Top 10 most anticipated DS and 3DS games for 2011

It’s looking strongly like 2011 will be the final year for Nintendo’s ground-breaking DS console, despite a couple of strong-looking games already announced for the machine, including the inexhaustible Pokemon.

It’s not been a bad old run, though, what with selling over 135 million units and becoming the most successful portable console ever made – you can’t get much better than that, surely?

Well, maybe you can, as 2011 also marks the year when the 3DS is unleashed upon the world, with Nintendo hoping it will usher in a new age of 3D portable gaming and pick up the platinum-encrusted sales baton of its older brother.

For this preview of next year’s games, we’ve had to do a heck of a lot of chopping to get to a final ten, such is the sheer number of potentially excellent content confirmed for the 3DS.

As always, if you disagree with the list, or just fancy adding your own tuppence to a title that’s already here, don’t hesitate to get in touch in the comments thread below.

It’s crazy to think that Pokemon will be over 15 years old next year, especially for us oldies who remember the clamour of excitement when it was first released on the original Game Boy.

Pokemon Black & White looks like the biggest update to the popular monster-collecting universe the series has seen since it was first conceived, introducing a fully 3D (on a 2D screen) world and a completely new collection of creatures, eschewing the rather bulky cast list of yesteryear in the process.

Dry your tears, though, because there are still ways you can bring your most loved monsters back into the game from Heart Gold/Soul Silver, so sentimental Pokemon trainers won’t have to say their final goodbyes to their high-level Piddlethumb or Cretinblower after all (I made those two up, just in case you’re reaching for a Pokeguide).

Released near the end of the PS2’s life-cycle, Okami - from the now-defunct Clover studios - impressed everyone who played it (all three of them) with its delightfully original take on the action-adventure genre popularised by such titles as Zelda.

On the Wii, the game fared equally poorly at the shop tills, ringing up barely any sales despite nearly everyone who played it loving it.

We fear the same thing may happen with the release of Okamiden, the sequel to Okami that’s already been tugging at the critics’ heartstrings going by early previews of the title at E3 this year. It's scheduled to release almost at the exact same time as the 3DS. Oh dear.

A story of a spiritual wolf-thing called Chibiterasu and his little boy-rider Kuni, Okamiden blends Japanese traditional painting and calligraphy into a mystical world filled with celestial paint brushes, cute cartoon creatures, and ethereal world design.

Considering how well Zelda sells, it’d be a crying shame to see this one disappear into the ether along with its older brother, so hold your nerve and at least make gestures towards getting it when it comes out in Europe on March 18th.

Resident Evil 5 may have split home console users more than any other Resi-game, but the two new titles for the 3DS has everyone saying the same thing – ‘blimey’.

Just one glance at Mercenaries’s screenshots is enough to tell you that this is one hell of a pretty game, and will no doubt look even more impressive once there are infected humans reaching out of the screen to claw at your eyeballs.

Whereas Mercenaries takes the form of the bonus mode from the console versions, Revelations is a full-blown Resi experience, set between the events in Spain and Africa (Resi 4 & 5 for those not up to speed with your Resident Evil lore).

Capcom has promised that it’ll be far more true to the series’ roots than the divisive Resi 5, so expect more shocks and less shots when it comes out next year.

It’s hard to express the impact a game such as Ocarina of Time had at the time of release. An epic, huge, living world filled with great characters, fantastic dungeons, and simply brilliant puzzles (not to mention the fantastic music), Ocarina of Time was not just a great game – it was a system-seller.

Now that the game is being updated for the 3DS, a new generation can enjoy one of the best games of all time without having to claw their eyes out looking at the N64's graphics, which can only be a good thing.

For us oldies, the prospect of riding across Hyrule fields on Epona, or playing the Windmill song from muscle memory, should be enough to persuade us to part with our cash.

Pilotwings was, for a short time, one of the staple launch titles for a Nintendo console, gracing both the SNES and N64 with its surprisingly non-aggressive (up to a point, anyway) flying antics and demonstration of the potential behind each new system’s ‘killer feature’.

On the SNES it was a fantastic demonstration of the Mode-7 technique that would later go on to characterise that machine’s 3D output, while on the N64 it was the perfect foil to show why Nintendo had stuck a joystick on a controller pad (crazy, huh?), as well as a great way of showing off the 3D polygons.

Now Pilotwings Resort is hoping to do the same again, only this time the ‘3D’ graphics will actually be in the 3D, giving prospective jetpackers, gliders, and pilots the chance to navigate the world with an appreciation of depth not yet seen on a handheld system.

Considering that most of the game is spent flying through rings, popping balloons, and soaring majestically in the sky, it’s safe to say that Pilotwings Resort could well be the game that convinces a large number of people that 3D can be as vital a feature in a game as, well, sticking a joystick on a controller pad.

You know you’ve done something right when people start to copy what you do. Considering that there’s been approximately ten billion clones of Mario Kart over the years, it’s safe to say Nintendo did something very right when it first put together the outrageous combination of cartoon-esque combat, kart-racing, and popular characters from its leading franchises.

The 3DS version promises to put even more daylight between Mario and his wannabe hanger-on karters, as it’s the first version to move into proper 3D.

The moustached plumber has a bit of a record for having excellent karting games on the portable consoles – both the DS and GBA versions were brilliant – so we’re expecting great things from this next title.

Aliens vs Predator turned out to be a bit rubbish in hindsight, Terminator vs Robocop was just odd, but this latest pairing between two popular series promises to be a whole lot more satisfying.

Not many details are floating around just yet as to what the game will consist of – nor, indeed, are there any details on whether it’ll make it out from the Land of the Rising Sun - but the pairing of puzzle-solving Professor Layton and case-solving Phoenix Wright, together with their two assistants Luke and Maya, has bucket-loads of promise.

As long as they don’t give Wright the puzzles, and Layton the plotline, we’ll have no objections.

“Metal Gear Solid? This is about the 3DS and DS, not the PlayStation, you idiot!”

No, wait! You read correctly – Konami is back releasing Metal Gear Solid titles on a Nintendo system again, after what feels like decades away, and judging by the early demos it looks like it could be one of the strongest games of the next year.

Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater puts the player back in the shoes of cardboard box-lover Solid Snake, no doubt on the trail of ‘!!! Metal Gear?!’ (that joke probably doesn’t work so well written down) in what looks to be a jungle setting.

Not many details have been revealed about the game so far, but considering it shares the name with the best PS2 MGS title, and Konami’s track-record of producing brilliant MGS portable games on a certain Sony-branded system, you can see why we’re excited even at this early stage of development.

Combining touchscreen combat with the tactile feedback of actual buttons and joystick, Super Street Fighter 4 3D is shaping up to be the best of both worlds in terms of the various platforms it's appeared on.

While arcade purists may splutter when they hear about the new beginner control scheme that allows players to hot-select moves from the touchscreen (and no doubt go on about a Hori EX for the 50th bloomin’ time), I doubt anyone else will complain about the new additions confirmed thus far.

The game's producer Yoshinori Oni has already come out to say that the gameplay will be a perfect port from the home console versions. Considering SSFIV is widely-regarded as one of the best fighters ever made, that’s enough to get us all hot and sweaty.