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New Super Mario Bros. 2 coming to 3DS this August

Kingdom Hearts 3D and Heroes of Ruin also dated

New Super Mario Bros. 2 coming to 3DS this August

Nintendo has announced New Super Mario Bros. 2 is set to launch worldwide this August for Nintendo 3DS.

A 2D side-scroller in the vein of past Mario Bros. games, the company say it's aiming for "a new standard of 2D Mario games".

The news of a new 2D Mario came at the end of the latest bi-monthly Nintendo Direct web broadcast where Nintendo Europe president Satoru Shibata made a few announcements regarding the Nintendo 3DS release schedule.

Out in the open

Starting with Mario Tennis Open, Shibata confirmed that the game would allow Mii characters to be playable.

Customisation features were also shown allowing you to kit out players with 200 items including rackets and character outfits. Two other characters were teased who will be revealed before the game's May 25th launch in Europe.

In Kid Icarus: Uprising news, Nintendo has partnered with famous sticker manufacturer Panini to make Kid Icarus AR Idol cards available with retailers in Europe.

An album that will store all 400 AR Idol cards will also be released. Currently, AR cards can only be purchased via Club Nintendo using Star points.

Squaring up

Square Enix also has a busy summer ahead of it with co-op RPG Heroes of Ruin and Disney RPG series Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance out June 15th and July 20th respectively.

Nintendo reiterated that rhythm game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy will be out this summer although a solid date has yet to be nailed down.

Gotta shoot em' all

In the lead up to Pokemon Black and White 2, two new Pokemon titles will be released on the eShop: Pokemon AR Searcher and Pokedex 3D Pro.

The former is an augmented reality shooter that allows players to catch Pokemon by blasting them with lasers. Rare Pokemon will appear in this game and all your catches can be transferred to Pokemon Black and White 2 due out on Nintendo DS this Autumn.

The Pokedex 3D Pro is an updated version of the existing Pokedex 3D which rather than just featuring the most recent batch of Pokemon will now include all 649 critters as well as new "to be announced" features.

Fold n Fix

Finally, a new 3DS system update will be rolled out next week. The latest update will add folders to the home menu that can hold up to 60 icons and be customised with names.

Furthermore, Nintendo will begin releasing patches for its titles via the eShop starting with Mario Kart 7 in mid May. The patch will fix issues regarding unfair shortcuts found by online players that Nintendo previously stated it had no plans to repair.

via Nintendo Direct
Tom Worthington
Tom Worthington
Fresh out of the packaging, Tom joins Pocket Gamer with a chip on his shoulder and a degree in Journalism. Naively, Tom believes there's a star-studded career in video games and has penned words across the internet in between praying to the almighty Nintendo gods.