Final U.S. Launch Titles For Nintendo DS Confirmed

Nintendo has confirmed over ten DS titles, from both first and third parties, for the United States launch of the handheld on November 21st. An official Nintendo press release given out at the Seattle press conference announcing the DS mentioned: "players can enjoy 10 to 12 DS games covering all genres", and several consumer sites have extrapolated the following launch or close-to-launch games from the official release: Asphalt Urban GT (Ubisoft - racing.) Feel the Magic: XY/XX (Sonic Team/Sega - 'girlfriend simulator'.) Madden NFL 2005 (Electronic Arts - American football.) Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits (Namco - puzzle.) Ping Pals (THQ - instant messenging.) Rayman DS (Ubisoft - platform.) Ridge Racer DS (Namco - racing.) Spider-Man 2 (Activision - action.) Super Mario 64 DS (Nintendo, action/platform.) Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 (Electronic Arts - sports.) The Urbz: Sims in the City (Electronic Arts - strategy.) [UPDATE - 4.32pm PST: Nintendo representatives, ever-inscrutable, are now indicating that only five or six of these games may be available on the launch date, but the others will follow very shortly afterwards.] In addition to this, the DS hardware, which will retail for $149.99, will come with a playable demo of non-launch title Metroid Prime Hunters, plus the built-in PictoChat wireless art package. Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales & marketing, commented enthusiastically: "The overwhelming support of strong third-party titles, combined with Nintendo's flagship franchise, makes this the strongest software support for any Nintendo system in more than a decade." Nintendo also released a list of DS-specific first-party franchises arriving in the coming months, including a multiplayer Mario Kart, as well as the aforementioned Metroid Prime Hunters, WarioWare, Inc. DS, Animal Crossing, Yoshi's Touch & Go, Advance Wars DS and a new Super Mario Bros., among others. Third-party titles announced to debut some time after launch include GoldenEye: Rogue Agent and Need for Speed Underground from EA, Viewtiful Joe from Capcom, Bomberman from Hudson Soft, Frogger from Konami, and a Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles title from Square Enix. By the end of the first quarter of 2005, the Nintendo DS library is likely to span 20 to 25 games.