Land of the Rising Thumb

The two future Nintendo games I'm most looking forward to are Pilotwings on the DS and a Wii version of, yes, Pilotwings.

Frustratingly, the anticipation is only rising because of the weakness of short-term solutions such as Hudson's Wing Island Wii flight sim and, as of last week, Nintendo's own DS skygame Jet Impulse (previously known, tantalisingly, as DS Air).

Impulse isn't a bad game at all, but it turns out just to be a dogfight sim – like a random F922-AZ (note: name deliberately fabricated) PC game with a cloaking device that makes it look like a DS game. It's duller than the skies of Coventry.

Sadly, Pilotwings' blue skies are still only visible past the horizon (and you have to climb a really high tower to see them.)

Still, there's never a shortage of funky gaming on the DS – as our next Japanese release shows.

Professor Layton looks very much to me like one of Hayao Miyazaki's creations – he could easily have appeared in Howl's Moving Castle or Sky Castle Laputa. But no, he's the star of a cracking trilogy of DS games from famed Dragon Quest VIII assistant developer Level-5.

Layton wears a top hat and explores a Mysterious Town in the second game in the series, which is released in Japan today.

According to last week's Famitsu magazine review, this Layton is a bit of a goodie – there are plenty of puzzles to solve, and some old-fashioned RPG-style exploration.

A look at the screenshot here should tell you what's really important, though: Layton lives in a world that's as charming and arresting as the universe of Belleville Rendezvous.

Keep your ears to the ground (actually, just one ear will suffice) for news of an English translation.

While you're away doing that, I'll be enjoying Lumines II. It's largely a recent phenomenon where games that were developed in Japan, as Lumines II was, are released here almost as an afterthought.

In the case of Mizuguchi's pop gem Lumines II, the decision not to release it in Japan until this week probably has something to do with the disappointing performance (commercially speaking) of the original Lumines in Japan. I'll pick up my copy tomorrow, anyway – who knows, it could even help Lumines III get back to Japan with haste.

Until next week, then. (またらいしゅうね！Mata raishuu ne!)