Another Nintendo game forecast for 2002
by Julius Bautista

Friday, March 29, 2002

Mario-Japan gets dated, new Mario Party and 1080 coming, and Sega developing new F-Zero for Triforce/GCN.

Nintendo Co. Ltd. announced a few details on game developments for the Japanese market, marking a few target release dates and confirmations most notably, the Japanese release date of Super Mario Sunshine and the joint-venture with Sega/Amusement Vision to produce the next-generation of F-Zero for GameCube and the Triforce arcade system. Here's what's up:

- Super Mario Sunshine will be released in Japan on July 19, 2002, exclusively for NINTENDO GAMECUBE. Last week, Nintendo announced the title will hit North American shelves on August 26, 2002.
- Other eagerly anticipated NINTENDO GAMECUBE exclusives, Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem™ and Star Fox® Adventures, debut in Japan this fall.
- The next installment in the wildly popular Mario Party® franchise will be released for NINTENDO GAMECUBE before the end of this year in Japan. Previous Mario Party titles topped best-seller lists in 2000 and 2001.
- In Japan, 1080° Snowboarding, another NINTENDO GAMECUBE exclusive, will debut this winter.
- Nintendo and SEGA® are teaming up to release two previously unannounced games based on the F-ZERO® franchise, using the next-generation 3D-CG Triforce arcade board and NINTENDO GAMECUBE. Amusement Vision is developing both titles under the supervision of Nintendo, with F-ZERO AC (working title) for the arcade published by SEGA and F-ZERO GC (working title) for NINTENDO GAMECUBE published by Nintendo. Both titles will be released in late 2002 and feature connectivity through the NINTENDO GAMECUBE Memory Card 59.

It seems there's quite a bit to expect from Nintendo & Friends at this year's E3. More as we find out.

---Julius Bautista, VGLN Staff