Magazine Watching: Nintendo Power reveals new Wii, DS titles @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on February 27, 2007

News: The Big NP shows they've still got it with first looks at seven titles.

The April 2007 issue of Nintendo Power (which should be hitting subscriber's mailboxes today) has ponied up with the goods and revealed seven new titles for the Wii and the DS.

The DS gets the bulk of the titles with an American release date for Heroes of Mana leading the way. Heroes was revealed at last year's Tokyo Game Show as a strategy game spin-off to the popular RPG series.

The game takes the standard strategy RPG stance of saving the world with an army of summoned monsters on your side, but does it with Mana-style. Square-Enix has also said the game will feature Wi-Fi support of some kind. Expect to see Heroes of Mana in the Summer.

Elsewhere, the DS will be getting another Harvest Moon title this year, but with a twist. Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon is a more "grown-up" version of the popular farming sim series that features a more mature graphical style and fighting. Yes, fighting. Don't worry, farming will still make a big portion of the game and you can even recruit monsters you've fought to lend a hand on the farm.

Continuing with this mature theme, the DS will see two blood-soaked titles very soon. Brothers in Arms DS will bring the popular WWII shooter to the DS with amazing 3D graphics and plenty of touch screen controls. It should arrive in the Summer.

If WWII is't your cup of tea, what about zombies? Touch the Dead, from Eidos, brings the light gun style of play to the DS. But obviously you'll have to touch the screen to blast away at the filthy, filthy zombies. Nintendo Power calls it "a rhythm game with less music and a lot more shuffling, re-animated dead people." I am offically very interested.

Finally for the DS comes a surprise sequel to the PS2 cult classic The Adventures of Cookie & Cream. Simply titled Cookie & Cream, the game will feature Cookie on the top screen while Cream must clear his path using the stylus on the bottom screen. Naturally, the game will have wireless (and surprisingly) single system co-op.

Moving on to the Wii, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the console will be home to no less than three swordfighting games by the end of the year. You can add another to the pile as Koei offered the first details of Samurai Slash in this issue. Samurai Slash is an offshoot of the Samurai Warriors series, but with a first person perspective. You'll be able to pretend your Wiimote is one of eight different weapons as you battle through the Sengoku period of Japanese history. Samurai Slash currently has no American release date.

Last on our list, Nintendo Power has learned that Tomy and Eighting are bringing a new Naruto game to the Wii in the form of Naruto: Clash of Ninja Wii. The fighter will include 14 playable characters, including, for the first time, Itachi and feature some Wiimote functionality. D3, Naruto's American publisher, has not confirmed this game for North America yet, but with the series' popularity, it's a no-brainer.

So that's it. We'll have more on all of these titles soon.