company updated its DS lineup today with 49 new additional titles, 11 of which are from Nintendo itself.

The biggest surprise in the new DS lineup was unveiled during the Tokyo press event today. During the show, it was announced that Final Fantasy III, which hasn't ever been ported to any console since its original release on the Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES), is making its way back to Nintendo hardware after nearly 15 years. No specific details were released on the game (such as its release date), although producer Akitoshi Kawazu hinted that the game is likely to take advantage of the DS' unique input options.

Before today, Nintendo had only announced eight titles for the DS, and with PictoChat disappearing from its roster since it's being embedded into the handheld as default software, the company's lineup was looking pretty slim. But that all changed when Nintendo announced an additional 10 titles for the platform. Three of the newly announced titles will be released concurrently with the handheld's launch: Big Concert! Band Brothers (Jam With The Band in the US), a music game that can be played with multiple players using different instruments; Intuitive Stroke (One-Line Puzzle), a puzzle game where you need to flip around black-and-white blocks with just one stroke of the pen; and Pokémon Dash, a racing game where you need to guide Pikachu around a huge map, touching checkpoints in various places by running around, riding on rafts, and floating on air balloons.

For Gundam fans, the fun on the double-screen handheld is coming in the form of two games. Bandai is releasing an SD Gundam strategy game, and Banpresto is releasing an entry in its Super Robot Wars series.

Arika, best known for its Tetris games and the Street Fighter EX series, is making an RPG for the DS.

Japanese Nintendo DS launch titles in Japan (December 2) are as follows.

Nintendo:
Super Mario 64 DS (4,800 Yen)
WarioWare Inc. DS (4,800 Yen)
Big Concert! Band Brothers (4,800 Yen)
Intuitive Stroke (3,800 Yen)
Pokemon Dash (4,800 Yen)

Success:
Zoo Keeper (price unannounced)

Sega: Kimi no tame nara Shineru (4,800 Yen/tax excluded)

Electronic Arts:
The Urbz: Sims in the City (4,800 Yen/tax excluded)

Namco:
Mr. Driller DS (4,800 Yen/tax excluded)

Spike:
Kenshuu-i Tendou Dokuta (4,800 Yen/tax excluded)

Koei:
Mahjong Taikai (price unannounced)

Aruze:
Zunou ni Ase Kaku ("Make Your Brain Sweat") Game Series Vol.1: Cool 104 Joker & Setline (price unannounced)

The additional two titles confirmed for release before the end of the year are:

Sega:
Puyo Puyo Fever (12/24, 4,800 Yen)

Konami:
Tennis no Ouji-sama 2005 Crystal Drive (December, 4,800 Yen)

New titles that were added to the DS lineup in Japan are below. GameSpot will have more information on many of these titles today and in the weeks to come.

Activision:
Spider-Man 2

Atari Japan:
Atari Classics

Ertain:
Monster Summoner (tentative title)

Arika:
Animetic RPG

Aruze:
Zunou ni Ase Kaku game series Vol.2 (tentative title)
Unnamed Action RPG
Meikyuu ("Labyrinth" in English, tentative title)

Alpha Unit:
Unnamed Action Game

Interactive Brains:
Toy Heads World
Deep Labyrinth

MTO:
Kawaii Koinu ("Cute Puppy" in English) DS (tentative title)
Ochaken DS (tentative title)

Electronic Arts:
GoldenEye (tentative title)
Need for Speed Underground (tentative title)

Kids Station:
Sentou-in Yamada Hajime 2 (tentative title)
Unnamed Card Battle Game
Unnamed Detective Adventure Game

Konami:
Tennis no Ouji-sama 2005 Crystal Drive

Success:
Guruguru Nugget (tentative title)

Square Enix:
Final Fantasy III

Starfish:
Super Black Bass: Dynamic Shot

Spike:
Rally DS (tentative title)

Sega:
Unnamed TV Character Action Game
Unnamed Multibattle Sports Action Game

D3 Publisher:
Simple DS series

Tomy:
Unnamed New RPG

Now Production:
Unnamed Action Game

Hudson:
Momotetsu World (tentative title)
Action RPG

Nintendo:
Big Concert! Band Brothers (Jam With The Band in the US)
Intuitive Stroke (One-Line Puzzle in the US)
Pokémon Dash
Balloon Trip (tentative title, "Yoshi's Touch And Go" in the US)
Another (tentative title)
Yakuman (tentative title)
Advance Wars (tentative title)
Magical Vacation 2 (tentative title)
Project JSS (tentative title)
Pokémon Diamond
Pokémon Pearl

Bandai:
Guruguru Omiseya-san Gokko (tentative title)
Keroro Gunsou (tentative title)
KeroKero King (tentative title)
SD Gundam Simulation (tentative title)
Mahou Touch (tentative title)

Banpresto:
Super Robot Taisen (tentative title)

Marvelous Interactive:
Luna (tentative title)

Megacyber:
Londonian Gothics: Meikyuu no Lolita

Previously Announced titles:

Idea Factory:
Spectral Force (tentative title)

Aki:
Mikke! (I Spy, tentative title)


Atlus:
Jinsei Game DS (tentative title)
Shin Megami Tensei DS
Snowboards Kids DS (tentative title)
Caduceus (tentative title)
Choro-Q DS (tentative title)

Aruze:
Zunou ni Ase Kaku game series Vol.1: Cool 104 Joker & Setline (tentative title)

Epoch:
Unnamed Action Game

MTO:
GT-D: Racing (tentative title)
Minna no Mahjong: Kenkou Mahjong (tentative title)

Electronic Arts:
The Urbz: Sims in the City

Capcom:
Megaman Battle Network series
Viewtiful Joe series
Gyakuten Saiban series (aka Reversal of Judgment)

Game Arts:
Unnamed New RPG

Genki:
Kebukawa Tantei Jiken-bo (tentative title)
Living High Killing Low (tentative title)
Kaidou Racing Battle (tentative title)

Koei:
Dynasty Warriors (tentative title)
Unnamed Historical Simulation Game
Mahjong Taikai

Konami:
Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour
Ganbare Goemon (tentative title)
Survival Kids (tentative title)
Vandal Hearts (tentative title)

Konami Computer Entertainment Japan:
Boktai (tentative title)

Konami Computer Entertainment Studio:
Powerful Pro-Baseball series (tentative title)

Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo:
Castlevania (tentative title)
Winning Eleven series (tentative title)

Success:
Zoo Keeper

Sammy:
Jissen Pachi-slot Hisshouhou! Hokuto No Ken (Fist of the North Star)

Sunrise Interactive:
Unnamed Simulation Game

Jamsworks:
Unnamed New Board Game

Square Enix:
Egg Monster Heroes
New Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles title
New Dragon Quest Monsters title
New Seiken Densetsu title
New Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest title

Spike:
Kenshuu-i Tendou Dokuta

Sega:
Sonic DS (tentative title)
Kimi no Tame nara Shineru
Puyo Puyo Fever

Taito:
Rakugaki Oukoku series
Bubble Bobble series

Chunsoft:
Fushigi no Dungeon (tentative title)

D3 Publisher:
Unnamed Action Game

Tecmo:
Monster Farm Jamboree
Unnamed Game by Team Ninja

Tomy:
Naruto (tentative title)
Zoids (tentative title)

Namco:
Mr. Driller DS (tentative title)
New Unnamed RPG
Pac-Pix (tentative title)
Pac 'n Roll (tentative title)

Hudson:
Bomberman
Far East of Eden series

Nintendo:
Super Mario 64 DS
Metroid Prime: Hunters
WarioWare Inc. DS
Mario Kart DS (tentative title)
Animal Crossing DS (tentative title)
Super Mario Brothers DS (tentative title)
Nintendogs (tentative title)

Bandai:
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (tentative title)
One Piece (tentative title)
Meteors

Banpresto:
Dragonball Z

VU Games:
Robots (tentative title)

Marvelous Interactive:
Urusei Yatsura
Harvest Moon for DS (tentative title)
Legend of the River King series
Unnamed Original RPG

Yuke's:
Unnamed Sports Game

Rocket Company:
Doubutsu-jima no Chobi Gurumi 3 (tentative title)