Princess Debut brings fairytale rhythm-action to DS

"What young girl doesn't dream of becoming a princess?" asks Natsume's Princess Debut press release. Personally, I always dreamt of being a farmer, but perhaps I was in the minority.

Anyway, the just-announced Princess Debut on DS promises to pack in all the things little girls apparently go all squealy over. Such as princesses and Prince Charmings and balls and ballroom dancing.

Taking place in a magical world, the game puts you in the glass slippers of a princess and gives them 30 days to get ready for a big ball. During that time, you need to master dance moves and win over one of six handsome princes (there are no frogs here).

As well as the touchscreen rhythm game aspect of the ballroom dancing, there's also a branching storyline and events system which deals with liaising with the princes. Once you've convinced one of the princes to escort you to the ball, you then tap the screen to gracefully glide across the dancefloor, with the dancers' motions all motion-captured from professional dancers for maximum realism.

For even more authenticity, the prince should probably drink too much Stella and say something offensive to one of the princess's friends before they end the evening in stony silence in the back of a taxi. But this is supposed to be a fairytale world, so we'll forgive this inevitable omission.

The game offers four modes of play (Ballroom, Story, Practice and Movie), 20 unlockable outfits, 14 unique endings and 18 different kinds of music and dance styles, including Waltz, Latin dance and Tango.

At the moment it's only confirmed for US release this autumn. But don't turn into a pumpkin just yet, all you Europe-based fairytale fans, as we'll keep you posted on any rumblings of a release here.