January 26, 2013 by

With over 50 great games on the horizon, what are you most excited for?

These past few weeks have been ridiculous for Nintendo fans, in a good way of course. Two Nintendo Directs sandwiched on top of each other plus numerous new announcements by both Nintendo and third parties sprinkles what otherwise was a disappointing January from the Big N. Now that all the excitement has quieted down a bit, perhaps it's time that we take a closer look at what Nintendo has in store for 2013 and beyond!

WII and DS

Nintendo's Wii and DS systems are pretty much nothing but dead, but a few games are still managing to trickle in for the two seventh-gen platforms. Wii JRPG fans, of course, will love to have a chance to play Pandora's Tower courtesy of XSeed, especially after years of begging to bring that game over from Japan. On the portable side, WB Games is preparing to launch Scribblenauts Collection for DS, a combo pack featuring DS games Scribblenauts and Super Scribblenauts.

Unfortunately, that may seem to be the last of the games for Wii and DS. It's time to say goodbye to the two platforms and move on to the next generation...

3DS

The 3DS is in for a strong year in 2013. Much of the games we're getting this year are either translations of Japanese games from last year or games that were supposed to come out in 2012 but got delayed for one reason or another.

This February 3DS owners will get an early taste of what's to come for the rest of year, starting with Fire Emblem: Awakening, a game that was previewed favorably by many gaming websites. Following the release of Fire Emblem comes the sequel to one of the most popular games on the original DS, Brain Age: Concentration Training. JRPG fans will also get their portable fix on the 3DS with the release of Atlus' Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan.

The month of March brings us even more goodness on the 3DS, especially with the release of (finally) Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, a game that has been delayed numerous times before getting the final release date of the twenty-third. Before that, though, we'll be able to play the much-anticipated Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate. March also marks the release of Capcom's Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and Nintendo's Pokémon Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, both of which came out in Japan last year. JRPG fans will also rejoice with the release of Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers later on in April.

Supporters of the 3DS eShop will also get some bang for their buck come 2013. Following the success of the Megaman-inspired Gunman Clive and with other digital goodies on the way like the Pokemon Company's HarmoKnight: Rhythm Thief, Cave Story dev Pixel's Ikachan, Renegade Kid's Mutant Mudds 2, WayForward's recently-announced and much-anticipated Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, and Shin'en's Jett Rocket II, among dozens of other titles, this year will surely be a great year for eShop gamers on the 3DS.

It's uncertain as to what's to come afterward, but we definitely still have many titles to look forward to in 2013. Nintendo's own Animal Crossing: New Leaf still has no release date, but it's all but confirmed to be coming out this calendar year. Also down the pipeline are Project X Zone, the crazy strategy cross-over involving Namco, SEGA, and Konami, Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins, a prequel to the upcoming Wii U game, and Pokémon X & Y, the first Pokémon games to land exclusively on Nintendo 3DS.

Other questions revolve around the possibility of localizing certain Japanese games to the west. Games like Ace Attorney 5, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, Dragon Quest VII 3D, E.X. Troopers, Fantasy Life, Monster Hunter 4, Professor Layton VS Ace Attorney, Professor Layton and the Azran Legacies, Rune Factory 4, Shin Megami Tensei 4, and Time Travelers have been out (or are in the process of coming out) in Japan, yet North American 3DS owners are left to watch and wait and hope that some of these titles come out in 2013, if at all.

WII U

After a lull in the release schedule for early 2013, Nintendo has decided to break the ice and deliver to us every possible thing we could ever want for a Nintendo console. But let's cover first what's coming out soon, shall we?

The first quarter of 2013 seems mostly empty for Wii U, though a couple of key titles will be available during that window. The much-anticipated Ubisoft platformer Rayman Legends, the Wii U versions of EA's racing game Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Capcom's  Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, and Nintendo's own Lego City Undercover will start to appear on shelves these next few months followed by Injustice: God's Among Us in April and Resident Evil: Revelations Unveiled in May.

Many other games still don't have solid release dates, so we have no idea when these titles are coming out. Such titles include the long-awaited Pikmin 3, the sexy action game Bayonetta 2, sci-fi shooter Aliens: Colonial Marines, strategy adventure game The Wonderful 101, as well as a few smaller titles like Game & Wario, Wii Fit U, and Project CARS.

Though E3 will likely bring on more information, last week's Nintendo Direct did reveal more about what we should expect for Wii U in 2013. Mario will get a lot of support this year with a new 3D Mario title and Mario Kart 8. Link won't miss out on the love either, as he's getting The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker Reborn this fall. Good Feel's new Yarn Yoshi game also turned a couple of heads, as well as Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, an unlikely crossover between Nintendo's Intelligent Systems and Atlus. Even Wii U Party, the most awkward-looking party game ever, actually seems kind of fun.

Even on the digital front, the Wii U is looking to have a great year. Sure, we've already got SEGA's The Cave earlier this month, but are you ready for next week's Fluidity-inspired Puddle? How about the much-anticipated sequels Toki Tori 2 and Bit.Trip Runner 2? XBLA remake 1001 Spikes? And have you seen that awesome endless hardcore Mario-meets-WarioWare Cloudberry Kingdom from Pwnee Studios? Couple that with other titles like indie games Two Brothers and Mutant Mudds Deluxe as well as free-to-play Ubisoft shooter Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online and you've got a pretty strong year ahead for the fledgeling Wii U eShop.

There are, of course, the few games that we still aren't sure will make the 2013 calendar year. Super Smash Bros. 4, for example, will probably (knowing Sakurai) be delayed to 2014. Monolith's massive new JRPG Project X and Nintendo's own The Legend of Zelda for Wii U don't look likely for this year either. Of course, I may be completely wrong on a few of those.

Also unknown to all of us are Retro Studios' new game as well as Treasure's new game, though many have guessed that the two will pump out a new Metroid and Sin & Punishment game, respectively. But come E3, I'm willing to bet that we're going to hear a lot more...

So guys, are you excited for 2013? What titles are you looking forward to the most? Or perhaps most importantly, are you convinced about getting a Wii U or 3DS?

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