Mario & Luigi: Dream Team announced for 3DS

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, a new entry in the Mario & Luigi role-playing game series, has been announced by Nintendo.

The game will be released for the Nintendo 3DS this summer, but no specific dates were given.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced the game as part of a Nintendo Direct broadcast dedicated to Luigi--dubbing 2013 the "Year of Luigi"--and showed the first in-game footage.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team takes place inside Luigi's dreams and will feature puzzles that have to be solved by interacting with a slumbering Luigi on the bottom screen of the 3DS.

Multiple Luigi's can also feature in the game at once, with one scene showing a flood of Luigis attacking a group of enemies and another showing Mario running around the map with dozens of his taller, more timid brother.

Iwata also said that Luigi might not be as traditionally cowardly when inside his dreams.

Other announcements during the Nintendo Direct presentation included a new Mario Golf for the 3DS, a new DLC campaign for New Super Mario Bros. U focusing squarely on Luigi called New Super Luigi U., the release date for Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and the unveiling of Donkey Kong Country Returns for the 3DS.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team will be the fourth game in the Mario & Luigi series, with the previous entries--Superstar Saga, Partners in Time, and Bowser's Inside Story--on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. Nintendo studio AlphaDream has handled development of all titles in the series so far.