DigitalBattle.com

Part of the reason Nintendo’s raking in money hand over fist with the Wii is their brilliant decision to re-release classic titles for low costs. Between the current library of games, backwards compatibility with Gamecube titles, the Virtual Console and Wiiware it’s hard not to find something you’d like to play. While NES and SNES games are best played with more simple control schemes, the success of Twilight Princess, Okami and Resident Evil 4 showed that with a little work the games can be updated for the Wii’s more intuitive interface.

Nintendo is launching an official line of games with just this in mind, called the ‘NEW PLAY CONTROL!’ series. The first two titles are going to be out very soon, one intended to appeal to the more serious gamer and the other for the casual type. February 6th will see the re-release of classic strategy title Pikmin. The game is more or less the same, with players taking the role of Olimar, an astronaut who crash lands on a planet and is forced to find pieces of his ship with the aid of the half plant, half animal, fully adorable Pikmin. The gameplay will utilize the WIi’s pointing capabilities, allowing players to easily select and order groups of Pikmin.

The other title is Mario Power Tennis, which will likely be quite similar to the tennis game on Wii Sports at the most basic level but with various kinds of shots including the Power Shots which vary by character. Some other fun features include ‘Gimmick Courts’ where you’ll have to avoid various impediments while you play including ghosts tossing banana peels under your feet. There are also a variety of mini-games that you can play, some of which are available from the start, others are unlocked by playing through the tournament mode including “Terror Tennis” where you hit balls at ghosts to keep them under control. Mario Power Tennis will be re-releasing on March 6th of this year.