Nintendo's 2003 Japanese Lineup Unveiled

IGN has posted Nintendo's Japanese lineup for 2003 for the both the GameCube and GameBoy Advance. I am sure this list is short a few surprises, but it is still impressive.

GameCube

Nintendo Puzzle Collection (Feb. 7)
Metroid Prime (Feb. 28)
GIFTPIA (April)
F-Zero GC - tentative name (May)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (Spring)
Kirby's Air Ride - tentative name (Spring)
Mario Golf GC - tentative name (Spring)
Mario Tennis GC - tentative name (coming Winter)
1080? - tentative name (coming Winter)
Mario Kart GC (TBA)
Pikmin 2 (TBA)
Animal Crossing 2 (TBA)


Game Boy Advance

Metroid Fusion (2/14)
Zelda: Link to the Past (March)
Game Boy Gallery 4 - tentative name (TBA)
Game Boy Music w/ pocket speaker & stereo mini cable (TBA)
Lunar Blaze - tentative name (TBA)
Mario Golf GBA - tentative (TBA)
Mario Tennis GBA - tentative (TBA)

What's Giftpia?

I can't wait for F-Zero and Pikmin 2.

Nintendo are so predictable these days. I want to see what they're doing with Mario Kart before getting excited.

Nintendo Puzzle Collection (Feb. 7)
Metroid Prime (Feb. 28)
F-Zero GC - tentative name (May)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (Spring)

For me.

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Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
What's Giftpia?

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This was all I could find. Not very helpful..
edit: and some screens...

Wow, who says nintendo's not innovative! anymore? Certainly not me, that would be foolish.

If I were special like MVS, I could tell that games weren't innovative just by seeing their titles. What a talent that must be! :rolleyes:

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Originally posted by Yoshi
If I were special like MVS, I could tell that games weren't innovative just by seeing their titles. What a talent that must be! :rolleyes:

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True that, MVS...so pesimistic.

Anywho, Animal Crossing 2? Hopefully you can bring over your old Town file.

Remember folks:

A game has to be innovative to be good, just like GTA Vice City!

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Kirby's Air Ride - tentative name (Spring)

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Spring, as in the Spring two years after the Gamecube 2's launch.

Vice City is a good game, though slightly better than GTA3 as it is (just mario 64 is slightly better than mario sunshine). I would not call it innovative at all.

I look forward to the redefining of GolfTennisKartRacing et all, along with everyone else. Now, let's debate this for 12 months.

Who cares about how innovative it is? Just play the games.

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Originally posted by Yoshi
GameCube

Metroid Prime (Feb. 28)

Game Boy Advance

Metroid Fusion (2/14)
Zelda: Link to the Past (March)

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Wow. I never realized how much earlier the US received these games than JPN. It's a trend I don't mind seeing continue when applicable. Though doubtful, I wonder if JPN will get any type of extra content in these aforementioned titles.

Whoa ! WHole alot of games that I care not about. At least Capcom will have many good titles to look forward to.

No signs of too human :(

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Originally posted by xS
No signs of too human :(

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Keep in mind that list is for japan. we will most likely get Too Human first.

Games are never innovative if they have titles or characters that were used in previous games.

Lunar Blaze?

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Originally posted by TK
Games are never innovative if they have titles or characters that were used in previous games.

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If that's not sarcasm, then I challenge you to say that Super Mario Kart was not innovative when it was released in the early 1990s.

Lunar Blaze is an RPG. It's supposed to be similar to Pokemon in gameplay.

I'm excited about AC 2 and Pikmin 2. Solid lineup of stuff right there. Although I'll definitely be waiting until many of those hit $20 before buying them.

I guess Giftpia is actually Giftopia, that rpg Lucas Barton mentioned in a GC thread.

Is it just me or does MVS bitch about anything at all related to Nintendo? :D

Not everything. I'm simply the good force, trying to counterbalance yoshi's incessant bashing of the xbox. It all evens out that way.

That and pretty much nintendo sucks (save for the ownage that is AW).

Take your pick.

There's a disproportionate amount of Xbox ass-kissing on this board. Someone has to be the yin for that yang.

MVS and Yoshi should have a love child and teach him to love PS2, then they could call their family the Triforce and weep together in their nerdom.

=D

original games aren't always innovative or fresh
sequels are not always a rehash

besides, this is just the release dates for already announced games. Nintendo rarely announces a game via press release. Its usually done at a show, which explains why that list isn't very suprising.

Hrm.. the only ones from this list I am interested in are the ones I know nothing about: Giftpia and Lunar Blaze.... :\

Hope they end up being appealing. :)

Andy, all this talk of homosexual acts by you, has me concearned.

It's okay to be gay, you know. Just accept it and then come out to the world. Be happy with your true self.

*winks at MVS* :)

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Originally posted by TheGooch
Wow. I never realized how much earlier the US received these games than JPN. It's a trend I don't mind seeing continue when applicable. Though doubtful, I wonder if JPN will get any type of extra content in these aforementioned titles.

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Metroid Prime being released later in Japan, does'nt surprise me. It was developed in the US.

Go Andy :) Go Andy. :p

As for line up, this year we had good games like Prime and Star Fox, but next its almost nothing that interesting, unless some more titles get announced.

I'm not sure about those 2 rpgs, since I havent heard much about them.

From what I see on that list, AC 2 and perhaps the RPG interest me. Everything else seems very ho-hum. I sincerely hope there's a secret weapon or two hidden behind that list or my GC is going to collect more dust this year than last.



...and by "secret weapon," I am not referring to Capcom.

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Originally posted by Melf
From what I see on that list, AC 2 and perhaps the RPG interest me. Everything else seems very ho-hum. I sincerely hope there's a secret weapon or two hidden behind that list or my GC is going to collect more dust this year than last.



...and by "secret weapon," I am not referring to Capcom.

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What about Zelda?

Well, Zelda is already out in Japan, so its not on the list, but its a valid US 2003 release.

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From what I see on that list, AC 2 and perhaps the RPG interest me. Everything else seems very ho-hum. I sincerely hope there's a secret weapon or two hidden behind that list or my GC is going to collect more dust this year than last.

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As for line up, this year we had good games like Prime and Star Fox, but next its almost nothing that interesting, unless some more titles get announced.

I'm not sure about those 2 rpgs, since I havent heard much about them.

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What's with you people and cotton candy?

Shit.. more games... but i was going to add.. some witty comment about the brotherly love going on these holiday season, but the lakers game destracted me.:p...

Zelda goes without saying. If I don't buy that, I might as well store my GC in the closet until AC 2 comes out.

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F-Zero GC - tentative name (May)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (Spring)
Kirby's Air Ride - tentative name (Spring)
Mario Golf GC - tentative name (Spring)
Mario Tennis GC - tentative name (coming Winter)
1080? - tentative name (coming Winter)
Mario Kart GC (TBA)
Pikmin 2 (TBA)
Animal Crossing 2 (TBA)

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So out of all of these Melf, you only interested in Animal Crossing 2?

You little bitch. Happy Holidays!

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Originally posted by Yoshi
If that's not sarcasm, then I challenge you to say that Super Mario Kart was not innovative when it was released in the early 1990s.

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It's sarcasm.

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Originally posted by Will
So out of all of these Melf, you only interested in Animal Crossing 2?

You little bitch. Happy Holidays!

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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Originally posted by Will
So out of all of these Melf, you only interested in Animal Crossing 2?

You little bitch. Happy Holidays!

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I may buy F-Zero and and FFCC but the rest don't interest me in the slightest. I would perhaps rent the Mario sports titles but won't buy them.

So, yes, I'm a little bitch. Love you too! :evil:

Some of you are crazy. We have no info and nary a screenshot on half of those games, yet you are already dismissing them? your loss.


I wouldn't be suprised if the kirby game was a port of the cancelled N64 title. Nintendo is thrifty like that. HAL, while your at it, port Mother 3 as well.

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Originally posted by Melf
Zelda goes without saying. If I don't buy that, I might as well store my GC in the closet until AC 2 comes out.

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There's also Wario World, Vexx, Skies of Arcadia: Legends, Rally Fusion:Race of Champions, the yet un-named Namco Racer, Black & Bruised, Ikaruga, 1080 Whitestorm, Gladius (RPG), MegaMan and Splinter Cell.

Even with additional games the line up still not that exciting.

I do want Cube Ikaruga though.

<( ''<) <( '' )> (>'' )> <( '' )> ----> KIRBYTIME! It's great to see a new Kirby game being made.

ºTracer

Here's some info on Giftpia, from the Gaming Age forums:

Skip would like to extend a warm welcome to everybody to Nanashi Island. The bright and promising developer is working with Nintendo to produce the Gamecube Giftpia, a game the developer says combines “gifts” and “utopia”, hence the name. Along with that comes the first solid details on what the game will entail.

As the developers tell it on the site’s FAQ, the stage is set on Nanashi Island, a place where time flows calmly. Lately, the island has been trying to modernize, so much so that it’s a become a bit… “high-class”, perhaps? (Actually, the exact word is “westernized,” but I highly doubt the developers meant it as a slight to any western sensibilities.) Well, today is the day the main character, Pockul, becomes an adult, or “The Coming of Age Day.”

However, Pockul is a weak man. He sleeps in on the day of the ceremony and misses it. Now, as Mr. Meyer, the mayor tells him, the only way he can become an adult is to redo the ceremony, or else he will remain a child forever. Not that hard a task, except for the fact that the fee to redo the Coming of Age Ceremony will be 5,000,000 mane (Giftpia’s supposed currency).

Thus the aim of the game will be to raise the money Pockul is promised to have for the redoing of the ceremony by consulting, co-operating and conspiring with the island’s people. Characters thus far revealed include the blue-haired Kyappi, Pockul’s girlfriend who keeps him in line and who Pockul promised to lead to the mysterious place behind the island after the Coming of Age Ceremony, but now must put off. The aforementioned Mayor is Kyappi’s father and the island’s chief; his wife died years ago. Mappo is a robot who lives to protect the village and aims to become a policeman one day. And then there is Yukio, a goat who wears a bell and um, currently, just looks at you.

And what’s a game without a fancy buzzword these days? Skip is calling Giftpia an “Alternative RPG.” Skip says they would like to present an RPG in direct counterpoint to the mainstream line of gameplay seen in “normal” RPGs, and have worked to make Giftpia something of a counter culture game that aims to open fresh avenues in the heavily streamlined genre. They would like to fill it with a sense of unique style and a profound sense of magic. That may sound like the average PR hype to you, but I’d extend a warning not to overestimate the abilities of this group of people.

I’ve previously played Moon: The RPG Remix Adventure, a title that some of Skip was involved in. To say that that game was profound would be like saying the world’s oceans are kinda big. It mixed together a scathingly cynical sense of parody with a bizarre and warm style that practically gushed dignity and charm. It was criminally overlooked in Japan (I never would have played if I had not run into at a used manga store one day and thought it looked interesting for the price of 980 yen). Therefore, it never had a chance in the States. I’d rank Moon on a scale with games like Chrono Trigger and Planescape: Torment and Skip’s pedigree seems to aim for the same type of success with Giftpia.

Moon was entirely critical of every RPG cliché in the book, from big huge villainous projects to knights in shining armor to “meaningful” quests. It had a hilarious sense of humor imbued in characters that were nonsensical, but frighteningly realistic. The grandmother at the beginning of the game almost seemed like she was sitting there right beside me as I talked to her, even though the graphics weren’t realistic at all. The game was simple, but forwent all manner of battle systems for a more adventurous RPG type of world. It did take skill and careful consideration though, as a clock in the corner would tick down showing your energy and you would lose energy the farther you traveled from home. By collecting “Love” though by helping people out in various ways and eating food you could survive. So a large part of the game worked on principles of resource management and a kind of PC adventure game puzzle style inventory. Days proceeded like they do in the real world with sunsets and sunrises, nights and afternoons and characters who moved on their daily routines of their own accord way before Shenmue or Majora’s Mask ever attempted the same thing.

But there was a lot more to the game than these simple descriptions can suffice to describe. The truth is it was so outlandish that without actually showing you the game works its difficult to outline the gameplay. The aesthetics were entirely fresh as well. Working on the assumption that a child has been sucked into a terribly tedious RPG he has been playing, Moon worked into a combination of claymation, rendered and hand-drawn graphics and an anime sense of surrealism. Its characters often spoke in snippets of mixed together recordings of commercials, radio broadcasts, remixed songs and TV shows mixed together like a DJ would with Japanese subtitles. And somehow, someway that did not feel too odd after a while, it didn’t alienate or turn off me as some bizarre games that too much liberty and are innovative or different just so they can say they are.

But it was the message above all that impressed me above and beyond the numerous other impressive elements of Moon. It was something that could only be said through a videogame, a book or a movie just wouldn’t have worked and it is the only thing in all my years of gaming that isn’t just a reflection of the type of glorious stories that can be found in other media. And it did it without being melodramatic, overbearing or preachy, or even all that overt in the first place. I wouldn't even say they were trying to get across something profound either, but the striking, surprising appearance of it certainly came across that way.

Thus, I’d venture to say that Skip represents a spirit of small-time ingenuity and innovation, heart and dedication that might be disappearing completely from the industry with all the massive mergers and such going on. They seem to be allowing even English speakers to post their correspondence on the site, as long as it is of course respectful and moderate. If you don’t want that spirit disappear, you might be take a little time to give them some support at: giftpia@skiptokyo.com. Obviously Nintendo saw something special in them, so why shouldn’t you?

Sounds very interesting, to say the least.

Here's the link.

I think there is some hope for Giftpia to come stateside since they first showed footage of the game at E3.