Like several other major publishers, Nintendo maintained a presence at last week's Comic-Con in San Diego, though it was not as substantial as the company's strong E3 showing. For one thing, the upcoming Wii console was nowhere to found. As during E3, both GameCube and Game Boy Advance sat out as well. This show was all about the DS for Nintendo, and in addition to the playable games, the company's booth had a large lounge area filled with gamers downloading demos and playing impromptu multiplayer games using the system's download play feature. There were even stands with spare power adapters for those running low on batteries.

Though several demo units were dedicated to the already released chart-topping New Super Mario Bros., the rest of the games in Nintendo's booth were unreleased Nintendo-published DS titles. I spent some hands on time with three upcoming games: iNiS' Elite Beat Agents, Square Enix's Mario Hoops 3-on-3, and Q-Games' Star Fox Command.

Star Fox Command
Developer: Q-Games; Publisher: Nintendo
Nintendo DS

Star Fox, particularly in its SNES and N64 incarnations, is fondly remembered by gamers, but the series has not exactly been as well maintained in recent years as some of Nintendo's other marquee franchises. Rare's Star Fox Adventures was well received critically, but many fans were less then enamored with the game's emphasis on adventure gameplay as opposed to flight combat through and through. Last year, Namco's Star Fox: Assault dropped the adventuring, but the game just wasn't what it could have been.

With Star Fox Command, Nintendo is attempting to return to the series' roots while also pushing forward. In that vein, the company has enlisted Kyoto-based studio Q-Games to co-develop the game along with Nintendo. Q-Games was co-founded by Ape Escape designer Kenkichi Shimooka along with Dylan Cuthbert, who along with his former studio Argonaut Software co-developed the original Star Fox (SNES) with Nintendo. Given the histories of its two founders, Q-Games now enjoys a close relationship with both Nintendo and Sony Computer Entertainment. Argonaut was also in the process of developing Star Fox 2, the original game's cancelled SNES followup. Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto has mentioned that the upcoming Star Fox Command incorporates various features originally planned for Star Fox 2.

Star Fox Command uses touch screen-based control that will be familiar to Metroid Prime Hunters players--here, dragging the stylus around the screen orients the tip of the Arwing. Unlike in Hunters, the d-pad is not used for directional purposes. This being a flight combat game, you won't find yourself needing to strafe; your ship is always flying forward, while the touch screen is used for other special maneuvres. To fire, tap a shoulder button or the d-pad (or, for left handed players, a face button); to fire a homing missile, hold down a fire button and position the crosshairs over an enemy to lock on. Unlike the original Star Fox, Command is not at all on rails. The radar, displayed on the touch screen, shows the enemy targets, and at least in the missions playable in the demo, all locations on a given map were available right from the start.

Those flight controls are fairly intuitive. What takes some getting used to is the rest of the directional controls. For example, the throttle is controlled by tapping the touch screen. Tapping the top speeds up, and tapping the bottom slows down. To do a barrel roll, quickly quickly slide the stylus right then left, or vice versa. On either side of the touch screen are buttons triggering a vertical loop and a u-turn. These buttons work better than I expected them to, but as expected there are moments when, in a frantic dogfight, a mistake will be made because the stylus was a bit too far to the left. Still, the control method is probably a good compromise, as an overuse of both the touch pad and several face buttons simultaneously can be rather uncomfortable.

In between missions, there is a semi-strategic gameplay element. The player is presented with a 2D map of the sector in which the current missions take place, and the stylus is used to plot the path of Fox and the rest of the crew. With only a limited amount of fuel, the player must decide when to go after smaller fighters that may pose a threat, and when to head back to the Great Fox home ship. In all honesty, the long-term subtleties and strategies of this system were somewhat lost on me in the short demo I was able to play, but the idea seems solid.

Visually, the game is in similar style to Star Fox 64. It's clean, and seems to maintain a solid framerate with plenty of enemies and objects on screen. The game also supports the DS rumble pack GBA cartridge, which was originally bundled with Metroid Prime Pinball and has also been made available through various promotions and on Nintendo's online store.

Somewhat surprisingly, the DS has been something of a home for classic Nintendo franchises looking to return to glory. Mario had his triumphant return to platforming on the system, and Mario Kart DS is one of its series' best entries in recent memory following a disappointing GameCube title. Nintendo and Q-Games look to be doing the same for Star Fox, and despite the occasional control issue, what we've seen so far looks solid. The game is also equipped with support for 1-4 players through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, and it's hard not to see the appeal of online dogfighting.

Star Fox Command, co-developed by Q-Games and Nintendo, will be released for Nintendo DS on August 28, 2006.

Elite Beat Agents
Developer: iNiS; Publisher: Nintendo
Nintendo DS

About a year ago, Nintendo published a bizarre game from the rhythm game maestros at iNiS, responsible for the overlooked gem Gitaroo-Man (PS2). Entitled Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, the game has the player tapping numbered circles on the touch screen that either mimic or complement rhythms in the music. It's a simple formula, but one that is perfectly suited to the DS hardware and executed with a well tuned learning curve and intuitive but challenging rhythms. What seals the deal is that the whole thing is the bizarre premise. In times of great need, citizens cry out for help and are aided by a mysterious male cheer squad which inspires them into overcoming the problems at hand. For example, a salaryman who sees his town under attack by a giant mouse creature calls out to the squad, after which he grows to a height of a dozen stories tall and battles the beast. The game's soundtrack is upbeat Japanese pop which suits the game's goofy nature.

Rather than bring the game to non-Japanese audiences, a task that would no doubt present extensive localization music licensing challenges, iNiS and Nintendo have opted to create what is essentially a sequel to the game for North American Audiences. Entitled Elite Beat Agents, the game eschews the cheer squad premise of the original, portraying the game's three rhythmically endowed protagonists as members of a secret government agency dispatched by ex-CIA agent Commander Kahn. The agency monitors the world for people in need of help, and, like their Japanese cheerleading brethren, the Elite Beat Agents use their catchy tunes and musical methods to put things right. They've received a bit of a visual makeover, however, with trenchcoats and anime hair replaced by black-tie attire and afros. The visual style remains largely similar, with the game's bizarre situations playing out in manga-like comic panels.

Nintendo hasn't said much about the game's track list, but there were two songs available in the demo version on display. The first, Steriogram's Walkie Talkie Man, accompanies the story of a teenage girl sentenced to a horrible babysitting gig when she was supposed to be going out with her football jock would-be boyfriend. Of course, she calls on the Elite Beat Agents to help her keep the devilish kids under control. She also ends up getting some help from her friend, who, in a funny touch, sees all problems as football metaphors. The other track featured in the demo is Deep Purple's Highway Star. When a loyal pug ends up on a truck bed hundreds of miles away from home, the agents show up to help him find his way back to his master's house by way of a suitably bizarre travel adventure.

For those who enjoyed Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, Elite Beat Agents looks to be a pretty sure buy, since rather than being simply a repackaging of the original game it is a full fledged newly developed title. Music game fans who haven't played the first game should definitely keep an eye out on this one; it's tough to imagine a more bizarre yet entertaining entry in the genre. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the North American-oriented game isn't quite as outrageous as its Japanese counterpart, but that isn't saying all that much.

iNiS' Elite Beat Agents will be released for Nintendo DS in Q4 2006.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3
Developer: Square Enix; Publisher: Nintendo
Nintendo DS

Mario is a plumber by trade, and an adventurer in practice, but he plays more than his share of sports. However, he hasn't yet had his own basketball game, unless you count his cameo in EA Canada's NBA Street franchise. That will change later this year when Nintendo releases Mario Hoops 3-on-3 for Nintendo DS. Oddly enough, the game was pitched to Nintendo and developed by RPG powerhouse Square Enix, which has been frequently collaborating with the house of Mario following some years of distance between the companies. Having considered the unique hardware features of the portable system, Square Enix apparently realized that they are well suited to certain mechanics inherent to basketball.

As with NST's Metroid Prime Hunters, Mario Hoops 3-on-3 is controlled with a blend of the d-pad and the touch screen. The d-pad is used to move the currently selected player around the court, while the stylus is used for control of the ball. When not in control of the ball, the L shoulder button switches between available team members. Though a Japanese television commercial suggests that players must continuously tap the touch screen to dribble the ball, this is not exactly the case. The player with the ball will dribble automatically, but the touch screen can be used to indicate where the player will dribble the ball relative to his or her body, so the ball can always be anywhere within the 360 degrees surrounding the player when dribbling in place. This is handy for ball control when an opposing team member is attempting to pull off a steal.

The touch screen is also used to pass and shoot. Swiping the stylus left or right passes to a teammate, and swiping it up shoots the ball. This is difficult at first, since directional accuracy is affected by the path of your stylus, but after a bit of practice it becomes much more manageable. On defense, swiping up causes the character to jump and attempt to block a shot, while swiping down attempts to steal the ball from a nearby opponent.

As in just about every Mario game, items factor into play. When playing defense, dribbling over the question mark boxes flush with the floor will spawn classic Mario items such as turtle shells, which can be used to attempt to foil the offense's efforts. When playing offense, however, the item boxes operate much differently. Rather than two- and three-point shots, Mario Hoops uses a twenty- and thirty-point system enhanced by coins. When the player with the ball crosses an item box, it adds a coin to the player's bank, and that coin translates to an extra point if the player manages to hang on to the ball and sink a shot. Players must weigh the benefits of shooting as soon as possible to make sure the points are in the bank, or risk collecting as many coins as possible, knowing that an opposing player could wipe out all of that coin-collecting effort in a single blow.

Square Enix has proven to be one of the more adept developers when it comes to squeezing graphical power out of the DS, and true to form this game looks quite nice. If you've played other Mario sports games, you'll have a general idea of what to expect from the visual aesthetic here. The game is brightly colored and vibrant, and runs at a smooth framerate. The top screen is rendered in full 3D, while the bottom screen, being used mainly for control, is limited to a top-down 2D map of the court complete with icons for players, the ball, and item boxes.

There are various features known to be in the game that have not yet been revealed. For one thing, this being a Square Enix-developed game, Mario Hoops will have a team of Square Enix characters. Though the game will be released in just a few days in Japan, we have still not seen images depicting these characters. Nintendo and Square Enix are both known for their secrecy, so this is apparently what happens when they get together. Like other Mario sports games, Hoops will feature a variety of powerful moves unique to each character. Though Nintendo has released videos of these, they have not been available in demo versions of the game. Similarly, the game will also feature a lineup of Mushroom Kingdom-themed courts, including what appear to be Luigi's Mansion and the beaches of Delfino from Super Mario Sunshine.

As with other games in the franchise, Mario Hoops 3-on-3 looks to feature easily accessible gameplay that has the potential to go a lot deeper for dedicated gamers. The touch controls are an interesting take on the sport, made all the more surprising in that they're coming from Square Enix. It's too bad the game is restricted to local wireless play rather than being online-enabled as well, but the multiplayer mode works well and should allow for plenty of frantic games.

Square Enix's Mario Hoops 3-on-3 will be released for Nintendo DS on September 11, 2006.