Nintendo unleashes massive 2004 news announcement

**bahn** · 01 Apr 2004, 07:36 PM

With E3 just around the corner, Nintendo has rolled out a number of suprises. Take for starters, the oft-discussed dual-screen handheld codenamed Nintendo DS. Then, just a few days ago, a new announcement highlighted an all-new "limited edition" GBA SP model sporting a NES-like deco and several classic 8-bit games; and now, several new announcements have surfaced.

Are you ready?

Earlier today at a New York analyst briefing, Nintendo provided new details on some exciting new products and content for the Game Boy Advance and GameCube. Here's a breakdown of what was revealed:

Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter: Multiplayer gaming gets kicked up a notch, thanks to the all-new wireless adapter which will be packaged with the newest Pokemon iterations, respectively entitled Pokemon Fire Red and Pokemon Leaf Green. Mario Golf: Advance Tour, scheduled for release on June 28 will also make use of the adapter which will also be sold seperately.

Nintendo will also be introducing two new video paks, dubbed as Game Boy Advance Video. The new paks will allow two cartoon episodes to be played through the Game Boy Advance. (This sounds very familiar to a similar press release announced some time last month based upon an agreement with Cartoon Network...we'll be back to confirm this shortly).

Turning our attention to the GameCube, several high-profile games were announced which include: WarioWare Ince: Mega Party Game$ (April 5), Custom Robo (June 7); Pikmin 2 (August); The Legend of Zelda: The Four Swords Adventures (June 7); Donkey Konga (September).

<a href="http://the-nextlevel.com/board/showthread.php?t=28292">Paper Mario 2</a>, Geist, Metroid Prime 2, StarFox 2, Mario Tennis and Mario Party 6 will all be released on the GameCube in the fourth quarter of 2004.

With so many games coming out, we bet that you're probably reaching the maximum capacity of your 59/251 memory cards. Thankfully, Nintendo is about to release an upgraded memory card that will hold 4x the amount of of the existing 251. The 1019 Memory Card is scheduled to be release later this year and you'll only have to shell out an extra $10 more. Not too shabby.

The Classic NES series, developed for the GBA market was recently addressed here on TNL was announced as well. Click <A href="http://www.the-nextlevel.com/headlines/684831.html">here</a> for details.

Last, but not least, a few more mentions of upcoming GBA highly anticipated games to look forward to, which include Mario vs. Donkey Kong scheduled for release May 24 and Hamtaro 4 in July. Mario Tennis, Donkey Kong Country 2, and for the first time ever, a unnamed handheld edition based upon the Mario Party series are scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2004.

Note: All release dates and titles are tentative are subject to change.

Undoubtedly, there's a lot of big things happening this year for Nintendo's current hardware, and there's even more to come at this year's E3. We can't wait.