With Nintendo's profits having slid somewhat in recent times, the company could do with a strong lineup of products for this holiday season. It seems this is the case, with Nintendo set to bring out the big guns in this year's autumn/winter software lineup, which places Mario and Link firmly in the spotlight.

　　Mario plays a big part in the Nintendo Christmas lineup.

　　Link will return for his second outing on the DS in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which is due out on December 11. Boasting the same cel-shaded visual style as its predecessor, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks sees Link travel around a magical island featuring an equally magical locomotive. Spirit Tracks looks set to contain some of the great puzzles and dungeons the series is famous for, and with the previous title receiving rave reviews, hopes are high for this new Zelda entry.

　　Elsewhere on the DS, Mario and Luigi return in Bowser's Inside Story, which is due out on October 9. The game is set inside Bowser's stomach and differs from the usual Mario fare with its action RPG gameplay. Pokemon makes a comeback on November 20 with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky. As ever, players must try to capture those pesky Pokemon, and the game features more than 490 different types. Other highlights include Spore Hero Arena, Need for Speed Nitro, and Lego Indiana Jones 2, all of which are due out before Christmas.

　　On the Wii, Mario is the star once again as he leaps into action in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, due out November 20. Featuring four-player cooperative play, the game requires players to work together to solve platforming puzzles and access hidden areas. New Super Mario Bros. Wii also ranks players at the end of every level, based on the number of coins collected.

　　The endless stream of Wii Fit sales also looks set to continue with the launch of Wii Fit Plus on October 30, available with or without the balance board. Nintendo says it will feature new games, online functionality, and lower-impact exercises for senior citizens. Other highlights from the Wii lineup include Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquillity, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, and F1 2009, all due out before the end of the year.

　　Wii Software 2009

　　Family Party: Outdoor Fun (D3Publisher)-2 October

　　Crazy Mini Golf 2 (Data Design Interactive)-2 October

　　FIFA 10 (EA SPORTS)-2 October

　　Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquillity (Nintendo)-9 October

　　Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes (LucasArts)9 October

　　Cate West: The Vanishing Files (Oxygen Interactive)-9 October

　　All Star Cheerleader 2 (THQ)-16 October

　　Drawn to Life The Next Chapter (THQ)-16 October

　　Coutdown (Mindscape)-16 October

　　Family Fortunes (Mindscape)-16 October

　　Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (SEGA)-16 October

　　Bakugan: Battle Brawlers (Activision)-23 October

　　The Ultimate Red Ball Challenge (Mindscape)-23 October

　　Super Hero Squad (THQ)-23 October

　　WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 (THQ)-23 October

　　Arcade Zone (Activision)-30 October

　　Science Papa (Activision)-30 October

　　Mountains Sports (Activision)-30 October

　　Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo)-30 October

　　Wii Fit Plus with Wii Balance Board (Nintendo)-30 October

　　Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo (NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe, SAS)-30 October

　　My Personal Golf trainer with David Leadbetter (Data Design Interactive)-30 October

　　Juon (Rising Star Games)-30 October

　　Cars: Race O Rama (THQ)-October

　　Casper's Scare School Spooky Sports Day (Blast Entertainment)-October

　　THE SECRET SATURDAYS: Beasts of the 5th Sun (D3Publisher)-October

　　Ballerina presented by Repetto (Deep Silver)-October

　　A Boy And His Blob (Majesco)-October

　　Go Play Circus Star (Majesco)-October

　　TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SMASH-UP (UBISOFT)-October

　　Squeeballs (Zen United)-October

　　Playmobil Circus (HMH Interactive)-5 November

　　Animal Planet: Vet Life (Activision)-6 November

　　Barbie and the Three Musketeers (Activision)-6 November

　　i Carly (Activision)-6 November

　　Madagascar: Kartz (Activision)-6 November

　　Rapala: We Fish (Activision)-6 November

　　My Baby 2 (NOBILIS)-6 November

　　Beat The Intro (Mindscape)-6 November

　　U-SING (Mindscape)-6 November

　　Muramasa (Rising Star Games)-6 November

　　World of Zoo (THQ)-6 November

　　SpongeBob Truth or Square (THQ)-13 November

　　The Biggest Loser (THQ)-13 November

　　Princess and the Frog (Disney Interactive Studios)-19 November

　　New Super Mario Bros Wii (Nintendo)-20 November

　　Where the Wild Things Are (WBIE)-27 November (UK, DE)

　　Yoga (JoWooD)-November

　　Karaoke Revolution (Konami)-November

　　Let's Party (Konami)-November

　　Tornado Outbreak (Konami)-November

　　Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe, SAS)-November

　　RTL Winter Sports 2010 The Great Tournament (RTL Sports)-November

　　Jambo Safari (SEGA)-November

　　ARTHUR AND THE REVENGE OF MALTAZARD (UBISOFT)-November

　　CSI DEADLY INTENT (UBISOFT)-November

　　Family Gameshow (zushi games ltd)-November

　　North American Hunting Extravaganza (zushi games ltd)-November

　　Planet 51 (SEGA) -November onwards

　　Tony Hawk®: RIDE™ (Activision)-4 December (DE, UK)

　　JUST DANCE (UBISOFT)-December

　　YOUR SHAPE (UBISOFT)-December

　　It's My Circus (2K Play)-Autumn

　　NBA 2K10 (2K Sports)-Autumn

　　NHL 2K10 (2K Sports)-Autumn

　　HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT 2 (EA)-Autumn

　　LITTLEST PET SHOP FRIENDS (EA)-Autumn

　　MySims Agents (EA)-Autumn

　　Need for Speed Nitro (EA)-Autumn

　　SimAnimals Africa (EA)-Autumn

　　Spore Hero (EA) Autumn

　　Formula 1 (Codemasters)-Q4

　　Pony Friends (Eidos)-Q4

　　PES 2010 (Konami)-Q4

　　Horrid Henry's Missions of Mischief (SouthPeak Games)-Q4

　　Miniclip Sushi Go Round (SouthPeak Games)-Q4

　　Build a Bear: Friendship Valley (The Game Factory)-Q4

　　AVATAR (UBISOFT)-Q4

　　MONSTER 4x4 STUNTRACE (UBISOFT)-Q4

　　RABBIDS GO HOME (UBISOFT)-Q4

　　SHAUN WHITE SNOW WORLD STAGE (UBISOFT)-Q4

　　Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles (Capcom)-Winter

　　Silent Hill Shattered Memories (Konami)-Winter

　　LEGO® Indiana Jones™ 2 The Adventure Continues (LucasArts)-Winter

　　Nintendo DS Software 2009

　　FIFA 10 (EA SPORTS)-2 October

　　Famous (NOBILIS)-2 October

　　Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo)-9 October

　　Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes (LucasArts)-9 October

　　Cate West: The Vanishing Files (Oxygen Interactive)-9 October

　　Angel Cat Sugar (Rising Star Games)-9 October

　　Harvest Fishing (Rising Star Games)-15 October

　　All Star Cheerleader 2 (THQ)-16 October

　　Luminous Arc 2 (Rising Star Games)-16 October

　　Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (SEGA)-16 October

　　Drawn to Life The Next Chapter (THQ)-16 October

　　Countdown (Mindscape)-16 October

　　Family Fortunes (Mindscape)-16 October

　　Blood Bowl (THQ)-18 October

　　Bakugan: Battle Brawlers (Activision)-23 October

　　Super Hero Squad (THQ)-23 October

　　WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 (THQ)-23 October

　　Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (Disney Interactive Studios)-29 October

　　Nintendo Presents Style Boutique (Nintendo)-23 October

　　Science Papa (Activision)-30 October

　　Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans (NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe, SAS)-30 October

　　Cars: Race O Rama (THQ)-October

　　Casper's Scare School Spooky Sports Day (Blast Entertainment)-October

　　Shaun the Sheep: Off His Head (D3Publisher)-October

　　Carcassonne (Deep Silver)-October

　　Crosswords Italy (Deep Silver)-October

　　Let's play Flight Attendant (Deep Silver)-October

　　Ant Nation (Konami)-October

　　Ballerina presented by Repetto (Deep Silver)-October

　　Let's play Journalists (Deep Silver)-October

　　Agatha Christie: ABC Murders (The Adventure Company)-October

　　DOLPHIN ISLAND UNDERWATER ADVENTURES (UBISOFT)-October

　　GIRLS LIFE MAKEOVER (UBISOFT)-October

　　IMAGINE BEAUTY STYLIST (UBISOFT)-October

　　IMAGINE JOURNALIST (UBISOFT)-October

　　PETZ MY PONY CLUB (UBISOFT)-October

　　Squeeballs (Zen United)-October

　　Animal Planet: Vet Life (Activision)-6 November

　　Barbie and the Three Musketeers (Activision)-6 November

　　i Carly (Activision)-6 November

　　Madagascar: Kartz (Activision)-6 November

　　Disney's A Christmas Carol (Disney Interactive Studios)-6 November

　　My Baby 2 (NOBILIS)-6 November

　　Beat The Intro (Mindscape)-6 November

　　Women's Murder Club Games of Passion (THQ)-6 November

　　World of Zoo (THQ)-6 November

　　SpongeBob Truth or Square (THQ)-13 November

　　The Biggest Loser (THQ)-13 November

　　Jewel Quest Solitaire (astragon Software GmbH)-16 November

　　Quest Mysteries (astragon Software GmbH)-16 November

　　Princess and the Frog (Disney Interactive Studios)-19 November

　　Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky (Nintendo)-20 November

　　Where the Wild Things Are (WBIE)-27 November (UK, DE)

　　Buddy Maths/Scoyo Mathe (Deep Silver) -November

　　Buddy Vocabulary Trainer English (Deep Silver)-November

　　Buddy Vocabulary Trainer French (Deep Silver)-November

　　Scoyo Mathe lernen (Deep Silver)-November

　　Easy Learning: Discover Our Earth (JoWooD)-November

　　Wire Way (Konami)-November

　　Crash Time III (Playtainment)-November

　　Jambo Safari (SEGA)-November

　　Safecracker (The Adventure Company)-November

　　ARTHUR AND THE REVENGE OF MALTAZARD (UBISOFT)-November

　　CSI DEADLY INTENT: THE HIDDEN CASES (UBISOFT) -November

　　GIRLS LIFE FASHION ADDICT (UBISOFT)-November

　　GIRLS LIFE JEWELLERY DESIGN (UBISOFT)-November

　　GIRLS LIFE SLEEPOVER PARTY (UBISOFT)-November

　　PETZ DOGZ SUPERSTAR (UBISOFT)-November

　　PETZ HAMSTERZ SUPERSTAR (UBISOFT)-November

　　PETZ NURSERY (UBISOFT)-November

　　PRINCESS MELODY (UBISOFT)-November

　　JIGAPIX Range (zushi games ltd)-November

　　Planet 51 (SEGA) -November onwards

　　The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo)-11 December

　　Nintendo Presents: Crossword Collection (Nintendo)-18 December

　　(UK Only)

　　Legend Of Kay (The Adventure Company)-December

　　Zenses: Zen Garden (The Game Factory)-Q3/Q4

　　Build A Bear: Welcome to Hugsville (The Game Factory)-Q4

　　Horrid Henry's Missions of Mischief (SouthPeak Games)-Q4

　　Miniclip Sushi Go Round (SouthPeak Games)-Q4

　　COP THE RECRUIT (UBISOFT)-Q4

　　It's My Circus (2K Play)-Autumn

　　LITTLEST PET SHOP FRIENDS (EA)-Autumn

　　MySims Agents (EA)-Autumn

　　Need for Speed Nitro (EA)-Autumn

　　SimAnimals Africa (EA)-Autumn

　　Spore Hero Arena (EA)-Autumn

　　Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadro (LucasArts)-Autumn

　　HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT 2 (EA)-Autumn

　　LEGO® Indiana Jones 2 The Adventure Continues (LucasArts)-Winter