Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword
Tecmo
Team Ninja
March 20, 2008
Est. 3-mo. Sales: 100K-300K

At TGS in September, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword was already showing promise. Using an effective melding of static background environments and polygonal characters (a la the old Resident Evil games), players are able to “slash” the touch screen to attack and move Ryu Hayabusa around the levels pretty intuitively. Like its console brethren, this one adopts a big focus on intense action.

de Blob
THQ
Helixe
Q1 2008
Est. 3-mo. Sales: 100K-300K

Blobs and blob-like entities are slowly gaining more notoriety in videogames, and rightfully so, we say. Exo- and endoskeletons are so passé. de Blob is, at its heart, a puzzle game that puts players in the role of—that’s right—a blob. This blob, armed with its blobby properties, is charged with spreading color throughout a colorless world. THQ also has said that it has high commercial expectations for de Blob, which was actually originally created for PC by nine game design students in the Netherlands.

Mushroom Men
Gamecock Media Group
Red Fly Studio/Zen Studios
Q2 2008
Est. 3-mo. Sales: 100K-300K

The DS version of Mushroom Men (it’s also coming to Wii) is a trippy side-scrolling game with 3D graphics. Little is known about the game, but the premise and the concept art depicting inches tall “mushroom men” who’re in the midst of some kind of interspecies plant/fungi war raging around and below the soles of our shoes is intriguing. It’s an original idea, if nothing else.

The World Ends With You
Square Enix
Square Enix
Q2 2008
Est. 3-mo. Sales: 100K-300K

The World Ends With You should pique the interest of Kingdom Hearts fans, because the same development team created both games. This action role-playing game is a refreshing departure from Square Enix’s bread and butter franchises, putting gamers in a colorful, anime-style representation of the trendy Shibuya district in Tokyo. It’s always nice to see Square Enix explore new ground.

Lego Batman
Warner Bros. Interactive Ent.
Traveller’s Tales
Q4 2008
Est. 3-mo. Sales: 300K-600K

Traveller’s Tales’ Lego Star Wars games were beautifully executed. The gameplay was fun enough, but it was the hilarious blending of Lego characters and Star Wars story and lore that made the games so appealing to both hardcore Star Wars fans and young gamers. If Traveller’s Tales can do justice to the Batman comic books and again incorporate a good dose of Lego-derived humor, it isn’t hard to imagine this game will be a hit.

ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat
Nintendo
Mistwalker
TBA
Est. 3-mo Sales: 100K-300K

So far, Mistwalker has created Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey for Xbox 360, but in 2008, the developer is bringing the RPG ASH to the DS. For the uninitiated, Hironobu Sakaguchi, father of the Final Fantasy series, founded Mistwalker, so take from that what you will. Hitoshi Sakimoto, the music composer of Final Fantasy Tactics fame, will be layering his sound on top of ASH. There certainly are a lot of good things going on here…

Dragon Quest IX: Protectors of the Sky
Square Enix
Level-5
TBA
Est. 3-mo. Sales: 800K-1 million

Square Enix sent shockwaves through the gaming community when it announced that the next proper installment in the Dragon Quest RPG series would be coming exclusively to DS instead of returning to a PlayStation platform. So later this year, expect a sharp-looking,  four-player role-playing romp on DS from the RPG masters at Level-5.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire
Square Enix
Square Enix
TBA
Est. 3-mo. Sales: 300K-600K

Final Fantasy Tactics for the original PlayStation is one of our favorites of all time, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for Game Boy Advance was an endearing follow-up. Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire follows in the footsteps of the light-hearted GBA iteration and offers at least as much strategic depth as its predecessors.

Sonic RPG (Working Title)
Sega
BioWare
TBA
Est. 3-mo. Sales: 600K-900K

Connecting BioWare with any new or existing IP is exciting enough in and of itself, but when Sega announced that the house behind Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic would be creating an RPG based on Sonic the Hedgehog for the DS, we did a triple-take. With a track record that also includes Jade Empire and Baldur’s Gate, we fully expect BioWare to nail this one. And having Sonic on board should help make the mainstream sale.