Mario 128 Fuels Newest Nintendo Hype

Yet more key Nintendo franchises are in the hotseat including Pokémon and some old Mario sequel.

Almost as if on cue, Nintendo has made a flurry of announcements in the face of rumblings that the GameCube is dead in the water. As was revealed earlier this week, the company is still hard at work on games for its boxy console, with three new games shown off for the first time.

The Legend of Zelda for GameCube

New information from Japan confirms that in addition to the new trio of Mario Baseball, Donkey Konga 3 and a new Kirby game, Nintendo is also working on a new Pokémon game for GameCube. At this time, Nintendo has not confirmed whether the new game will be like either of the previous GameCube Pokémon games, or whether it will take the franchise in a new direction on home hardware.

Other news this week suggests work on the new Legend Of Zelda title for GameCube is coming along well; according to Shigeru Miyamoto, the game will be shown off in near-final form at May 2005's Electronic Entertainment Expo, reports IGN. This clears the way for a release of the game in the second half of 2005, though Nintendo has yet to confirm a final date.

New GameCube Pokémon in the works, says Miyamoto

Meanwhile, Miyamoto-san has also gone on record in the Japanese press to say that the mythical Mario 128 is still a GameCube title. But then, the company's Eiji Aonuma was also quick to claim Wind Waker 2 would be revealed at this year's E3, so Nintendo is not afraid to lie outright in order to strengthen its marketing plans. Somehow we just feel Mario 128 cannot possibly be anything other than a Revolution launch title. Watch this space.

Miyamoto has previously stated that Mario 128 will be a fresher, more original title than Sunshine. The talk of a genuinely groundbreaking new feature in the game triggered a lot of speculation last year.

Kikizo Staff
Pysically quite injured.