E3 2003 | Screens | Brand New Games!

Once destined to be a Nintendo 64 launch title, Hal Laboratories were asked to shelve the game due to a lack of interest. But now it has been resurrected for the GameCube and is definitely looking better than ever. But with both F-Zero and Mario Kart titles coming out in the same year as this, will the cute little pink blob be able to convince gamers to invest their money in him as well? As can be seen from the small screenshots, Kirby will be racing across various different terrains - from simple grass or tarmac, to what looks like a lava-filled horror of a course. The player will be able to execute many of the puffy one's trademark morphing movesin order to complete certain tasks, barge past competing opponents and even, as seen in the top left of the scan, participate in multi-player mini-games! This is surely one to keep your eye on...

Custom Robo

A few years ago, ex-Head of Nintendo, Hiroshi Yamauchi sold a heap of his stock shares and then bought them right back again for a huge profit. This extra cash was invested in lots of small companies that were to produce Nintendo games, with the best ones actually being chosen by Nintendo and then published. One such company was NOISE, who created a mech-title by the name of Custom Robo for the N64. The game was critically acclaimed, but never made it to the US due to the N64 waning in popularity at the time. A sequel came out in Japan, again to much praise, but alas the N64 was dead almost everywhere. Early on in the GBA's lifespan, though, Custom Robo DX came out and it looked as if it would come Stateside, but as with Fire Emblem and Brownie Brown's Magical Vacation, it quickly disappeared from sight. But now this admittedly 'beefy'-looking GC version has been confirmed for a US Release. Time to rejoice? You bet your bottom Dollar it is!

Super Mario Advance 4 &
Mario Golf: Toadstool / Family Tour

Despite the many rumours that have been flying around, it would appear that Super Mario Bros. 3 will be the fourth Mario Advance title, as opposed to Yoshi's Story. But from the looks of things, many fans may be disappointed. It was thought Nintendo had held off with this port so that it could spruce it up more than the Super Mario Allstars SNES update, but graphically it doesn't look like much has changed...Even the multi-player mode appears to be identical to Mario Advances 1-3! Hopefully when more details are released there will be more for fans to get their teeth into.
As for Camelot's Mario Golf, the GBA sister title still hasn't been unveiled as of yet, but the new shots of the GC version point towards an aesthically pleasing game with a nice variety of characters to choose from. Unfortunately little is known about the gameplay options, or how the GC and GBA will link-up. Let's just hope the surprise is a pleasant one...

[b][u]Pok