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Nintendo Announces Wii, 3DS US Release Dates for Q1 2012

by Jacob Mazel, posted on 13 December 2011 / 5,320 Views

Nintendo has announced the major highlights of its January - March release schedule in the West.

For Wii:

Rhythm Heaven Fever (Feb 13, $30)

Pokepark 2 (Feb 27)

Mario Party 9 (March 11)

La Mulana (WiiWare, Q1)

Karaoke Joysound, Country Dance: Special Edition, and MLB 2k12 are the only third party games of note for the quarter.

For 3DS:

Resident Evil: Revelations (Feb 7)

Tales of the Abyss (Feb 14)

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Feb 14)

Tekken 3D (February)

Kid Icarus: Uprising (March 23)

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, Rayman Origins and a few other major third party games are due out by the end of March 2012 as well.

The 3DS will also be seeing several major downloadable games, notably Nightsky, Kirby's Block Ball, and Sakura Samurai are all coming by March.

The original DS still has a handfull of minor games coming as well, the biggest of which is Devil Survivor 2 in February.

More will likely be revealed at Nintendo's next investor conference, as Luigi's Mansion, Fire Emblem and a few others have been announced for 3DS, and it is rather likely that The Last Story, Pandora's Tower, and perhaps a few other Japanese Wii games will come to the US in addition to Xenoblade in April. At some point, Dragon Quest X, Just Dance 4, Inazuma Eleven Wii, and a few others should begin to show up for Western release as well, as this is clearly the last fiscal year for top-team Nintendo content in the West. Nonetheless, there is enough third party / second-tier team stuff to keep the Wii software fairly large through the March 2013 year as 3DS begins to rapidly grow and the Wii U launch nears.

Contact VGChartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com


13 Comments

Seece
Seece (on 13 December 2011)

*Nonetheless, there is enough third party / second-tier team stuff to keep the Wii software fairly large through the March 2013 year* Can't tell if serious ...

  • +14
pezus
pezus (on 14 December 2011)

Always the optimist, he is

  • +4
Nintendogamer
Nintendogamer (on 14 December 2011)

Doesn't he mean 2012?

  • +1
ryuzaki57
ryuzaki57 (on 14 December 2011)

Does Fire Emblem 3DS come to the West? They didn't localize the previous DS one...

  • +5
Michael-5
Michael-5 (on 14 December 2011)

That surprised me. It was the first FE game they didn't localize since they introduced Fire Emblem to Americas.

Probably was a cheap game to make since it's a remake of a SNES FE game, and they didn't want to recast voices. Still a shame because we never got the original SNES game or the remake.

  • 0
pezus
pezus (on 14 December 2011)

Wii release schedule looks embarrassing...

  • +4
NintendoPie
NintendoPie (on 13 December 2011)

Oh my goodness at first I thought it said "Nintendo announces Wii U Release Date" I was like "Wha.. wha?... What?!?!?!??!!" Yeah sadly it wasn't that, but this is still good news!

  • +4
Kai Master
Kai Master (on 14 December 2011)

It seems Nintendo is more and more turned to handhelds, which is the gaming trend in Japan but not in the West ! What % sales comes from Japan in Nintendo's games sales ?

  • +2
sethnintendo
sethnintendo (on 14 December 2011)

I was expecting to see Luigi's Mansion 2, Animal Crossing, and Paper Mario. I suppose those aren't coming out till Q2 or later?

  • +2
Michael-5
Michael-5 (on 14 December 2011)

From my experience with Nintendo, the games that announce before the launch of a system, or just after, take about a year to release, but can take up to 2. For DS Advance Wars was an title that was talked about at launch and it released a full year later. I would expect to see those games release in September (that way they are new for the holidays), and maybe one of them will release in May.

  • +1
z101
z101 (on 14 December 2011)

The european schedule has The Last Story and Pandoras Tower ...

  • +2
Michael-5
Michael-5 (on 14 December 2011)

I hope Nintendo releases one more major franchise iteration on the Wii. Don't get me wrong, I will be happy with the onslaught of JRPG's, good JRPG's, but I would like another mainstream title for fall 2012. However if Mario Party 9 turns out to be similar in quality to the N64 iterations, I might just get that instead. Need at least 1 Mario Party game for the Wii. 3DS looks to be killing it. When is Nintendo's investors conference?

  • +1
Nintendogamer
Nintendogamer (on 14 December 2011)

Actually looking forward for mario party 9

  • +1
dark_gh0st_b0y
dark_gh0st_b0y (on 14 December 2011)

awesome 3DS lineup, i want Tekken, MGS, RE, Kid Icarus and Tales, but i wish i could get/play them all and with Mario Party 9, Rhythm Heaven, Pokemon, DQX, Inazuma and Nintendo's great RPG's there may still be something to do on Wii until WiiU comes out

  • +1
Araknie
Araknie (on 15 December 2011)

I, european, have already from November Tales of the Abyss, and will have a week before RE. IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!

  • 0
MRKs
MRKs (on 14 December 2011)

Tale of the abyss isn't out now? And Mario and Sonic 2012 too

  • 0
EpicLight
EpicLight (on 14 December 2011)

Never the less, I would have liked an original Tales game come to the 3DS. Almost every console system had its own Tales game. 3DS needs an exclusive too, just like Kingdom Hearts: DDD is exclusive.

  • 0
Michael-5
Michael-5 (on 14 December 2011)

Delayed in Americas only.

  • 0

Comments below voting threshold

VGKing
VGKing (on 13 December 2011)

How much money does Nintendo pay Capcom to get these Resident Evil exclusives? where's Resident Evil PSP!? YOU PROMISED CAPCOM!

  • -14
Nintendogamer
Nintendogamer (on 14 December 2011)

you could buy a 3DS then you are more likely to play it.

  • +5