TOKYO--Nintendo launched its Touch! DS tour in Nagoya yesterday. Touch! DS is a public exhibit dedicated to the double-screen handheld (although a few other non-DS products slipped into the mix). All told, 89 titles were shown at the event, although not all were playable (the split was 35 DS titles, 26 GameCube titles, and 28 GBA titles).

　　One game that came in for substantial attention was the new Kirby game for the DS. Titled Touch! Kirby: Mahou no Efude, it translates to “Touch! Kirby: The magical paintbrush.”

　　Touch! Kirby: Mahou no Efude is a side-scrolling 2D action game where you take the role of Kirby, who has been turned into a ball by the trickery of a witch. The witch has also transformed the world into drawings, but fortunately for Kirby, she has lost her magic wand. Your objective in the game is to assist Kirby using your stylus pen, which acts as the magic wand. You beat the game by returning him and the world back to what it used to be.

　　Gamers will guide Kirby by drawing a rainbow underneath him wherever you want him to move on the screen. You can also help him out by tapping enemies with your stylus, which stuns them for a short time. Tapping Kirby with the stylus will make him charge forward, which can be used to attack enemies. And like with all Kirby games, you can acquire one of over 10 special attacks when you beat each enemy.

　　While you play on the bottom screen of the handheld, the upper screen shows you a map of the stage and also has a rainbow-colored meter that acts like an ink indicator--if you draw too many lines and drain it, you'll need to wait for it to replenish before drawing anything more. Aside from its gameplay, what's unique about Touch! Kirby: Mahou no Efude is that its graphics are distinctly artlike, with each stage in the game varying from watercolor to oil. No release date has been announced for the game.

　　Another game which came in for some additional information is the DS adventure game, Another. In it, you take the role of the main character, Ashley, whose father and mother were researchers working on a secret government-backed device named Another.

　　But misfortune hit Ashley; her mother was killed due to some unspecified troubles relating to the project, and her father vanished without a trace. When Ashley turned 13 years old, she received a letter from her long-lost father. Using the letter as a lead, Ashley travels to an island in order to find him. This is where the game starts.

　　In Another, you move Ashley around a top-down 3D field on the lower screen by tapping your stylus in the direction that you want her to move. The upper screen will display pictures of significant scenes and recall important conversations. You can also use the directional pad to move around, but the game seems to have been designed for play with the stylus and it is actually easier to play by using it.

　　You can check out objects by double-tapping them, or by tapping on them once to open a menu window for further options. You can also take a snapshot of the object that interests you, although the full use of the snapshot function is not entirely clear. The demo at the show featured a puzzle where you are challenged to piece together a broken sign by using the stylus. The final product will feature puzzles that make use of the handheld's microphone feature as well. Another is being developed by CING, the developer that created Capcom's suspense adventure game Glass no Bara (Glass Rose) for the PlayStation 2. No release date has been announced yet for Another.

　　Although not playable, Nintendo also had a few anticipated titles that were shown on video. Princess Toadstool from the Super Mario series will have her own side-scrolling action game. It's translated title is Super Princess Peach. While it's usually Princess Toadstool that gets kidnapped and needs to be rescued by Mario, the tables are turned this time. It's up to the princess to save the bearded hero in the DS game.

　　Princess Toadstool isn't alone on her adventure, as she fights with the use of her umbrella partner named Kassa. The game features a new "emotion" system, where Princess Toadstool's actions change depending on her mood. You’ll be playing on the lower screen, and you’ll be able to figure out the princess’s mood by checking her portrait on the upper screen.

　　Nintendo's Animal Crossing DS was another anticipated title on video display. The DS version of Nintendo's popular game will allow for up to four people to play with each other via the handheld's wireless communication. No release date has been set for either Super Princess Peach or Animal Crossing DS.

　　While most of the attention was focused on the DS games, Nintendo also debuted its new robot game for the GameCube, Chibi-Robo (which translates as Mini-Robot).

　　In Chibi-Robo, you play as a tiny robot about four inches tall, with an electric cord dangling from your back like a tail. You were given to the Sanderson family as a birthday gift and your objective in the game is to make the family happy by helping out with the household chores. You’ll be running around the 3D-rendered house, helping out the family by sweeping the floor, searching for lost items, and feeding fish swimming in an aquarium.

　　Helping out the family will raise your "Chibi-Robo" ranking, which indicates how much you’re contributing to the family. Since you'll run out of power as you move around, you'll occasionally need to plug yourself into an electrical outlet to recharge. The Chibi-Robo Web site opened today (and you can also check out the bottom of Nintendo’s corporate site to see the small robot running around). No release date has been announced for Chibi-Robo.

　　For the GameCube, Nintendo had on video display a new Famicom Wars title. The game doesn't yet have an official name. While the war strategy game has traditionally used 2D graphics (its last release on a home console was the Super Famicom in 1998), the upcoming game will utilize a full 3D graphics engine. Another dramatic change from previous releases in the series is that the GameCube title will run in real time, meaning that you won't have a lengthy period to map out your plans while your opponent is moving units around. Famicom Wars for the GameCube is being developed by Kuju Entertainment, the UK developer best known for Microsoft's Train Simulator series on the PC. No release date has been announced for the game.