Nintendo Announces U.S. Q1 2006 Software Lineup

After revealing its plans for Europe in the early months of 2006, Nintendo has done the same for its American lineup in Q1 2006. The company revealed its list of releases for the first three months of next year at a press event in its Redmond headquarters. Nintendo DS releases for the first quarter include Electroplankton on January 9th, True Swing Golf on January 23rd, Super Princess Peach on February 27th, and Metroid Prime Hunters on March 20th. Electroplankton and Metroid are both seeing release after a lengthy delay; in Electroplankton's case, Nintendo seemed unsure of how to market it in the U.S., eventually settling on a limited-edition online-only release, while Metroid was a simpler case of adding much-clamored-for wi-fi Internet play to the game. Nintendo will publish two GameCube titles during the first quarter: Chibi-Robo, an action game that requires the titular robot to keep his battery charged while performing tasks and fighting enemies, will be out on February 6th, and Odama, a unique feudal war pinball game first unveiled at E3 2004, will finally see release on March 6th. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is expected for an early April release, just missing the Q1 window. On the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo will publish Drill Dozer, a rare non-Pokémon title from developer Game Freak, on February 6th, as well as Namco's Tales of Phantasia, a port of the original SNES beginning of the long-running Tales franchise, on March 6th.